[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992-1993, Book II)]
[October 9, 1992]
[Pages 1780-1782]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to the National Fraternal Order of Police in Cincinnati, Ohio
October 9, 1992

    Hey, listen, Dewey, let me just tell you at the outset how grateful 
I am not just for that kind introduction but for this fantastic 
endorsement. I'll say more about it in a minute. I appreciate this warm 
welcome, and I do mean warm. [Laughter] I'm delighted to be back in the 
Cincinnati area, and I am very pleased to salute not only Dewey Stokes 
but Ralph Orms, the FOP secretary; Ken Gorman, the chairman of the board 
of trustees; Gil Gallegos and George Austin and all the members of the 
executive board. I especially want to recognize the officers from Dayton 
who came here today in remembrance of your fallen comrade, Officer Bill 
Whalen.
    I'm delighted and honored to accept this most prestigious 
endorsement here today as the preferred Presidential candidate of the 
National Fraternal Order of Police, and I thank you for your support. As 
most people across this country know, you're one of the strongest voices 
of the law enforcement community in the entire country, and I'm grateful 
you're speaking on my behalf. This country is going to see a real 
comeback on election day when we come storming back to victory. I really 
believe it's going to happen.
    I will continue to say what I am for, and I will continue, because a 
lot of the people around are not helping us do this, to define Governor 
Clinton for what he is and for what his record is. I am confident when 
people go into the voting booth they are going to say, this President 
has the character and the trust to lead this country for another 4 
years. We are going to turn it around because of people like you who 
want to do what's right for America, aren't afraid to take a position, 
to stand up. I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that this Bill 
Clinton--I really honestly believe this--is wrong for America at this 
time.
    Now, look at his record. Look at the record. He is a typical tax-
and-spend, big Government, tax-and-spend, coddle-the-criminal man. We 
don't need that. Don't take my word for it. Ask the folks who know the 
record best. Ask your brothers and sisters in Little Rock, Fraternal 
Order of Police in Arkansas, Governor Clinton's hometown. They're 
endorsing not their Governor, but you guessed it, they are endorsing 
George Bush for President of the United States of America. They're doing 
this not out of personal spite, but they're doing this because of the 
record. Arkansas ranks near rockbottom for every important per capita 
crime dollar it spends: for prisons, 46th; for judicial and legal 
systems, 50th; and when it comes to spending for police officers, 
Arkansas ranks 49th.
    No wonder crime went up faster in Arkansas during the 1980's than in 
any other State. If you don't give your police the tools they need, you 
can't expect them to do the job.
    Dewey Stokes very generously spelled out some of our record, and I 
would like to compare my record to Governor Clinton's. Since 1989, I've 
proposed a 59 percent increase in Federal spending to fight crime. As 
for charges that my administration short-shrifted State and local law 
enforcement, a charge that this Governor recklessly keeps putting 
forward, the fact is that spending under the Eddie Byrne Memorial Grant 
Program for State and local law enforcement is more than 3 times what it 
was when I became President of the United States.
    Here's something that the victims of crime might be interested in; 
there's more to it. Last year, under Governor Clinton, the average 
Arkansas criminal served less

[[Page 1781]]

than one-fifth of his sentence. Then he's back out on the streets. 
Apparently, down in Arkansas you do the crime but not the time.
    Most Federal inmates under my jurisdiction serve at least 85 percent 
of their full sentences. I have had very little support from the 
national media in putting these facts into perspective, but we've got 
time. With this endorsement and your help, we are going to get the facts 
into the record. The record, I might say, gets a little unnerving when 
you consider the damage that a soft-on-crime President could do to law 
enforcement nationwide.
    After all, maybe the single most vital legacy a President can leave 
behind is his record of judicial appointments. Everybody in this room--
maybe you know it better than others across the country, but everybody 
here knows the judicial appointments are terribly important to strong 
law enforcement. I ask that you compare the Carter record to the Reagan-
Bush era, and you can see how the Democratic appointments are still 
hurting us.
    The record clearly shows that Carter left us with judges far more 
sympathetic to the suspect's rights than judges appointed by Ronald 
Reagan. According to one independent study that NBC News reported just 
the other night, Carter appointees are almost 5 times more likely to 
champion the suspect's rights over the rights of a victim.
    Well, my record on this is clear. In 1988, I told the American 
people that, like my predecessor, I would appoint judges who interpret 
and apply the law and do not try to rewrite the law from the Federal 
Bench. I pledged my appointments would give more consideration to 
victims' rights than to criminals' rights, and that is exactly what I 
have done. The results are clear. The Supreme Court has handed down a 
series of sensible decisions allowing victims to be heard and justice to 
be served.
    Now, would Governor Clinton's appointments be similar? Well, all the 
names of possible Supreme Court appointees coming from his camp are 
rabidly opposed to the death penalty. The name Clinton himself has 
mentioned as recently as Saturday night, with my wife sitting there, was 
Governor Cuomo of New York. So much for capital punishment and so much 
for the thugs who kill cops. We do not need that kind of appointment to 
the Supreme Court of the United States.
    It is plain wrong and deeply unfair to ask law enforcement officers, 
who are out there on the streets putting their lives on the line for us, 
to do their job and then see their good work undone by judges who turn 
those criminals right back out on the sidewalk. I am on the side of the 
victim. And let there be no mistake about that. I say it is high time 
that we turn around this judicial trend to be soft on criminals and hard 
on the people in blue.
    The bottom line on November 3d is this: When it comes to crime, if 
you liked Carter I, you will love Carter II. [Laughter] America simply 
cannot afford that. We need a President to help you take criminals off 
the streets and keep them off the streets. I believe I am that person, 
and that's what I stand for as President of the United States.
    I support the brave men and women who wear the blue because you know 
better than anyone that we are all vulnerable: men, women, and children; 
white, brown, and black; young and old; rich and poor. To a bullet, to a 
blade we all look just the same.
    You alone stand in the breach. We don't thank you enough. To tell 
you the truth, I don't believe we can thank you enough. The best we can 
do is to give you our support, and we can fight for justice when one of 
your comrades falls in the line of duty.
    That's why my crime bill calls for a Federal death penalty for cop 
killers. It will go into law if Congress gets around to voting on it, 
and I believe they will. There's going to be a lot of new Members of 
Congress this time, the one institution that hasn't changed for 38 
years. We need to clean House. While it won't bring back the six brave 
police officers who were killed across the Nation just in the past few 
weeks, at least it will take the animals off the street who commit the 
ultimate horror by gunning down the heroes in blue.
    I want to tell you why you folks are so often on my mind. I 
mentioned Eddie Byrne. I know Dewey; he probably knows Eddie Byrne's 
father. For 4 years I've kept

[[Page 1782]]

this badge in my desk there in the Oval Office. You've probably seen 
that desk on the television, where all the visitors come in. I keep this 
badge, 14072, in my desk in the Oval Office. A retired New York officer, 
Lieutenant Matt Byrne, gave it to me. This is the badge that his son, 
Eddie, wore the day he was gunned down by a crackhead. Matt, the dad, 
asked me to keep that badge as a reminder of all you brave officers who 
put your lives on the line every single day. I've kept it, and I always 
will. As President, you have my lasting thanks, but much more than that, 
you have my support. You can count on that.
    With your strong support, I know that America can indeed do what so 
many here today are working on every single waking minute, and that is 
turn back the threat of drugs and crime, the fear of our young and old, 
and make our communities safe and strong and secure once again.
    You know, I talk and Barbara talks and the Quayles talk about family 
values. There are a lot of people trying to distort what that means. To 
me, it means a lot of things. It means support for the children. It 
means families staying together. It means deadbeat dads supporting the 
mother. It means a lot of things, including choice in schools and choice 
in child care. Many things come together. But one thing it means is 
support for law enforcement, because families must be entitled to safe 
places to raise their children.
    You, more than any other Americans, are out there guaranteeing that 
part of this battle. We are not going to stop talking about family 
values because the liberals don't like it. We're going to keep on 
talking about it.
    Now that same crowd is on me in another item. I said that I didn't 
think it was right to be demonstrating against your country in a foreign 
land when soldiers are being held captive and soldiers are dying in 
Vietnam. I feel strongly about that. You let the liberal elite do their 
number today, trying to call me Joe McCarthy. I'm standing with American 
principle. It is wrong to demonstrate against your country when your 
country is at war, and I'm not going to back away from it one single 
bit.
    Thank you all for this fantastic support. And may God bless the 
greatest, freest country on the face of the Earth, the United States of 
America.

                    Note: The President spoke at 4:30 p.m. at the 
                        Holiday Inn Eastgate. In his remarks, he 
                        referred to Dewey Stokes, president, National 
                        Fraternal Order of Police.