[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book III)]
[October 23, 2004]
[Pages 2685-2692]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks in Jacksonville, Florida
October 23, 2004

    The President. Thank you all. Thank you so much for coming today. 
Brother Jeb said, ``Why don't we go to 
Jacksonville; maybe a couple of folks will show up to say hello.'' 
Laura and I thank you so very much for coming out 
on a Saturday afternoon. I'm here to ask for your vote, and I'm here to 
ask for your help. People are voting here in Florida. You need to get 
your friends and neighbors to go to the polls. And by the way, when 
you're getting people to go to the polls, don't overlook discerning 
Democrats, people like Senator Zell Miller from 
Georgia. With your help, we'll carry Florida again and win a great 
victory in November.
    So when I asked Laura to marry me, she said, 
``Fine, just so long as you--I never have to give a political speech.'' 
I said, ``Okay, you got a deal.'' Fortunately, she didn't hold me to the 
promise. Laura is giving a lot of speeches, and when people see her 
speak, they see a warm, compassionate, great First Lady. I'm going to 
give you some reasons to put me back into office. Perhaps the most 
important one of all is so that Laura is the First Lady for 4 more 
years.
    I'm proud of my runningmate, Dick Cheney. I 
admit it, he doesn't have the waviest hair in the race. [Laughter] I 
didn't pick him because of his hairdo. I picked him

[[Page 2686]]

because of his judgment, his experience, and his ability to get the job 
done for the American people.
    I'm proud of my brother, your Governor, Jeb Bush. You don't have to worry about where he stands. He doesn't 
take a poll or focus group to find out what he should believe. Jeb Bush 
stands on principle, and when times are tough, he leads this State with 
compassion. He has done a masterful job of helping to bring comfort for 
those who have been afflicted by the four hurricanes. Florida showed its 
true strength not only in your Governor but because people cared for 
people who were hurting in this State. I am really proud of how Florida 
handled the four hurricanes.
    Mel Martinez is the right man for the 
United States Senate from Florida. And when you vote for him and put him 
in office, he'll be joining a fine United States Senator who has joined 
us today from the State of Utah, Senator Orrin Hatch. Thank you, Senator.
    Congressman Ander Crenshaw is doing a 
great job in the House of Representatives. Thank you, Ander. Congressman 
Cliff Stearns is with us today. I appreciate 
you coming, Cliff.
    I want to thank the State chief financial officer, Tom 
Gallagher, for joining us today. I want to 
thank the mayor of the great city of Jacksonville, Florida, Mayor John 
Peyton.
    When I came in, I had the opportunity to say hello to Nelson 
Cuba, who's the president of the Jacksonville 
Fraternal Order of Police. I am proud to have the endorsement of the 
FOP. I'm proud to be standing with the policemen all across this 
country.
    I want to thank Bill Cerveny and Aaron 
Tippin for providing such wonderful 
entertainment here for this great crowd.
    I want to thank the people who put on this event. It takes a lot of 
work to get this many people to come. I want to thank the grassroots 
activists, the people who are putting up the signs, making the phone 
calls, turning out the vote. With your help, we will win a great victory 
on November the 2d.
    We have just 10 days to go in this campaign, and voters have a clear 
choice between two very different candidates and dramatically different 
approaches and records. You know where I stand, and sometimes, you even 
know where my opponent stands. [Laughter] We 
both have records. I'm running on my record. Senator Kerry's running 
from his record, and there is a reason why. There is a reason why. There 
is a mainstream in American politics, and my opponent sits on the far 
left bank. I am a compassionate conservative and proudly so. At a time 
when our country has much to accomplish and much more to do, I offer a 
record of reform and results.
    This election comes down to five clear choices for America's 
families, five choices on issues of great consequence: your family's 
security; your family's budget; your quality of life; your retirement; 
and the bedrock values that are so critical to our families and to our 
future.
    The first clear choice is the most important because it concerns the 
security of your family. All our progress on every other issue depends 
on the safety of our citizens. The most--this is the first Presidential 
election since September the 11th, 2001. Americans will go to the polls 
in a time of war and ongoing threats unlike any we have faced before. 
The terrorists who killed thousands of innocent people are still 
dangerous. They are determined to strike us again. The outcome of this 
election will set the direction of the war against terror. I believe 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

[[Page 2687]]

for power, but because the lives of our citizens are at stake. Our 
strategy is clear. We've strengthened protections for the homeland. 
We're reforming and strengthening our intelligence capabilities. We're 
transforming our All-Volunteer Army. We will not have a draft. We will 
keep the All-Volunteer Army an all-volunteer army. We are staying on the 
offensive. We are relentless. We are determined to protect the American 
people, and we're 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 are on their trail.
    My opponent has a different approach. He 
says that September the 11th, quote, ``didn't change me much at all,'' 
end quote.
    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.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. 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.''
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Anyone who thinks we're fighting a metaphor does not 
understand the enemy we face, and you cannot win a war if you're not 
convinced we're even in one.
    Senator Kerry misunderstands our battle 
against insurgents and terrorists in Iraq. After voting to authorize 
force against Saddam Hussein, after calling 
it the right decision when I sent troops into Iraq, the Senator now 
calls it the ``wrong war.''
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. The Senator used to 
recognize that Saddam Hussein was a gathering 
threat who hated America. After all, the Senator said so. He used to 
recognize that Saddam was a state sponsor of terror with a history of 
pursuing and even using weapons of mass destruction. After all, the 
Senator said so. He used to understand that Saddam was a major source of 
instability in the Middle East. After all, the Senator said so. And when 
he voted to authorize force, the Senator must have recognized the 
nightmare scenario that terrorists might somehow access weapons of mass 
destruction. Senator Kerry seems to have forgotten all that as his 
position has evolved during the course of this campaign. You might call 
it election amnesia. [Laughter]
    I knew then and I know now that America and the world are safer with 
Saddam Hussein sitting in a prison cell.
    Senator Kerry now calls Iraq a 
``diversion.''
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. But the case of just one terrorist shows how wrong 
his thinking is. A man named Zarqawi is responsible for planting car bombs and 
beheading Americans in Iraq. He ran a terrorist training camp in 
Afghanistan until American troops arrived. Then he fled to Baghdad, 
where he's fighting us today. He publicly announced his allegiance to 
Usama bin Laden. If Zarqawi and his 
associates were not busy fighting Iraqi and American forces in Iraq, 
what does Senator Kerry think they would be doing? Simple shopkeepers? 
[Laughter] Running benevolence societies? I don't think so. And our 
troops will defeat Zarqawi and his friends and allies overseas so we do 
not have to face them in America.
    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 world. My opponent has a September 
the 10th point of view. At his convention, he declared that his strategy 
will be to respond to attacks after America is hit.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. That would be too late. In our debates, he said we can defend America only if we pass a ``global 
test.''
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!

[[Page 2688]]

    The President. I'm not making that up. He 
was standing about that far away from me when he said it. I'll work with 
our friends and allies. We'll continue to build strong coalitions. But I 
will never turn over America's national security decisions to leaders of 
other countries.
    I want to thank those who wear the uniform who have joined us today. 
I want to thank the veterans who are here today for having set such a 
great example. I want to thank the military families who are here today. 
And I'm going to assure you, so long as I'm the Commander in Chief, our 
Federal Government will make sure your loved ones have what is necessary 
to complete their missions.
    And that's why I went to the United States Congress in September of 
2003, asking for $87 billion in supplemental funding to support our 
troops in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. I appreciate the strong 
bipartisan support for this very important request. When you're out 
gathering up the vote, I want you to remind your friends and neighbors 
that only four Members of the United States Senate voted to authorize 
the use of force and then voted against the funding necessary to support 
our troops in harm's way, and two of those four were my opponent and his runningmate.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. They asked him, ``Why did 
you make the vote?'' And he issued perhaps the most famous quote of the 
2004 campaign, ``I actually did vote for the $87 billion, right before I 
voted against it.''
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. They've asked him time and 
time again, and he must have given five or six explanations of that 
vote. At one point, he said, ``The whole thing is a complicated 
matter.'' There is nothing complicated about supporting our troops in 
combat.
    We'll protect America by leading the cause of freedom. I believe in 
the transformational power of liberty. I want you to remember what has 
taken place in Afghanistan in a short period of time. That country has 
gone from darkness to light. Three-and-a-half years ago, young girls 
couldn't go to school. If their mothers did not toe the line of the 
ideologues of hate who ran Afghanistan, they were whipped in the public 
square and sometimes executed in a sports stadium. Because we acted in 
our self-interest, because we upheld doctrine, 25 million people in 
Afghanistan are free. Millions went to vote in a Presidential election. 
The first voter was a 19-year-old woman in 
Afghanistan.
    Iraq will be holding elections in January. Think about how far that 
country has come from the days of torture chambers and mass graves. 
Freedom is on the march, and America is more secure because of it.
    I believe every person in the world wants to be free. I believe this 
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.
    On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin 
Towers. It is a day I will never forget. There were workers there in 
hardhats yelling at me at the top of their lungs, ``Whatever it takes.'' 
I remember the man coming out of the rubble--we were doing our best to 
console people--he grabbed me by the arm; he looked me in the eye; and 
he 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.
    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. I kept my word. We raised the child credit. We 
reduced the marriage penalty. Listen, our Tax Code ought to encourage 
marriage, not penalize marriage. We dropped the lowest bracket to 10 
percent to help our working families. We reduced income taxes for 
everyone who pays taxes. As a result of these good policies, after-tax 
income, money in

[[Page 2689]]

your pocket that you can spend, is up by about 10 percent since I became 
your President.
    We've been through a lot together. When you're out rounding up the 
vote, remind your friends and neighbors that the stock market had been 
in serious decline for 6 months prior to my arrival in Washington, DC. 
And then we had a recession and corporate scandals and the attacks on 
our country. We lost nearly one million jobs in the 3 months after 
September the 11th.
    But our economic policies are working. Our economy is growing at 
rates as fast as any in nearly 20 years. We've added more than 1.9 
million new jobs in the last 13 months. The unemployment rate is 5.4 
percent, lower than the average rate of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Our 
farmers and ranchers are making a living. The small businesses are 
flourishing. The entrepreneurial spirit is strong. Homeownership rate is 
at an alltime high, and the unemployment rate in Florida is 4.5 percent.
    My opponent has very different plans for 
your family's budget. He intends to take a big chunk out of it.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. He voted against the higher 
child tax credit. He voted against the marriage penalty relief. He voted 
against lower taxes. If he had had his way, an average middle-class 
family would be paying 2,000 more dollars a year to the Federal 
Government.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. It's 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, he has voted 98 times 
to raise your taxes.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. That's about five times a year. When a Senator does 
something that often, he must really enjoy it. [Laughter] During this 
campaign, he's also made a lot of big, 
expensive promises. He's promised $2.2 trillion of new Federal spending. 
That's trillion with a ``T.'' That's a lot even for a Senator from 
Massachusetts. [Laughter]
    They asked him how he's going to pay for 
it. He said, ``Oh, we'll just pay for it by taxing the rich.'' There's a 
problem with that promise. When you run up the top two brackets, you're 
taxing many small businesses. Most small businesses pay tax at the 
individual income-tax level. Seventy percent of new jobs are created by 
small businesses in America. Taxing small businesses is bad economic 
policy.
    And there's a gap between what he's promised and what he can deliver. Running up the top two brackets like he wants 
to do raises between 600 and 800 billion dollars. And remember, there's 
$2.2 trillion of spending promises. So there's a gap, a gap between what 
he's promised and what he says he's going to pay. And guess who usually 
fills the gap?
    Audience member. We do!
    The President. You do. The good news is, we're not going to let 
him tax you; we are going to carry Florida and 
win on November the 2d.
    Third clear choice in this election involves the quality of life for 
our Nation's families. A good education and quality health care are 
important to a successful life. When I ran for President 4 years ago, I 
promised to end the soft bigotry of low expectations by reforming our 
public schools. I have kept my word. We passed good, sound education 
reforms to bring high standards to the classroom and make our schools 
more accountable to parents and teachers. We're seeing progress. Math 
and reading scores are rising. We're closing the achievement gap by 
helping minority students. We will build on these reforms and extend 
them to our high schools so that no child in America is left behind.
    And we'll continue to improve our--life for our families by making 
health care more affordable and accessible. We'll expand health savings 
accounts so more small businesses can cover their workers and more 
families are able to get health care accounts

[[Page 2690]]

they manage and they call their own. We'll create association health 
plans so small businesses can join together and buy insurance at the 
same discounts that big companies are able to do. We will help our 
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.
    And we'll help patients and doctors all across this Nation by doing 
something about the frivolous and junk lawsuits that are running up your 
costs and running good doctors out of practice. I have met too many good 
docs being run out of practice because of these junk lawsuits. I met too 
many ob-gyns who are not able to practice their skill. I met too many 
pregnant women who are having to drive miles, which isn't right. Our 
expectant moms need good, quality health care, and these lawsuits are 
making it tough for them to find good, quality health care. You cannot 
be pro-doctor, pro-patient, and pro-personal-injury-lawyer at the same 
time. You have to make a choice. My opponent 
made his choice, and he put a personal injury trial lawyer on the ticket.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. I have made my choice. I'm standing with the docs and 
the patients. I am for medical liability reform--now.
    Senator Kerry has a different point of 
view on our schools and health care. Listen, he voted for the No Child 
Left Behind Act, but now he wants to weaken the accountability 
standards. He's proposed including measures like teacher attendance to 
judge whether students can read and write and add and subtract. He voted 
against health savings accounts. He opposes association health plans. He 
has voted 10 times against medical liability reform. He can run from his 
record, but he cannot hide.
    Now he's proposing a health care plan in 
this campaign, a big Government health care plan that would cause 8 
million families to lose 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 in a Government program.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. In one of our debates, he 
looked in that camera and he told the Americans that when it comes to 
his health care plan, and I quote, ``The Government has nothing to do 
with it.'' I could barely contain myself. [Laughter] My opponent's plan 
would move America down the road to Federal control of health care. It's 
the wrong road for American families. He can run from his plan----
    Audience members. But he cannot hide!
    The President. In all we do to improve health care, we will make 
sure the decisions are made by doctors and patients, not by officials in 
Washington, DC.
    The fourth clear choice in this election involves your retirement. 
Our Nation has made a solemn commitment to America's seniors on Social 
Security and Medicare. When I ran for President 4 years ago, I promised 
to keep that commitment and improve Medicare by adding prescription drug 
coverage. I have kept my word. Seniors are now getting discounts on 
medicine with drug discount cards. Low-income seniors are getting $600 
this year and $600 next year to help pay for prescriptions. And 
beginning in 2006, all seniors will be able to get prescription drug 
coverage under Medicare.
    My opponent voted against the Medicare 
bill that includes prescription drug coverage, even though it was 
supported by AARP and other seniors groups. This campaign, he said, ``If 
I'm the President, we're going to repeal that phony bill.'' A little 
later he said, ``No, I don't want to repeal it.'' That sounds familiar. 
As your President for the next 4 years, I will defend the reforms we 
have worked so hard to pass and keep the promise of Medicare for our 
country's seniors.

[[Page 2691]]

    We'll keep the promise of Social Security for our seniors, and we 
will strengthen Social Security for generations to come. Every campaign 
is predictable. It is predictable that you'll hear once again that our 
seniors will lose their checks. I want you to remind our seniors that in 
the 2000 campaign, they said, ``If George W. gets elected, the seniors 
will not get their Social Security checks.'' You might remember that. 
Well, remind them of this: George W. got elected, and the seniors got 
their checks. And the seniors will continue to get their checks. And 
baby boomers like me are just fine when it comes to the Social Security 
trust.
    But we need to be concerned about children and our grandchildren. We 
need to make sure that the Social Security system will be there when 
they need it too. And that is why I believe younger workers ought to be 
able to take some of their own money and put it in a personal savings 
account, a savings account they call their own, a savings account the 
Government cannot take away.
    My opponent takes a different approach. He 
talks about protecting Social Security, but he's the only candidate in 
this race who has voted eight times for higher taxes on Social Security 
benefits.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. He can run----
    Audience members. But he cannot hide!
    The President. And when it comes to the next generation, he's offered nothing in terms of Social Security reform. 
The job of the President is to confront problems, not to pass them on to 
future Presidents and future generations. In a new term, I'll bring 
Republicans and Democrats together and strengthen Social Security so a 
younger generation can count on it.
    The fifth clear choice in this election is on the values that are so 
crucial to keeping America's families strong, and here my 
opponent and I are miles apart. I believe 
marriage is a sacred commitment. I believe marriage is a pillar of our 
civilization, and I will always defend it. This is not a partisan issue. 
When Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act, defining marriage as 
the union of a man and a woman, the vast majority of Democrats supported 
it, and Bill Clinton signed it into law. 
But Senator Kerry was part of an out-of-the-mainstream minority that 
voted against the Defense of Marriage Act.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. I believe that reasonable people can find common 
ground on the difficult issues. Republicans and Democrats and many 
citizens on both sides of the life issue came together and agreed we 
should ban the brutal practice of partial-birth abortion. I was honored 
to sign that bill. But Senator Kerry was part 
of the out-of-the-mainstream minority that voted against the ban.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. He also voted against 
parental notification laws----
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. ----and against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act.
    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.
    During this campaign, my opponent has said 
that you can find the heart and soul of America in Hollywood.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Most American families do not look to Hollywood as a 
source of values. I believe the heart and soul of America is found in 
communities like Jacksonville, Florida.
    All of these choices make this one of the most important elections 
in our history. The security, the prosperity of our country, the 
education of our children, and the health of our families, the 
retirement of our seniors, and the direction of our culture are--all are 
at stake. And the decision is in the best hands, the hands of the 
American people.

[[Page 2692]]

    I see a positive future for this country. I see a better day. One of 
my favorite quotes was written by a fellow Texan. He said, ``Sarah and I live on the east side of the mountain. 
It's the sunrise side, not the sunset side. It's the side to see the day 
that is coming, not to see the day that is gone.'' During this campaign, 
my opponent has spent much of his campaign 
talking about the day that is gone. I see the day that is coming.
    We have been through a lot together in the last nearly 4 years. 
Because we have done the hard work of climbing the mountain, we can see 
the valley below. We'll protect our families, build up the prosperity of 
this country, and defend our deepest values. We will spread freedom in 
this world and achieve the peace we all long for.
    When I campaigned in your State 4 years ago, I said if you gave me 
the honor of serving, I would uphold the honor and the dignity of the 
office to which I had been elected. With your help, I will do so for 4 
more years.
    God bless. Thank you for coming. Thank you all.

Note: The President spoke at 4:20 p.m. at Alltel Stadium. In his 
remarks, he referred to Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida; Senator Zell Miller of 
Georgia, who made the keynote address at the 2004 Republican National 
Convention; Mel R. Martinez, senatorial candidate in Florida; 
entertainers Billy Cerveny and Aaron Tippin; former President Saddam 
Hussein of Iraq; senior Al Qaida associate Abu Musab Al Zarqawi; and 
Usama bin Laden, leader of the Al Qaida terrorist organization.