[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book III)]
[October 27, 2004]
[Pages 2777-2783]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks in Pontiac, Michigan
October 27, 2004

    The President. Thank you all for coming. Laura and I appreciate you all being here. You're lifting our 
spirits, and we're grateful. I'm so honored you're here. I'm here in 
Michigan today and tomorrow. I'll be back on Saturday. I'm here to ask 
for the vote and to ask for your help. It is important for all of us to 
vote. In a free society we have a duty to go to the polls. And so I'm 
asking you to get your friends and neighbors to go to the polls and 
exercise their duty. And as you get them headed to the polls, make sure 
you don't overlook discerning Democrats like my friend Zell 
Miller from the great State of Georgia. Make 
sure you talk to independents and, of course, our fellow Republicans. 
And when you get them to the polls, remind them that if they want a 
safer America, a stronger America, and a better America, to put me and 
Dick Cheney back in office.
    You know, Laura and I love to campaign, and I 
like to tell people why I think people ought to put me back in. And 
perhaps the most important reason of all is so that Laura is the First 
Lady for 4 more years.
    Audience members. Laura! Laura! Laura!
    The President. I am proud of my runningmate, Dick Cheney. I see some folks out here who are follically challenged, 
kind of like the Vice President. I admit it, he doesn't have the waviest 
hair in the race. You'll be pleased to hear, I did not pick him because 
of hairdo. I picked him because of his judgment. I picked him because of 
his experience. I picked him because he's the got the ability to get the 
job done for the American people.
    I want to thank my friend Michael Williams for joining us today. And I want to thank the other 
African American leaders I'm proud to call friend, who have joined me on 
this stage, including the Lieutenant Governor from the State of 
Maryland, Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele. I appreciate you coming, Michael.
    I want to thank Joe Knollenberg and Thad 
McCotter, Members of the United States 
Congress from Michigan. I particularly want to thank Congresswoman 
Candice Miller for leading my campaign in 
Michigan. I want to thank Terri Lynn Land. I 
want to thank Betsy DeVos. I want to 
thank the entertainers who were here today.
    And I want to thank all the grassroots activists who are here, the 
people who put up the signs and made the phone calls and helped turn out 
this huge crowd. I want to thank you for what you have done and what you 
are going to do as we come down the stretch. With your help, with your 
hard work, there is no doubt in my mind we will carry Michigan and win a 
great victory on November the 2d.
    This election comes down to some clear choices for our families, 
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 ongoing threats. 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. If America shows uncertainty or weakness in this 
decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This will not happen on my 
watch.
    Our strategy is clear. We're strengthening protections for the 
homeland. We're reforming our intelligence capabilities. We're 
transforming the United States military. There will be no draft. We will 
keep the All-Volunteer Army an all-volunteer

[[Page 2778]]

army. We are determined. We are relentless. We will fight the terrorists 
overseas so we do not have to face them here at home. And we understand 
that our long-term security comes from spreading freedom.
    I want some of the younger folks here to understand how far the 
world has come in about 3\3/4\ years. It wasn't all that long ago that 
young girls were not able to go to school in Afghanistan because the 
Taliban was so barbaric, and if their mothers didn't toe the line of the 
ideologues of hate, they'd be taken in the public square and sometimes 
killed in a sports stadium. Because we acted to defend ourselves, 
because we upheld a doctrine that said, ``If you harbor a terrorist, 
you're equally as guilty as the terrorist,'' millions of people went to 
the polls to vote for a President. The first voter in the Afghan 
Presidential election was a 19-year-old woman.
    There will be Presidential elections in Iraq in January. Think how 
far that country has come from the days of torture chambers and mass 
graves. Freedom is on the march, and we're more secure for it. Free 
societies are peaceful societies, and we believe everyone desires to 
live in freedom. 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 our tactics have to change 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, where I stand, and where I intend to lead 
this Nation. On good days and on bad days, when the polls are up or when 
the polls are down, I will do everything I can to defend the American 
people, and I will support our troops in combat.
    I am honored to be the Commander in Chief of such a fine group of 
people, the people in the United States military. I want to thank the 
veterans who are here today for having set such a great example. I want 
to thank the military families who are here. And I will assure you that 
so long as I'm the Commander in Chief, our troops will have that which 
is necessary to complete their missions.
    That's why I went to the United States Congress and asked for $87 
billion of supplemental funding to support our troops in combat. As you 
gather the vote, I want you to remind people of this startling 
statistic: There were only four Members of the United States Senate that 
voted to authorize the use of force and then voted against funding for 
our troops in harm's way--only four Members--two of whom were my 
opponent and his runningmate.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. They asked him why he made 
his vote, and Senator Kerry uttered perhaps the most famous statement of 
the 2004 campaign when he said, ``I actually did vote for the $87 
billion, right before I voted against it.''
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. The Commander in Chief must be consistent. 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. The Senator used 
to know that, even though he seems to have forgotten it over the course 
of the campaign. Of course, that's why we went into Iraq. Iraq was a 
dangerous place run by a dangerous tyrant who 
hated America and who had a lot of weapons. And we have seized or 
destroyed more than 400,000 tons of munitions, including explosives, at 
thousands of different sites. And we're continuing to round up more 
weapons almost every day.
    I want to remind the American people if Senator Kerry had had his way, we would still be taking our ``global 
test.''
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. We would be waiting for yet another United Nations 
resolution to make us more safe.

[[Page 2779]]

    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Saddam Hussein would be in 
power. He would control all those weapons and explosives and could have 
shared them with the terrorist enemy.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Now, the Senator is making 
wild charges about missing explosives, when his top foreign policy 
adviser admits he does not know the 
facts. He said, quote, ``I don't know the truth,'' end quote. But think 
about that. The Senator is denigrating the actions of our troops and 
commanders in the field without knowing the facts.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Our military is now investigating a number of 
possible scenarios, including that the explosives may have been moved 
before our troops arrived. This investigation is important. It's 
ongoing. And a political candidate who jumps to conclusions without 
knowing the facts is not a person you want as Commander in Chief.
    Unfortunately----
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    The President. Unfortunately, that is part of a pattern of a 
candidate who will say anything to get elected. 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 discussion during our debates. I think this is unjustified 
criticism of our military commanders in the field. This is the worst 
kind of Monday morning quarterbacking.
    Our commander in Afghanistan, General Tommy Franks, recently wrote this about Tora Bora, quote, ``The 
Senator's understanding of events doesn't 
square with reality.'' That's what the man knows what--who knows what 
he's talking about said. The general says that American Special Forces 
were actively involved in the search for terrorists in Tora Bora and 
that intelligence reports at the time placed bin Laden in any of several countries.
    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 TV, he said, quote, ``I 
think we have been doing this pretty effectively, and we should continue 
to do it that way.'' He went on to talk about Tora Bora. The Senator 
said this: ``I think we have been smart. I think the administration 
leadership has done it well, and we are on the right track.'' All I can 
say to this is, I am George W. Bush, and I approve of that message.
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    The President. The security of our families is very important. And 
my opponent's record on national security has 
far deeper problems with just election-year flip-flopping. On the 
largest national security issues of our time, he has been consistently 
wrong. He has a record. 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.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. 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 force 
to liberate Kuwait.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. History has shown that Senator Kerry was wrong and former President Bush was right.
    In 1994, just 1 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, opposed them. 
[Laughter] History has shown that Senator Kerry was wrong and--we've got 
to be fair--Senator Kennedy was right.

[[Page 2780]]

    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 Democrat 
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 in hours of crisis. Senator Kerry has turned his 
back on ``pay any price'' and ``bear any burden,'' and he's replaced 
those commitments with ``wait and see'' and ``cut and run.''
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Many Democrats in this country do not recognize their 
party anymore, and today I want to speak to every one of them here in 
the State of Michigan. If you believe 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.
    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 moms and dads. We reduced the marriage penalty. 
We believe the Tax Code ought to encourage marriage, not penalize 
marriage. We lowered--we dropped the lowest tax bracket to 10 percent to 
help our working families. We reduced income taxes for everybody who 
pays taxes. After-tax income in America is up by 10 percent since I've 
become the President.
    We have overcome a lot. I want you to remind your friends and 
neighbors about what this economy has been through. Six months prior to 
my arrival in Washington, the stock market was in serious decline. Our 
economy was slowing. We had a recession. We had corporate scandals. And 
then the attacks on September the 11th cost us nearly a million jobs in 
the 3 months after those attacks.
    But our economic policies are working. They've led us back to the 
path of growth. We're growing--our economy is growing faster than any in 
the major industrialized world. Small businesses are flourishing. The 
entrepreneurial spirit is strong in America. Michigan farmers are making 
a good living under the Bush administration. We've added more than 1.9 
million jobs in the last 13 months. The national unemployment rate is 
5.4 percent. That's lower than the average rate of the 1970s, the 1980s, 
and the 1990s. There is more work to be done to make sure this economy 
continues to grow so people in Michigan can find work, but one thing is 
certain: This economy of ours is strong, and it is getting stronger.
    My opponent has a very different view 
about your budget. He intends to take a big chunk out of it.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. He voted against the higher 
child tax credit. He voted against the marriage penalty relief. He voted 
against lower taxes. If he had had his way over the last 3 years, the 
average American family would have been paying $2,000 more in Federal 
taxes.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. That may not sound like a lot to people in 
Washington. It's a heck of a lot for people living in Michigan.
    You know, my opponent has been in the 
United States Senate for 20 years. And hear this fact: He voted for 
increased taxes 98 times. That's five times for every year he's been in 
the Senate--nearly five times. I would call that a predictable pattern. 
I'd call that a indicator. [Laughter] When a Senator does something that 
often, he must really enjoy it. [Laughter] The problem is you won't 
enjoy it. If he raises your taxes--as a matter of fact, here's another 
indicator. He's promised $2.2 trillion of new spending. That's trillion 
with a ``T.'' That's a lot even for a senator from Massachusetts. 
[Laughter]
    And they said, ``How are you going to pay for it? How are you going 
to pay for

[[Page 2781]]

it?'' He said, ``Oh, we'll just tax the 
rich.'' Now, we have heard that before. Let me tell you two things wrong 
with that. One, most small businesses pay tax at the individual income 
tax. Ninety percent of small businesses are what they call Subchapter S 
corporations and sole proprietorships, and they pay tax at the 
individual income-tax rate. Seventy percent of new jobs are created by 
small businesses. And so when you start running up the top two income 
brackets, guess who you're taxing? You're taxing the job creators in 
America, and that makes no economic sense.
    And secondly, by taxing the rich you raise about 600 to 800 billion 
dollars. So you can see there is a gap between that which he has promised and that which he can deliver. I would call 
it a tax gap. And guess who usually gets to fill the tax gap?
    Audience member. We do!
    The President. The good news is we're not going to let him tax you. We're going to carry Michigan and win a 
great victory.
    The third clear choice in this election improves the quality of life 
for our families. A good education and quality health care are important 
to a successful life. As a candidate, I pledged to end the soft bigotry 
of low expectations in our schools. And as President, I have kept my 
word. We passed the No Child Left Behind Act, which is an historic 
achievement for public education. We are raising the standards in our 
schools. We've increased Federal spending, especially for poor students. 
But in return for an increase of Federal spending, we're now saying, 
``Show us whether or not a child can read or write, and add and 
subtract. Show us whether or not children are becoming literate. Show us 
whether or not we're ending that practice of just shuffling kids through 
school, year after year, without learning the basics.''
    You cannot solve a problem until you diagnose a problem, and we are 
diagnosing problems, and we're solving more and more problems, so that 
our children are learning to read and write. We're closing an 
achievement gap in America, and we're not going to go back to the days 
of low expectations and mediocre results.
    We will continue to improve life by making sure health care is 
affordable and available. To make sure health care is available, we will 
expand community health centers so the poor and the indigent can get 
good primary and preventative care. We will make sure our low-income--
children for low-income family program for health care is fully 
subscribed.
    To make sure health care is affordable, here are three commonsense 
ways to help the American family. First, we'll expand health savings 
accounts to help our small businesses and families have an affordable 
health care account that you manage and you call your own. Secondly, we 
will help our small businesses by allowing them to pool risk across 
jurisdictional boundaries so they can buy insurance at the same 
discounts that big companies are able to do. And thirdly, we will do 
something about these frivolous lawsuits that are running up the cost of 
health care and running good docs out of practice.
    You cannot be pro-doctor and pro-patient and pro-trial-lawyer at the 
same time. I think you have to make a choice. My opponent made his choice, and he put a personal-injury trial 
lawyer on the ticket.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. I have made my choice. I am standing with the 
families of Michigan. I am standing with the docs of Michigan. I'm 
standing with the hospitals of Michigan. I am for real medical liability 
reform--now.
    We have a difference of opinion when it comes to your health care. I 
don't know if you remember that debate when he--my opponent, when they 
asked him about his health care plan, looked 
straight in the camera, and he said, ``The Government doesn't have 
anything to do with it.'' You know, I could barely contain myself. 
[Laughter] The Government has got a lot

[[Page 2782]]

to do with his health care plan. Eighty percent of the people would end 
up on a Government-run health program. See, if you increase Medicaid 
eligibility, it provides an incentive for many small businesses to drop 
private coverage because the Government will be providing coverage for 
their employees. That's moving people from the private sector to the 
public sector. And when the Government writes a check, the Government 
makes the rules. And when it comes to your health care, when the 
Government makes the rules, the Government starts making decisions for 
you and for your doctors. Federalizing health care is the wrong 
prescription for America's families.
    In all we do to reform health care, we will make sure the health 
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. Beginning in 2006, all seniors will be able to 
get prescription drug coverage under Medicare.
    And we'll keep the promise of Social Security for our seniors and 
strengthen it for generations to come. I don't know if you remember the 
2000 campaign, when they were running ads that said, ``If George W. gets 
elected, our seniors will not get their checks.'' They may be running 
some here in Michigan now for all I know, trying to scare our seniors 
again. As you're rounding up the vote, I want you to remind your friends 
and neighbors that George W. did get elected, and our seniors got their 
checks. And our seniors will continue to get their checks. Nobody is 
going to take away the Social Security checks of our seniors. And baby 
boomers like me, and like a couple others out there I see--[laughter]--
we're 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 system will be there 
when they need it. And that's why I believe younger workers ought to be 
able to take some of their own payroll account--some of their payroll 
taxes and set up a personal savings account, an account they call their 
own, an account that will earn better interest, an account the 
Government cannot take away.
    My opponent takes a different approach on 
the Social Security issue. He talks about protecting Social Security. 
But I want you to remind your friends and neighbors about this fact: 
He's the only candidate in the race who has voted eight times for higher 
taxes on Social Security benefits.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. He can run, but he cannot 
hide. And when it comes to offering help for the next generation, he's 
offered nothing. 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.
    The fifth clear choice in this election is on the values that are so 
crucial to keeping America's families 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. When Congress 
passed the Defense of Marriage Act, the vast majority of Democrats 
supported it, and my predecessor, 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. Reasonable people can find common ground on difficult 
issues. Republicans and Democrats came together

[[Page 2783]]

and agreed we should ban the brutal practice of partial-birth abortions. 
I proudly signed that bill into law. My opponent was part of an out-of-the-mainstream minority that voted 
against the ban on partial-birth abortion.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. I'll continue to reach out to Americans of every 
belief and move this good-hearted Nation to a culture of life.
    At one point in this campaign you might remember that my 
opponent said the heart and soul of America 
can be found in Hollywood.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. No, I agree. I understand. I understand most American 
families do not look to Hollywood as a source of values. The heart and 
soul of America is found in places like Oakland County, Michigan.
    No, this election is an important election. It's about important 
choices, and the decision is in the best of hands. It is in the hands of 
the American people. I am optimistic about the future of this country. I 
believe so strongly in what we stand for, and I understand the strength 
of this country. It lies in the hearts and souls of our fellow citizens. 
That's the true strength of America.
    You know, one of my favorite quotes was written by a fellow Texan 
named Tom Lea, and here's what Tom said. 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 is 
coming.
    I see a day that's coming where America is more safe and our 
families are more secure, a day when this country is prosperous in every 
corner of the land, a day in which every child can read and write and 
add and subtract, a day in which we defend the bedrock values that make 
our society such a compassionate, decent place.
    When I campaigned across your State 4 years ago, I made this pledge, 
that if I got elected, I would uphold the honor and the dignity of the 
office to which I had been elected. With your help, I will do so for 4 
more years.
    Thanks for coming. God bless. Thank you all.

Note: The President spoke at 6:33 p.m. at the Pontiac Silverdome. In his 
remarks, he referred to Senator Zell Miller of Georgia, who made the 
keynote address at the 2004 Republican National Convention; Michael L. 
Williams, commissioner, Railroad Commission of Texas; Lt. Gov. Michael 
S. Steele of Maryland; Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land of Michigan; 
Betsy DeVos, chairman, Michigan Republican Party; 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.