[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992-1993, Book II)]
[October 25, 1992]
[Pages 1979-1983]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to the Community in Sioux Falls, South Dakota
October 25, 1992

    The President. Thank you, Governor. Thank you, South Dakota. Thanks 
for that welcome.
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    The President. Thank you, George. Hey, listen, thank you so very 
much. I am very proud to be introduced by your great Governor, George 
Mickelson. Let me salute the others here: Larry Pressler, your Senator; 
Lieutenant Governor Walt Miller; Bill Janklow, the former Governor, 
warming up the crowd in more ways than one out here. Jim Abdnor is here, 
a former Senator. Arlene Ham is here. We've got two from Nebraska, 
former Governor Charlie Thone and the present Congressman Doug Bereuter, 
both outstanding servants from nearby. Don Peterson and, of course, Mary 
McClure, the executive director; and then Baillie and the Boys. You've 
had a full house here, with great people. And let me just say that I am 
delighted to be here with them.
    I will also say that, you know, everyplace I go in the country, you 
have signs held up, and they say, ``Clean House!'' Clean House! Change 
the United States Congress. Well, you can do something about it right 
here. You can help clean out the House of Representatives by sending 
John Timmer to the United States Congress. And you've got a great chance 
to make history in the Senate, because we have an outstanding candidate 
standing here with me in Char Haar. Elect her to the Senate, and let's 
get this country moving again.
    Well, we're going down to the wire in this national election. I come 
back here to South Dakota fired up. And the reason we're going to win is 
because the American people have a clear choice. There is a vast 
difference between experience, difference in philosophy, and yes, 
character does count, a difference in character.
    Governor Clinton--I hate to ruin a lovely rally like this, but I've 
got to just point out since Clinton's going around the country talking 
about my record, ill-defining it for 11 months--and I'll talk about the 
positive things in a minute--but let's just take a quick look at his 
record in Arkansas. Sorry about that.
    He promises health care for America. He's been around there for 12 
years; 40

[[Page 1980]]

percent of the Arkansas workers have no health insurance. He promises 
education reform. And 12 years later, 75 percent of Arkansas college 
students, when they first get to college, have to have remedial 
education because they're not getting the job done the way you are here 
in high school education. He promises to get the American economy 
moving. But 12 years in Arkansas, wages, income, and jobs are trailing 
the entire Nation. So when he stood up there in that debate the other 
night and he said, ``I want to do for the country what I've done to 
Arkansas,'' we must not let him do that.
    You know, Bill Clinton made a lot of promises to the people of 
Arkansas, and he broke most of them. But last year, he told the Arkansas 
people that he would not assume higher office in 1992. He looked right 
into the lens and says, ``I'm not going to do it.'' And here he is, one 
more promise that he has not kept.
    He calls this change? Let me tell you something. He says that he is 
the candidate for change, but let's look at the record. He wants $150 
billion in new taxes. He wants $220 billion in new spending. That is not 
change, that is trickle-down Government. We do not need any more of 
that.
    His numbers don't add up. Anyway, he says he's going to just sock it 
to the rich. Not so. To pay for all his programs, he's got to get down 
to everybody making over $36,600. And then, to take care of all the 
promises, every nurse out here, every teacher, every farmer watch out, 
he's coming right after your wallet. Mr. and Mrs. America, don't let him 
do this to us. Tax and spend, tax and spend, tax and spend. George 
talked about it, your Governor. The last time we had that, had a 
Democratic President along with this spendthrift Congress that's been 
controlled by the Democrats for 38 years, we had inflation at 15 
percent. We had interest rates at 21.5 percent. And they had a malaise 
or a ``misery index'' that's doubled what it is today. We cannot let 
this man do this to the country. Your hear Clinton and Gore, the Ozone 
Man, talking about change. That's all you're going to have left in your 
pocket if you get these guys in there, I'll guarantee you that.
    Also, if you haven't detected, I'm a little sore at the national 
media. Let me tell you something--remember what Harry Truman said? I'd 
better be careful--well, I'd better not say that. They're mad at me 
anyway. I love my favorite bumper sticker: ``Annoy the Media. Reelect 
Bush.'' I love it, absolutely love that sticker. There it is. There it 
is.
    But you know, if you listen to these guys, you'd think everything 
was wrong with this country. They try to tear down. The only way that 
Clinton and Gore can win is to make everybody convinced everything is 
horrible. We forget 93 percent of the people are working in this 
country. We forget that interest rates are at record lows. We forget 
that inflation is better. And we forget that ag income is up in the 
United States, and as long as I'm President it's going to stay up.
    Audience members. You tell them, Mr. President.
    The President. I will. And besides that, I want to say a word about 
ethanol. I am the one who worked out the ethanol waiver to spur the use 
of ethanol. Ethanol use has gone up, way up, since I've become President 
of the United States, and I'm going to keep it going up. But Governor 
Clinton's adviser, one of them, says that ethanol might blow a hole in 
the ozone. Well, heck with that. It's not going to blow any hole in the 
ozone. It is safe, and we're going to use it more.
    And then another adviser gets up--because I did the right thing for 
the corn growers in fixing that waiver--another one gets up and says, 
well, we'll review that after Clinton is elected. Two things wrong with 
that: He ought not to review it because I made the right decision, and 
two, he ain't going to be elected President. He comes to South Dakota 
and talks ethanol, and then he goes out and starts talking about 
reviewing the waiver. We cannot have that flip-flop on every single 
issue.
    Now, on international trade, we are working hard to open markets for 
our agricultural goods all over the world. And I am proud of our export 
enhancement program. I am proud that we are fighting against these 
European subsidies. And this fall, out here in South Dakota at a 
wonderful farm nearby--farmer is standing right over my right

[[Page 1981]]

shoulder--we announced a new EEP, a new export program. We're staying 
with that. We're going to sell billions of tons of U.S. wheat to 28 
countries, and we are going to protect South Dakota jobs and sell our 
products all over the world. We've promoted another $1 billion in ag 
exports under the so-called GATT triggers, technical but very important 
to farmers in this State. And we're going to keep on fighting for new 
markets. This North American free trade agreement is going to be good 
for American jobs and good for American agriculture. And Governor 
Clinton is on all sides of that question.
    Let me tell you, there was something disturbing, and this is a very 
serious one, this morning, this Sunday, this very day in the Daily 
Telegraph in London, the Sunday Telegraph of London. The Clinton 
campaign worked out a secret agreement, it is alleged in the paper--I 
have to be fair, it is alleged--they worked out a secret agreement with 
Jacques Delors of the EC, the President of the European Community, on 
the Uruguay round of GATT trade. And what the agreement was is that they 
would delay making an agreement on the GATT round until after the 
election because apparently this man sides with Governor Clinton's 
ideology.
    Well, let me tell you something: If this report is true, and if the 
Clinton campaign is going over to Europe interfering with an agreement 
that would benefit all American agriculture, it is a sorry, pathetic 
thing to be doing a few days before an election. It is in the national 
interest to work out a GATT agreement, and it's a sorry thing if 
somebody would put their own personal political interest--afraid we 
might get something done for the American people--right now to stand in 
the way of it. I don't think that's good foreign policy, and I don't 
think that's very good politics, either, because it's going to blow up 
right in their face.
    Other priorities, South Dakota is doing great. Your business is 
moving, and you've got a low unemployment. But the rest of the country 
has been hurting. We don't need more tax and spend. What we need to do 
is stimulate small business. Small business creates jobs for two-thirds 
of the American people. And we need relief: relief from regulation, 
relief from taxation, and yes, we need relief from litigation. We're 
suing each other too much and caring for each other too little.
    These crazy lawsuits by these trial lawyers that are the biggest 
supporters of Governor Clinton: Doctors don't even dare deliver babies, 
or they have to have additional tests, running the cost of health care 
up. Some Little League coaches don't dare coach, afraid of some nutty 
lawsuit. Along the highway, somebody can be hurt, and the person won't 
come along and pick them up, afraid that a trial lawyer will get to the 
victim and say, hey, this guy didn't handle you right when you were in 
your hour of distress. We cannot continue to sue each other. We're 
trying to do something about it in the United States Congress. Send us 
Char Haar and let us help get the job done, and John Timmer as well.
    We've got a much better program for education. We literally want to 
revolutionize K through 12, and our America 2000 program will do that. A 
part of it is this: I believe in school choice, and I want to help 
parents choose their schools, public, private, or religious.
    Health care: Let's not let the Government get further involved. 
Let's provide insurance to the poorest of the poor through vouchers. 
Let's provide that overworked middle class a little bit of a tax relief 
to get the insurance. Let's pool insurance. Let's correct malpractice. 
And let's move forward so that those who don't have health care have it. 
But do not lower the quality by setting some board that the United 
States Government will run. We've got enough trouble with the post 
office. Don't give us trouble with health care.
    A couple of more subjects here--I'm just getting warmed up, you'll 
be pleased to know--now, crime. I've just come from a marvelous meeting 
in Detroit with the police chiefs from all across the country; indeed, 
an international meeting. And there I spelled out the things I was for 
on crime. But we have a big difference. Arkansas prisoners spend 20 
percent of their sentences in jail. The Feds, Federal ones--that comes 
under me--85 percent. I have this peculiar feeling that we ought to have 
a little more

[[Page 1982]]

sympathy for the victims of crime and a little less for the criminals.
    I hope you heard the difference when we had the debate on getting 
this budget deficit down, because I don't believe you need to spend and 
tax more. I think we need to control the growth of those mandatory 
spending programs. And then give me these things: Give me that line-item 
veto, and let the President try it if the Congress can't do it. Give me 
a taxpayer check-off, or put it this way, give you a taxpayer check-off 
so you can check 10 percent of your tax to go to lowering the deficit, 
and the Congress has to find the spending to go with it. And if they 
don't, we sequester across the board. It is time to put the power back 
in the hands of the people as far as this deficit goes. And there's two 
other things that would help: a balanced budget amendment to the 
Constitution--we almost got it--and that will discipline the Congress 
and the executive branch. And I like term limits because that gives 
power back to the people.
    But the last one and the key one, in my view, in this election and 
what it's going to be determined about is character and trust. You 
simply cannot be on all sides of all questions. You cannot come to a 
State that doesn't have right to work and say, ``I'm against it,'' and 
then in a State that does, say, ``I'm for it.'' You cannot one day be on 
the North American free trade agreement and saying, ``Well, I'm for 
it,'' and then go to the big labor unions, ``Well, I'm for it, but I'm 
going to change it.'' You cannot keep making these waffles. We must not 
turn the White House into the waffle house. And that is what's 
happening.
    It's not any one thing. It is not any one thing. It is this pattern. 
It is this pattern of deception, trying to be all things to all people. 
You can't do that as President. Let me remind you of what it was like at 
Desert Storm. I had to go out and say, here's what we are going to do. I 
couldn't say maybe; I couldn't say, on the one hand we'll do this, and 
on the other hand we'll do that. I made a very difficult decision. And 
thanks to the sons and daughters of South Dakota and other States, the 
mission was accomplished. Saddam's army was destroyed, and we kicked him 
out of Kuwait.
    But where was Governor Clinton? He was on both sides of the 
question. Just when I was trying to mobilize national support in the 
United States Congress and in the press, just as I was trying to 
mobilize it, he made this statement about the time of the vote: I favor 
the position--that is paraphrased--I favor the position of the 
minority--let sanctions work; don't do any--favor the position of the 
minority, but I guess I would have voted for the majority.
    I'm sorry, as Commander in Chief you cannot have a waffle for a 
position. You've got to make the tough calls. If they ever put this guy 
on Mount Rushmore, they'll have to have two faces for him, one on one 
side of the issue, the other on the other. You cannot do that.
    Audience members: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    The President. I've told you my view. And some ask that I not 
discuss it because--I don't know what the politics are, but I said what 
I think about somebody that goes abroad when his comrades or his peer 
group are in prison in Hanoi or are drafted out of the ghettos to serve. 
I know that war was controversial, but I don't believe it is right to go 
to a foreign country when your country is at war and demonstrate there, 
mobilize demonstrations against your country.
    And the liberal press hate it. The press don't like it. I'll tell 
you, I feel I owe it to the American people to say what I think on that. 
The trouble with the draft is not that he didn't serve. A lot of people 
didn't serve. A lot of people didn't like the war. But on April 17th he 
said, ``I'm going to tell the full record.'' And he hasn't done it. I 
think you're entitled to know whether he had a draft notice or whether 
he didn't, whether he went to England because he wanted to serve or 
because he didn't. It is not right to play both sides of the issue to 
protect your own political neck.
    Now, I believe we're going to win this election. And it's been about 
the ugliest political year I can remember. I've never seen anything 
quite like it. The news media wouldn't know good news if it hit them 
right in the face. But I'll tell you something, there's something wrong 
with them; they

[[Page 1983]]

lost it. No, no, we don't want to be too hostile about the media. But I 
do remember what Harry Truman said about 50 reporters: They couldn't 
pound sand in a rat hole if they had to. Well, that was Harry Truman 
speaking, that wasn't me.
    Well, let me tell you, I do believe we're going to win this 
election. And I'll tell you why I think it's going to happen. First 
place, I think we've got a first-class First Lady, and that helps, I'll 
tell me. But here's the reason. I've made mistakes, of course. And I do 
like you do, say, hey, I messed this one up, I'm sorry. You look into 
the American people's eyes and you say, I made a mistake. And now you 
get on about doing the American people's business.
    But I have tried very hard as your President to uphold the trust 
that you have placed in me and in Barbara and in my family, to be living 
in that most prestigious and most awed house in the entire world, the 
White House. And I honestly believe that when people look to this 
country, they look, not as Governor Clinton said, to ``the character of 
the Presidency,'' but they look to both the character of the President 
and the Presidency. They are interlocked. You cannot separate them. You 
cannot separate these two.
    Life has been very good to me and to my family and to our 5 kids and 
to our 12 grandchildren. Life has treated us well. We believe and we've 
tried to live family, faith, friends, and all of that. But I'll tell you 
why--and there's other lines of work I'm sure that would be a lot more 
pleasant every day, day in and day out, than taking the shots one takes 
in this life. But I want to finish the job I've started.
    Tonight these kids here will go to bed at night without the same 
fear of nuclear war that the generation precedent had. That is something 
that is significant. Ancient enemies are talking to each other around 
the world, talking peace in the Middle East. Russia is now democratic 
and trying to perfect their democracy. To the south of our border you 
see democracy and freedom on the march. And literally, because of the 
taxpayer, because of my predecessor staying with strength, peace through 
strength, we have literally changed the world.
    But the job is not done. And it won't be done until we can lift up 
every family in this country, inspire them that the American dream is 
still alive, help them with education, make our families more secure in 
the neighborhood by less crime. Lift up America.
    Lastly, Clinton says we are a nation in decline, somewhere south of 
Germany but just ahead of Sri Lanka. He ought to open his eyes. We are 
the most fair, the most decent, most honorable country on the face of 
the Earth. Now help me make it even better. I ask, as we drive down to 
the close with things moving and the excitement building, I ask for your 
support. I ask for your vote. Help me change America and make life 
better for every kid here today.
    Thank you. Thank you. And may God bless our great country on this 
beautiful Sunday in South Dakota. We are fortunate to be here. May God 
bless us all. Thank you all. Thank you.

                    Note: The President spoke at 1:20 p.m. at the Sioux 
                        Empire Fairgrounds Exposition Center. In his 
                        remarks, he referred to Arlene Ham, Republican 
                        national committeewoman; Don Peterson, State 
                        Republican Party chairman and State Victory '92 
                        chairman; Mary McClure, executive director, 
                        South Dakota Bush-Quayle '92; and entertainers 
                        Baillie and the Boys.