[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book III)]
[October 6, 2004]
[Pages 2379-2386]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks in Farmington Hills, Michigan
October 6, 2004

    The President. Thank you all for coming. You know what I think, 
Bill? I think that with the help of 
these good folks here, we'll carry Michigan. We'll win a great victory 
in November, and I'll be there in the White House when you come back.
    Listen, I appreciate you coming. Thanks for coming today. We're 
coming down the stretch. I'm here to ask for your vote, and I'm here to 
ask for your help. Register your friends and neighbors. Make sure you 
don't overlook discerning Democrats, people like Zell Miller. Get people headed to the polls, and remind them, if they 
want a safer America, a stronger America, and a better America, to put 
me and Dick Cheney back in office.
    Speaking about the Vice President, I'm sure 
some of you stayed up to watch the debate last night. America saw two 
different visions of our country and two different hair styles. 
[Laughter] America saw why I picked Dick Cheney to be the Vice 
President. He's strong. He's steady. He knows what he's talking about.
    Laura sends her best. She's warming up for 
the Jay Leno show. He's lucky to have her as a 
guest, and I'm lucky to have her as a wife. She is a great First Lady. 
Perhaps the most important reason to put me back into office, is so that 
Laura will be the First Lady for 4 more years.
    I appreciate Bill Laimbeer for 
being here. I also want to thank another great leader and sports figure 
of your great State, Bo Schembechler is with us today as well. I appreciate you bringing 
Cathryn.
    I also want to thank the attorney general, Mike Cox. My longtime friend Brooks Patterson is with us today. I thank Ruth Johnson and other State and local officials. I want to thank 
Betsy DeVos and all the grassroots 
activists who are here. I appreciate what you're doing. I appreciate the 
hard work you're doing.
    I want to thank Mary Spangler, the 
chancellor of the Oakland Community College, and Ed 
Callaghan, who's the president. Thank 
you all for having me.
    I want to thank my friend Mark Wills, country 
and western singer, for being here. Most of all, thank you all for being 
here.
    In less than a month, you'll have a chance to vote for Dick 
Cheney and me. As your President, I've worked to 
make America more hopeful and more secure. I've led our country with 
principle and resolve, and that is how I'll lead our Nation for 4 more 
years.
    When I took office in 2001, the bubble of the nineties had burst and 
our economy was headed into a recession. Because of the attacks of 
September the 11th, nearly a million jobs were lost in 3 months. It

[[Page 2380]]

was a dangerous time for our economy. People were warning of potential 
deflation and depression, but I led. To stimulate the economy, I called 
on Congress to pass historic tax relief, which it did. The tax relief 
was the fuel that got our economy growing again. Thanks to the efforts 
of our citizens and the right policies at the right place at the right 
time, we put the recession behind us, and America is creating jobs 
again.
    We have built a broad and solid record of accomplishment. In the 
past year, the United States of America has added about 1.7 million new 
jobs, more than Germany, Japan, Great Britain, Canada, and France 
combined. Real tax--real after-tax income, the money in your pocket that 
you have to spend on groceries and house payments and rent, is up more 
than 10 percent since I took office. Homeownership is at an alltime high 
in America. The farm economy is strong. The entrepreneurial spirit is 
alive and well. The small-business sector of America is doing well.
    Thanks to our reforms in education, math and reading scores are 
increasing in our public schools. Under my budget, 10 million students 
will get record levels of grants and loans to help with college. Low-
income seniors are getting $600 extra to help pay for medicine this 
year, and soon Medicare will offer prescription drug coverage to every 
senior in America. We've made America stronger, and we're just getting 
started.
    Listen, I understand we're living in changing times--people are 
living and working in a time of change. Workers switch jobs more often 
than they used to, which means they need, oftentimes need new skills and 
new benefits that they can take with them from job to job. Ultimately, 
in our competitive global economy, it's our people that make America 
successful, and that's why I believe education is so vital.
    So we'll raise standards and expectations for every public school in 
America. We'll invest in our Nation's fine community colleges, like this 
one right here, so they prepare workers for the jobs of the 21st 
century. We'll expand health savings accounts so people can pay health 
expenses with tax-free money. We'll improve Social Security to allow 
younger workers to own a piece of their retirement, a nest egg that 
Washington, DC, politicians can never take away.
    To keep our economy strong and competitive, we must make sure 
America is the best place in the world to do business. That's why we 
need to make our tax relief permanent for our small businesses and our 
families. To keep jobs here, we need to cut needless regulations. To 
keep jobs here, we need to pass an energy plan that makes our Nation 
less dependent on foreign sources of energy. To make sure we got jobs 
here, we need to stop these junk and frivolous lawsuits that badger our 
employers.
    My opponent and I have a very different 
view as how to grow our economy. We have a difference of opinion. Let's 
start with taxes. I have a record of reducing them. He has a record of 
raising them.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. He voted in the United 
States Senate to raise taxes 98 times.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. That sounds like a lot to me. He voted for higher taxes on Social Security benefits.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. He voted in 1997 for the 
formula that has helped cause the increases in Medicare premiums.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Remember when I proposed middle class tax relief in 
order to get this economy going? I asked Congress to raise the child 
credit, reduce the marriage penalty, and create a new 10-percent bracket 
for lower income Americans. He voted against 
every one of those taxes to help the middle class.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Now he's proposing higher 
taxes--higher taxes on about 900,000 small-business owners.

[[Page 2381]]

    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Remember when you hear him 
say ``tax the rich,'' a lot of small businesses pay individual income 
taxes. As a matter of fact, 90 percent of small businesses do. And we've 
heard that rhetoric, haven't we, ``tax the rich''? Yes. That's why the 
rich hire lawyers and accountants, to stick you with the bill, to stick 
those small-business owners with the bill. We're not going to let him 
tax you; we're going to win Michigan and win in November.
    My opponent is one of the few candidates 
in history to campaign on a pledge to raise taxes. That's the kind of 
pledge a politician from Massachusetts usually keeps. [Laughter]
    We have a different view on another threat to our economy, frivolous 
lawsuits. Senator Kerry has been a part of the 
Washington crowd that has obstructed legal reform again and again. 
Meanwhile, all across America, unfair lawsuits are hurting small 
businesses. Lawsuits are driving up the cost of your health care. 
Lawsuits are driving good doctors out of the practice of medicine. We 
need a President who will stand up to the trial lawyers in Washington, 
not put one on the ticket.
    The Senator and I have very different 
views on health care. I believe we ought to help the poor with community 
health centers. We ought to fully subscribe to the children's health 
program for low-income families. We need association health plans to 
help our small businesses afford insurance. We need health savings 
accounts to help our workers and small businesses be able to better 
afford insurance. We need to make sure we use technology to help drive 
down the cost of medicine.
    He has a different view. Under his health 
plan, 8 million Americans would lose the private insurance they get at 
work and most would end up on a Government program.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Under his plan, 8 out of 10 people who get new 
insurance will get it from the Federal Government. My opponent's proposal would be the largest expansion of 
Government-run health care ever. And when Government pays the bills, 
Government makes the rules. His plan would put bureaucrats in charge of 
dictating coverage, which could ration your care and limit your choice 
of doctors. My opponent's plan would put us on the path to ``Hillary-
care.''
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. In everything we do to reform health care, we will 
make sure the decisions are made by patients and doctors, not by 
bureaucrats in Washington, DC.
    My opponent and I have different views on 
spending--spending your money. Over the years he's voted 274 times to 
break Federal budget limits. And in this campaign, he's announced more 
than $2 trillion in new spending, and that's a lot of money, even for 
somebody from Massachusetts.
    During his 20 years as a Senator, my opponent hasn't had many accomplishments. Of the hundreds of bills 
he submitted, only five became law. One of them was ceremonial. But to 
be fair, he's earned a special distinction in Congress. The nonpartisan 
National Journal analyzed his record and named John Kerry the most 
liberal Member of the United States Senate.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. And when the competition includes Ted 
Kennedy, that's really saying something. 
[Laughter] Listen, it wasn't easy for my opponent to become the single most liberal Member of the Senate. 
You might even say it was hard work. [Laughter] But he earned that 
title. He earned it by voting for higher taxes, more regulation, more 
junk lawsuits, and more Government control over your life.
    And that sets up one of the real differences in this campaign. My 
opponent is a tax-and-spend liberal. I'm a 
compassionate conservative. My opponent wants to empower Government. I 
want to use Government to empower citizens. My opponent seems to think 
all the wisdom is found in

[[Page 2382]]

Washington, DC. I trust the wisdom of the American people.
    Our differences are also clear on issues of national security. When 
I took office in 2001, the threats to America had been gathering for 
years. Then on one terrible morning, terrorists took more lives than 
America lost at Pearl Harbor. Since that day, we've waged a global 
campaign to protect the American people and bring our enemies to 
account. Our Government has trained over a half a million first-
responders and tripled spending on homeland security. Law enforcement 
and intelligence have better tools to stop terrorists, thanks to the 
PATRIOT Act, which Senator Kerry voted for but 
now wants to weaken.
    The Taliban regime that sheltered Al Qaida is gone from power, and 
the people of Afghanistan will vote in free elections this coming 
Saturday. A black market network that provided weapons materials to 
North Korea and Libya and Iran is now out of business. Libya, itself, 
has given up its weapons of mass destruction. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia 
are joining the fight against the terrorists, and more than three-
quarters of Al Qaida's key members and associates have been brought to 
justice.
    After September the 11th, America had to assess every potential 
threat in a new light. Our Nation awakened to an even greater danger, 
the prospect that terrorists who killed thousands with hijacked 
airplanes would kill many more with weapons of mass murder. We had to 
take a hard look at everyplace where terrorists might get those weapons.
    One regime stood out, the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. We knew the dictator had a history of using weapons of 
mass destruction, a long record of aggression and hatred for America, 
and was listed by Republican and Democrat administrations as a state 
sponsor of terror. There was a risk that Saddam Hussein would pass 
weapons or materials or information to terrorists networks. In a world 
after September the 11th, that was a risk we could not afford to take.
    After 12 years of United Nations Security Council resolutions, we 
gave him a final chance to come clean and 
prove his disarmament. He chose defiance. And when he did, he chose war. 
Our coalition enforced the just demands of the free world, and the world 
is better off today with Saddam Hussein in a prison cell.
    We have had many victories in the war on terror, and that war goes 
on. Our Nation is safer but not yet safe. To win this war, we must fight 
on every front. We will stay on the offensive against terrorist 
networks. We will strike them overseas so we do not have to face them 
here at home. We will confront governments that support terrorists and 
could arm them, because they're equally guilty of terrorist murder.
    And our long-term victory requires confronting the ideology of hate 
with freedom and hope. Our long-term victory says we must change the 
conditions that produce radicalism and suicide bombers. Our long-term 
security depends upon finding new democratic allies in a troubled region 
of the world.
    America is always more secure when freedom is on the march, and 
freedom is on the march in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and elsewhere. There 
will be good days, and there will be bad days in the war on terror. But 
every day we will show our resolve and do our duty to future generations 
of Americans. This Nation is determined. We will stay in the fight until 
the fight is won.
    My opponent agrees with all this, except 
when he doesn't. [Laughter] Last week in----
    Audience members. Flip-flop! Flip-flop! Flip-flop!
    The President. Last week in our debate, he 
once again came down firmly on every side of the Iraq war. [Laughter] He 
stated that Saddam Hussein was a threat and 
that America had no business removing that threat. Senator Kerry said 
our soldiers and marines are not fighting for a ``mistake,'' but he also 
called the liberation of Iraq a ``colossal error.''

[[Page 2383]]

    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. He said we need to do more 
to train Iraqis, but he also said we shouldn't be spending so much money 
over there. He said he wants to hold a summit meeting, so he wants--so 
he can invite other countries to join what he calls the ``wrong war at 
the wrong place at the wrong time.'' He said terrorists are pouring 
across the Iraqi border but also said that fighting those terrorists is 
a ``diversion'' from the war on terror. If you hear all that, you can 
understand why somebody would make a face. [Laughter]
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    The President. My opponent--my opponent's 
endless back-and-forth on Iraq is part of a larger misunderstanding. In 
the war on terror, Senator Kerry is proposing policies and doctrines 
that would weaken America and make the world more dangerous. Senator 
Kerry approaches the world with a September the 10th mindset. He 
declared in his convention speech that any attack will be met with a 
swift and a certain response. This was a mindset of the 1990s, while Al 
Qaida was planning attacks on America. After September the 11th, our 
object in the war on terror is not to wait for the next attack and 
respond, but to prevent attacks by taking the fight to the enemy.
    Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
    The President. In our debate, Senator Kerry said that removing Saddam was a 
mistake because the threat was not imminent. The problem with this 
approach is obvious. If America waits until a threat is at our doorstep, 
it might be too late to save lives. Tyrants and terrorists will not give 
us polite notice before they launch an attack on our country. I refuse 
to stand by while dangers gather.
    My opponent has also announced the Kerry 
doctrine, declaring that American actions in the war on terror must pass 
a ``global test.''
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Under this test, America would not be able to act 
quickly against threats because we'd be sitting around waiting for our 
grade from other nations. I have a different view. America will always 
work with our allies for security and peace, but the President's job is 
not to pass a ``global test.'' The President's job is to protect the 
American people.
    When my opponent first ran for Congress, 
he argued that American troops should be deployed only at the directive 
of the United Nations.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Now, look, he has changed 
his mind, but it is a window into his thinking. Over the years, Senator 
Kerry has looked for every excuse to constrain America's actions in the 
world. These days he praises America's broad coalition in the Persian 
Gulf war, but in 1991, he criticized those coalition members as, quote, 
``shallow battlefield allies who barely carry a burden.'' Sounds 
familiar. And that time, he voted against the war. If that coalition 
didn't pass his ``global test,'' clearly nothing will. His mindset would 
paralyze America in a dangerous world. I will never hand over America's 
national security decisions to foreign leaders or international bodies.
    The Kerry doctrine has other consequences, 
especially for our men and women in uniform. The Senator from 
Massachusetts supports the International Criminal Court----
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. ----which would allow unaccountable foreign 
prosecutors and judges to put American soldiers on trial.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. And that would be a legal nightmare for our troops. 
My fellow citizens, as long as I'm your President, Americans in uniform 
will answer to the officers and laws of the United States, not to the 
International Criminal Court in The Hague.
    The Senator speaks often about his plan to 
strengthen America's alliances, but he's

[[Page 2384]]

got an odd way of going about it. In the middle of the war, he's chosen 
to insult America's fighting allies by calling them ``window dressing'' 
and a ``coalition of the coerced and the bribed.'' The Italians who died 
in Nasiriyah were not window dressing. They were heroes in the war on 
terror. The British and Poles at the head of multinational divisions in 
Iraq were not coerced or bribed. They have fought and some have died in 
the cause of freedom. These good allies and dozens of others deserve the 
respect of all Americans, not the scorn of a politician.
    Instead, the Senator would have America 
bend over backwards to satisfy a handful of governments with agendas 
different from our own. This is my opponent's alliance-building 
strategy: Brush off your best friend; fawn over your critics. And that's 
no way to gain respect in this world.
    My opponent says he has a plan for Iraq. 
Parts of it sound pretty familiar. It's already known as the Bush plan. 
Senator Kerry suggests we train Iraqi troops. That's what we've been 
doing for months. Senator Kerry is proposing that Iraq have elections. 
Those elections are scheduled for January. He wants the U.N. to be 
involved in those elections. The U.N. is already there. There's one new 
element of Senator Kerry's plan. He talked about artificial timetables 
to pull the troops out of Iraq. He has sent the signal that America's 
overriding goal in Iraq would be to leave, even if the job isn't done. 
That may satisfy his political needs, but it complicates the essential 
work we're doing in Iraq.
    The Iraqi people need to know that America will not cut and run, 
with their freedom at stake. Our soldiers and marines need to know that 
America will honor their service and sacrifice by completing the 
mission. Our enemies in Iraq need to know that they can never out last 
the will of America. Senator Kerry assures us 
that he's the one to win a war he calls a ``mistake'' or an ``error'' 
and a ``diversion.'' But you can't win a war you don't believe in 
fighting. On Iraq, Senator Kerry has a strategy of retreat; I have a 
strategy for victory.
    We returned sovereignty to the Iraqi people ahead of schedule. We've 
trained about 100,000 Iraqi soldiers, police officers, and other 
security personnel. And the total will rise to 125,000 by the end of 
this year. These people are fighting for their freedom. They want to be 
free. They're being trained to be able to fight and stop these 
terrorists from preventing the march of freedom. We've allocated more 
than $7 billion for reconstruction efforts so more Iraqis can see the 
benefit of freedom. We're working with a coalition of some 30 nations to 
provide security. Other nations are helping with debt relief and 
reconstruction aid for Iraqis. And although terrorists will try to stop 
them, Iraq will hold free elections in January, because the Iraqi people 
want to be free.
    I understand some Americans have strong concerns about our role in 
Iraq. I respect the fact that they take this issue seriously. It's a 
serious matter. I assure them we're in Iraq because I deeply believe it 
is necessary and right and critical to the outcome of the war on terror 
and critical for long-term peace for our children and grandchildren.
    If another terror regime were allowed to emerge in Iraq, the 
terrorists would find a home and a source of funding and a source of 
support, and they would correctly conclude that free nations do not have 
the will to defend themselves. If Iraq becomes a free society at the 
heart of the Middle East, an ally in the war on terror, a model for 
hopeful reform in that region, the terrorists will suffer a crushing 
defeat.
    And that is why Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman calls Iraq ``a crucial battle in the global war on 
terrorism.'' And that is why Prime Minister Tony Blair has called the struggle in Iraq ``the crucible in which 
the future of global terrorism will be determined.'' That is why the 
terrorists are fighting with desperate cruelty. They know their future 
is at stake. Iraq is no diversion. It's

[[Page 2385]]

a place where civilization is taking a decisive stand against chaos and 
terror, and we must not waver.
    Unfortunately, my opponent has been known 
to waver. His well-chosen words and rationalizations cannot explain why 
he voted to authorize force against Saddam Hussein and then voted 
against money for bullets and vehicles and body armor for the troops on 
the ground.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. He tried to clear it up by 
saying, ``I actually did vote for the $87 billion, before I voted 
against it.'' Now he says he made a mistake in how he talked about that 
vote. The mistake is not what Senator Kerry said. The mistake is what 
Senator Kerry did in voting against funding for our troops in combat, 
and that is the kind of wavering a nation at war cannot afford.
    As a candidate, my opponent promises to 
defend America. The problem is, as a Senator for two decades, he has 
built a record of weakness. The record shows he twice led efforts to gut 
our intelligence service budget. The record shows he voted against many 
of the weapons that won the cold war and are vital to current military 
operations. And the record shows he has voted more than 50 times against 
missile defense systems that would help protect us from the threats of a 
dangerous world.
    I have a record in office as well, and all Americans have seen that 
record. Not all Americans agree with me, but they know where I stand.
    On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin 
Towers. It's a day I will never forget. There were workers in hardhats 
yelling to me at the top of their lungs, ``Whatever it takes.'' A guy 
grabbed me by the arm; 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've acted again and again to make America safe. I will never 
relent in defending the people of this country, whatever it takes.
    Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
    The President. Twenty-seven days from today, Americans will make a 
critical choice. My opponent offers an agenda 
that is stuck in the thinking and the policies of the past. On national 
security, he offers the defensive, reactive mindset of September the 
10th, a ``global test'' to replace American leadership, a strategy of 
retreat in Iraq, and a 20-year history of weakness in the Senate. Here 
at home, he offers a record and an agenda of more taxes and more 
spending and more litigation and more Government control over your life.
    A race for President is a contest for the future, and you know where 
I stand. I'm running for President to keep this Nation on the offensive 
against the terrorists, with the goal of total victory. I'm running for 
President to keep this economy moving so every worker has a good job and 
quality health care and a secure retirement. I'm running for President 
to make our strong Nation a more compassionate society, where no one is 
left out and every life is valued.
    And I have a hopeful vision. I believe this young century will be 
liberty's century. We'll promote liberty abroad to protect our country 
and to build a better world beyond the war on terror. We'll encourage 
liberty at home to spread the prosperity and opportunity to every corner 
of this great land. I will carry this message to my fellow citizens in 
the closing days of this campaign, and with your help, we'll carry 
Michigan and win a great victory in November.
    Thank you all for coming. God bless. Thank you all.

Note: The President spoke at 3:22 p.m. at the Oakland Community College-
Orchard Ridge Campus. In his remarks, he referred to former professional 
basketball player William Laimbeer, Jr.; Senator Zell Miller of Georgia, 
who made the keynote address at the 2004 Republican National Convention; 
television talk show host Jay Leno; Glenn E.

[[Page 2386]]

``Bo'' Schembechler, former head coach, University of Michigan football 
team, and his wife, Cathy; Michigan State Attorney General Mike Cox; 
Oakland County Chief Executive L. Brooks Patterson; Michigan State 
Representative Ruth Johnson; Betsy DeVos, chairman, Michigan Republican 
Party; and Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom.