[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992-1993, Book II)]
[October 21, 1992]
[Pages 1906-1908]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to the Community in Burlington, North Carolina
October 21, 1992

    The President. Thank you. What a magnificent crowd. And let me tell 
the people of North Carolina something they already know: You have one 
great Governor in Jim Martin.
    Let me say a word about the man that's also walking down here, Jesse 
Helms. He's served this country with great distinction and honor in the 
United States Senate. I am proud that he and Dot are Barbara's and my 
friends. You are lucky to have him up there. And if we had more like him 
they wouldn't be yelling, ``Clean House!'' Send Lauch Faircloth to the 
Senate to join Jesse, and let's get the job done.
    And of course, I'm proud to be in the district of another old 
friend, a guy I've campaigned with and for whom I have great respect, 
and I'm talking about Howard Coble, who's right here with us. He's 
working the other side of the State right this minute, but it is 
important that we elect the Lieutenant Governor to be Governor of this 
State, Jim Gardner. I know him well, served with him in the Congress.
    Now, I've got to ask this rhetorical question: Did anyone have the 
opportunity to see that debate a couple of nights ago? Well, I'll tell 
you something. What I think we saw and what I think the Nation saw was a 
vast difference in experience, in philosophy and, yes, a difference in 
character. I hate to ruin this beautiful rally here today, but I must 
share with you a little bit about Governor Clinton's record in 
Arkansas--a sorry record.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Now, please be fair as I click off these wonderful 
statistics. Arkansas and the people there are good. I lived next door to 
them. They're good, strong, wonderful people, and they're entitled to 
better than this. They are 50th in the quality of environmental 
initiatives; they are 50th in the percentage of adults with college 
degrees; they are 50th in per capita spending on criminal justice; they 
are 49th--they have worked to ooze their way up one--in per capita 
spending on police protection; they are 48th in percentage of adults 
with a high school diploma; they are 48th in spending on corrections; 
they are 46th on teachers' salaries; they are 45th in the overall well-
being of children. And the other night Governor Clinton said to this 
country, ``I want to do for you, the rest of the country, what I've done 
for Arkansas.'' We cannot let him do that.
    He's on all sides of all issues. He's like the guy that says, ``Oh, 
I'm for the Toronto Blue Jays, but I might as well be for the Braves.'' 
I'm for the Braves. You've got to make the tough decisions.
    But Governor Clinton calls this, what he's running on, a change. 
He's the candidate of change. But you've got to look close at what he's 
offering: $150 billion in new taxes and $220 billion in new spending. I 
call that trickle-down Government. We don't need that. And he says he'll 
take it all from the rich. But everybody out there making about $25,000 
hold on to your wallet, watch your pocketbooks, he's coming after you. 
Watch your wallets, Mr. and Mrs. America.
    And Jesse and I were talking about this, talking about change. The 
last time we had a liberal Democrat in the White House and a big-
spending Congress, Jesse was there, and he remembers it well. And Jimmy 
Carter left--interest rates were at 21.5 percent. We don't need that 
kind of change. Inflation got up at about 15 percent, and every senior 
citizen that worked all their

[[Page 1907]]

lives to save their money saw it going up in smoke with the cruelest tax 
of all. We don't need that kind of change, either. Keep talking about 
that kind of change, and change is all you're going to have left in your 
pocket if this guy ever got in there. And we don't need that.
    My plan--and it's backed strongly by these two great Senators here 
today, Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms--is to cut the spending and cut 
the taxes and put more money in your pocket. And in the process, that 
will create more jobs. I'll tell you how we're going to get that 
spending under control in just a minute. But in the longer term issues, 
we've got to open new markets for our products.
    North Carolina workers can outproduce, outhustle any other workers 
in the world. We need access to foreign markets and more export jobs. 
That's what I'm trying to do. And we need to get the burden of 
regulation and taxation off the back of the small businesses. I don't 
know much about Newlon Hardware, but I'll bet there's not a guy working 
over there that thinks he's paying too little in taxes. Let's give them 
a little relief: a little regulatory relief, a little relief by 
investment tax allowances, a little relief for the first-time homebuyer. 
Give them a break so they can buy a home. Give them a capital gains so 
you can start new businesses. And let's see this country move.
    I've got a big difference with Governor Clinton on another thing. I 
worry about the doctors. Some of them can't practice medicine for fear 
of being sued all the time. I worry about Little League coaches that 
don't want to coach because they're afraid some crazy lawyer is going to 
come along and bring a lawsuit on them. I worry about the American 
spirit, when people pass by people that are hurt on the road for fear if 
they pick them up and help them, somebody will sue them. We are suing 
each other too much and caring for each other too little. And we've got 
to stop these crazy lawsuits. And Governor Clinton owes his election, 
his past elections to the trial lawyers. He refuses to move for tort 
reform and putting a cap on these lawsuits. Send me some new Members of 
Congress, and let's get that job done.
    In health care, we've got a good program. But I want to keep the 
quality of the medicine up. I want to provide insurance to the poorest 
of the poor through vouchers. I want to give the middle class tax relief 
for--so they can buy this insurance. I want to see us pool insurance, 
get the costs down, provide it to all. But I don't want to see the 
Government run insurance. They can't even run a post office or a silly 
bank up in Congress, and we don't want to have the Government doing it.
    In education, we've got to do better. And we've got a good program, 
America 2000. It says to the communities like Burlington, you design it. 
You teachers, you PTA people, avoid the bureaucracy in that big union 
that controls the teachers far too much. Give the teachers a shot 
themselves, and we will revolutionize education in this country. One way 
to do it is to give the parents more choice. Give them a little 
assistance to choose between private, public, and religious schools, and 
give the parents a chance. We did it in child care; let's do it in 
education.
    In crime, I hate to bring this one up, Arkansas has got a sorry 
record on that, a sorry record. You get a guy into jail in Arkansas, 20 
percent of his sentence is all they serve, and that's not good enough. 
We've got here today Strom Thurmond, who is fighting in the Congress 
against all the liberals to make tough anticrime legislation. My view is 
make it tougher, have a little more concern for those police officers 
out there, and a little less for the criminal.
    I said I'd mention the approach to how we want to get that deficit 
down. You've got to control the growth of mandatory spending. But here's 
three ideas that haven't been tried. You want to try some change, try 
this. Give us a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, and make 
us balance the budget. How about this one: Give a check-off to the 
taxpayer. Those that are concerned about the deficit, check it off. Ten 
percent of your funds will then have to go in, but it will have to go 
for lowering the Federal deficit. The Congress is going to have to make 
offsets on the spending. And the third one is this: 43 Governors have 
it. They can take a pen and line it right through the budget, knocking 
out

[[Page 1908]]

the pork. Give the President the line-item veto. Congress has failed. 
Give me a shot at it.
    We hear all this talk from Clinton and Gore about change. I love 
this sign: ``Bill, you're just blowing smoke.'' And the American people 
are not going to believe this. Blowing it out. I don't know about 
inhaling. That's not my line. That's somebody else's over here.
    But let me say, let me end this way. I don't know if you heard in 
the debate we had in Richmond, Governor Clinton said it's not the 
character of the President, he said, it's ``the character of the 
Presidency.'' I don't believe that. I believe they're interlocked. I 
don't believe you can have a person in that White House unless he stands 
for principles in character. And I don't believe blowing smoke is the 
answer. I don't believe you can flip-flop on every issue, whether it's 
the right-to-work laws--whisper to the unions you're against it, then in 
the South say you're for it. Term limits--in one place he's for it, one 
place he's against it. Free trade--one place he's for it, the next time 
he has to tell the unions, oh, no, I've got problems. CAFE standards are 
going to drive the autoworkers out of their jobs--one place he's for it, 
another he is against it. You cannot be the waffle house if you want to 
be in the White House.
    Let me remind you about the position on the war. You've got a lot of 
revisionists up there in Washington trying to make something bad out of 
something noble. But let me tell you something: When I had to make that 
tough decision and commit the sons and daughters of North Carolina to go 
in there and defeat the fourth largest army in the world, we did it. We 
did it. And I didn't waffle. I led. And where was Governor Clinton? 
About the time of that tough decision, he said, ``Well, I'm with the 
minority, but I guess I would have voted with the majority.'' You cannot 
waffle when it comes to the national security of the United States of 
America. You cannot lead by misleading.
    Sometimes that phone rings in the White House, and you can't say 
maybe. You've got to say, here's what I believe. And you might make 
mistakes. Then you do what you teach your kids to do. You say, if you're 
wrong, say it and go on about representing the American people. Hold 
your head up, and do the best you can, but not waffle and be on every 
side of every issue.
    The biggest difference I have, I believe, with Governor Clinton and 
the Ozone Man with him, Senator Gore--where is he up there? You put 
those environmental--I'm an environmental man, but I'm not going to 
throw every worker out of work because of some snail darter or some 
smelt or some owl.
    But the biggest difference I have is they go around trying to win by 
saying that America is in decline. They say that we're less than 
Germany--this is their words, or Clinton's words--less than Germany, but 
a little above Sri Lanka. They ought to open their eyes. We are the most 
respected nation on the face of the Earth.
    I see these young people here today, and frankly, I take great pride 
in the fact that we have literally changed the world. Soviet communism 
is gone; ancient enemies are talking peace in the Middle East. Saddam 
Hussein is back in his box, and we have lowered the threat of nuclear 
war from the face of the Earth.
    And now let's bring that leadership together. Give Jesse some 
support in the Senate with Lauch Faircloth. Give Howard Coble some 
support with new Members of Congress. When they yell ``Clean House!'', 
they mean send us some new ones up there to help him. Do that, and then 
let's try to make life better.
    We're in an international slowdown in this economy. The United 
States is doing better than most of our trading partners. And with my 
program for America's future we are going to lift this country up, make 
life better for every single worker, and restore total hope to these 
young people here today.
    May God bless the United States. And many, many thanks for this 
fantastic rally. Thank you all very much. Duty, honor, and country--
you're right.

                    Note: The President spoke at 5:42 p.m. on the 
                        observation deck of the Spirit of America train.