[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book III)]
[October 27, 2004]
[Pages 2769-2777]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks in Findlay, Ohio
October 27, 2004

    The President. Thank you all for coming. You know, it is such a 
beautiful day in Flag City, I think I'll just take off my jacket and 
stay a while. Thanks for coming out. You are lifting our spirits. We're 
honored you're here. And Laura and I have come 
with the great Senator from Georgia to not only 
ask for your vote but to ask for your help. We need your help coming 
down the stretch to get your friends and neighbors to go to the polls.
    We have a duty in our democracy to vote. We have an obligation to 
vote. So I'm asking you to tell your friends and neighbors about that 
obligation. Get our Republicans to go out there. Get independents to go 
out there. And find those discerning Democrats like Zell Miller and head them to the polls. And when you get them to the 
polls, remind them, if they want a safer America and a stronger America 
and a better America, to put me and Dick Cheney 
back in office.

    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

[[Page 2770]]

    The President. I have been traveling your State a lot, and I enjoy 
it. I have had a chance to say hello to a lot of the citizens from Ohio. 
And I've been telling them why they ought to put me back in office. But 
perhaps the most important reason why I ought to have 4 more years is so 
that Laura is the First Lady for 4 more years. 
I'm sure some will be able to relate to this story. You know, Laura and 
I went to the seventh grade together in San Jacinto Junior High in 
Midland, Texas. We became reacquainted. She was a public school 
librarian, and when I asked her to marry me, she said, ``Fine, but make 
me a promise.'' I said, ``Okay, what is it?'' She said, ``Promise me 
I'll never have to give a political speech.'' [Laughter] I said, ``Okay, 
you got a deal.'' Fortunately, she did not hold me to that promise. She 
is giving a lot of speeches, and when she does, the American people see 
a warm, compassionate, strong First Lady.
    I'm looking around. I see some people out there who are follically 
challenged. [Laughter] And think about that, it reminds me of my Vice 
President. [Laughter] Dick Cheney is a great 
Vice President. He does not have the waviest hair in the race. 
[Laughter] But you all will be pleased to hear, I didn't pick him 
because of his hairdo. I picked him because of his judgment. I picked 
him because of his experience. I picked him because he's getting the job 
done for the American people.
    It's a joy to travel with my friend Zell Miller. He's strong. He is courageous. He puts party aside and 
puts his country first, and for that, I am grateful.
    I call him Ox; you call him Congressman. Mike Oxley is as fine as they are in the House of Representatives. 
He's a good man, and I appreciate his service. And I want to thank his 
wife, Pat, for joining us as well. And I am proud 
to be up here, or close by, with the fine United States Senator, Michael 
DeWine. He's doing a good job for the people of 
Ohio, as is George Voinovich. Make sure 
you put George back in. And I appreciate Fran DeWine joining us. I want to thank Congressman Paul 
Gillmor for being here today.
    I want to thank your Governor, Bob Taft, for 
joining us today. Mr. Governor, I appreciate your service to the State 
of Ohio. I want to thank Jennette Bradley for joining us today, the Lieutenant Governor of the State 
of Ohio.
    I appreciate Mayor Iriti for joining us 
today. Mr. Mayor, you didn't ask me for any advice, but I'm going to 
give you some: Fill the potholes. Mayor Iriti is a good man, and I 
appreciate him being here. And I want to thank you, Mr. Mayor, for 
serving. I want to thank all the other State and local officials.
    I want to thank the Findlay High School Marching Band for joining 
us. I want to thank Wil Gravatt Band for joining 
us today.
    Most of all, I want to thank you all. I want to thank the grassroots 
activists, the people who are putting up the signs, the people making 
the phone calls, the people who have worked so hard to make this rally 
such a successful rally. I want to thank you for what you have done, and 
I want to thank you for what you are going to do, which is turn out that 
vote. And with your help, there is no doubt in my mind, we'll carry Ohio 
again and win a great victory on November the 2d.
    This election comes down to some clear choices for America's 
families, choices on issues of great consequence. The first clear choice 
is the most 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 of ongoing 
threat unlike any we have faced before. The terrorists who kill 
thousands of innocent people are still dangerous, and they are 
determined to strike. The outcome of this election will set the 
direction of the war against

[[Page 2771]]

terror. 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 have strengthened the protections for the homeland. We're reforming 
our intelligence capabilities. We're transforming the United States 
military. We will keep the All-Volunteer Army an all-volunteer army. 
There will be no draft. We are relentless. We are determined. We are 
staying on the offensive so we do not have to face these terrorists here 
at home.
    And we're spreading freedom and liberty. Some amazing things have 
happened in a short period of time. I want the youngsters here to 
understand what has happened in the world. In Afghanistan, 3\1/2\ years 
ago, young girls couldn't go to school. And if their mothers did not toe 
the line of the ideologues of hate who ran that country, they were 
whipped in the public square, sometimes executed in a sports stadium. We 
acted to defend ourselves. We upheld the doctrine that said, ``If you 
harbor a terrorist, you're equally as guilty as the terrorist.'' And in 
so doing, we liberated people from the clutches of those barbaric people 
called the Taliban. Millions of people went to vote in a Presidential 
election. The first voter was a 19-year-old woman. Freedom is on the march.
    It's never easy to go from tyranny to liberty, but that's where 
we're headed. There will be elections in Iraq. Think how far that 
country has come from the days of mass graves and torture chambers. I 
believe everybody in the world yearns to be free. I believe people deep 
in their soul want to live in a free society. I believe that 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.
    A President must lead with consistency and strength. In a war, 
sometimes you have to change your tactics but never your principles. 
Americans have seen how I do my job. Even when you might not agree with 
me, you know what I believe, you know where I stand, and you know what I 
intend to do. On good days and on bad days, whether the polls are up or 
the polls are down, I will do everything we can do to defend the 
American people and win this war against the terrorists. And I will 
always support the men and women who wear our Nation's uniform.
    We have got a great United States military. And I am proud to be 
their Commander in Chief. I want to thank the families of those who wear 
our Nation's uniform. I want to thank you for your sacrifices. I want to 
thank the veterans who are here today for having set such a great 
example for those who wear the uniform.
    As I've told families all across this country, we will make sure 
your loved ones have the support necessary to complete their missions. 
And that's why I went to the United States Congress and asked for $87 
billion of supplemental funding in September of 2003, necessary funding, 
important funding to support our troops in harm's way. And we received 
good support for that. As a matter of fact, the support was so strong 
that only 12 Members of the United States Senate voted against funding 
for our troops, 2 of whom were my opponent and 
his runningmate.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Now, I would like for you to share this startling 
statistic with your friends and neighbors as you get them going to the 
polls: There were only 4 Members of the United States Senate--4 out of 
100--that voted to authorize the use of force and then voted against 
supporting our troops in harm's way, and 2 of those 4 were my 
opponent and his runningmate.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!

[[Page 2772]]

    The President. Now, you might remember his--Senator Kerry's explanation about that vote. He said, ``I actually 
did vote for the $87 billion, right before I voted against it.'' Now, I 
haven't spent much time in the coffee shops of Findlay, but I suspect 
you're not going to find many people in this part of the world who talk 
that way.
    They kept pressing him about it. He's 
given four or five different explanations about the vote. One of the 
most interesting ones of all that speaks to my opponent, said, ``Well, 
the whole thing was just a complicated matter.'' [Laughter] There's 
nothing complicated about supporting our troops in harm's way.
    After repeatedly calling Iraq the ``wrong war'' and a ``diversion,'' 
Senator Kerry, this week, seemed shocked to 
learn that Iraq was a dangerous place full of dangerous weapons. 
[Laughter] The Senator used to know that, even though he seems to have 
forgotten it over the course of the campaign. But that's why we went 
there. See, Iraq was a dangerous place run by a dangerous 
tyrant who hated the United States. And he 
had a lot of weapons. And we've seized or destroyed more than 400,000 
tons of munitions, including explosives at thousands of sites. And we're 
continuing to round up weapons nearly every day.
    Now, I want to remind you all, if Senator Kerry had had his way, we would still be taking our ``global 
test.''
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. And Saddam Hussein would 
still be in power, and he would control all those weapons and explosives 
and could have shared them with a terrorist enemy. Now, the 
Senator is making wild charges about missing 
explosives. One of his top foreign policy advisers admits he doesn't know the facts. He said, ``I don't know 
the truth,'' end quote. Well, think about that. The Senator is 
denigrating the actions of our troops and commanders in the field 
without knowing the facts. Our military is now investigating a number of 
possible scenarios, including that the explosives may have been moved 
before our troops even arrived at the site. This investigation is 
important, and it is ongoing. And a political candidate who jumps to 
conclusions without knowing the facts is not the person you want as the 
Commander in Chief.
    Unfortunately, that is part of a pattern. My opponent is throwing out the wild claim that he knows where bin 
Laden was in the fall of 2001 and that our 
military passed up a chance to get him at Tora Bora. You might remember 
that. He kept repeating that in the debates. Well, this is unjustified 
criticism of our military commanders in the field. This is the kind of--
worst kind of Monday morning quarterbacking, what we've come to expect 
from him, however.
    In fact, our commander in Afghanistan, General Tommy Franks, recently wrote this about Tora Bora: ``The 
Senator's understanding of events does not 
square with reality.'' He went on to say--the General says, ``American 
Special Forces were actively involved in the search for the terrorists 
at Tora Bora'' and that ``intelligence reports at the time placed bin 
Laden in any of several countries.'' That's 
what Tommy Franks, who knew what he's talking about, said.
    Before Senator Kerry got into political 
difficulty and revised his views, he saw our actions in Tora Bora 
differently. In the fall of 2001, on national television, he said this 
about Tora Bora: ``I think we've been doing this pretty effectively, and 
we should continue to do it that way.'' At the time, the Senator said 
about Tora Bora: ``I think we have been smart. I think the 
administration leadership has done it well, and we are on the right 
track,'' end quote. All I can say about that is, I am George W. Bush, 
and I approve of that message.
    The security of our families is vital, and it's important to our 
people of this country to understand the records. Senator Kerry's record on national security has the far deeper 
problem than election-year flip-flopping. On the largest national 
security issues

[[Page 2773]]

of our time, he has been consistently wrong. When Ronald Reagan was 
confronting the Soviet Union at the height of the cold war, Senator 
Kerry said that President Reagan's policy of peace through strength was 
making America less safe. History has shown that Senator Kerry was wrong 
and President Ronald Reagan was right.
    When former President Bush led a coalition against Saddam 
Hussein in 1991, Senator Kerry voted against the use of forces to liberate Kuwait. 
History has shown that Senator Kerry was wrong and former President 
Bush was right.
    In 1994, just one year after the first bombing of the World Trade 
Center, Senator Kerry proposed massive cuts in 
America's intelligence budget, so massive that even his Massachusetts 
colleague, Ted Kennedy, opposed them. 
History has shown that Senator Kerry was wrong and--we have got to be 
fair--that Senator Kennedy was right.
    During the last 20 years, in key moments of challenge and decision 
for America, Senator Kerry has chosen the 
position of weakness and inaction. With that record, he stands in 
opposition not just to me but to the great tradition of the Democratic 
Party. The party of Franklin Roosevelt, the party of Harry Truman, the 
party of John Kennedy is rightly remembered for confidence and resolve 
in times of war and hours of crisis. Senator Kerry has turned his back 
on ``pay any price'' and ``bear any burden,'' and he has replaced those 
commitments with ``wait and see'' and ``cut and run.''
    Many Democrats in this country do not recognize their party anymore. 
And traveling Ohio, I want to speak to every one of them: If you believe 
that America should lead with strength and purpose and confidence in our 
ideals, I would be honored to have your support, and I'm asking for your 
vote.
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    The President. The second clear choice in this election concerns 
your family's budget. When I ran for President 4 years ago, I pledged to 
lower taxes for American families. And I kept my word. We doubled the 
child credit to $1,000 per child to help our families. We reduced the 
marriage penalty. I believe the Tax Code ought to encourage marriage, 
not penalize marriage. We dropped the lowest bracket to 10 percent. We 
reduced income taxes for everybody that pays income taxes. After-tax 
income--that's money in your pocket--has gone up by about 10 percent 
since I became your President.
    And I want you to remind your friends and neighbors, when you're out 
there getting people to the polls, what this economy has been through. 
Six months prior to my arrival, the stock market was in serious decline. 
Then we had a recession. Then we had corporate scandals. But we passed 
what's called the Sarbanes-Oxley bill, a bill that makes it abundantly 
clear that we will not tolerate dishonesty in the boardrooms of America. 
And I want to thank Congressman Oxley for 
authoring this legislation. And then we got attacked on September the 
11th. Those attacks cost us about a million jobs in the 3 months after 
that fateful day.
    But our economic policies have led us back to growth. Our economy is 
growing at rates as fast as any in nearly 20 years. Homeownership in 
America is at an alltime high. We saw a lot of good farmland, flying in 
today. The farm incomes are up all across America. Our small businesses 
are flourishing. The entrepreneurial spirit is strong. We've added 1.9 
million new jobs since August of 2003. The national unemployment rate is 
5.4 percent. Let me put that in perspective for you: That's lower than 
the average rate of the 1970s, the 1980s, and the 1990s.
    I know there are placed hurting here in Ohio. I've traveled into 
those neighborhoods. I've talked about an economic plan to continue 
growth. But I want to remind

[[Page 2774]]

you that just last month, the unemployment rate in the State of Ohio 
went from 6.3 percent to 6 percent, and this great State added 5,500 new 
jobs in 1 month. We're on the move. We're moving forward.
    My opponent has very different plans for 
your budget. He's going to take a big chunk out of it.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. He voted against the child 
tax credit. He voted against marriage penalty relief. He voted against 
lower taxes. And if his way had prevailed, the average family in America 
would have been paying 2,000 more in taxes to the Federal Government.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. That may not seem like a lot to folks in Washington. 
It means a lot to people in Findlay, Ohio.
    He served in the United States Senate for 
20 years, and he's voted for higher taxes 98 times. That's five times 
every year he served in the Senate. I would call that a predictable 
pattern--[laughter]--a reliable indicator. [Laughter] When a Senator 
does something that often, he must really enjoy it. [Laughter] Around 
the campaign, he's been promising $2.2 trillion in new Federal spending. 
That's trillion with a ``T.'' That's a lot even for a Senator from 
Massachusetts. [Laughter]
    So they asked him, ``How are you going to 
pay for it?'' And he said that same old, tired line you've heard over 
and over again, ``We're going to tax the rich.'' Well, there's a problem 
with that. When you run up the top two brackets, you only raise between 
600 and 800 billion dollars. That's far short of the 2.2 trillion he has 
promised. I would call that a tax gap. And guess who gets to usually 
fill that tax gap?
    Audience member. We do!
    The President. You do. The good news is we're going to carry Ohio, 
and we're not going to let him tax you.
    The third choice in this election involves the quality of life for 
our Nation's families. A good education and quality health care are 
important for your future. As a candidate, I pledged to end the soft 
bigotry of low expectations by reforming our public schools. I kept my 
word. We passed a really good piece of reform legislation. We're raising 
the standards. We've increased Federal spending, but now we're asking 
for results. We want to measure. See, you can't solve a problem unless 
you've diagnosed the problem. And we're diagnosing problems all across 
America, and we're beginning to solve them. Our test scores in reading 
and math are up. We're closing achievement gaps for minority students 
all across America. We'll build on these reforms and extend them to our 
high schools so that no child is left behind in our country.
    We'll continue to improve life for our families by making health 
care more affordable and accessible. We'll make sure the poor and the 
indigent get health care in what's called community health centers. 
We'll make sure our low-income--our program for low-income--children in 
low-income families is fully subscribed so they get health care. To make 
sure health care is affordable, we'll help our small businesses. We'll 
allow them to pool together so they can spread risk and buy insurance at 
the same discounts big companies are able to do. We will expand health 
savings accounts, which will help our families and small-business 
owners.
    Let me tell you what else we need to do. We need to do something 
about these frivolous lawsuits that are running up the cost of medicine 
and running good doctors out of practice. I was in Canton the other day 
talking to a ob-gyn who got run out of business because these lawsuits 
made her premiums too high to practice medicine. And I met too many 
citizens not only in your State but across the country, too many moms, 
expectant moms, who are worried about their health care and the health 
care of their baby because these lawsuits have made ob-gyn care more 
scarce. This is a national problem. You cannot be pro-doctor, pro-
patient, and pro-plaintiff-injury-

[[Page 2775]]

attorney at the same time. You've got 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 doctors 
of Ohio. I'm standing with the patients of Ohio. I'm for medical 
liability reform--now.
    In one of our debates, my opponent looked 
straight in the camera when they asked him about his health care plan, 
and he said, ``The Government doesn't have anything to do with it.'' 
I'll be frank with you, I could barely contain myself. The Government 
has got a lot to do with his plan. Eighty percent of the people who sign 
up on his plan would end up on the Government. See, if you make it 
easier for people to sign up for Medicaid, it means small businesses are 
likely not to provide insurance for their employees because the 
Government will provide insurance for their employees. That's logical. 
And when the Government starts writing the checks, the Government starts 
making the rules. And when it comes to health care when the Government's 
making the rules, the Government starts making decisions for you and 
decisions for your doctor. The wrong prescription for health care in 
America is to increase the role of the Federal Government. In all we do 
to improve health care, we'll make sure the decisions are made by 
patients and doctors, not by officials in Washington, DC.
    The fourth clear choice in this election comes to 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 kept my word. We have modernized Medicare for our seniors. 
Beginning in 2006, all seniors will be able to get prescription drug 
coverage under Medicare.
    And we'll keep our promise for Social Security for our seniors, and 
we will strengthen Social Security for generations to come. I remember 
the campaign in 2000. I remember those ads they were running. You might 
remember them. They said, ``If George W. gets elected, the seniors are 
not going to get their checks.'' They may be doing it again this year. I 
want you to remind your friends and neighbors as you get them to the 
polls that George W. did get elected, and our seniors did get their 
checks. And our seniors will continue to get their checks. Nobody's 
going to take away your check. Baby boomers like me, we're in pretty 
good shape when it comes to the Social Security trust. We'll probably 
get our checks.
    But we need to worry about our children and our grandchildren. We 
need to worry about whether or not the Social Security system will be 
there for them when they retire. That's why I believe younger workers 
ought to be able to take some of their own money--some of their own 
payroll taxes--and put it in a personal savings account, an account they 
call their own, an account the Government cannot take away.
    Now, my opponent takes a different 
approach. He says he's going to strengthen Social Security; he's going 
to protect it. But you might remember, he is 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 doesn't like talking 
about that. He can run, but he cannot hide.
    And he offered nothing for the younger 
generation in terms of reform. The job of a President is to confront 
problems, not to pass them on to future Presidents and future 
generations. In a new term, I will bring Republicans and Democrats 
together to strengthen the Social Security system for generations to 
come.
    And the final choice in this election is on the values that are so 
crucial to keeping our families strong. And here, my opponent

[[Page 2776]]

and I are miles apart. I stand for the appointment of Federal judges who 
know the difference between personal opinion and the strict 
interpretation of the law. I believe marriage is a sacred commitment, a 
pillar of our civilization, and I will defend it. This is not a partisan 
issue. When Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act, defining 
marriage as a union of a man and a woman, the vast majority of Democrats 
supported it and President 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 difficult issues. Republicans and Democrats came together and 
agreed we should ban the brutal practice of partial-birth abortion. I 
proudly signed that bill. But Senator Kerry 
was part of an out-of-the-mainstream minority that voted against the 
ban.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. He voted against parental 
notification laws and against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. I will 
continue to reach out to Americans of every belief and move this 
goodhearted Nation toward a culture of life.
    At one point in this campaign, you might remember this: My 
opponent said that the heart and soul of 
America can be found in Hollywood.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Most American families do not look toward--to 
Hollywood as a source of values. The heart and soul of America is found 
in communities like Flag City, Ohio.
    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 families, the retirement of our citizens, and the 
direction of our culture are all at stake. And the decision is in the 
best of hands. It is in the hands of the American people. It is in your 
hands. You get to decide. And that gives me great confidence.
    See, I'm optimistic about this country and our future. One of my 
favorite quotes is from a fellow Texan named Tom Lea. He said this, he said, ``Sarah and I live on the east 
side of the mountain. It is the sunrise side, not the sunset side. It is 
the side to see the day that is coming, not to see the day that is 
gone.'' During the course of this campaign, my opponent has spent much of his campaign talking about the day that 
is gone. I'm talking about the day that's coming.
    We've been through a lot together. We have been through a lot 
together during the last nearly 4 years. Because we've done the hard 
work of climbing the mountain, we can see the valley below. The next 4 
years, we'll work to protect our families, build our prosperity, and 
defend our values. We will work hard to spread freedom and liberty so we 
can achieve the peace we want for generations to come.
    Four years ago, when I traveled your great State asking for the 
vote, I made you this pledge, that if I was elected to the office I 
hold, I would uphold the honor and its dignity. With your help, with 
your hard work, I will do so for 4 more years.
    Thanks for coming. God bless. Thank you all. Thanks for coming.

Note: The President spoke at 4:20 p.m. at the Hancock County 
Fairgrounds. In his remarks, he referred to Senator Zell Miller of 
Georgia, who made the keynote address at the 2004 Republican National 
Convention; Fran DeWine, wife of Senator Mike DeWine; Gov. Bob Taft and 
Lt. Gov. Jennette B. Bradley of Ohio; Mayor Anthony P. Iriti of Findlay, 
OH; entertainers the Wil Gravatt Band; former President Saddam Hussein 
of Iraq; Usama bin Laden, leader of the Al Qaida terrorist organization; 
and Gen. Tommy R. Franks, USA (Ret.), former combatant commander, U.S. 
Central Command.

[[Page 2777]]