[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 42 (Monday, October 18, 2004)]
[Pages 2405-2411]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks in Cedar Rapids, Iowa

October 15, 2004

    The President. It is great--thank you all. It is great to be back in 
Iowa. This isn't the first time we've been here. [Laughter] It's not 
going to be our last, either. I want to thank you for putting up the 
signs and doing the hard work. I want to thank you for what you're going 
to do over the next couple of weeks, and that is turn out the vote. 
There's no doubt in my mind, with your help, we will carry Iowa and win 
a great victory on the 2d of November.
    And I just told the chairman--I call him the chairman. You call him 
Chuck. [Laughter] I said, ``I got a job for him over the next 4 years.'' 
He said, ``What's that?'' I said, ``Well, get those lawn mowers cranked 
up; there's a lot of grass on the South Lawn.''
    And tell your friends and neighbors, if they want a safer America, a 
stronger America, and a better America, to put me and Dick Cheney back 
in office.
    The President. I'm pleased----
    Audience member. [Inaudible]
    The President. I'm pleased that Laura is traveling with me today. 
She is--we were in Las Vegas yesterday, and there was an important 
conference. The AARP was having a convention, and they said, ``Send your 
best speaker over.'' So I went to the rally, and Laura went to the AARP. 
[Laughter] People have come to know her like I know her. She's warm. 
She's compassionate. She's a strong woman. She is a great First Lady.
    I'm proud of my runningmate. Dick Cheney is doing a fine job. In the 
debate the other night, I admit he didn't have the waviest hair. 
[Laughter] I didn't pick him because of his hairdo. I picked him because 
of his experience, his judgment, and he's getting the job done for the 
American people.
    I appreciate working with the chairman. He always talks about Iowa. 
Chuck Grassley is a good friend. He's a really good United States 
Senator. And so is your Congressman, Jim Leach. I appreciate Jim. What a 
decent and honorable man Jim Leach is. And I'm

[[Page 2406]]

proud that the chairman of the Budget Committee in the House of 
Representatives, Jim Nussle, is with us as well.
    I want to thank the grassroots activists, all the people who are 
doing all the hard work. You never get thanked enough, and so here's my 
chance to thank you before election day. Keep putting up the signs. Keep 
making the phone calls. Turn out the vote, and we will win.
    I enjoyed our debates. I enjoyed standing up there with my opponent, 
talking about our differences, and we have big differences. We have very 
different records and different plans for the future. My record is one 
of reforming education, of lowering taxes, of providing prescription 
drug coverage for seniors, for improving homeland protections, and for 
waging an aggressive war against the ideologues of hate. The Senator's 
record is 20 years of out-of-the-mainstream votes without many 
significant reforms or results to show for those 20 years. The records 
are important because our country faces many challenges, and the next 
President must recognize the need for reform and must be able to lead to 
achieve them.
    On issue after issue, from jobs to health care to the need to 
strengthen Social Security, Senator Kerry's policies fail to recognize 
the changing realities of today's world and the need for fundamental 
reforms. In our final debate, when I talked about the vital link between 
education and jobs, the Senator didn't seem to get it. He said I 
switched away from jobs and started talking about education. No, good 
jobs start with good education. At a time when most new jobs require at 
least 2 years of college, I understand that one of the best ways to keep 
jobs in America is to make sure our workforce is educated, the most 
highly skilled, the most creative, and the most innovative in the world. 
That's how we create jobs here in America.
    When it comes to health care, once again, the other night, with a 
straight face--[laughter]--the Senator said his health care was not a 
Government plan.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. I could barely contain myself. Twenty-two million new 
people would enroll in a Government program under his plan, the largest 
expansion of Government health care ever. Eighty percent of the newly 
insured would be placed on a Government program like Medicaid. He claims 
his plan would help small businesses. Yet studies conducted by people 
who understand small businesses concluded that his plan is an overpriced 
albatross that would saddle small businesses with 225 new mandates.
    I have a different view. We'll work to make sure health care is 
available and affordable. We'll help our small businesses. The decisions 
will be made by doctors and patients, not by officials in Washington, 
DC.
    The Senator said about Social Security, if, later on, after a period 
of time, we find that Social Security is in trouble, then he'll call a 
meeting of experts. [Laughter] See, it seems that he likes meetings. 
[Laughter] Younger workers understandably worry whether Social Security 
will be there when they need it. We have plans for the future. We will 
solve problems before they--before it's too late. As I said in the 
debate the other night, our seniors have nothing to worry about when it 
comes to their Social Security check. You might remember the 2000 
campaign, and those ads said, ``If George W. gets in, you're not going 
to get your check.'' You got your checks. You will continue to get your 
check.
    But for the sake of our children and our grandchildren, we must 
confront the Social Security problem now. Younger workers must be able 
to take some of their own payroll taxes and set up a personal savings 
account that will earn better interest, an account they can call their 
own.
    The last few years, the people have gotten to know me. They know my 
blunt way of speaking. I get that from Mom. [Laughter] They know I 
sometimes mangle the English language. I get that from Dad. [Laughter] 
Americans also know I tell you what I'm going to do and that I keep my 
word.
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    The President. Thank you all. When I came into office, the stock 
market had been in serious decline for 6 months, and the American 
economy was sliding into a recession. To help families, to get this 
economy growing again, I pledged to reduce taxes. I

[[Page 2407]]

kept my word. Because we acted--and I include the Senator and Members of 
Congress here from Iowa, not all of them but most of them--because we 
acted, the recession was one of the shallowest in American history.
    Over the last 3 years, our economy has grown at the rate--at the 
fastest rate of any major industrialized nation. The homeownership rate 
in America is at an alltime high. I remember campaigning in Iowa, and I 
made it clear to the farmers here that I understand a healthy economy 
requires a healthy farm economy. And today, farm and ranch income is up. 
In the past 13 months, we've added more than 1.9 million new jobs. The 
unemployment rate in America is 5.4 percent, lower than the average of 
the 1970s, the 1980s, and the 1990s. The unemployment rate in Iowa is 
down to 4.5 percent. This economy is moving forward, and we're not going 
back to the old days of tax and spend.
    Listen, to make sure jobs stay here in America and people can find 
work, America must be the best place in the world to do business. That 
means less regulations on the job creators. That means we've got to do 
something about the frivolous lawsuits that make it hard for people to 
expand their businesses.
    To keep jobs here, Congress needs to pass my energy plan. The plan 
encourages conservation. It focuses on renewables like ethanol and 
biodiesel. It encourages new technologies. It encourages clean coal 
technology and increased domestic production. To create jobs here in 
America, we must be less dependent on foreign sources of energy.
    To create jobs, to make sure people can find work, we've got to 
reject economic isolationism. We need to open up markets for Iowa farm 
products, for example. See, America can compete with anybody, anytime, 
anywhere, so long as the playing field is level. To create jobs, we've 
got to be wise about how we spend your money and keep your taxes low.
    My opponent has his own history on the economy. In 20 years as a 
Senator from Massachusetts, he's built the record of a Senator from 
Massachusetts. He has voted to raise taxes 98 times.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. That's a vote for a tax increase about five times 
every year he has served in the Senate. That qualifies as a pattern. 
[Laughter] He can run from his record, but he cannot hide.
    He looked in the camera, and he promised not to raise taxes on 
anyone who earns less than $200,000 a year. The problem is, to keep that 
promise he would have to break almost all of his other ones. [Laughter] 
You see, he's promised about $2.2 trillion in new Federal spending. 
That's trillion with a ``T''. And he says he's going to raise the top 
two brackets, which raises between 600 billion and 800 billion. There is 
a tax gap. That's the difference between what he could raise and what 
he's promised to spend. You can't have it both ways. To pay for all his 
big spending promises he's made, he's going to have to raise your taxes.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. But we're not going to let him; we're going to carry 
Iowa and win the Nation.
    When I came into office, our public schools had been waiting decades 
for hopeful reform. Too many of our children were being shuffled through 
school without learning the basics. I pledged to restore accountability 
to our schools and end the soft bigotry of low expectations. And I kept 
my word. We passed the No Child Left Behind Act, and we're now seeing 
results. Our children are making sustained gains in reading and math. We 
are closing the achievement gap for minority students. We're making 
progress in America, and we will leave no child behind.
    There is more work to be done. We'll fund early intervention 
programs in our high schools to help at-risk students. We'll place a new 
focus on math and science. Over time, we'll require a rigorous 
examination before graduation from high school. By raising performance 
in our high schools and by expanding Pell grants for low- and middle-
income families, we will help more Americans start their career with a 
college diploma.
    My opponent has a history on education issues--a history of almost 
doing nothing. The Senator has pledged to weaken the No Child Left 
Behind Act. He's proposed diluting the accountability standards and 
looking

[[Page 2408]]

at measures like teacher attendance to judge whether students are 
learning. His proposals would undermine the high standards and 
accountability we worked hard to pass. We've moved beyond the old days 
of failure and mediocrity and low standards, and we're not going back.
    When I came into office, we had a problem with Medicare. See, 
medicine was changing, but Medicare wasn't. For example, Medicare would 
pay tens of thousands of dollars for heart surgery but wouldn't pay a 
dime for the prescription drugs that could prevent the heart surgery 
from being needed in the first place. That didn't make any sense for our 
seniors. It didn't make any sense for the taxpayers. I pledged to bring 
Republicans and Democrats together to strengthen and modernize Medicare 
for our seniors, and I kept my word.
    We strengthened Medicare. Seniors are getting discounts on medicine 
through prescription drug cards. Rural hospitals and doctors are being 
treated fairly in the State of Iowa because of the Medicare law we 
passed. Beginning in 2006, all seniors will be able to get prescription 
drug coverage under Medicare.
    Moving forward on health care, and there's much more to do. We need 
to make health care more available and affordable. We need a safety net 
for those with the greatest needs. I believe in community health 
centers, places where the poor and the indigent can get care. In a new 
term, we'll make sure every poor county in America has a community 
health center. We'll make sure our poor children are fully subscribed in 
our programs for low-income families.
    We'll do more to make sure health care is affordable. Most uninsured 
work for small businesses. Small businesses are having trouble affording 
health care. To help our workers get the health care they need, we 
should allow small businesses to join together so they can buy insurance 
at the same discounts that big businesses are able to do. We will expand 
health savings accounts.
    We will make sure that health care is available and affordable by 
doing something about the junk lawsuits that threaten our docs, running 
up the cost of medicine. By forcing doctors to practice defensive 
medicine, medical lawsuits cost the Government about $28 billion a year. 
They cost our economy anywhere from 60 to 100 billion dollars a year. 
They're driving up insurance premiums, which drives good doctors out of 
practice. You cannot be pro-patient, pro-doctor, and pro-trial-lawyer at 
the same time. You have to choose. My opponent made his choice, and he 
put a personal injury lawyer on the ticket. I made my choice. I'm 
standing with the doctors and patients. I am for medical liability 
reform--now.
    I believe our country can be an ownership society. You know, there's 
a saying that says, no one ever washes a rental car. [Laughter] There's 
some wisdom in that statement. See, when you own something, you care 
about it. When you own something, you have a vital stake in the future 
of our country. So we encourage entrepreneurship. Every time a small 
business is starting, someone is achieving a part of the American Dream. 
We encourage homeownership in America. I love the fact that more and 
more people are owning up--opening up the front door of their home, 
saying, ``Welcome to my piece of property. Welcome to my home.''
    You know, on issue after issue, from Medicare without choices to 
schools with less accountability to higher taxes, my opponent takes the 
side of more centralized control and more Government.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. There's a word for that attitude. It's called 
liberalism. [Laughter] He dismisses that as a label, but he must have 
seen it differently when he said to a newspaper, ``I am a liberal and 
proud of it.'' He's been rated by the National Journal as the most 
liberal Member of the United States Senate. That's hard to do. 
[Laughter] He's had some serious competition. [Laughter]
    See, I have a different record and a very different philosophy. I 
don't believe in big Government, and I don't believe in indifferent 
Government. I'm a compassionate conservative. I believe in policies that 
empower people to improve their lives. I do not believe in policies that 
try to run people's lives. And so we're helping men and women find the 
skills and tools to prosper in a time of change. We're helping all 
Americans to have a future of dignity and independence.

[[Page 2409]]

And that is how I will continue to lead our country for 4 more years.
    Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
    The President. In this time of change, some things do not change, 
the values we try to live by, courage and compassion, reverence and 
integrity. In changing times, we must support the institutions that give 
our lives direction and purpose, our families, our schools, our 
religious congregations. We stand for a culture of life in which every 
person matters and every being counts. We stand for marriage and family, 
which are the foundations of our society. We stand for the appointment 
of Federal judges who know the difference between personal opinion and 
the strict interpretation of the law.
    Listen, my opponent's words on these issues are a little muddy, but 
his record is plenty clear. He says he supports the institution of 
marriage, but he voted against the Defense of Marriage Act. He voted 
against the ban on partial-birth abortion.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. He calls himself--at one time in the race called 
himself the candidate of conservative values.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. But he has described the Reagan years as a time of 
moral darkness.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. There is a mainstream in American politics, and my 
opponent sits on the far left bank. He can run, but he cannot hide.
    This election will also determine how America responds to the 
continuing danger of terrorism. The most solemn duty of the American 
President is to protect the American people. If America shows 
uncertainty or weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward 
tragedy. This will not happen on my watch.
    Since that terrible morning of September the 11th, 2001, we'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 defeating the--we're defending our homeland. We're 
strengthening the intelligence services. We're modernizing and 
transforming our United States military so we can keep the All-Volunteer 
Army an all-volunteer army. We're staying on the offensive. We will 
strike the terrorists abroad so we do not have to face them here at 
home. We will spread liberty and freedom. And we will prevail.
    Our strategy is succeeding. Think about the world as it was about 
3\1/2\ years ago. Afghanistan was the home base of Al Qaida. Pakistan 
was a transit point for terrorist groups. Saudi Arabia was fertile 
ground for terrorist fundraising. Libya was secretly pursuing nuclear 
weapons. Iraq was a dangerous place and a gathering threat. And Al Qaida 
was largely unchallenged as it planned attacks.
    Because we led, Afghanistan is free and is now an ally in the war on 
terror; Pakistan is capturing terrorist leaders; Saudi Arabia is making 
raids and arrests; Libya is dismantling its weapons programs; the 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 
have led. Many have joined. And America and the world are safer.
    And part of our strategy for a safe and peaceful world is to 
continue to spread freedom, and freedom is on the march. As we worked to 
secure ourselves in Afghanistan and Iraq, 50 million people have been 
freed from the clutches of brutal tyranny--50 million.
    Think about what happened in Afghanistan. I want the youngsters here 
to realize what took place recently in history. It wasn't all that long 
ago that young girls couldn't go to school. Their mothers were pulled in 
the public square and whipped because they wouldn't toe the line to an 
ideology of hate. These people lived in darkness. Because we acted, 
people were freed. Thousands and thousands of people went to vote for a 
President. The first person to vote in the Afghan Presidential election 
was a 19-year-old woman. Freedom is powerful. Can you imagine a society 
that's gone from darkness to light in 3 short years? Freedom is on the 
move.
    There will be elections in Iraq. It hadn't been all that long ago 
that there was torture chambers and mass graves. Then the people will be 
having a chance to vote for President

[[Page 2410]]

and Prime Minister of that country. Free societies in the Middle East 
will be hopeful societies which no longer feed resentments and breed 
violence for export. Free governments in the Middle East will fight the 
terrorists instead of harboring them. Freedom will help us keep the 
peace. Freedom will make America more secure.
    So our mission is clear. We will help Afghanistan and Iraq train 
armies and police so their people can do the hard work of defending 
democracy. We will help them get on the path to stability and democracy 
as quickly as possible, and then our troops will come home with the 
honor they have earned.
    It's a high honor to be the Commander in Chief of such a great 
military. We're a great military because it's full of great people. I'm 
proud of our military. I'm proud of our military families. And I want to 
thank the veterans who are here for having set such a great example for 
those who wear the uniform.
    We will continue to make sure our troops 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 for $87 billion of supplemental 
funding to support our troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan. It was 
really an important piece of legislation. The bipartisan support was 
very strong. As a matter of fact, only 12 United States Senators voted 
against the $87 billion, 2 of whom are my opponent and his runningmate.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Now, when you're out gathering the vote, when you're 
out convincing people to go to the polls and getting them to be for us, 
remind them of this fact. Only 4 United States Senators voted to 
authorize the use of force and then voted against providing the funding 
necessary to support our troops in combat--only 4 of 100--2 of whom, 50 
percent of whom, are my opponent and his runningmate.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. So they asked him why he made the vote. You might 
remember one of the most famous quotes in this campaign season. He said, 
``I actually did vote for the $87 billion, right before I voted against 
it.''
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. Yes. He's given a lot of explanations for that vote 
since. One of the most interesting ones of all, he said, ``Well, the 
whole thing is a complicated matter.'' There's nothing complicated about 
supporting our troops in combat.
    In our debate, Senator Kerry proposed that we should pass a ``global 
test'' before we defend ourselves.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. The problem with that ``global test'' is that the 
Senator can't ever pass it. I say that because in 1990, the United 
Nations Security Council passed a resolution supporting action to remove 
Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. The international community was united. 
Countries throughout the world joined the coalition. Yet, even after the 
United Nations' approval, in the United States Senate, Senator Kerry 
voted against authorization for the use of force. He couldn't pass his 
own test.
    In this campaign, you might remember he said that removing Saddam 
Hussein was a mistake. He actually said he would have done it 
differently. He would have had the U.N. pass another resolution. 
[Laughter] If Senator Kerry had his way, not only would Saddam Hussein 
still be in a palace in Baghdad, he'd be occupying Kuwait. This world of 
ours is safer with Saddam Hussein sitting in a prison cell.
    We'll continue to build strong alliances. I talked with Tony Blair 
today, on Air Force One. He's a great ally. And we'll build on those 
alliances, and we'll strengthen our coalitions. But I will never turn 
over America's national security decisions to leaders of other 
countries.
    I believe in the transformational power of liberty. Perhaps I can 
explain it to you this way. Prime Minister Koizumi is a good friend of 
mine and Laura's. But it wasn't all that long ago that we were at war 
with the Japanese. My dad fought in World War II. I know dads and 
granddads of the people out here fought in World War II as well, against 
a sworn enemy. And it was a tough war. It was a brutal war, like all 
war.
    And after World War II, Harry S. Truman, President of the United 
States, believed in the power of liberty to transform an enemy into an 
ally. That's what he believed. So after

[[Page 2411]]

the war was over, we worked with the Japanese to build a democracy. 
There's a lot of people in this country who were skeptical about that 
action, skeptical about whether an enemy could ever become an ally, 
skeptical about whether Japan would become a democracy, skeptical about 
efforts to help them after they had hurt many of our citizens. But 
people believed. And as a result of that belief, today, I sit down with 
Prime Minister Koizumi, talking about how to keep the peace that we all 
want.
    Someday, a duly elected leader of Iraq will sit down with an 
American President, talking about how to keep the peace in the Middle 
East, and our children and our grandchildren will be better off for it.
    I believe that millions in the Middle East plead in silence for 
freedom. I believe that women in the Middle East want to grow up in a 
free society, and they want to raise their children in a free society. I 
believe that if given a chance, the people of the Middle East will 
embrace the most honorable form of government ever devised by man: 
democracy. I believe all these things because freedom is not America's 
gift to the world; freedom is the Almighty God's gift to each man and 
woman in this world.
    For all Americans, these years in our history will always stand 
apart. There are quiet times in the life of a nation when little is 
expected of its leaders. This isn't one of those times. This is a time 
that requires firm resolve, clear vision, and a deep faith in the values 
that make us a great nation.
    None of us will ever forget that week when one era ended and another 
began. September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin 
Towers. It is a day I will never forget. Workers in hardhats were there 
yelling at me at the top of their lungs, ``Whatever it takes.'' I 
remember a fellow grabbed me by the arm, and he looked me in the eye, 
and 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 will 
never relent in defending America, whatever it takes.
    Four years ago, as I traveled your great State in the caucuses and 
then in the general election, I pledged that if you honored me with the 
high office of President, I would uphold the honor and the dignity. 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 for being here. 
On to victory.

Note: The President spoke at 1:55 p.m. at the U.S. Cellular Center. In 
his remarks, he referred to Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United 
Kingdom; and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan.