[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book III)]
[October 30, 2004]
[Pages 2850-2858]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin
October 30, 2004
The President. Thank you all for coming. Thank you all. It's good to
be with all the cheeseheads. It's great to be back in Brown County.
We're here to ask for your vote and here to ask for your help. It is
close to voting time. We have a duty in our democracy to vote. And so
I'm asking you to get your friends and neighbors and remind them of that
duty. Find our fellow Republicans, and turn them out. Find independents,
and turn them out. Find discerning Democrats, and head them to the
polls. And when you get them going to the polls, remind them, if they
want a safer America, a stronger America, and a better America, to put
me and Dick Cheney back in office.
Perhaps the most important reason of all to put me back in for 4
more years is to make sure that Laura is the
First Lady for 4 more years.
I'm proud of my runningmate. I don't want to offend anybody here who
is follically challenged--[laughter]--but I admit it, Vice President
Cheney doesn't
[[Page 2851]]
have the waviest hair in the race. [Laughter] People in this part of the
world will be happy I didn't pick him because of his hairdo. I picked
him because of his judgment. I picked him because of his experience.
He's getting the job done for the American people.
I'm proud of your former Governor, my friend and Cabinet Secretary,
Tommy Thompson. He's done a great job. You
know, one of the jobs of a President is to surround himself with smart,
capable people. I obviously know how to do that when I picked Tommy
Thompson.
I want to thank Congressman Mark Green for
being such a fine Member of the United States Congress. I want to thank
his wife, Sue. I want to thank Congressman Jim
Sensenbrenner and wife,
Cheryl, for joining us today. I want to
thank Congressman Tom Petri for joining us
today. I want to thank Congressman Paul Ryan for
joining us today.
I want to thank your State treasurer, Jack Voight. I want to thank the assembly speaker for being here. I
want to thank Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker. I call him Scott W. I want to thank all the local
officials, the mayors and the city council folks.
I want to thank Tina Danforth, the
Oneida Nation chairwoman, for joining us today. I want to thank Bob
Chicks, the Stockbridge tribal president, for
joining us today. I am honored--I'm honored these tribal leaders are
here, and I look forward to working on a government-to-government basis
in the next 4 years to help build a more hopeful America for every
citizen who lives in this country.
I hope you vote for Tim Michels for the
United States Senate. Laura and I have come to
know he and Barbara, and he is a fine, fine
man. He'll make a great United States Senator.
I want to thank my friend Kayne Robinson,
who's the president of the NRA, the National Rifle Association. I want
to thank Wayne LaPierre for being with
us today. I'm proud to have the endorsement and support of so many of
the sports men and women across the State of Wisconsin. I appreciate
Jeff Schinkten, who's the Whitetails
Unlimited founder and board president, for supporting my candidacy.
I want to thank Lee Greenwood for being
here, my friend.
But most of all, Laura and I thank you all
for coming. Thank you for taking time out of your Saturday afternoon to
come by and say hello. I want to thank those of you who are putting up
the signs. I want to thank those of you who are making the phone calls.
I want to thank you for turning out such a huge crowd today. I want to
thank you for what you have done and what you're going to do. By working
hard and by turning out the vote, there is no doubt in my mind we will
carry Wisconsin and win a great victory in November.
The person who sits in the Oval Office for the next 4 years will set
the course of the war on terror and the direction of our economy.
America will need strong, determined, optimistic leadership, and I am
ready for the job. My 4 years as your President have confirmed some
lessons and have taught me some new ones. I've learned to expect the
unexpected because war and emergency can arrive suddenly on a quiet
morning. I have learned firsthand how hard it is to send young men and
women into battle, even if the cause is right. I've been grateful for
the lessons I have learned from my parents: Respect every person; do
your best; live life to its fullest. I've been strengthened by my faith
and humbled by its reminder that every life is part of a larger story.
I know how a President must lead, as Presidents from Lincoln to
Roosevelt to Reagan so clearly demonstrated. A President must not shift
with the wind. A President has to make the tough decisions and stand by
them. In the last 4 years, Americans have learned a few things about me.
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Sometimes I am a little too blunt. [Laughter] I got that from my
mother. [Laughter] Sometimes I mangle the
English language. [Laughter] I got that from my father. [Laughter] But all the time, whether you agree with me
or disagree with me, you know where I stand. You know what I believe,
and you know where I'm going to lead.
You can't say that about my opponent. I
think it is fair to say that consistency is not his long suit.
[Laughter] Next Tuesday, the citizens of this country will vote. They
will vote for conviction. They will vote for principle. They will vote
for somebody who knows how to lead this country, and with your help,
they'll be voting for George W. Bush.
This election comes down to five choices for America's families. And
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. The terrorists who killed thousands of
innocent people are still dangerous and determined to strike. The
outcome of this election will set the direction of the war against
terror. The most solemn duty of the American President is to protect the
American people. And if our country, if America shows any uncertainty or
any weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This
is not going to happen on my watch.
Since that terrible morning of September the 11th, 2001, we 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 protecting the homeland. We're transforming--or reforming and
strengthening our intelligence capabilities. We are transforming our
military. The All-Volunteer Army will remain an all-volunteer army.
There will be no draft. We are relentless. We are steadfast. We are
determined. We will chase the terrorists around the globe so we do not
have to face them here at home.
Because we led, Afghanistan is a free nation and now an ally in the
war on terror. Because we led, Pakistan is capturing terrorist leaders;
Saudi Arabia is making raids and arrests. Because we led, Libya is
dismantling its weapons programs. Because we led, an army of a free Iraq
is fighting for freedom; and more than three-quarters of Al Qaida's key
members and associates have been brought to justice.
We will not only stay on the offense with all our assets; we will
stay on the offense by spreading freedom and liberty. I believe in the
power of liberty to transform societies. And I want the youngsters to
know firsthand what I mean. Just look at what happened in Afghanistan.
It wasn't all that long ago that the people of that country lived under
the brutal reign of barbarians, ideologues of hate called the Taliban.
Young girls were not allowed to go to school, and if their mothers did
not toe the line, they were taken into the public square and whipped and
sometimes executed in a sports stadium. Because we acted in our own
self-defense, because we upheld a doctrine that I clearly laid out for
the world which said, ``If you harbor a terrorist, you're equally as
guilty as the terrorist,'' because we did what we said we were going to
do, millions of people in Afghanistan voted for President of that
country. And the first voter was a 19-year-old woman. And America is better off to have freedom take the
place of tyranny in Afghanistan.
And there are going to be elections in Iraq in January. Think how
far that country has come from the days of torture chambers and the
brutal reign of a hater of America who had mass graves for thousands of
his citizens. Freedom is on the march, and America and the world are
more secure because of it. I believe in my heart of hearts that every
person in the world desires to live in a free society. I believe this
because I understand that freedom is not America's gift to the world;
freedom
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is the Almighty God's gift to each man and woman of this world.
A President must lead with consistency and strength. In a war,
sometimes your tactics have to change but never your principles.
Americans have seen how I do my job. On good days and on bad days, when
the polls are up or the polls are down, I am determined to protect the
security of the American people.
And I will always support the men and women who wear our Nation's
uniform. I want to thank those who wear the uniform who are here today.
I want to thank the military families who are here today for your
sacrifice. And I want to thank the veterans who are here today for
having set such a great example for the men and women of today's
military. And we'll make sure our troops have got the full support of
the Government.
That's why I went to the Congress and requested $87 billion of
funding to support our troops in combat. It was important. This happened
in September of 2003. And it was vital, a vital funding request. And we
got good bipartisan support there in Washington. Only 12 Members of the
Senate voted against the funding, 2 of whom are my opponent and his runningmate.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. But I want to tell you this fact. As you're gathering
up the vote, remind your friends and neighbors about this. Only 4
Members of the United States Senate--4 out of 100--voted to authorize
force and then voted against the funding to support the troops they
authorized, and 2 of those 4 were my opponent
and his runningmate. They kept asking him why
he made the vote he did. And he uttered perhaps the most famous quote of
the 2004 campaign, when he said, ``I actually did vote for the $87
billion, right before I voted against it.'' [Laughter]
Now, I haven't spent a lot of time in the coffee shops here in Green
Bay, but I suspect I'm not going to find many people who talk that way.
[Laughter] They kept pressing him. They kept
asking for answers. He's given several answers since then, but perhaps
the most revealing of all was that he said, ``The whole thing was a
complicated matter.'' [Laughter] My fellow Americans, there is nothing
complicated about supporting our troops in combat.
My opponent's positions are kind of like
the weather here in Green Bay--[laughter]--if you don't like it, wait a
little bit, and it will change. [Laughter]
My opponent's record on national security
has a far deeper problem than election-year flip-flopping. And it's
important for you to understand the record. 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 safe. History has shown that Senator
Kerry was wrong and President Reagan was right.
When former President Bush led a
coalition against Saddam Hussein in 1991
because the tyrant had invaded Kuwait and threatened the peace and
stability of the world, Senator Kerry voted
against the use of force 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 colleague from
Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy, voted against
them. History has shown that Senator Kerry was wrong--and we have got to
be fair--in this case, Senator Kennedy was right. [Laughter]
During the 20 years--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
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and John Kennedy is rightly remembered for confidence and resolve in
times of crises and in times of war. 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 today, 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.
We have big differences about how to approach the security of our
country. You might remember one of our debates when my opponent said that America must pass a ``global test'' before
we commit our troops.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. I'm not making that up. [Laughter] I heard it too.
[Laughter] As far as I can tell, that means we've got to get permission
from foreign capitals before we act in our own defense. That's----
Audience members. No-o-o!
The President. That is a dangerous policy in the world in which we
live. I'll work with our friends. I will work with our allies. I
understand how important these alliances are, but I will never turn over
America's national security decisions to leaders of other countries.
The security of our families are--is at stake. We've got to be firm
and resolved. My opponent was quoted about
September the 11th, and he said it didn't change him much at all. Well,
September the 11th changed me. It made me look at the world in a
different light. I'll never forget the day I stood in the ruins of the
Twin Towers--that was September the 14th, 2001. I'll never forget the
sights and the sounds of that moment when the workers in hardhats were
yelling at me at the top of their lungs, ``Whatever it takes.'' And one
of the first-responders--I don't know if he worked for the fire
department of New York or the police department--he came out of the
rubble, and he grabbed me by the arm, and he looked me right in the eye
and he said, ``Do not let me down.'' Ever since that day, I wake up
every morning trying to figure out how to better protect America. I will
never relent in defending this 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 our families, and I kept my word. We raised the child credit. We
lowered the penalty on marriage. We believe the code ought to encourage
marriage, not penalize marriage. We created a 10-percent bracket. We
reduced taxes on everybody who pays taxes, and we're overcoming
obstacles because of that plan.
When you're out gathering the vote, remind your friends and
neighbors that 6 months prior to my arrival the stock market was in
serious decline. That would be 6 months prior to my arrival in January
of 2001. And then we had a recession and corporate scandals and an
attack that cost us about a million jobs in the 3 months after September
the 11th.
But our economic policies are working. This economy of ours is
strong, and it is getting stronger. We've added 1.9 million jobs in the
last 13 months. Homeownership rate is at an alltime high in America.
More minority families own a home than ever before in our Nation's
history. Wisconsin farmers are making a living. The small-business
sector in our country is strong. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive,
and it is well. 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 the great
State of Wisconsin is 5 percent. We're overcoming the obstacles. We're
strong, and we are getting stronger.
My opponent has different plans for your
budget. He's going to take a big chunk
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out of it. He voted against the child credit--raising the child credit.
He voted against reducing the marriage penalty. He voted against the tax
relief. And had he had had his way, the average family in Wisconsin
would be paying $2,000 more per year in taxes.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. Now, that probably doesn't seem like a lot to some of
them in Washington, but I understand it's a lot for the families in
Green Bay, Wisconsin. People can use that $2,000. It can help them raise
their children, help them make a living--and if you're a small-business
owner.
My opponent's been in the Senate for 20
years, and he voted to raise taxes 98 times. That's five times a year.
Now, I would call that a leading indicator. [Laughter] He's also
promised $2.2 trillion in new spending. That would be trillion with a
``T.'' [Laughter] And that's a lot even for a Senator from
Massachusetts. [Laughter]
So they asked him how he's going to pay
for it, and he threw out that same old, tired line, ``Oh, we'll pay for
it by taxing the rich.'' That means he's going to raise the top two
brackets. You know most small businesses are sole proprietorships or
Subchapter S corporations, which means they pay tax at the individual
income-tax level. Seventy percent of new jobs in America are created by
small businesses. So therefore, when you run up the top two brackets,
you're taxing job creators; you're taxing small-business owners. And
that doesn't make any economic sense at all.
And secondly, when you top--raise the top two brackets, you raise
between 600 and 800 billion dollars, which is far short of the 2.2
trillion he has promised. I call that a tax gap. [Laughter] And given
his record, guess who gets to fill the tax
gap? You do. The good news is, you're not going to get taxed; we're
going to carry Wisconsin and win on November the 2d.
The third clear choice in this election involves the quality of life
for our families. That means good education and quality health care. As
a candidate, I pledged to challenge the soft bigotry of low expectations
by reforming our public schools. I kept my word. We passed the No Child
Left Behind Act, which I proudly signed into law. In return for
increased Federal spending, we're now expecting results because we
believe every child can learn and we expect every school to teach. You
cannot solve a problem unless you diagnose the problem. And so the new
system enables us to diagnose and solve problems. The test scores are on
the rise across this country in reading and math. We're closing an
achievement gap for minority students all across this country. And we
refuse to go back to the days of low standards and mediocrity in our
classrooms.
And we will improve health care by making sure it is available and
affordable. To make sure health care is available, we'll expand
community health centers to help the poor and the indigent get primary
and preventative care. We'll make sure our program for children of low-
income families is fully subscribed. A compassionate society takes care
of those who cannot help themselves. But I also recognize that most of
the uninsured work for small businesses. And so to enable the small
businesses to better afford insurance, we ought to allow them to join
together to pool risk 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 families and our entrepreneurs.
And to make sure health care is available and affordable, we will do
something about the frivolous lawsuits that are running up the cost of
medicine and driving too many doctors out of business. I have met too
many ob-gyns as I've traveled our country who are having trouble staying
in practice because these lawsuits are running up their premiums and
running them out of practice. And I have met too many women who are
concerned about whether or not they and their child will get the health
care they
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need. Too many communities have been upset because doctors can no longer
practice medicine.
This is a national problem, I'm telling you, that requires a
national solution. You cannot be pro-doctor, pro-patient, and pro-
personal-injury-trial-lawyer at the same time. I think you have to make
a choice. My opponent made his choice. He has
voted against medical liability reform not once but 10 times as a
Senator. And he put a personal-injury trial lawyer on the ticket.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. I've made my choice. I'm standing with the doctors.
I'm standing with the patients of Wisconsin. I am for medical liability
reform--now.
My opponent has got a different point of
view when it comes to health care. You might remember the debate when he
said, well, the--they asked him about his plan, and he looked in the
camera and he said, ``The Government doesn't have anything to do with
it.'' I could barely contain myself. [Laughter] The Government has got a
lot to do with it. Eighty percent of the people that would be signed up
for health insurance under his plan would go on the Government health
care plan. If you make it easier for people to sign up for Medicaid,
small businesses will drop insurance because the Government will provide
the insurance. And so you're moving people from the private sector to
the public sector. And when the Government starts writing the check, the
Government starts making the rules. And when the Government starts
making the rules for your family's health care, they start making the
decisions for your family's health care and they start making the
decisions for your doctors. Federalizing health care is the wrong
prescription for American families.
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. The Medicare debate was one of those debates
in which people said a lot of stuff but nothing ever got done. I worked
with Republicans and Democrats to make the system work better. We would
pay thousands of dollars for a heart surgery under Medicare but not one
dime for the prescription drugs that could prevent the heart surgery
from being needed in the first place. It didn't make any sense. The
system wasn't working. We got the job done. And beginning in 2006, all
seniors will get prescription drug coverage under Medicare.
And we'll keep our commitment in Social Security as well. Let me
talk about Social Security--well, you don't have any choice. I'm going
to talk about Social Security. [Laughter] You might remember the 2000
campaign when they ran the ads in Wisconsin that tried to scare our
seniors by saying that, ``If George W. gets elected, the seniors will
not get their checks.'' Remind your friends and neighbors, George W. got
elected, and the seniors got their checks. And the seniors will continue
to get their checks. No matter how they try to scare Wisconsin seniors,
the seniors will get their checks. And baby boomers like me and like
some of the others I see out there--[laughter]--are in pretty good shape
when it comes to Social Security.
But we need to worry about our children and our grandchildren. We
need to worry about whether the Social Security trust will be available
for them when they need it. And therefore, I think younger workers ought
to be allowed to take some of their payroll taxes and set up a personal
savings account, a personal saving account they call their own, a
personal savings account the Government cannot take away.
[[Page 2857]]
My opponent takes a different approach
about Social Security. He's promised he's going to protect the system,
but what he didn't tell you was he voted eight times for higher taxes on
Social Security benefits. He can run from his record, but he cannot
hide. We're not going to let him hide.
And he didn't offer anything for the
youngsters when it comes to strengthening Social Security. 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 people
together and strengthen Social Security for generations to come.
And the fifth clear choice is on the values that are crucial for our
country. We stand for things. We stand for marriage and family, which
are the foundations of our society. We stand for a culture of life in
which every person matters and every being counts. I proudly signed the
ban on partial-birth abortions. And we stand for the appointment of
Federal judges who know the difference between personal opinion and the
strict interpretation of the law.
My opponent has had a different point of
view. He voted against the ban on partial-birth abortion. He voted
against the Defense of Marriage Act. And at one point in this campaign,
he said that the heart and soul of America can be found in Hollywood.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. The heart and soul of America is found in communities
all across the great State of Wisconsin.
All these choices make this one of the most important elections in
our history. And the decision is in the best of hands. It is in the
hands of the American people. In less than 72 hours, the American people
will be voting, and the decision comes down to who do you trust?
Audience members. You!
The President. I offer----
Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
The President. I offer leadership and results for a time of threat
and a time of challenge. I ask for your trust. I ask for your vote. I
ask for your help. I have a vision for this country that is clear. I
know where I want to take us, and it's to a more hopeful tomorrow.
One of my favorite quotes is by a fellow Texan named Tom Lea. 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 this campaign, my
opponent has spent much of the campaign
talking about the day that is gone. I'm talking about the day that's
coming. I see a day where prosperity reaches every corner of America. I
see a day when every child can read and write. I see a day when we
achieve the peace that we all long for our children and our
grandchildren.
When I campaigned across your State 4 years ago, I made this pledge,
that if elected, I would uphold the honor and the dignity of the office.
With your help, with your hard work, I will do so for 4 more years.
God bless. Thank you all for coming. Thank you all.
Note: The President spoke at 11:50 a.m. at the Brown County Veterans
Memorial Complex. In his remarks, he referred to John Gard, speaker,
Wisconsin State Assembly; Robert Chicks, tribal council president,
Stockbridge-Munsee Band of the Mohican Nation; Wayne LaPierre, Jr.,
executive vice president and chief executive officer, National Rifle
Association; entertainer Lee Greenwood; and former President Saddam
Hussein of Iraq.
[[Page 2858]]