[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book III)]
[October 28, 2004]
[Pages 2806-2813]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks in Yardley, Pennsylvania
October 28, 2004
The President. Thank you all for coming. I have had a fabulous day
today. What a great way to end it. Thanks for lifting my spirits. It is
such an honor to be back in Bucks County.
First, I want to thank Ruth Wright, who's
the owner of this beautiful farm. And I want to thank her for enrolling
the land in the Conservation Reserve Program, to help preserve the open
spaces of Bucks County. What a great citizen. What a fantastic
contribution to this beautiful part of the world. Ms. Wright, we are
honored that you let us all come here. Some of us will stay over
afterwards and help clean up. [Laughter] I, of course, will be going to
another State to keep putting the message out.
I'm here to ask for your vote, and I'm here to ask for your help.
We're coming down the stretch. There's not many days left. We have a
duty in this country to vote, and I'm asking you to get your friends and
neighbors to go to the polls. Tell your friends and neighbors that in a
free society, all of us have an obligation to participate in our
democracy. Make sure our fellow Republicans get the word. Make sure
independents get the word. And don't overlook discerning Democrats. They
too want what we want, which is a safer America, a stronger America, and
a better America.
I am sorry that Laura is not with me this
evening.
Audience members. Aw-w-w!
The President. That is generally the reaction. I take it like, ``Why
didn't you stay home and send her?'' [Laughter] What a fabulous
woman she is. You know, when I asked her to marry
me, she was a public school librarian. She said, ``Fine, I'll marry you,
but make me a promise.'' I said, ``What is the promise?'' She said,
``Promise me I'll never have to give a political speech.'' [Laughter] I
said, ``Okay, you got a deal.'' Fortunately, she didn't hold me to that
promise. She was in Florida today giving speeches. When the people see
Laura Bush give a speech, they see a strong, compassionate, great First
Lady.
I'm proud of my runningmate, Dick Cheney. I
do not want to offend anybody here who's follically challenged, but I
admit my runningmate does not have the best hairdo in the race.
[Laughter] I didn't pick him because of his hairdo. I picked him because
of his judgment, his experience. He is getting the job done for the
American people.
I'm honored to be introduced by Chad Lewis.
No, I know you know him as a fine football player. Michele knows him as
[[Page 2807]]
a loving dad and a great husband. I know him as a man of character. I'm
proud to be standing on stage with Chad, and I want to thank the other
Eagles for coming here today. I'm honored you all are here.
Congratulations on a great season. Just don't be too tough on the
Cowboys. [Laughter]
I want to thank my friend Arlen Specter
for being here today. I hope you put him back in for 6 more years. And I
enjoy the other Senator from Pennsylvania, a good friend of mine, I know
a friend of yours, Rick Santorum.
I'm a little angry at your Congressman. He's leaving. I've enjoyed
working with Jim Greenwood. He cares
deeply about the people of Pennsylvania and Bucks County. He has done a
fine job as a Member of the United States Congress, and I wish him all
the best in this new venture. And I urge you to support Mike
Fitzpatrick to take his place.
I welcome Melissa Brown here. She too is
running for the United States Congress from the Thirteenth Congressional
District. I wish Melissa all the best. I want to thank all the other
candidates who are here. I appreciate the entertainers who are here.
Most of all, I thank you all for coming. Thanks for putting up the
signs. Thanks for making the phone calls. Thanks for working hard to
turn out such a big crowd. I want to thank you for what you're going to
do. Turn out the vote--no doubt in my mind, we can carry and will carry
Pennsylvania and win a victory on November the 2d.
Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
The President. And one other person I want to recognize, and that's
Sam Evans. Sam Evans is 101 years young. He is
with us tonight. He is the chairman of the American Foundation of Negro
Affairs. I am proud to have his support. Mr. Evans, God bless you, and
thanks for coming.
The election comes down to some clear choices for America's
families, and that's what I'm here to talk about. The first clear choice
is the most important because it concerns the security of your family.
All progress on every issue depends on the safety of our citizens. This
will be the first election since September the 11th, 2001. Americans
will go to the polls in a time of war and ongoing threats. The
terrorists who killed thousands of innocent people are still dangerous,
and they are determined. The outcome of this election will set the
direction of the war on terror. The most solemn duty of the American
President is to protect the American people. If America shows
uncertainty or weakness in these troubled times, the world will drift
toward tragedy. This will not happen on my watch.
Since that terrible morning of September the 11th, 2001, we've
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 strengthening the protections of our homeland. The former Governor
of Pennsylvania, Tom Ridge, is doing a great job
as the Secretary of Homeland Security. We're reforming our intelligence
capabilities. We are transforming our military. There will be no draft.
The All-Volunteer Army works, and we'll keep it an all-volunteer army.
We are relentless. We are determined. We are staying on the offense
against these terrorists so we do not have to face them here at home.
And we're making progress. 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 on their trail. And at the same time, we use all our
assets to protect ourselves.
We've got one other asset, and that's our deep belief in liberty and
freedom. We believe in the power of liberty to transform societies. I
want you to tell your children and grandchildren about the astonishing
events that are taking place.
In a short period of time, Afghanistan has gone from a country ruled
by barbarians who would not let young girls go to
[[Page 2808]]
school. And if their mothers didn't toe their line of hatred, they were
taken into the public squares and whipped and sometimes executed in a
sports stadium. Because we defended ourselves, because we upheld the
doctrine that said, ``If you harbor a terrorist, you're equally as
guilty as the terrorist,'' millions of people voted in a Presidential
election in Afghanistan. And the first voter was a 19-year-old
woman. Because of freedom, that society has
gone from darkness to light, and America is more secure to have
Afghanistan as an ally in the war on terror.
Iraq will hold Presidential elections in January. Think how far that
society has come from the days of mass graves and torture chambers, from
the days of a brutal dictator, Saddam Hussein. Freedom is on the march. The world is changing because
of our deep belief in freedom. We believe everybody wants to be free.
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 your tactics change but not 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 where I'm going to
lead this country. On good days and on bad days, whether the polls are
up or the polls are down, I am determined to protect the American
people, and I will always support the men and women who wear our
uniform.
I see a sign that says ``Moms of Military.'' I want to thank the
families who are here--the families of our military who are here for
their sacrifices. I want to thank the veterans who are here for having
set such a great example for those who wear the uniform. And I want to
assure those who wear the uniform and their loved ones, we will make
sure they have all the resources they need to complete their missions.
That's why I went to the United States Congress in September of 2003 and
asked the Congress for support--to support our men and women in harm's
way. We asked for $87 billion, and it was necessary. It was important
funding.
The bipartisan support for that measure was overwhelming.
Republicans and Democrats both understood the need to support our troops
in harm's way. It was so strong that only 12 Members of the United
States Senate voted against the funding, 2 of whom are my
opponent and his runningmate. As you're out gathering up the vote, as you find people
who wonder about which candidate can lead, you might remind them of this
startling statistic: Four Members of the United States Senate voted to
authorize the use of force and voted against providing the funding
necessary to support our troops in combat--only 4 out of 100--4 Members
of the Senate, 2 of whom are my opponent and his runningmate.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. They asked him why, and you
might remember the famous quote of the 2004 campaign, when he said, ``I
actually did vote for the $87 billion, right before I voted against
it.'' He's given several explanations since then about that vote.
Perhaps the most interesting and telling of all is when he finally said,
``Well, the whole matter was a complicated matter.'' There is nothing
complicated about supporting our troops in combat.
Senator Kerry's record on national
security has a far deeper problem than election-year flip-flopping. On
the largest national security issues 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
secure. Well, history has shown that Senator Kerry was wrong and
President Ronald Reagan was right.
[[Page 2809]]
When former President Bush led a
coalition against Saddam Hussein in 1991,
Senator Kerry voted against the use of force
to liberate Kuwait. Well, 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.
Well, history has shown that Senator Kerry was wrong and--we've got to
be fair--[laughter]--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 and Harry Truman and John Kennedy
is rightly remembered for confidence and resolve in times of war.
Senator Kerry has turned his back on ``pay and 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 today, here in the great State of Pennsylvania, 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 am asking for your vote.
Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
The President. The security of our families is at stake. Senator
Kerry says that September the 11th did not
change him much at all. That's what he said. His policies make that
clear. He says the war on terror is primarily a law enforcement and
intelligence gathering operation.
September the 11th changed me, and changed my outlook. I'll never
forget the day that I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers, September
the 14th, 2001. I'll never forget the sights and sounds of that day, the
workers in hardhats yelling at me at the top of their lungs, ``Whatever
it takes.'' I remember the firefighter or police officer, I'm not sure
which one, who'd come out of the rubble. He grabbed me by the arm. He
looked me square in the eye, and he said, ``Do not let me down.'' Ever
since that morning, I've gotten up thinking about how to best protect
America. I will never relent in defending our country, whatever it
takes.
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. I kept my word. We doubled the child credit to
$1,000 per child to help the moms and dads. 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 so
working families can take--keep more of their paychecks. We reduced
income taxes for everybody who pays income taxes. And real after-tax
income, the money you have in your pocket, is up by about 10 percent
since I've been your President.
When you're out gathering the vote, remind people about what this
economy has been through. Six months prior to my arrival in Washington,
the stock market was in serious decline. It foretold a recession that we
went through. And then we had some corporate scandals. But we acted. We
passed good legislation that made it abundantly clear we will not
tolerate dishonesty in the boardrooms of America. And then we got
attacked, and those attacks cost us about a million jobs in the 3 months
after September the 11th.
But our economic policies are working. By stimulating consumption
and increasing investment, this economy is strong, and it is getting
stronger. Think about what's taken place. Homeownership is at an alltime
high in America. More minority families own a home than ever before in
our
[[Page 2810]]
Nation's history. Pennsylvania farmers, like farmers everywhere, are
making a good living under the Bush administration. Small businesses are
flourishing. The entrepreneurial spirit is strong in America.
We've added 1.9 million new jobs in the last 13 months. 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. The unemployment rate in Pennsylvania is 5.3 percent. This
economy is moving forward, and we're not going to go back to the days of
tax and spend.
My opponent has a different plan for your
family's budget. He's going to take a big chunk out of it. You remind
your friends and neighbors about these facts. He voted against the
child--increasing the child credit. He voted against the marriage
penalty relief. He voted against lower taxes. If he had had his way, the
average American family would be paying 2,000 more in Federal income
taxes.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. That probably doesn't seem like a lot to people in
Washington. It's a lot to people who are trying to make ends meet in
Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It matters to families right here in this
part of the world.
He's been in the United States Senate 20
years, and he's voted for higher taxes 98 times. That is five times a
year. I would call that a predictable pattern, a leading indicator. When
a Senator does something that often, he must really enjoy it. [Laughter]
I want you to couple that fact with this one: He's proposed about $2.2 trillion in new Federal spending.
That's trillion with a ``T.'' That's a lot. That's a lot even for a
Senator from Massachusetts. [Laughter] And so they asked him, ``How are
you going to pay for it?'' And he threw out that same old tired line
we've heard before. He's going to tax the rich.
Let me tell you two things about that. One, most small businesses
are sole proprietorships or Subchapter S's. They pay tax at the
individual income-tax level. Seventy percent of new jobs in America are
created by small businesses. By running up the top two brackets, you're
taxing the job creators. You're taking money out of the coffers of small
businesses, and that is bad economic policy.
This may interest you as well. By raising the top two brackets, by
taxing the rich, you raise about 600 billion to 800 billion dollars.
That is far short of the 2.2 trillion that he had promised. That's what
we call a tax gap. That's the difference between what's promised and
what's delivered. Guess who usually fills the tax gap? You do. But the
good news is, we're not going to let him tax
you; we're going to carry Pennsylvania and win on November the 2d.
The third clear choice in this election involves the quality of life
for our families. A good education and quality health care are important
to our families. As a candidate, I pledged to challenge the soft bigotry
of low expectations by reforming our public schools. I kept my word. I
signed the No Child Left Behind Act and proudly so. We're raising the
standards. We're spending more money, but in return, we're asking for
results. We believe every child can learn, and we expect every school to
teach.
You cannot solve a problem until you diagnose the problem, and we're
now diagnosing problems and we're solving them. Test scores are up in
reading and math. We're closing an achievement gap for minority students
all across America. And we're not going to go back to the days of low
standards and mediocrity in our classrooms.
We'll continue to improve life for our families by making health
care more affordable and available. We'll make it available by making
sure the poor and the indigent are able to get care in community health
centers, places where people can get good preventative care and good
primary care without burdening the emergency rooms of
[[Page 2811]]
your local hospitals. We'll make sure that children of low-income
families are--subscribe to the programs aimed to help them, to make sure
health care is affordable.
We'll help our small businesses. Small businesses ought to be
allowed to pool risk across jurisdictional boundaries so they can buy
insurance at the same discounts that big companies are able to do. We
will expand health savings accounts to help our small-business owners
and families afford health insurance and manage their own health care
plans.
To make sure health care is available and affordable in a State like
Pennsylvania and others, we will do something about the frivolous
lawsuits that are running up the cost of medicine and running good
doctors out of practice. We have a problem in this Nation when it comes
to medical liability. There are too many lawsuits. I have met too many
ob-gyns from the State of Pennsylvania who are being driven out of
practice because their premiums are so high because of the lawsuits. And
I, unfortunately, have met too many patients of ob-gyns who are deeply
concerned about the quality of health care for not only the mom but the
baby. This is a national problem.
You cannot be pro-doctor and pro-patient and pro-personal-injury-
trial-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. He's voted against medical
liability reform 10 times in the United States Senate. I made my choice.
I'm standing with the doctors of Pennsylvania. I'm standing with the
patients of Pennsylvania. I am for real medical liability reform.
My opponent proposed a plan. You might
remember, at one of our debates, he looked straight in the camera and he
said about his plan, ``The Government doesn't have anything to do with
it.'' I could barely contain myself. [Laughter]
The Government's got a lot to do with it. Eighty percent of the
people in this plan will end up on a Government plan. If you make it
easier for people to get on Medicaid, it is likely small-business owners
will stop providing insurance for their employees because the Government
will cover them. That's moving people from the private sector to the
public sector when it comes to health care. And when the Government
writes the checks, the Government makes the rules. And when the
Government starts making the rules for your family's health care, they
start making decisions for you. And they make decision for the docs. And
they start making decisions on rationing of care.
Countries that have tried centralized health care can't get away
from it quick enough. The wrong prescription for American families is to
federalize health care in America. In all we do to make sure health care
is available and affordable, 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 kept my word.
We reformed Medicare. The system need to be fixed. We would pay
thousands of dollars for a heart surgery but not one dime for the
prescription drugs that could prevent the heart surgery from being
needed in the first place. And that was not fair to our seniors, and it
certainly wasn't fair to the taxpayers. And so we modernized Medicare. I
brought Republicans and Democrats together. I proudly signed the
Medicare bill. And beginning in 2006, all seniors in America will be
able to get prescription drug coverage under Medicare.
We'll keep the promise of Social Security for our seniors, and we'll
strengthen Social Security for generations to come. In the 2000
campaign, I remember some of those
[[Page 2812]]
ads that said, ``If George W. gets elected, our seniors won't get their
checks.'' You might remember those. When you're out gathering up the
vote, remind people George W. got elected, and the seniors got their
checks. Those scare tactics are not going to work in 2004. They're too
old, and they're too tired. Seniors will always get their checks. Baby
boomers like me, like some of you, are in pretty good shape when it
comes to the Social Security trust.
But we need to worry about our children and our grandchildren. We
need to worry about whether the Social Security system will be there
when they retire, and that's why I think younger workers ought to be
allowed to take some of their own payroll taxes and set up a personal
savings account, a personal savings account that will earn a better rate
of return, a personal savings account they call their own, a personal
savings account the Government cannot take away.
My opponent takes a different approach. He
said he's going to protect Social Security, but tell your friends and
neighbors about this fact: He voted eight times for higher taxes on
Social Security benefits.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. And when it comes to the next generation, he has offered no reform. See, 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'll bring people together to
strengthen Social Security for generations to come.
The fifth clear choice in this election is on the values that are so
crucial to keeping a family strong. I stand for the appointment of
Federal judges who know the difference between personal opinion and the
strict interpretation of the law. I stand for marriage and family, which
are the foundations of our society. I stand for a culture of life in
which every person matters and every being counts. And I proudly signed
the ban on partial-birth abortion.
My opponent has taken a different
position. He voted against the Defense of Marriage Act. He voted against
the ban on partial-birth abortion. And at one point in this campaign, he
actually said that the heart and soul of America can be found in
Hollywood.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. That's what he said. Most
Americans do not look to Hollywood as a source of values. The truth of
the matter is, the heart and soul of America is found in communities in
Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
I'm running for a reason. I see clearly where this country needs to
go.
Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
The President. I thank you all. I know where I want to lead us. You
know, one of my favorite quotes is from a fellow Texan named Tom
Lea, and 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.'' The course of this campaign, my opponent has spent much of it talking about the day that is gone.
I'm talking about the day that's coming.
I'm talking about a day in which our families are able to realize
their dreams for their children. I'm talking about a day where
prosperity reaches every corner of America, a day in which every school
sets high standards so every child can realize the great promise of
America. I'm talking about a day when we achieve the peace we all
desperately want.
When I campaigned across Pennsylvania 4 years ago, I made this
pledge, that I would uphold the honor and the dignity of the office.
With your help, I will do so for 4 more years.
God bless. On to victory. Thank you all.
Note: The President spoke at 6:25 p.m. at Broadmeadows Farm. In his
remarks, he referred to professional football player Chad Lewis and his
wife, Michele; Mike Fitzpatrick, candidate in Pennsylvania's
[[Page 2813]]
Eighth Congressional District; and former President Saddam Hussein of
Iraq.