[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 44 (Monday, November 1, 2004)]
[Pages 2561-2567]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
<R04>
Remarks in Jacksonville, Florida
October 23, 2004
The President. Thank you all. Thank you so much for coming today.
Brother Jeb said, ``Why don't we go to Jacksonville; maybe a couple of
folks will show up to say hello.'' Laura and I thank you so very much
for coming out on a Saturday afternoon. I'm here to ask for your vote,
and I'm here to ask for your help. People are voting here in Florida.
You need to get your friends and neighbors to go to the polls. And by
the way, when you're getting people to go to the polls, don't overlook
discerning Democrats, people like Senator Zell Miller from Georgia. With
your help, we'll carry Florida again and win a great victory in
November.
So when I asked Laura to marry me, she said, ``Fine, just so long as
you--I never have to give a political speech.'' I said, ``Okay, you got
a deal.'' Fortunately, she didn't hold me to the promise. Laura is
giving a lot of speeches, and when people see her speak, they see a
warm, compassionate, great First Lady. I'm going to give you some
reasons to put me back into office. Perhaps the most important one of
all is so that Laura is the First Lady for 4 more years.
I'm proud of my runningmate, Dick Cheney. I admit it, he doesn't
have the waviest hair in the race. [Laughter] I didn't pick him because
of his hairdo. I picked him because of his judgment, his experience, and
his ability to get the job done for the American people.
I'm proud of my brother, your Governor, Jeb Bush. You don't have to
worry about where he stands. He doesn't take a poll or focus group to
find out what he should believe. Jeb Bush stands on principle, and when
times are tough, he leads this State with compassion. He has done a
masterful job of helping to bring comfort for those who have been
afflicted by the four hurricanes. Florida showed its true strength not
only in your Governor but because people cared for people who were
hurting in this State. I am really proud of how Florida handled the four
hurricanes.
Mel Martinez is the right man for the United States Senate from
Florida. And when you vote for him and put him in office, he'll be
joining a fine United States Senator who has joined us today from the
State of Utah, Senator Orrin Hatch. Thank you, Senator.
Congressman Ander Crenshaw is doing a great job in the House of
Representatives. Thank you, Ander. Congressman Cliff Stearns is with us
today. I appreciate you coming, Cliff.
I want to thank the State chief financial officer, Tom Gallagher,
for joining us today. I want to thank the mayor of the great city of
Jacksonville, Florida, Mayor John Peyton.
When I came in, I had the opportunity to say hello to Nelson Cuba,
who's the president of the Jacksonville Fraternal Order of Police. I am
proud to have the endorsement of the FOP. I'm proud to be standing with
the policemen all across this country.
I want to thank Bill Cerveny and Aaron Tippin for providing such
wonderful entertainment here for this great crowd.
I want to thank the people who put on this event. It takes a lot of
work to get this many people to come. I want to thank the grassroots
activists, the people who are putting up the signs, making the phone
calls, turning out the vote. With your help, we will win a great victory
on November the 2d.
We have just 10 days to go in this campaign, and voters have a clear
choice between two very different candidates and dramatically different
approaches and records. You know where I stand, and sometimes, you even
know where my opponent stands. [Laughter] We both have records. I'm
running on my record. Senator Kerry's running from his record, and there
is a reason why. There is a reason why. There is a mainstream in
American politics, and my opponent sits on the far left bank. I am a
compassionate conservative and proudly so. At a time when our country
has much to accomplish and
[[Page 2562]]
much more to do, I offer a record of reform and results.
This election comes down to five clear choices for America's
families, five choices on issues of great consequence: your family's
security; your family's budget; your quality of life; your retirement;
and the bedrock values that are so critical to our families and to our
future.
The first clear choice is the most important because it concerns the
security of your family. All our progress on every other issue depends
on the safety of our citizens. The most--this is the first Presidential
election since September the 11th, 2001. Americans will go to the polls
in a time of war and ongoing threats unlike any we have faced before.
The terrorists who killed thousands of innocent people are still
dangerous. They are determined to strike us again. The outcome of this
election will set the direction of the war against terror. I believe 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 have
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've strengthened protections for the homeland. We're reforming
and strengthening our intelligence capabilities. We're transforming our
All-Volunteer Army. We will not have a draft. We will keep the All-
Volunteer Army an all-volunteer army. We are staying on the offensive.
We are relentless. We are determined to protect the American people, and
we're succeeding. More than three-quarters of Al Qaida's key members and
associates have been brought to justice, and the rest of them know we
are on their trail.
My opponent has a different approach. He says that September the
11th, quote, ``didn't change me much at all,'' end quote.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. And that's pretty clear. He considers the war on
terror primarily a law enforcement and intelligence gathering operation.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. His top foreign policy adviser has questioned whether
it's even a war at all, saying ``That's just a metaphor, like the war on
poverty.''
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. Anyone who thinks we're fighting a metaphor does not
understand the enemy we face, and you cannot win a war if you're not
convinced we're even in one.
Senator Kerry misunderstands our battle against insurgents and
terrorists in Iraq. After voting to authorize force against Saddam
Hussein, after calling it the right decision when I sent troops into
Iraq, the Senator now calls it the ``wrong war.''
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. The Senator used to recognize that Saddam Hussein was
a gathering threat who hated America. After all, the Senator said so. He
used to recognize that Saddam was a state sponsor of terror with a
history of pursuing and even using weapons of mass destruction. After
all, the Senator said so. He used to understand that Saddam was a major
source of instability in the Middle East. After all, the Senator said
so. And when he voted to authorize force, the Senator must have
recognized the nightmare scenario that terrorists might somehow access
weapons of mass destruction. Senator Kerry seems to have forgotten all
that as his position has evolved during the course of this campaign. You
might call it election amnesia. [Laughter]
I knew then and I know now that America and the world are safer with
Saddam Hussein sitting in a prison cell.
Senator Kerry now calls Iraq a ``diversion.''
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. But the case of just one terrorist shows how wrong
his thinking is. A man named Zarqawi is responsible for planting car
bombs and beheading Americans in Iraq. He ran a terrorist training camp
in Afghanistan until American troops arrived. Then he fled to Baghdad,
where he's fighting us today. He publicly announced his allegiance to
Usama bin Laden. If Zarqawi and his associates were not busy fighting
Iraqi and American forces in Iraq, what does Senator Kerry think they
would be doing? Simple shopkeepers? [Laughter] Running benevolence
societies? I don't think so. And our
[[Page 2563]]
troops will defeat Zarqawi and his friends and allies overseas so we do
not have to face them in America.
The choice in this election could not be clearer. You cannot lead
our Nation to decisive victory, on which the security of every American
family depends, if you do not see the true dangers of the post-September
the 11th world. My opponent has a September the 10th point of view. At
his convention, he declared that his strategy will be to respond to
attacks after America is hit.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. That would be too late. In our debates, he said we
can defend America only if we pass a ``global test.''
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. I'm not making that up. He was standing about that
far away from me when he said it. I'll work with our friends and allies.
We'll continue to build strong coalitions. But I will never turn over
America's national security decisions to leaders of other countries.
I want to thank those who wear the uniform who have joined us today.
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 today.
And I'm going to assure you, so long as I'm the Commander in Chief, our
Federal Government will make sure your loved ones have what is necessary
to complete their missions.
And that's why I went to the United States Congress in September of
2003, asking for $87 billion in supplemental funding to support our
troops in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. I appreciate the strong
bipartisan support for this very important request. When you're out
gathering up the vote, I want you to remind your friends and neighbors
that only four Members of the United States Senate voted to authorize
the use of force and then voted against the funding necessary to support
our troops in harm's way, and two of those four were my opponent and his
runningmate.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. They asked him, ``Why did you make the vote?'' And he
issued perhaps the most famous quote of the 2004 campaign, ``I actually
did vote for the $87 billion, right before I voted against it.''
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. They've asked him time and time again, and he must
have given five or six explanations of that vote. At one point, he said,
``The whole thing is a complicated matter.'' There is nothing
complicated about supporting our troops in combat.
We'll protect America by leading the cause of freedom. I believe in
the transformational power of liberty. I want you to remember what has
taken place in Afghanistan in a short period of time. That country has
gone from darkness to light. Three-and-a-half years ago, young girls
couldn't go to school. If their mothers did not toe the line of the
ideologues of hate who ran Afghanistan, they were whipped in the public
square and sometimes executed in a sports stadium. Because we acted in
our self-interest, because we upheld doctrine, 25 million people in
Afghanistan are free. Millions went to vote in a Presidential election.
The first voter was a 19-year-old woman in Afghanistan.
Iraq will be holding elections in January. Think about how far that
country has come from the days of torture chambers and mass graves.
Freedom is on the march, and America is more secure because of it.
I believe every person in the world wants to be free. I believe this
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.
On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin
Towers. It is a day I will never forget. There were workers there in
hardhats yelling at me at the top of their lungs, ``Whatever it takes.''
I remember the man coming out of the rubble--we were doing our best to
console people--he grabbed me by the arm; 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.
The second clear choice in this election concerns your family
budget. When I ran for President 4 years ago, I pledged to lower taxes
for American families. I kept my word. We raised the child credit. We
reduced the
[[Page 2564]]
marriage penalty. Listen, our Tax Code ought to encourage marriage, not
penalize marriage. We dropped the lowest bracket to 10 percent to help
our working families. We reduced income taxes for everyone who pays
taxes. As a result of these good policies, after-tax income, money in
your pocket that you can spend, is up by about 10 percent since I became
your President.
We've been through a lot together. When you're out rounding up the
vote, remind your friends and neighbors that the stock market had been
in serious decline for 6 months prior to my arrival in Washington, DC.
And then we had a recession and corporate scandals and the attacks on
our country. We lost nearly one million jobs in the 3 months after
September the 11th.
But our economic policies are working. Our economy is growing at
rates as fast as any in nearly 20 years. We've added more than 1.9
million new jobs in the last 13 months. The unemployment rate is 5.4
percent, lower than the average rate of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Our
farmers and ranchers are making a living. The small businesses are
flourishing. The entrepreneurial spirit is strong. Homeownership rate is
at an alltime high, and the unemployment rate in Florida is 4.5 percent.
My opponent has very different plans for your family's 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, an average middle-class family would be paying
2,000 more dollars a year to the Federal Government.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. It's part of a pattern. See, the Senator voted 10
times to raise taxes on gasoline. All told, during his 20 years in the
United States Senate, he has voted 98 times to raise your taxes.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. That's about five times a year. When a Senator does
something that often, he must really enjoy it. [Laughter] During this
campaign, he's also made a lot of big, expensive promises. He's promised
$2.2 trillion of new Federal spending. That's trillion with a ``T.''
That's a lot even for a Senator from Massachusetts. [Laughter]
They asked him how he's going to pay for it. He said, ``Oh, we'll
just pay for it by taxing the rich.'' There's a problem with that
promise. When you run up the top two brackets, you're taxing many small
businesses. Most small businesses pay tax at the individual income-tax
level. Seventy percent of new jobs are created by small businesses in
America. Taxing small businesses is bad economic policy.
And there's a gap between what he's promised and what he can
deliver. Running up the top two brackets like he wants to do raises
between 600 and 800 billion dollars. And remember, there's $2.2 trillion
of spending promises. So there's a gap, a gap between what he's promised
and what he says he's going to pay. And guess who usually fills the gap?
Audience member. We do!
The President. You do. The good news is, we're not going to let him
tax you; we are going to carry Florida and win on November the 2d.
Third clear choice in this election involves the quality of life for
our Nation's families. A good education and quality health care are
important to a successful life. When I ran for President 4 years ago, I
promised to end the soft bigotry of low expectations by reforming our
public schools. I have kept my word. We passed good, sound education
reforms to bring high standards to the classroom and make our schools
more accountable to parents and teachers. We're seeing progress. Math
and reading scores are rising. We're closing the achievement gap by
helping minority students. We will build on these reforms and extend
them to our high schools so that no child in America is left behind.
And we'll continue to improve our--life for our families by making
health care more affordable and accessible. We'll expand health savings
accounts so more small businesses can cover their workers and more
families are able to get health care accounts they manage and they call
their own. We'll create association health plans so small businesses can
join together and buy insurance at the same discounts that big companies
are able to do. We will help our families in need
[[Page 2565]]
by expanding community health centers. We'll make sure every eligible
child is enrolled in our Government's low-income health insurance
program.
And we'll help patients and doctors all across this Nation by doing
something about the frivolous and junk lawsuits that are running up your
costs and running good doctors out of practice. I have met too many good
docs being run out of practice because of these junk lawsuits. I met too
many ob-gyns who are not able to practice their skill. I met too many
pregnant women who are having to drive miles, which isn't right. Our
expectant moms need good, quality health care, and these lawsuits are
making it tough for them to find good, quality health care. You cannot
be pro-doctor, pro-patient, and pro-personal-injury-lawyer at the same
time. You have to make a choice. My opponent made his choice, and he put
a personal injury trial lawyer on the ticket.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. I have made my choice. I'm standing with the docs and
the patients. I am for medical liability reform--now.
Senator Kerry has a different point of view on our schools and
health care. Listen, he voted for the No Child Left Behind Act, but now
he wants to weaken the accountability standards. He's proposed including
measures like teacher attendance to judge whether students can read and
write and add and subtract. He voted against health savings accounts. He
opposes association health plans. He has voted 10 times against medical
liability reform. He can run from his record, but he cannot hide.
Now he's proposing a health care plan in this campaign, a big
Government health care plan that would cause 8 million families to lose
private coverage they get at work and have to go on a Government plan.
Eighty percent of the people who get coverage under his proposal would
be enrolled in a Government program.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. In one of our debates, he looked in that camera and
he told the Americans that when it comes to his health care plan, and I
quote, ``The Government has nothing to do with it.'' I could barely
contain myself. [Laughter] My opponent's plan would move America down
the road to Federal control of health care. It's the wrong road for
American families. He can run from his plan----
Audience members. But he cannot hide!
The President. In all we do to improve health care, 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 have kept my word. Seniors are now getting discounts on
medicine with drug discount cards. Low-income seniors are getting $600
this year and $600 next year to help pay for prescriptions. And
beginning in 2006, all seniors will be able to get prescription drug
coverage under Medicare.
My opponent voted against the Medicare bill that includes
prescription drug coverage, even though it was supported by AARP and
other seniors groups. This campaign, he said, ``If I'm the President,
we're going to repeal that phony bill.'' A little later he said, ``No, I
don't want to repeal it.'' That sounds familiar. As your President for
the next 4 years, I will defend the reforms we have worked so hard to
pass and keep the promise of Medicare for our country's seniors.
We'll keep the promise of Social Security for our seniors, and we
will strengthen Social Security for generations to come. Every campaign
is predictable. It is predictable that you'll hear once again that our
seniors will lose their checks. I want you to remind our seniors that in
the 2000 campaign, they said, ``If George W. gets elected, the seniors
will not get their Social Security checks.'' You might remember that.
Well, remind them of this: George W. got elected, and the seniors got
their checks. And the seniors will continue to get their checks. And
baby boomers like me are just fine when it comes to the Social Security
trust.
But we need to be concerned about children and our grandchildren. We
need to make sure that the Social Security system will be there when
they need it too. And that
[[Page 2566]]
is why I believe younger workers ought to be able to take some of their
own money and put it in a personal savings account, a savings account
they call their own, a savings account the Government cannot take away.
My opponent takes a different approach. He talks about protecting
Social Security, but he's the only candidate in this race who has voted
eight times for higher taxes on Social Security benefits.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. He can run----
Audience members. But he cannot hide!
The President. And when it comes to the next generation, he's
offered nothing in terms of Social Security reform. The job of the
President is to confront problems, not to pass them on to future
Presidents and future generations. In a new term, I'll bring Republicans
and Democrats together and strengthen Social Security so a younger
generation can count on it.
The fifth clear choice in this election is on the values that are so
crucial to keeping America's families strong, and here my opponent and I
are miles apart. I believe marriage is a sacred commitment. I believe
marriage is a pillar of our civilization, and I will always defend it.
This is not a partisan issue. When Congress passed the Defense of
Marriage Act, defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman, the
vast majority of Democrats supported it, and 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. I believe that reasonable people can find common
ground on the difficult issues. Republicans and Democrats and many
citizens on both sides of the life issue came together and agreed we
should ban the brutal practice of partial-birth abortion. I was honored
to sign that bill. But Senator Kerry was part of the out-of-the-
mainstream minority that voted against the ban.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. He also voted against parental notification laws----
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. ----and against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. I will continue to reach out to Americans of every
belief and move this goodhearted Nation toward a culture of life.
During this campaign, my opponent has said that you can find the
heart and soul of America in Hollywood.
Audience members. Boo-o-o!
The President. Most American families do not look to Hollywood as a
source of values. I believe the heart and soul of America is found in
communities like Jacksonville, Florida.
All of these choices make this one of the most important elections
in our history. The security, the prosperity of our country, the
education of our children, and the health of our families, the
retirement of our seniors, and the direction of our culture are--all are
at stake. And the decision is in the best hands, the hands of the
American people.
I see a positive future for this country. I see a better day. One of
my favorite quotes was written by a fellow Texan. He said, ``Sarah and I
live on the east side of the mountain. It's the sunrise side, not the
sunset side. It's 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
his campaign talking about the day that is gone. I see the day that is
coming.
We have been through a lot together in the last nearly 4 years.
Because we have done the hard work of climbing the mountain, we can see
the valley below. We'll protect our families, build up the prosperity of
this country, and defend our deepest values. We will spread freedom in
this world and achieve the peace we all long for.
When I campaigned in your State 4 years ago, I said if you gave me
the honor of serving, 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.
God bless. Thank you for coming. Thank you all.
Note: The President spoke at 4:20 p.m. at Alltel Stadium. In his
remarks, he referred to Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida; Senator Zell Miller of
Georgia, who made the keynote address at the Republican National
Convention; Mel R. Martinez, senatorial candidate in Florida; country
music entertainers Bill Cerveny and Aaron Tippin; former President
[[Page 2567]]
Saddam Hussein of Iraq; senior Al Qaida associate Abu Musab Al Zarqawi;
and Usama bin Laden, leader of the Al Qaida terrorist organization.