[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book III)]
[October 22, 2004]
[Pages 2646-2653]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
October 22, 2004
The President. Thank you all for coming. It seems like yesterday I
was here in Wilkes-Barre. Come to think of it, I was. [Laughter] I
figure if I keep coming back, I'll meet everybody in town.
I'm coming back because I want you to know how important your vote
is. That's why I'm here. We're close to voting time. I've come back to
tell you how important your help is in this election. Find your friends
and neighbors. Convince them to go to the polls on November the 2d. Do
not overlook discerning Democrats, people like Senator Zell
Miller. And remind your friends and neighbors,
if they want safer America, a stronger, and a better America, to put me
and Dick Cheney back in office.
I regret that Laura is not traveling with us
today.
Audience members. Aw-w-w!
The President. Yes, that is generally the reaction--[laughter]--kind
of like, ``Why didn't you stay home and let her
come?'' [Laughter] You know, we were in the same grade at San Jacinto
Junior High in Midland, Texas. That would be the seventh grade. And then
I became reacquainted with her when she was a public school librarian.
[Laughter] And when I asked her to marry me, she said, ``Fine, but make
me a promise.'' I said, ``What is it?'' ``Promise me I'll never have to
give a speech.'' [Laughter] I said, ``Okay, you got a deal.''
Fortunately, she didn't hold me to that
[[Page 2647]]
promise. She's giving a lot of speeches. And when she does, the American
people see a warm, compassionate, great First Lady.
I love traveling with my daughters on the campaign trail. There's
nothing better than being with somebody who, well, tells you to keep
your tie straight. [Laughter] ``Don't spill your food before you get out
there and talk to the people.'' [Laughter] You know, I used to tell
Barbara and Jenna
that one of these days we'll go on a camping trip together, the great
family camping experience. I'm sure they envisioned the Colorado River
or somewhere. Well, darling, this is it. This is the great--[laughter].
We're traveling this country asking for the vote, and I'm glad Barbara
is by my side.
I spoke with our great Vice President this
morning. His spirits are high. He's working hard. I admit that Vice
President Cheney does not have the waviest hair in the race. [Laughter]
I didn't pick him because of his hairdo. [Laughter] I picked him because
of his experience, his sound judgment, and his ability to get the job
done for the American people.
I'm pleased to be sharing the platform with Congressman Don
Sherwood. He's doing a great job. And
Congressman Jim Greenwood is traveling
today. He comes up from the suburbs of Philadelphia. I'm proud to have
his support, and I'm proud to call him friend. Thanks for coming,
Congressman.
Specter is out there working on behalf of
his own campaign, and Santorum is out there
working for mine. They're two fine United States Senators. I hope you
put Arlen Specter back in office.
I want to thank all the State and local officials. I want to thank
Jean Craige Pepper for being here, the
candidate for treasurer of the State. I appreciate people who are
running for office. I want to thank my friend Sammy Kershaw, country singer.
Most of all, I want to thank the grassroots activists who are here,
the people putting up all the signs, making the phone calls, writing the
letters. I'm here to thank you for what you're going to do as we're
coming down the stretch. There is no doubt in my mind, with your hard
work and with your help, we will carry Pennsylvania and win a great
victory in November.
With just 11 days left in this campaign--who's counting? [Laughter]
Voters are focusing on the issues that matter most for their families
and for our country. You've heard the debates. You know where I stand.
Sometimes you even know where my opponent
stands. [Laughter] You've had a chance to see both of us in action, to
measure our consistency, our resolve, our values, and our ability to
lead. This election comes down to five clear choices for the American
families, five choices on issues of great consequence: your family's
security, your budget, your quality of life, your retirement, and the
bedrock values that are so critical to our families and our future.
The first clear choice is very important because it concerns the
security of your family. All progress on every other issue depends on
the safety of our citizens. This will be the first Presidential election
since September the 11th, 2001. Americans will go to the polls in a time
of war and ongoing threat to our country. The enemies who killed
thousands of innocent people are still dangerous and determined to
strike us again. The outcome of this election will set the direction of
the war against terror, and in this war, there is no place for confusion
and no substitute for victory.
The most solemn duty of the American President is to protect the
American people. If America shows uncertainty or weakness in this
decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This will not happen on my
watch.
Since that terrible morning of September the 11th, 2001, we have
fought the terrorists across the Earth, not for pride, not for power but
because the lives of our citizens are at stake. Our strategy is clear.
We're defending the homeland. We're strengthening our intelligence
capabilities. We are transforming our All-Volunteer
[[Page 2648]]
Army to make sure it remains an all-volunteer army. We are staying on
the offensive.
And we are succeeding. More than three-quarters of Al Qaida's key
members and associates have been brought to justice, and the rest of
them know we're after them. We are in a real war, and the only strategy
must lead to victory.
My opponent has a different approach. He
says that September the 11th, quote, ``didn't change me much at all.''
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. And that's pretty clear. He
considers the war on terror primarily a law enforcement and intelligence
gathering operation. His top foreign policy adviser has questioned whether it's even a war at all, saying
that's just a metaphor, like the ``war on poverty.'' I've got news.
Anyone who thinks we are fighting a metaphor does not understand the
enemy we face and has no idea how to win the war and keep America
secure. My opponent also misunderstands our battle against insurgents
and terrorists. He's called it a ``diversion'' from the war on terror.
My opponent used to recognize Saddam Hussein
as a threat. That's until he started to slide in the polls.
Saddam Hussein was a threat to the United
States. He hated America. He had a long history of pursuing and even
using weapons of mass destruction. He had ties to terrorists. He was
firing missiles at American pilots enforcing the sanctions of the world.
He paid families of suicide bombers. He was a threat.
We didn't find the stockpiles that we thought were in Iraq, that I
thought was there, that my opponent thought was there, that the United
Nations thought was there, that the world thought was there. But I want
you to remember--tell your friends and neighbors what the
Duelfer report did find. It said that
Saddam Hussein had the intent and capability
and the expertise to rebuild a weapons program, that he was gaming the
system, he was using the Oil for Food Programme to try to influence
officials of other nations to get rid of the sanctions. And why? Because
he wanted the world to look the other way so he could restart his
programs. That was a risk we could not afford to take. Knowing what I
know today, I would have taken the same action. America and the world
are safer with Saddam Hussein sitting in a prison cell.
Remember, my opponent called our action a
``mistake.'' That's after he started slipping in the polls. [Laughter]
Iraq is still dangerous because terrorists there are trying to stop
the advance of freedom and elections. A man named Zarqawi is responsible for planting car bombs and beheading
Americans in Iraq. He ran a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan until
our coalition forces destroyed that camp. He then fled to Iraq where
he's fighting us today. To confirm where he's coming from, he recently
announced his allegiance to Al Qaida. If Zarqawi and his associates were
not busy fighting American forces in Iraq, does my opponent think they would be peaceful citizens of the world?
[Laughter] Does he think they'd be opening a small business somewhere?
[Laughter] Fighting the likes of Zarqawi in Iraq is not a ``diversion''
from the war on terror; it is the way we will win the war on terror.
When it comes to your security, the choice in this election could
not be clearer. You cannot lead our Nation to decisive victory on which
the security of every American family depends if you do not see the true
dangers of the post-September the 11th era. My opponent has a September 10th point of view. At his convention, he
declared his strategy was to respond to attacks after America had been
hit.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. As we learned on September the 11th, it's too late to
respond. In our debates, he said we can defend
America only if we pass a ``global test.''
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. I'm not making that up. He
was standing right there when he said it. No, we'll work with friends
and allies,
[[Page 2649]]
but I will never turn over America's national security decisions to
leaders of other countries.
For the sake of our freedom and for your security, we'll fight this
war with every asset of our national power. We will protect America by
striking the terrorists abroad so we do not have to face them here at
home. And we will prevail.
Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
The President. We've got another powerful asset at our disposal, and
that's liberty. And that's freedom.
I want the youngsters here listening to think about what has
happened in a brief period of time, some 3\1/2\ years in Afghanistan. It
wasn't all that long ago in that country that young girls were not
allowed to go to school, and their mothers were taken into the public
square and whipped or sometimes taken to a sports stadium and executed
because they refused to toe the line of the ideologues of hate, the
Taliban, which ran Afghanistan. In working to secure ourselves, in
ridding that country of terrorist camps, of upholding a doctrine that
said, ``If you harbor a terrorist, you're just as guilty as the
terrorist,'' we liberated over 25 million people in Afghanistan. And
just a couple of weekends ago, millions of Afghan citizens voted in a
Presidential election, and the first voter was a 19-year-old
woman.
Freedom is on the march. That society has gone from darkness to
light because of liberty, and America is more secure because of it. Free
societies are peaceful societies. Free societies will not harbor
terrorists. Free societies will be hopeful places where people can
realize their dreams.
Iraq will have elections in January. Iraq is changing. Think how far
that country has come from the days of mass graves and torture chambers
and the brutal reign of one man. I believe liberty has the capacity to
transform societies and make the world a more peaceful place.
One of our friends in the world is Prime Minister Koizumi. I said ``our''--I'm talking about Laura and me. He is--he's a good man. He's a person with whom
I work. It wasn't all that long ago that we were at war with the
Japanese. See, 60 years ago, we were fighting the Japanese. My dad was in that war. I'm confident many other people
were in that war, or families represented here were--had fathers and
grandfathers in the war against the Japanese.
After World War II, Harry Truman--after we won that war, Harry
Truman believed in the power of liberty to transform an enemy into an
ally. There were a lot of skeptics then. There were a lot of doubters,
the Japanese--the enemy--could never become a democracy. ``Why do we
even want to help them,'' some would say. After all, they destroyed a
lot of the U.S. lives. But there was faith and belief in the power of
liberty to transform societies. And today, because of that belief, I sit
down with the Prime Minister of Japan
talking about keeping the peace that we all want, talking about dealing
with the world's problems.
Someday, a duly elected leader from Iraq will be sitting down with
the President of the United States of America, talking about the peace
in the Middle East, and our children and our grandchildren will be
better off for it.
Freedom is on the march in this world. I believe everybody in the
Middle East desires to live in freedom. I believe women in the Middle
East want to live in a free society. I believe mothers and fathers want
to raise their children in a free and peaceful world. I believe all
these things because freedom is not America's gift to the world; freedom
is the Almighty God's gift to each man and woman in this world.
The second clear choice in this election concerns your family
budget. When I ran for President 4 years ago, I pledged to lower taxes
for American families, and I kept my word. To help our families, we
doubled the child credit to $1,000 per
[[Page 2650]]
child. We reduced the marriage penalty. Our Tax Code should encourage
marriage, not discourage marriage. We dropped the lowest tax bracket to
10 percent so working families, working Americans can keep more of their
paychecks. We reduced income taxes for everyone that pays taxes. That's
the fair way of doing things.
As a result of our policies, real after-tax income, money in your
pocket that you can spend, is up about 10 percent since I took office.
Because of tax relief, because we increased consumer spending and
investment, our economy is overcoming the tough times we've been
through.
Remind your friends and neighbors that when I got in office, the
stock market had been in serious decline for 6 months prior to our
arrival. Then we were in a recession. And the attacks of September the
11th, 2001, cost us nearly a million jobs in the 3 months after the
attacks.
But because we acted, this economy of ours is strong and it's
getting stronger. Our economy is growing at rates as fast as any in
nearly 20 years. We've added 1.9 million new jobs in the last 3 months.
The State of Pennsylvania has added 4,600 jobs in the month of September
2004. The unemployment rate across America is at 5.4 percent, lower than
the average rates of the 1970s, the 1980s, and the 1990s. And the new
unemployment rate figure in the State of Pennsylvania released today is
5.3 percent.
My opponent has a very different plan for
your budget. He intends to take a bigger chunk out of it.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. He voted against the--he
voted against a higher child tax credit. He voted against marriage
penalty relief. He voted against lowering the tax rates. If his vote had
prevailed, an average middle-class family would be paying $2,000 more a
year to the IRS.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. That's a fact. It's also part of a pattern. See, the
Senator voted 10 times to raise taxes on
gasoline. All told, during his 20 years in the United States Senate, my
opponent has voted to raise taxes 98 times. That's about five times a
year. When he does something that often, he must really enjoy it.
[Laughter] During his campaign, my opponent has made a lot of big,
expensive promises. He promised about $2.2 trillion of new spending.
That's with a ``T.'' [Laughter] That's a lot even for a Senator from
Massachusetts. So they said, ``How are you going to pay for it?'' He
said, ``Oh, we'll just tax the rich.'' We've heard that before, haven't
we? He's going to raise the top two brackets. There's three things--a
lot of things wrong with it, but let me give you three right off the
bat.
One is, by raising individual rates, you're taxing many, many small
businesses. Seventy percent of the new jobs in America are created by
small businesses. Most small businesses pay tax at the individual
income-tax level. And by running up the top two brackets, you're taxing
the job creators. And that's bad economic policy.
Secondly, there's a gap between what he's
promised and what he can deliver. By raising the top two brackets, you
raise about 600 billion to 800 billion dollars, and he's promised 2.2
trillion. So there's a gap, a gap between the promises and what he can
deliver. Guess who gets to usually fill those gaps?
Secondly--or thirdly, the rich hire lawyers and accountants for a
reason when it comes to taxes. That's to slip the bill and stick you
with it. But we're going to protect the family budgets; we're going to
carry Pennsylvania and win a great victory on November the 2d.
When it comes to your budget, you have a clear choice. My
opponent has earned--and I mean earned--his
rank as the most liberal Member of the United States Senate. He'll raise
your taxes to fund bigger Government. I'm going to keep your taxes low.
This is the road to prosperity. It's a road to economic vitality. Now,
when it comes to taxes, he may try to run in a
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camouflaged outfit--[laughter]--but he cannot hide.
The third choice in this election involves the quality of life for
our families. I believe a good education and quality health care are
important for successful lives. When I ran for President 4 years ago, I
promised to end the soft bigotry of low expectations by reforming our
public schools, and I kept my word. We passed good education reform.
We're raising the standards. We're making sure our schools are
accountable, accountable to our parents. We're seeing progress. Math and
reading scores are on the rise. We're closing the achievement gap all
across this country. We will build on these reforms. We will extend them
to our high schools so that not one single child in America is left
behind.
We will continue to improve life for our families by making health
care more affordable and more accessible. We'll expand health savings
accounts and create association health plans so small businesses can
cover their workers, so more families are able to get health insurance
plans they manage and they call their own. We'll help families in need
by expanding community health centers. We'll make sure every eligible
child is enrolled in our Government's low-income health insurance
program.
To make sure health care is available and affordable for the
American citizens, we're going to do something about the junk lawsuits
that run up the cost of medicine and run good doctors out of practice.
Doctor Linda Barrasse is with us today, a
cardiologist. She's got a group practice in Scranton. She's just like
the docs I met yesterday in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Doctors are
concerned about the quality of health care in Pennsylvania because of
all these junk lawsuits. They're running good docs out of practice.
There are too many ob-gyns being run out of practice and too many
Pennsylvania women having to drive for miles to get the care they need
and deserve. Linda talks about the--needing to close offices. They're
having trouble recruiting new doctors. Medical liability is an issue in
the Pennsylvania. It is an issue across this country. It is a national
problem that requires a national solution. I am for medical liability
reform.
Senator Kerry has a different point of
view on our schools and our health care system. Now, he voted for the No
Child Left Behind Act, but now wants to weaken the accountability
standards. He's proposed including measures like teacher attendance in
the accountability measures to judge whether students can read and write
and add and subtract. He voted against health savings accounts. He
opposed association health care plans that would help our small
businesses. He has voted 10 times against medical liability reform on
the floor of the United States Senate.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. The other day, he said,
well, he's for some kind of plan.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. He put a trial
lawyer on the ticket.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. He can run, but he cannot
hide.
He's proposed a big Government health care plan that would cause 8
million families to lose the private coverage they get at work and have
to go on a Government plan. Eighty percent of the people who get
coverage under his proposal would be enrolled on a Government program.
You might remember one of our debates. He tried to tell the Americans
when it comes to his health care plan, and I quote, ``The Government has
nothing to do with it.'' I could barely contain myself when I heard
that. My opponent's plan would move America
down the road to Federal control of health care, and that is the wrong
road to take for American families.
In all we do to reform health care, we will make sure the decisions
are made by doctors and patients, not by officials in Washington, DC.
[[Page 2652]]
Fourth clear choice in this election involves your retirement. Our
Nation made a solid commitment to America's seniors on Social Security
and on Medicare. When I ran for President 4 years ago, I promised to
keep that commitment and improve Medicare by adding prescription drugs.
I kept my word. Leaders in both political parties have talked about
strengthening Medicare for years. We got the job done. Seniors are now
getting discounts on medicine with drug discount cards. Low-income
seniors are getting $600 to help them with their prescription drugs this
year, another $600 next year. And beginning in 2006, all seniors will be
able to get prescription drug coverage under Medicare.
My opponent voted against the Medicare
bill that included prescription drugs, even though it was supported by
AARP and other seniors groups. During this campaign, he said, quote,
``If I'm President, we're going to repeal that phony bill,'' end quote.
Then, of course, later on, he said, ``No, I don't want to repeal it.''
Sounds familiar. [Laughter] As your President for the next 4 years, I
will defend the reforms we have worked so hard to pass, and we will keep
the promise of Medicare for America's seniors.
We will keep the promise of Social Security for our seniors and
strengthen Social Security for generations to come. Every election,
politicians try to scare seniors about Social Security. It's
predictable. In the 2000 campaign, they ran ads saying that, ``If George
W. gets elected, our seniors will not get their checks.'' You might
remember those ads. As you round up the vote, would you please remind
our seniors, George W. got elected, and our seniors got their checks.
And when I get elected this time, the seniors will still get their
checks.
But I know today's moms and dads and grandparents are concerned
about their children and grandchildren when it comes to Social Security.
Someday, our youngest workers, of course, will retire, and we need to
make sure Social Security will be there when they need it as well. I
believe younger workers ought to take some of their own money and put it
in a personal savings account, a personal savings account that will earn
a greater rate of return than a Social Security trust, a personal
savings account they can call their own, an account the Government
cannot take away.
My opponent takes a different approach. He
talks about protecting Social Security, but I want everybody to
remember, he is the only candidate who has voted eight times for higher
taxes on Social Security benefits.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. When it comes to the next generation, he has offered nothing to strengthen Social Security.
American families have a clear choice in this election. My opponent
wants to scare the seniors of today and do nothing to secure the system
for seniors of tomorrow. I'll keep the promise of Social Security and
Medicare and strengthen these great systems for our children and our
grandchildren.
The fifth clear choice in this election is on the values that are so
crucial to keeping America's families strong. Here, my opponent and I are miles apart.
I believe marriage is a sacred commitment, one of the most
fundamental, most enduring, and most important institutions of our
civilization. My opponent says he supports
marriage, but his record shows he will not defend it. This isn't a
partisan issue. The vast majority of Democrats, for example, supported
the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as the union of a
man and a woman--a bill which President Clinton signed into law. But Senator Kerry was a part of the far
left bank, far left minority, that voted against that piece of
legislation. I will always stand firm to protect the sanctity of
marriage.
I believe it is important to work with people to find common ground
on difficult issues. Republicans and Democrats, many citizens on both
sides of the life issue, agreed we should ban the brutal practice
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of partial-birth abortion. But Senator Kerry
was part of a far left minority that voted against the ban.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. He also voted against
parental notification laws and voted against the Unborn Victims of
Violence Act. I will continue to----
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. I will continue to reach out to Americans of every
belief and move this goodhearted Nation toward a culture of life.
My opponent has said that you can find the
heart and soul of America in Hollywood. [Laughter] Most of us don't look
to Hollywood as the source of values. The heart and soul of America is
found right here in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
All these choices make this one of the most important elections in
our history. The security and prosperity of our country, the health and
education of our citizens, the retirement of our seniors, and the
direction of our culture are all at stake. The decision is in the best
hands because the decision belongs to the American people.
I believe in the future of this country. We see a great day for the
American people. One of my favorite quotes was written by a Texan, a
friend of ours. He said, ``Sarah and I live on the east side of the
mountain. It's the sunrise side, not the sunset side. It is the side
that sees the day that is coming, not to see the day that is gone.'' My
opponent has spent a lot of this campaign
talking about the day that is gone. I see the day that's coming.
We've been through a lot together. We've been through a lot together
in the last years. Because we've done the hard work of climbing that
mountain, we see the valley below. We'll protect our families. We'll
build on their prosperity. We'll defend our deepest values. We will
spread freedom and peace, and as we do, America will be safer here at
home.
Four years ago, when I traveled your great State asking for the
vote, I made a pledge that if you honored me with this office, I would
uphold the honor and the dignity. With your help, I will do so for 4
more years.
Thanks for coming. On to victory! Thank you all. Thank you all.
Note: The President spoke at 10:30 a.m. at the Wachovia Arena at Casey
Plaza. In his remarks, he referred to Charles Duelfer, Special Advisor
to the Director of Central Intelligence; former President Saddam Hussein
of Iraq; senior Al Qaida associate Abu Musab Al Zarqawi; and Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan. He also referred to the
``Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the DCI on Iraq's
WMD,'' issued September 30.