[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992-1993, Book II)]
[October 29, 1992]
[Pages 2069-2072]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to the Community in Macomb County, Michigan
October 29, 1992

    The President. What a great welcome. Thank you very much. Thank you, 
Governor Engler. You guys are fired up, and that makes me feel like 
victory is ours.
    May I start by singling out my friend Bruce Willis. I'm proud to 
have this guy at our side here and very grateful. And, of course, if you 
want to win a race in Michigan, you'd better have Governor John Engler 
at your side. And may also I salute Congressman Bill Broomfield, who's 
leaving the Congress, but a great Member of Congress, and I'm very proud 
of him; thank State Senator Carl; and then say this: Everyplace you go 
people yell, ``Clean House!'' Clean House. Do your part now. Send John 
Pappageorge up there, Doug Carl. Of course, I'm grateful to Senator 
DiNello for being with us today, a man of conviction, that puts 
conviction ahead of party.
    Hey listen, may I thank these seven high school bands that are with 
us today, great!

[At this point, there was a disturbance in the audience.]

    The President. We'll get them. You know, last week--I want to 
mention the Utah--look at these characters. Kind of sad, isn't it? A 
little pathetic.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. A little pathetic. They feel it slipping away from 
them. They know it's moving away from them. They know we're going to win 
the election.
    I'm delighted to be here. And the decision that people make is going 
to be a tre-

[[Page 2070]]

mendous difference, a vast difference on experience, a difference on 
philosophy, and yes, a difference on character. Character matters.
    You know, I hate to ruin this beautiful rally, but let me just tell 
you a little bit about the Arkansas record.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Yes, I'm sorry. I've got to do it. Here's the way 
they stand after 10 years of Governor Clinton. They are 50th in the 
quality of environmental concerns. They are 50th in the percentage of 
adults with a college degree. That's it. They are 50th in per capita 
spending on criminal justice. They are 49th in per capita spending on 
police protection.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. They are 48th in percentage of adults with a high 
school diploma.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Forty-eighth in backing up their police and spending 
on corrections.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Forty-sixth on teachers' salaries; 45th in the 
overall well-being of children. And Governor Clinton says, ``I want to 
do for America what I've done for Arkansas.'' No way!
    You know, Governor Clinton said in the debate that they were number 
one in job growth. That's true for one year, and during that year he was 
out of the State 85 percent of the time. For the other 10 years, they 
were 30 percent of the national average. We cannot let him do that to 
the United States of America.
    Governor Clinton says he's the candidate of change. He wants to sock 
a $150 billion tax increase to the working man, and we're not going to 
let him do that. He talks about investing, let the Government do it. I 
want to get small business to create more jobs, not the Government. You 
remember what it was like before. He wants that trickle-down Government, 
and we want business to provide jobs in the private sector.
    You know, Governor Clinton and the Ozone Man, that's the guy that 
wants to put a 45-mile-per-gallon gas fuel efficiency standard on the 
auto business.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. How would the auto workers like that one? They'd be 
losing jobs hand over fist. But the last time we tried the kind of 
change he's talking about, the last time Democrats had the White House 
and that spendthrift Congress, inflation was 15 percent and interest 
rates were 21 percent. We are not going to go back to those kind of 
standards.
    Change, Governor Clinton and Ozone, they just keep talking about 
change, change, change. That's all you will have left in your pocket if 
Governor Clinton becomes President of the United States. That's it.
    No, the last time we had that kind of inflation rate that Gore and 
Clinton would take us to, it was up there at there, as I said, inflation 
15 percent, interest 20 percent. Now, how would you like that? If we'd 
stayed at their rate of inflation, milk, which costs, what, $2.70, would 
be $8.23. That's what would happen.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Bread, 84 cents, would be up about $2.50. We cannot 
go back to that Clinton-Gore inflation by raising taxes and raising 
spending.
    Now, there's been some bad news. There's been some very bad news for 
Clinton and Gore. It comes out that we are not in a deep recession. We 
grew 2.7 percent. And these guys are weeping tears.
    The only way they can win is to tell everybody everything isn't 
worth a darn. They criticize our country and say we are less than 
Germany and slightly better than Sri Lanka. My dog Millie knows more 
about foreign affairs than these two bozos. It's crazy. Let them tear 
down the country. Let us all build it up by getting this economy moving.
    No, the economy's beginning to move, and we've got to be sure we 
keep it moving so every American that's hurting has a job with dignity 
in the private sector. And my plan does just exactly that: control the 
growth of spending, keep the lid on those taxes, relieve business from 
regulation.
    Let's do something about these crazy lawsuits. Governor Clinton is 
right in the pocket of the trail lawyers. We ought to put limits on 
these lawsuits. And it is my view that we ought to care for each other 
more and sue each other less.
    We can do it. We're going to get the

[[Page 2071]]

change done, because the Democrats fouled up the Congress. They can't 
run a two-bit bank, and they can't run a two-bit post office; so, so 
many of them are going to get kicked out that we can move this country 
ahead. Clean House! Clean House! Clean them out! Get rid of them all! 
Bring more guys in like Bill Broomfield, and get this thing moving.
    You know, it's small business that creates the jobs. Two-thirds of 
the new jobs are small business. They need not more regulation. They 
need relief from regulation, relief from taxation, and relief from 
lawsuits.
    On health care, Governor Clinton wants a board, a Government board 
to set the prices. I want to free up the private market to provide 
insurance to the poorest of the poor through vouchers; the next tax 
bracket, to give them a tax break; and to let it be said that the 
Government can't run health care, the private insurance can. We want to 
give everybody insurance. Give them vouchers and give them tax credits, 
and let's get going, and let's keep the quality of health care up. Don't 
get the Government trying to set prices.
    We'll be able to get it done this time because we're going to have 
at least 150 new Members of Congress. The gridlock will be gone.
    As I look around here one of the main things we've got to do it make 
our education system--we're going to clean the House, you're right. And 
I want to bypass the NEA and get the teachers a chance to reform these 
schools. I want the parents to have the choice and the ability to make 
that choice, public, private, and religious schools. Give the parents a 
choice.
    Very candidly, on another subject, I've got big differences with 
Governor Clinton on crime. You know, the other day eight people came up 
to see me in the Oval Office, and they said, ``We are for you.'' They 
were the Fraternal Order of Police from Little Rock, Arkansas, endorsing 
me for President of the United States.
    The answer is to back our police officers. Get the gridlock guys in 
Congress to give us stronger anticrime legislation, and let's have more 
sympathy for the victim of crime and a little less for the criminal.
    Governor Clinton has had about four economic plans, and he's given 
up on the budget deficit. Let me give you three ideas. How about a 
balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. How about a check-off for 
taxpayers, say 10 percent of your taxes must go for reducing that 
deficit. And how about giving me what 43 Governors have, a line-item 
veto. They can't do it; let the President do it.
    Here's another one for you: Why not give the Congress back to the 
people. The President's terms are limited to 8 years. Let's limit the 
Members of Congress' terms.
    But I guess the biggest difference of all, the biggest difference of 
all, relates to character and trust. Let me just say this: You cannot be 
President if you try to be all things to all people. You cannot say, 
``On the one hand I'm for this''; ``but I am'' on the other. You cannot 
have a lot of ``buts'' in the Oval Office. You've got to look the 
American people in the eye and call them as you see them. If you make a 
mistake, you say so. But you don't waffle. We cannot turn the White 
House into the waffle house.
    Governor Clinton is on all sides of all issues, and there is a 
pattern of deception. Let me tell you about the decision to go to war. 
It was not an easy decision. We were fought by a lot of the media. We 
were fought by a lot in the Congress. And here's what Governor Clinton 
said, he said, ``I agreed with the minority,''--that was the 
Democrat's--``but I guess I would have voted with the majority.'' You 
cannot be a Commander in Chief and waffle around. That is character. 
That is character.
    I heard Governor Clinton raise the character question yesterday. 
Well, come on in. Let's take it on on character and trust.
    I see these veterans here. I see these veterans here, and I welcome 
their support. Let me tell you one difference. I'll be honest with you. 
I don't think it is right when your brothers are in a prison in Hanoi or 
kids are being drafted out of the ghetto, to go over and lead, organize 
demonstrations in a foreign land against your country when it's in war. 
That's a big difference. That's a big difference. That is a big, big 
difference.
    I don't think you have to have served in

[[Page 2072]]

the service, but I do think it helps if you want to be Commander in 
Chief, so you can hold your head up and look at these young men and 
women you have to send into battle.
    No, the differences are between night and day. Look, if you listen 
to Governor Clinton and Ozone Man, if you listen to them--you know why I 
call him Ozone Man? This guy is so far off in the environmental extreme, 
we'll be up to our neck in owls and out of work for every American. This 
guy's crazy. He is way out, far out. Far out, man. Hey, listen, do you 
think he would save General Motors by slapping more regulation on them? 
Less regulation. Less taxes. Bring that back.
    But you listen, as I say, if you listen to Governor Clinton and 
Senator Gore, you'd think that foreign affairs don't matter. Let me tell 
you something. I take great pride in the fact that the young kids go to 
bed at night without the same fear of nuclear war that their parents 
had. That is a major accomplishment. Ancient enemies are talking peace. 
Democracy is on the move. Imperial communism is dead. Now what I want to 
do is take that same leadership and, with the help of a new Congress, 
lift up every family in America and give them a shot at the American 
dream.
    So in the final analysis, one of the reasons we're moving is because 
I think people are focusing now as they get down to the wire on who has 
the trust and the character to lead. Let me tell you something, let me 
tell you, Barbara Bush--and I think we've got a great First Lady, as a 
matter of fact--she and I have tried to uphold the trust. And you know, 
we're lucky, 12 grandchildren and 5 kids and a good life. But let me 
tell you something: I want to finish the job I have started. I want to 
help those young people here today to understand that the American dream 
is still alive.
    So as we drive down the wire, the train rolling, I look you in the 
eye, and I say, I ask for your support. And I ask for your vote, based 
on character and trust. Let's lead the world to new heights of 
prosperity for every single American. Don't let them tear it down.
    God bless America. Thank you all very much. Thank you.

                    Note: The President spoke at 1:42 p.m. in the 
                        gymnasium at Macomb Community College. In his 
                        remarks, he referred to Douglas Carl and Gilbert 
                        J. DiNello, Michigan State senators.