[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book II)]
[September 5, 2004]
[Pages 1913-1919]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks in Parkersburg, West Virginia
September 5, 2004

    The President. Thank you all for coming. Thanks for taking time out 
of your Sunday to say hello. I appreciate you giving me the chance to 
come and tell you I want your vote. I believe you got to get out amongst 
the people and ask for the vote, and that's what I'm doing.
    It's great to be back in West Virginia. It seems like I'm making a 
habit coming here. It ought to be clear to the people of this State that 
I want to carry West Virginia again. And it's clear to me, having been 
here a lot and seeing the enthusiasm and the size of the crowds, with 
your help, we will carry West Virginia again.
    I like this State. It's the home of really good people, beautiful 
scenery, and good hunting and fishing.
    I wish Laura were traveling with me today. 
She's at home. She's been on the road a lot and--what a great speech she 
gave the other night in New York City. I'm really proud of her. She's a 
great mom, a wonderful wife, a terrific First Lady. I'm going to give 
you some reasons why I think you ought to put me back in, but perhaps 
the most important one of all is so that Laura will be First Lady for 4 
more years.
    I want to thank my friend Dick Cheney for 
working so hard. He's a great Vice President. I'm proud to be running 
with him. You know, he doesn't have the waviest hair in the race. 
[Laughter] But I picked him because of his experience and judgment and 
because he can get the job done.
    I want to thank Shelley Moore Capito for joining us, the fine Congresswoman from West 
Virginia. I appreciate you coming, Shelley Moore.
    I want to thank your Mayor, Mayor Jimmy Colombo. Thanks for coming, Jimmy. I'm proud you're here. I'm 
honored you're here, sir. Next time I come back, we'll make sure you got 
a seat. [Laughter] But I'm proud you're here. Thank you, sir, for 
coming.
    You know, there's a--like Jimmy, there's a 
lot of Democrats here in the crowd, and I want to thank you all for 
coming. See, my message is for everybody. A safer, stronger, better 
America is for every citizen of this country. I think old Zell 
Miller set a pretty good tempo for Democrats all 
across the country. He made it clear it's all right to come and support 
the Bush ticket. So if you're a Democrat and you're here, welcome. If 
you're an independent and you're here, welcome. If you're a Republican 
and you're here, thank you for your help.
    I want to thank all those who are running for office who are here, 
but most importantly, I want to thank you all. I also want to thank the 
folks at Parkersburg High. I want to thank Ralph Board, the principal, and the students at Parkersburg High. I 
want to thank the community band that is here. Thank you all for coming.
    Looks like you all take high school football pretty seriously, kind 
of like where I was raised. There's nothing like Friday night football. 
I want to thank--did you win last night--or last Friday? You did? Good. 
That's great. Now go do your homework. [Laughter]

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    I want to thank the West Virginia Army National Guard 1092d Engineer 
Combat Battalion. Thanks for the good job you did in Iraq. I'm proud of 
your service.
    Not only am I here to ask for your vote, I'm here to ask for your 
help. See, we have a duty in this country to vote. And I would hope you 
would go out and register your friends and neighbors and remind them 
that in a democracy, free citizens must participate. And then when you 
get them headed toward the polls, just remind them that George Bush and 
Dick Cheney are ready to lead this country for 4 
more years.
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    The President. Listen, I'm looking forward to campaigning in West 
Virginia and Ohio and all around this country. And as I do so, I'll tell 
you where I stand, I'll tell you what I believe, and I'll tell you where 
I'll lead this country. I believe that every child can learn and every 
school must teach. That's why we passed Federal education reforms to 
raise the bar, to trust local people with the decisions in the schools, 
to measure early so we can correct problems before it's too late. We're 
closing the achievement gap in America, and we're not turning back.
    I believe we have a moral responsibility to honor our citizens with 
good health care. That's why I went to Washington, DC, to strengthen 
Medicare. The old system said, ``We'll pay for heart surgery at $100,000 
or so, but we won't pay for the medicine to prevent the heart surgery 
from happening in the first place.'' Beginning in 2006, our seniors will 
get prescription drug coverage in Medicare, and we're not turning back.
    I believe in the energy and innovation of America, workers and 
farmers and ranchers and small-business owners, so we unleashed that 
energy with the largest tax cut in a generation.
    We've overcome a recession, corporate scandals, terrorist attack. 
Our economy is growing, and it is getting stronger. Just this past week, 
we received the jobs report for August. America added 144,000 new jobs 
last month. Plus 60,000 jobs upward revision for the previous 2 months, 
we've added over 1.7 million new jobs since August of '03. The national 
unemployment rate is 5.4 percent, and the unemployment rate in the great 
State of West Virginia is 5.2 percent. Our economic plan is working.
    I believe the most solemn duty of the President is to protect the 
American people. If America shows uncertainty and weakness in this 
decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This is not going to happen 
on my watch. I'm running with a clear and positive plan to build a safer 
world and a more hopeful America. I'm running with a compassionate 
conservative philosophy: Government should help people improve their 
lives, not try to run their lives. And I believe this Nation wants 
steady, principled, consistent leadership, and that is why, with your 
help, we're going to score a great national victory in November.
    The other night when I was speaking in New York, I told the American 
people I understand we're living in a changing world. It's a different 
world from the world of our parents and grandparents. People are 
changing jobs quite frequently. The workplace has changed. Many women 
work not only inside their homes but outside the home as well. It's a 
changing world. And yet, the fundamental systems of America were built 
for yesterday, not tomorrow. Our Tax Code, health coverage, pension 
plans, and worker training were all set up for a bygone era. And I 
believe we need to change those systems to help the American people 
realize their dreams.
    But any hopeful society is one in which the economy is growing. To 
create more jobs here in America, America must be the best place in the 
world to do business. That means we've got to have--that means we need 
legal reform so our small businesses don't have to shut their doors 
because of

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frivolous lawsuits. That means we need--Congress needs to get an energy 
plan to my desk, which encourages conservation, renewables, but also 
encourages clean coal technology. In order to keep jobs here in America, 
we must be less dependent on foreign sources of energy.
    To keep jobs here in America, we must open up markets overseas for 
our entrepreneurs and manufacturers and farmers and ranchers. We open up 
our markets, and that's good for you. What I tell other countries like 
China is, ``You treat us the way we treat you.'' We can compete with 
anybody, anytime, anywhere if the rules are fair.
    In order to make sure we keep jobs here, we got to be wise about how 
we spend your money, and we got to keep your taxes low. We have a 
difference of opinion on taxes in this campaign. My opponent has promised to raise some taxes. That's a promise 
politicians tend to keep.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. This Labor Day weekend, it is important for America's 
workers to know that my opponent wants to tax 
your jobs. His plan to raise taxes on those at the top end of the income 
tax scale will raise taxes for the 900,000 small businesses and 
entrepreneurs who pay at the individual rate and who are creating most 
of the new jobs in our changing economy. Raising taxes will stifle job 
creation. The way to get more Americans working is to support the small 
businesses who are creating 70 percent of the new jobs in America.
    I'll tell you what else we've got to fix is the Tax Code. It is a 
complicated mess. It's full of special interest loopholes. Americans 
spend about 6 billion hours of paperwork and headache every year on the 
Tax Code. In a new term, I will lead a bipartisan effort to reform and 
simplify and make fair the Federal Tax Code.
    We will expand access to our community colleges so workers will have 
the skills necessary to fill the jobs of the 21st century. You know that 
most new jobs in America are filled by people with at least 2 years of 
college, yet only one in four students gets there. In our high schools, 
we'll fund early intervention programs to help students at risk. We'll 
place a new focus on math and science. Over time, we'll require a 
rigorous exam before graduation. By raising performance in our high 
schools and expanding Pell grants for low- and middle-income families, 
we will help more Americans start their career with a college diploma.
    In a time of change, we'll do more to make quality health care 
available and affordable. More than one-half of the uninsured are small-
business employees and their families. In order to make sure these 
families get help, we must allow small firms to join together to 
purchase insurance at the discounts available to big companies.
    We will offer tax credits to encourage small businesses and their 
employees to set up health savings accounts. I will ensure every poor 
county in America has a community or rural health center. In all we do 
to improve health care in America, we will make sure the decisions are 
made by doctors and patients, not by Government officials in Washington, 
DC.
    Talk about an issue that's important here in West Virginia and 
around our country, and that is, these frivolous lawsuits are running up 
the cost of your health care, and they're running good docs out of 
business. See, I don't think you can be pro-patient, pro-hospital, and 
pro-doctor and pro-plaintiff-attorney at the same time. I think you have 
to choose. My opponent made his choice, and he 
put him on the ticket.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. I have made my choice: I am for medical liability 
reform--now.
    In a new term, we'll continue to promote an ownership society. 
Listen, in changing times, if you own something, you bring stability to 
your life. We're going to expand homeownership in America. Do you 
realize homeownership is at an alltime high in

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America? There's nothing better than more American citizens opening the 
door to the place where they live and saying, ``Welcome to my home. 
Welcome to my piece of property.''
    As well we've got to make sure our retirement systems work well, 
particularly for younger workers. If you're a baby boomer or older, 
Social Security will take care of you. It will meet your promise. But if 
you're a younger worker, you better take a good look at the balance 
sheet of Social Security. I believe young workers ought to be able to 
take some of their own taxes and put it in a personal account in order 
to make sure the retirement system is around for them, a personal 
account they'll call a nest egg of their own that Government cannot take 
away.
    We have a different philosophy in this race. If you listen carefully 
to the fellow I'm running against, he's talking 
about expanding Government. He wants to increase Government and the role 
of Government. That's different from our philosophy. I believe the 
proper role of Government is to increase opportunity, so citizens can 
realize their full potential and realize the great dream of the United 
States of America.
    In a world of change, some things don't change, the values we try to 
live by, courage and compassion, reverence and integrity. In a changing 
world, we must support the institutions that are important to our 
society, our families, our schools, our religious congregations. Because 
a caring society will value its weakest members, we must make a place 
for the unborn child. Because religious charities provide a safety net 
of mercy and compassion, our Government must never discriminate against 
them. Because the union of a man and woman deserves an honored place in 
our society, I support the protection of marriage against activist 
judges. And I will continue to appoint Federal judges who know the 
difference between personal opinion and the strict interpretation of the 
law.
    This election will also determine how America responds to the 
continuing danger of terrorism. Since the terrible morning of September 
the 11th, we have fought with the terrorists across the Earth, not for 
pride, not for power, but because the lives of our citizens depend on 
it. Our strategy is clear. We'll defend the homeland. We'll stay on the 
offensive. We'll strike the terrorists abroad, so we do not have to face 
them here at home. And we'll work to promote liberty around the world, 
particularly the broader Middle East. And if we're strong and if we got 
faith in our values, we will prevail.
    Listen, our strategy is succeeding. Four years ago, Afghanistan was 
the home base of Al Qaida; Pakistan was a transit point for terrorist 
groups; Saudi was a fertile ground for terrorist fundraising; Libya was 
pursuing nuclear weapons; Iraq was a gathering threat; and Al Qaida was 
largely unchallenged as it planned attacks. Now, because we acted, the 
Government of a free Afghanistan is fighting terror; Pakistan is 
capturing terrorists; Saudi Arabia is making raids and arrests; Libya is 
dismantling its weapons program; the army of a free Iraq is fighting for 
freedom; and more than three-quarters of Al Qaida's key members and 
associates have been brought to justice. We have led. Many have joined, 
and America and the world are safer.
    This progress involved careful diplomacy, clear moral purpose, and 
some tough decisions. And the toughest came on Iraq. We knew Saddam 
Hussein's record of aggression and support 
for terror. We knew that. We knew his long history of pursuing and even 
using weapons of mass destruction. And we know that after September the 
11th, we must think differently about how to defend our country. We must 
take threats seriously before they fully materialize.
    In Saddam Hussein, we saw a threat. I 
went to the United States Congress. They looked at the same 
intelligence, looked at the same history of Saddam Hussein, and

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came to the same conclusion. They saw a threat, including my 
opponent, who looked at the same intelligence I 
looked at and concluded that Saddam Hussein was a threat. And the 
Congress voted the authorization of force.
    Before the Commander in Chief commits troops into harm's way, we 
must exhaust all other options to solve a problem. And so I tried the 
diplomatic route. I went to the United Nations. I said to the United 
Nations, I said, ``We see a threat.'' They looked at the same 
intelligence, remembered the same history, and with a 15-to-nothing vote 
in the United Nations Security Council said to Saddam Hussein, ``Disclose, disarm, or face serious consequences.''
    The free world spoke, but as he had for 
over a decade, Saddam Hussein wasn't interested in what the free world 
said. See, he got used to ignoring the demands of the free world. As a 
matter of fact, when they sent weapons inspectors into the country, he 
systematically deceived the inspectors. So I had a choice to make: 
Either take the word of a madman and forget the lessons of September the 
11th, or defend this country. Given that choice, I will defend America 
every time.
    Because we acted to defend our country, 50 million people in 
Afghanistan and Iraq are now free--50 million people. You know, it's 
amazing what's happening in Afghanistan. That was a country where the 
Taliban would not allow many young girls to go to school and take their 
moms out in the public square and whip them if they didn't like the way 
they were thinking or behaving. These people were barbaric. It's hard 
for the American mind to comprehend how backwards and barbaric these 
people were. Today, over 10 million citizens have registered to vote in 
the October Presidential elections in Afghanistan.
    Freedom is powerful--freedom is powerful. Iraq now has a strong 
Prime Minister, a National Council, and national 
elections are scheduled there in January. Our Nation is standing with 
the people of Afghanistan and Iraq, because when America gives its word, 
America must keep its word.
    We're also doing because it's in our interest. Free societies in the 
Middle East will be hopeful societies which no longer feed resentments 
and breed violence for export. Free governments in the Middle East will 
fight terrorists instead of harboring them, and that helps us keep the 
peace. Our mission in those two countries is clear. We'll help new 
leaders to train their armies so the Afghan people and the Iraqi people 
can stand up for freedom in their own societies. We'll help elections 
come forward. We'll get them on the path to stability and democracy as 
quickly as possible. And then our troops will return home with the honor 
they have earned.
    I've had the privilege of meeting with those who defend our country 
here at home and around the world. We have got a fantastic United States 
military. And I want to thank all of the veterans who are here today for 
having such--set such a great example for the men and women of the 
United States military.
    We made a commitment to our troops and to the loved ones--and to 
their loved ones--that we'll support them in their missions. That's why 
I went to the Congress last September and proposed supplemental funding 
for body armor and spare parts, ammunition, fuel, that which is 
necessary to support our men and women in Afghanistan and Iraq. It's an 
$87 billion request. It was necessary. As a matter of fact, the Congress 
believed that. It was--there was overwhelming support, and so 
overwhelming only 12 United States Senators voted against it, 2 of whom 
are my opponent and his runningmate.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. As a matter of fact, only four United States Senators 
voted to authorize the use of force and then voted against funding our 
troops. Two of those Senators were my opponent 
and his runningmate.

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    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. So they asked him, they said, 
``You know, why didn't you vote?'' He said, ``Well, I actually did vote 
for the $87 billion before I voted against it.''
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Then they pressed him further, and he said he's proud 
of his vote, and then he said, ``Well, the whole thing is a complicated 
matter.'' There's nothing complicated about supporting our troops in 
combat.
    Over the next 4 years, I'll continue to work with our allies and 
friends to promote freedom and peace. We've got a great coalition put 
together; nearly 40 countries are involved in Afghanistan, some 30 in 
Iraq. But I will never turn over America's national security decisions 
to leaders of other countries.
    I believe in the transformational power of liberty. That's why I say 
these are historic times. The world is changing. As liberty moves on, so 
will peace, the peace we all want. You know, I like to tell about my 
business with Prime Minister Koizumi; he's 
the Prime Minister of Japan. You know, we sit at a table together, and 
we're talking about peace, talking about North Korea and how to keep the 
peace, talking about Iraq and how to keep the peace--an interesting 
conversation when you think about it, because it wasn't all that long 
ago that my dad and your dads and granddads 
were fighting the Japanese as a sworn enemy. And yet because, after 
World War II, Harry Truman and others believed that liberty could 
transform countries and transform people, because they held firm to the 
values of America, Japan today is no longer an enemy. It's an ally in 
keeping the peace. Someday an American President will be sitting down 
with a duly elected leader of Iraq; they'll be talking about how to make 
the world a more peaceful place.
    I believe that. I believe people long to be free. I believe people, 
if given a chance to be free, will choose freedom. I believe that 
because America is not--freedom is not America's gift to the world; 
freedom is the Almighty God's gift to each man and woman in this world.
    For all Americans, these years in our history will always stand 
apart. There are quiet times in the life of a nation when little is 
expected of its leaders. This isn't one of those times. This is a time 
that requires firm resolve, clear vision, and a deep, abiding faith in 
the values that make us a great country.
    None of us will ever forget that week when one era ended and another 
began. On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin 
Towers. It's a day I will never forget. There were workers in hardhats 
there yelling at me, ``Whatever it takes.'' A guy grabbed me by the arm 
and said, ``Do not let me down.'' Ever since that day, I wake up every 
morning thinking about how to better protect our country. I will never 
relent in defending America, whatever it takes.
    We've got a vision and a plan to make America a safer place and a 
more hopeful place for every citizen. Four years ago, I traveled your 
State and I said if you gave me the great honor of holding this office, 
I would uphold the honor and dignity of the office to which I had been 
elected. With your help, with your hard work, I will do so for the next 
4 years.
    God bless. Thank you all for coming. Appreciate you being here. 
Thank you all.

Note: The President spoke at 2:33 p.m. at Parkersburg High School. In 
his remarks, he referred to Mayor Jimmy Colombo of Parkersburg, WV; 
Senator Zell Miller of Georgia, who made the keynote address at the 2004 
Republican National Convention; Prime Minister Ayad Allawi of the Iraqi 
Interim Government; and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan.

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