[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992-1993, Book II)]
[November 2, 1992]
[Pages 2145-2148]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at a Rally in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
November 2, 1992

    The President. Thank you very much. What a great Louisiana welcome. 
Unbelievable. Thank you very much. Thank you so very much for this 
welcome back. And may I at the outset of these remarks say thank you, 
Louisiana, and thank you, Cheryl Ladd, an old friend, for introducing me 
here today.
    And I want to salute Congressman Richard Baker, Congressman 
Holloway, Congressman Livingston, all three great guys; former 
Congressman and your former Governor Dave Treen, who's at my side 
through thick and thin; another great Louisianian, Henson Moore, who is 
so important to us in the White House and been working his heart out 
here; and Fox McKeithen and Chuck McMains and Carl Crane and so many 
others that are helping us in every single way, but especially all of 
you here tonight to put us over the top in the State of Louisiana.
    I'll tell you, something is happening across this country. Something 
is happening across this country. And we are going to annoy the media 
and reelect George Bush. They don't like it; they don't understand it. 
Something is happening in our great country. Come Monday, we feel things 
moving. But come Wednesday, there's going to be no joy in Little Rock, 
believe me. We're going to win this election. And the pollsters, the 
pollsters are going to be unemployed, and the rest of the country is 
going to move forward to jobs and opportunity. [Applause] No, you guys 
are too much.
    But here's what it's about. Here's what it is about. There is the 
choice, is a big difference on experience, on philosophy, and yes, on 
character. Character matters for President of the United States of 
America. And yes, the issue is, tomorrow when you go into that booth, 
the question of trust. Who do you trust with your kids? Who do you trust 
with your country? Who do you trust to lead the free world?
    Governor Clinton says he's the candidate of change. But let's look 
at what he offers: $150 billion of new taxes to start with----
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. ----$220 billion in new spending. That is trickle-
down Government. And we do not need to go back to the failed days when 
you had a Democrat in the White House and Democrats running, the 
liberals running the Congress. Governor Clinton's numbers don't add up. 
He says, ``Oh, I'm going to sock it to the rich.'' All you guys driving 
a cab, being a nurse, teaching school, watch out: He's coming after you. 
And we're not going to let him do that to the United States of America.
    And I would remind the entire country from this fired-up rally right 
here in Baton Rouge--the one I'm told is the biggest they've ever had 
here--what it was like when we had another guy sounding just like this 
in the White House, like Governor Clinton. We had interest rates at 21 
percent. We had inflation at 15. We had a

[[Page 2146]]

``misery index'' of 20. And we are not going to go back to those days.
    This guy--change--he and Ozone Man, all they do is say, change, 
change, change. That is all you'll have in your pocket if you put these 
two guys in office, believe me. We're the ones with the positive 
program. We want to renew, revolutionize education, K through 12, give 
the parents a choice of schools, religious, private, and public. Put 
your faith in the parents and in the teachers and in the community, not 
in some bureaucracy in Washington, DC.
    We've got the best plan for reforming health care: making insurance 
available to the poorest of the poor through vouchers; tax credits to 
that next overworked and overtaxed part; get that insurance pooled so 
you bring the prices down; and then go after these malpractice lawsuits 
that are driving the cost of health care right up through the roof.
    We've got to teach those trial lawyers and Governor Clinton that 
people want reform of the legal system. It's a shame when people don't 
dare coach Little League for fear of a crazy lawsuit, don't dare help 
their fellow man along the highway for afraid of a crazy lawsuit, 
doctors don't dare deliver babies for fear of a crazy lawsuit. It is 
time to stand up to the trial lawyers and put some liability limits on 
this insurance.
    And there's another big difference. The other day in southern 
Louisiana, I signed a brandnew national energy strategy that changes 
this alternative minimum tax and says, look, we are going to get the 
oilfields back to work by giving them a tax break.
    And we've got a very good record in the environment. But it is Ozone 
Man--and this is why I call him that--who has said in Santa Barbara, 
California, ``No more offshore drilling anywhere.'' That is wrong. That 
is wrong for this country.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. But typical, one day he makes that statement in 
California, ``No more anywhere''; then he comes here and hedges and said 
he didn't say it. Then they played the tape to him right in Louisiana 
where he said, ``No more drilling anywhere.'' And now he said, ``Well, 
yes, I said it, but.'' You cannot have a lot of ``buts'' in the Oval 
Office. And Governor Clinton keeps going, one side of the issue one day, 
one side the next.
    No, you can't have it all ways. You can't be all things to all 
people in this job. You call them as you see them. If you make a 
mistake, you look the American people in the eye, like any family person 
would, and say, I was wrong. And then you go forward and lead the 
country. You don't try to waffle. You don't try to be on all sides of 
every question.
    And believe me, Governor Clinton wants to expand the American 
Government. And I want to expand the American dream for every kid here 
today.
    Now let's talk about character and trust. I happen to believe that 
they're both important. I happen to believe they are both important, 
because people look to the United States and to the President for just 
that kind of leadership. And Governor Clinton said in the debate, he 
said it's not a question of the character of the President, it is ``the 
character of the Presidency.'' Wrong. They're interlocked. You can't 
separate them out for the time that the man is President.
    I mentioned Horace Greeley's words in the last debate we had. But 
here's the full quote. He said, ``Fame is a vapor, popularity an 
accident, riches take wing; only character endures.'' And that's true, 
whether it's in a family, whether it's in a business deal, or whether 
it's as President of the United States of America.
    And so, my pitch at the end is that we simply cannot take a risk on 
Governor Clinton. Neither his experience nor his character, given this 
position on one side or the other, is what's right for this country at 
this time.
    We are the greatest nation. You know, Governor Clinton and Ozone go 
around telling everybody that we are a nation in decline, that we're 
less than Germany, that we are more than Sri Lanka. Wrong. We are the 
most respected nation on the face of the Earth. And we have made 
dramatic strides towards world peace. They don't ever like to talk about 
foreign affairs. But let me tell you something on the eve of going to 
the polls. I am very proud to have been the President that has greatly 
re-

[[Page 2147]]

duced, if not eliminated, the threat of nuclear war from the face of the 
Earth.
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    The President. You know, let me tell you something----
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    The President. I honestly believe we're going to get 4 more years 
tomorrow.
    You know, I have another big difference with Governor Clinton. It 
relates to war and peace. I am very proud that I wore the uniform of 
this country and fought for my country in combat. And the media elite 
don't like it, but I still think it is wrong, when your country is 
fighting, to go to organize demonstrations in a foreign land against the 
United States of America.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. And thank God we didn't waffle when Saddam Hussein 
took over Kuwait. Thank God we stood up and said this aggression will 
not stand. And thanks to the sons and daughters of Louisiana and others 
across this country, it did not stand.
    And yesterday, a couple of days ago, there's this marvelous dispatch 
out of Baghdad a couple of days ago, Saddam Hussein's government 
announcing that they plan a party in downtown Baghdad of 500,000 people 
if I lose. Well, let me tell Saddam something here tonight: He can put 
his party on hold. And he'd better live up to all those resolutions of 
the United Nations and take the pressure off his people. Now, Saddam 
won't be happy, but I'll be happy that he's not happy. Look at it that 
way.
    Now, let me ask you this. Imagine a year from today picking up a 
newspaper in your house and seeing that somewhere in the world or 
somewhere right at home there is a significant domestic crisis, an 
unforeseen crisis. Imagine that in this dangerous situation an American 
leader, totally without experience, completely untested, a leader about 
really whom we know very little still, and what we do know is his 
troubling pattern of being on one side and then another and bringing 
this ingrained habit of trying to lead people by misleading them. And 
when that next crisis comes, and you know darn well it will, the entire 
world is going to be looking to the American President. Make no mistake 
about that. And they will look to his experience, and they will count on 
his character.
    And I have been tested by fire. We have managed world change. It 
gets of almost Biblical proportions. And our success can be measured by 
the headlines that were never written, the countless crises that have 
never taken place, because we stayed firm and strong and never waffled.
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    Audience members. George Bush! George Bush! George Bush!
    The President. The decision that we made on Desert Storm was made 
not because it was popular. Think back to the demonstrations, to the 
reluctance of Congress, to the testimony before the Congress, counting 
millions of body bags that might return. It was not an easy call, and 
clearly it was not a popular call. But as President you have to make a 
call when you believe it was right, and that was the right thing to do.
    And I will never forget that cold day up there in Camp David at our 
little chapel when Barbara and I literally prayed for the safety of the 
young men and women that were about to go to war. And let's never 
forget, we are one Nation under God, and in the Oval Office or in your 
families, we should never forget that. And we prayed those kids would 
come back. And back they came, with their heads high. And they lifted 
our country up and brought it together and erased the agony of Vietnam 
and made everybody proud, proud again to be Americans.
    And so yes, I do believe in honor, duty, and country. And I ask for 
you to remember that another crisis may occur, and we better have a 
Commander in Chief that shares those Louisiana values.
    Let me conclude now. We're getting near the end of the trail. This 
is the second-to-last campaign appearance that I'll ever make on my own 
behalf after half my adult life in public life--half in the private life 
right here, much of it in Louisiana; half of it in business, the other 
half in public life. And this is the end of the road in terms of the 
campaigning.
    And so let me ask you in all seriousness to

[[Page 2148]]

think seriously about this and ask that you not take lightly your 
responsibility that you'll have tomorrow. You see, democracy was 
conceived from liberty, nurtured by freedom, and protected by the blood 
of those who came before us. And when you walk alone into that booth 
tomorrow, you'll not spend more than a couple of minutes. But your 
single voice will echo down the corridor of time. And with your vote, 
you will help shape the entire future of this, the most blessed, special 
nation that man has ever known and that God has ever created. And what 
we do together, what we do together tomorrow will cast its shadow 
forward into eternity.
    And so your vote is an act of power, a statement of principle, and a 
messenger of possibility. And so like all the candidates, I ask only 
that you think deeply about our Nation, about those that need help, 
about our needs, because tomorrow the polls don't matter. The pundits 
don't count. On election day, it is the American people who speak their 
mind. And only conscience should be your guide.
    And don't let anyone tell you we're a nation in decline. We've come 
out of some very hard times. We're beginning to move. And I ask for your 
support for 4 more years to help every young person in this room enjoy 
the American dream.
    May God bless the United States of America. Thank you very much. 
Thank you and God bless you all. Thank you.

                    Note: The President spoke at 6:55 p.m. at the Baton 
                        Rouge Metropolitan Airport. In his remarks, he 
                        referred to actress Cheryl Ladd; Henson Moore, 
                        Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental 
                        Affairs; Fox McKeithen, Louisiana secretary of 
                        state; and Chuck McMains and Carl Crane, 
                        Louisiana State representatives.