[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 44 (Monday, November 1, 2004)]
[Pages 2533-2542]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks in a Discussion in
Canton, Ohio

October 22, 2004

    The President. Thank you all for coming. Go ahead and be seated, 
please. We've got some work to do. Thank you all for coming today.
    First of all, George, thank you for that strong endorsement. I am 
proud to have George in my corner, just like I'm proud to have thousands 
of Democrats all across the State of Ohio who understand if they want a 
safer America, a stronger America, and a better America to put me and 
Dick Cheney back in office. Thank you, sir.
    I'm keeping mighty good company today. So I don't know if you know 
this or not, but Laura and I were in the seventh grade together at San 
Jacinto Junior High in Midland, Texas. And then we became reacquainted 
when she was a public school librarian in Texas. I asked her to marry 
me. She said, ``Fine, I will marry you, but make me one promise.'' I 
said, ``What is it?'' She said, ``Never make me give a speech.'' 
[Laughter] I said, ``Okay, you've got a deal.'' Fortunately, she didn't 
hold me to that promise. Laura is a great speaker, and when she does, 
the American people see a compassionate, warm, wonderful First Lady.
    So I have been telling the girls, one of these days, we'll take the 
family camping trip. [Laughter] They envisioned the Grand Canyon, the 
wilds of Alaska. Girls, this is it, the 2004 campaign. [Laughter] We 
love them dearly. I'm proud of Barbara and Jenna. Thank you all for 
campaigning so hard.
    Thanks for coming today. I'm back in the great city of Canton 
because I'm here asking for the vote. I'm here to describe to you what I 
intend to do over the next 4 years to make this country a better place. 
I believe you have to get out amongst the people and ask for the vote. 
We've got a very unusual way of making some points today. As you can 
see, I've been joined by some citizens from Ohio here on the stage. We 
will listen to their stories. I think it'll help the people of Ohio 
understand why I have made some of the decisions I have made.
    Before I begin, though, I want to thank your Governor, Bob Taft, for 
joining us today. Governor, great to see you. I want to thank Jennette 
Bradley, the Lieutenant Governor. Thanks for coming, Governor. You look 
great.
    Congressman Ralph Regula--appreciate you being here, Congressman. 
Laura and I were looking forward to seeing the wife, but, no, of course, 
she's probably out mowing the lawn like you should be doing. [Laughter]
    Listen, you've got a great United States Senator in George 
Voinovich. He doesn't need a poll or a focus group to tell him what to 
think. He stands on principle. You know where he's coming from. He 
doesn't shift in the wind like some other United States Senators I know. 
[Laughter] Put him back in office. And I'm proud of Mike DeWine, a fine 
United States Senator as well. We're--Laura and I are proud to call both 
George and Mike friends.
    Today, when I landed at the airport, I met Dan Yeric, who's sitting 
right there. Dan, why don't you wave your hand. Thanks for coming. Dan 
has been a volunteer at the Akron Children's Hospital for 12 years. The 
reason I bring him up is the strength of this country lies in the hearts 
and souls of our fellow citizens. The true strength of America is not 
our military might; it's not the size of our pocketbook. The true 
strength of America is in the hearts and souls of citizens who are 
working to change this country one person at a time, those who've heard 
the call to love a neighbor just like they'd like to be loved 
themselves. Dan is a soldier in the army of compassion. Thank you for 
your example. Thank you for your care.
    We're getting close to voting time. Who's counting the days? 
[Laughter] And I'm here

[[Page 2534]]

to ask for your help. I believe with your help, we will carry Ohio again 
and win a great victory in November.
    So Laura and I and the girls are here to thank you for what you are 
going to do over the next less than 2 weeks: call the phone--get on the 
phone and call the voters; put up the signs; find those discerning 
Democrats like the mayor, independents, Republicans; get people to do 
their duty and vote.
    And when you do, as you get them out to vote, remind them what this 
economy has been through. I know there's tough times here in Ohio. 
Remind everybody what we have been through. You might remind them, 
starting with this point: The stock market was in a serious decline 6 
months prior to my arrival in Washington, DC. And then we had a 
recession. In other words, that stock market decline was an indicator 
that the economy was heading south, and it did. And then we had some 
corporate scandals. We passed tough law to make it abundantly clear 
we're not going to tolerate dishonesty in the boardrooms of America. And 
then we got attacked. And those attacks cost us nearly a million jobs in 
the 3 months after September the 11th, 2001.
    Our economy has been through a lot. But we acted. We cut the taxes 
to spur consumption and investment, and our economy is growing. We 
raised the child credit to help people with kids. We lowered the 
marriage penalty. Listen, we don't want a Tax Code that penalizes 
marriage. We want a Tax Code that encourages marriage. We reduced rates 
on everybody who pays taxes. I don't think you ought to be trying to 
pick and choose winners when it comes to tax relief. If you pay taxes, 
you ought to get relief. We helped our small businesses. We encouraged 
investment.
    Our economy has been growing at rates as fast as any in nearly 20 
years. We've added 1.9 million new jobs since August of 2003. This month 
of September--in the last month, that being September, the State of Ohio 
added 5,500 new jobs. Your unemployment rate will drop from 6.3 to 6 
percent. We're moving forward.
    I signed a bill that's going to help our manufacturers. It will save 
$77 billion over the next 10 years for the manufacturing sector of 
America. That will help keep jobs here. It's a bill that extended the 
$100,000 expensing deduction, expensing allowance for small businesses. 
That will help keep jobs here in Ohio. It closes corporate loopholes. It 
repeals the 4.3 percent tax on railroad diesel and barge fuel. That will 
help keep jobs here in Ohio.
    To keep jobs here, we've got to have less regulations on our job 
creators. To keep jobs growing in Ohio, we need to do something about 
the junk lawsuits that plague the job creators in the State of Ohio.
    It's important for us to open up markets for U.S. products, for 
markets, for crops grown right here in the State of Ohio. Listen, we've 
opened up our market, and it's good for consumers. Here's the way the 
market works. If you have more products to choose from, you're like to 
get that which you want at a better price and higher quality. So rather 
than hurting our consumers, what I'm saying to places like China, ``You 
treat us the way we treat you; you open up your markets,'' because we 
can compete with anybody, anytime, anywhere, so long as the rules are 
fair.
    To keep jobs here, we need an energy plan. I proposed one to the 
United States Congress over 2 years ago. It's a plan that encourages 
conservation. It's a plan that encourages the use of renewables. It's a 
plan that recognizes we can use technology to protect our environment 
and, at the same time, burn coal and find natural gas. It is a plan that 
recognizes in order to keep jobs in Ohio, in order to expand the job 
base here in this State and other States, we must be less dependent on 
foreign sources of energy.
    In order to make sure jobs are here, we've got to do a good job of 
educating our people. I told the people when I ran I was going to 
challenge the soft bigotry of low expectations, you know, the system 
that just shuffled kids through the schools, grade after grade, year 
after year, without teaching the basics. I kept my word. We passed the 
No Child Left Behind Act. It raises standards. It spends more money. But 
in return for more money, we're now measuring. You cannot solve a 
problem unless you've diagnosed the problem. We're diagnosing problems 
early now, and more and more of our children are

[[Page 2535]]

learning to read and write and add and subtract, and we're not going to 
go back to the days of mediocrity in our classrooms.
    Education is more than just elementary school. We'll extend high 
standards to our high schools. We'll emphasize math and science. We'll 
continue to expand Pell grants so low- and middle-income Americans can 
start their career with a college diploma. We're going to continue to 
expand access to community colleges so that people actually have the 
skills necessary to fill the jobs of the 21st century.
    I'm going to also remind you that to make sure our economy grows, 
we've got to keep your taxes low. And taxes are an issue in this 
campaign. They are a significant issue, and I'll tell you why. My 
opponent has proposed $2.2 trillion of new spending thus far. That's 
trillion with a ``T.'' [Laughter] That's a heck of a lot even for a 
Senator from Massachusetts. [Laughter]
    So they asked him, ``How are you going to pay for it?'' And he 
pulled out that same old line, that class warfare line, ``Don't worry, 
we'll pay for it by taxing the rich.'' You can't raise enough money to 
pay for $2.2 trillion of new spending by taxing the rich. He says he's 
going to raise the top two brackets. I'll tell you three things about 
that.
    One, most small businesses are Subchapter S corporations or limited 
partnerships, which mean they pay tax at the individual income-tax 
level. And when you're running up the top two brackets, you're taxing 
about 900,000 to a million small businesses all across America. Guess 
what, 70 percent of new jobs in America are created by small businesses. 
It makes no sense to tax job creators.
    Secondly, there is a tax gap. There is a difference between what he 
has promised, 2.2 trillion, and what he can raise. Now, guess who 
usually gets to fill that gap? Yes, you do.
    Thirdly, the so-called rich hire lawyers and accountants for a 
reason when it comes to tax time: to slip the bill and pass it onto you. 
The good news is, we're not going to let him tax you. Taxes would be bad 
for our economy. If you want to make sure you keep jobs here in Ohio, 
you keep the taxes low. We're not going to let him tax the American 
people because we're going to win in November. He can run. He can run--
he can even run in camo--[laughter]--but he cannot hide.
    A couple of other things I want to share with you, and then we're 
going to talk about health care, as you can see. I want to talk about 
promoting an ownership society in America. You know, it's said that no 
one ever washes a rental car. [Laughter] There's some wisdom in that. 
[Laughter] When you own something, you care about it. If you own your 
own small business, you care about the future of America. Do you realize 
that the homeownership rate under my administration is at an alltime 
high in America. We're going to talk about health savings accounts in a 
minute, but this is a way for people to own their own health care and 
manage their own health care in a way that makes sense for American 
families and American small businesses.
    I want to talk about Social Security and ownership. The 2000 
campaign, I remember it clearly. During that campaign, people ran 
advertisements that said, ``If George W. gets elected, our seniors will 
not get their Social Security checks.'' You might remember those ads. 
It's kind of the old typical political scare tactic. Well, as you're out 
gathering up the vote, remind our senior citizens, I did get elected, 
and you got your checks. And I'm going to get elected again, and you're 
still going to get your checks.
    The reason I bring that up is because I'm willing to talk about how 
to make sure the Social Security system is available for our children 
and our grandchildren. It is necessary to do so. See, we're in good 
shape as a baby boomer. The money in the trust--there's enough people 
paying in that we'll be taken care of. We need to worry about the 
children and grandchildren. We need to worry about whether or not Social 
Security will be available for them.
    In order to make sure Social Security is available for our young, I 
believe younger workers ought to be allowed to take some of their 
payroll taxes and set up a personal savings account that will earn a 
greater rate of interest--rate of return on their money than it does in 
the current Social Security trust, a personal account they can call 
their own, a personal account they can pass on to

[[Page 2536]]

whomever they want, and a personal account the Government will never 
take away.
    And here we have another difference in this campaign. See, I believe 
a President ought to confront problems and not pass them on to future 
Presidents and future generations. And we have a problem in Social 
Security. You might remember one of our debates when my opponent said, 
``Well, the status quo was fine.'' Let me remind you of two things about 
that. One, he is the only person on that stage during the debate that 
voted to tax Social Security benefits, not once but eight times. And 
secondly, the status quo is not fine when it comes to our children. A 
President must be willing to confront problems. And in a new term, I'll 
bring Republicans and Democrats together to make sure Social Security is 
available for the younger generation.
    Now, let me talk about health care. We have a clear choice when it 
comes to health care in this campaign. I have a commonsense approach to 
make sure health care is available and affordable. Available through 
places like community health centers, where the poor and the indigent 
can get health care and relieve pressure off of the emergency rooms of 
the hospitals all across the country. Available by making sure our 
children of low-income families are fully subscribed in the Government 
health care program for them.
    Affordable by recognizing that most of the uninsured in America work 
for small businesses, and therefore, small businesses ought to be 
allowed to pool risk across jurisdictional boundaries so they can buy 
insurance at the same discounts that big companies are able to do. 
Affordable through health savings accounts, which we'll discuss. Health 
care more affordable by moving generic drugs quicker to the market so 
our seniors are able to better afford prescription drugs.
    Affordable because I'm the first President to have taken on 
Medicare--I shouldn't say that; other Presidents have talked about 
Medicare. It used to be called ``Mediscare'' because anytime you talked 
about it, somebody would club you over the head with it as an issue, 
political issue. But I went to Washington to solve problems. And we had 
a problem in Medicare. Medicine was changing. Medicine was modernizing; 
Medicare wasn't. We'd pay tens of thousands of dollars for a heart 
surgery for a Medicare patient but not 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. So I brought Republicans and 
Democrats together. I signed a good Medicare bill that says, in 2006, 
our seniors will get prescription drug coverage.
    To make sure health care is available and affordable, we have got to 
do something about these frivolous and junk lawsuits that are running up 
the cost of medicine and running good doctors out of practice. We're 
going to talk about that issue in a minute.
    We're going to talk about that issue in a minute, but I do want to 
make it very clear there is a difference of opinion between me and my 
opponent on health care. In one of the debates he said--he looked right 
in the camera, he said, ``The Government doesn't have anything to do 
with it,'' referring to his health care program. Stared right in the 
camera and said it. I could barely contain myself. [Laughter]
    The Government has got a lot to do with it. Eight out of ten people 
that will be signed up for health insurance on his program will end up 
on a Government program. When you raise the limits of Medicaid, it 
provides an incentive for small-business owners to provide no insurance 
for their employees because the Government will pick it up. And 
therefore, millions of people will go from private insurance to the 
Government rolls. His is a plan that creates 225 new mandates for small 
businesses. Government-run health care does not work. We have got a 
great health care system in the world because it's innovative, because 
it's--private medicine is at the center of our health care system. And 
my opponent's plan would increase the scope and the size of the Federal 
Government when it comes to your health care decisions.
    In all we do to make sure health care works, we'll make sure the 
decisions are between patients and doctors, not by officials in 
Washington, DC.
    Up here with me is Michael Gordon. No, not Michael Gordon. He didn't 
make it. Michael Gordon was supposed to be here. He's a small-business 
owner. Let me talk about Michael Gordon right quick. He's stuck out

[[Page 2537]]

there, probably behind a barricade chanting, ``Four more years.'' 
[Laughter]
    Audience member. Four more years!
    The President. Oh, Michael, you made it. [Laughter]
    Anyway, he's from Tendon Manufacturing. He's a small business. He's 
adding employees. He's optimistic--a small manufacturing company here in 
Ohio. He is a Subchapter S corporation. I wish Michael were sitting up 
here so you could see him. He's a Subchapter S. He's expanding his 
business. When you run up the top two brackets of the Tax Code, you're 
taxing Michael. You're taxing his company. It makes no sense to tax the 
small-business job creators, which is precisely what Senator Kerry will 
do.
    Now, let me talk to you about Bruce, Bruce McDonnell. That's you.
    Bruce McDonnell. That's me.
    The President. Okay. [Laughter] What do you do, Bruce?
    Mr. McDonnell. I'm a CPA.
    The President. You are? Good. And he is here to discuss with us 
health savings accounts. Some of you have heard of health savings 
accounts; some of you haven't heard of health savings accounts. But it 
is an innovative way to make sure the health care costs are reasonable.
    Describe to us, if you don't mind, for this great crowd how it 
works.

[Mr. McDonnell made brief remarks.]

    The President. Let me stop you. That's to pay for major medical 
bills. So anything above 1,000 for an individual will be taken care of 
by the insurance company. Go ahead.

[Mr. McDonnell made further remarks.]

    The President. Right. So here's the way it works. He says--what he 
just said is, a health savings account, one, is a combination of a tax-
free saving account plus a high deductible insurance policy. So say 
you've got a $1,000 deductible, from zero to 1,000, you're responsible 
for paying, or in his case, his company contributes from the zero to 
1,000 a portion of that. And then above 1,000, the insurance company 
pays for it.
    But think about the benefits of that kind of plan. First of all, if 
you don't use all 1,000, it's rolled over to the next year tax-free, so 
that you begin to accumulate savings for your own health care. Secondly, 
if he were to start a new firm, which I'm not suggesting you're going to 
do, but if you were, and you moved, the health care account would go 
with you. It's yours. You own the health care account. You make the 
decisions. Decisionmaking between patient and doctor is a part of how we 
introduce market forces into a health care industry. One way to control 
cost is to let consumers have more decisionmaking, which is precisely 
what a health savings account does.
    Isn't that right?
    Mr. McDonnell. Absolutely right.
    The President. Did we get it right?
    Mr. McDonnell. You got it right.
    The President. This is a very interesting way to help small 
businesses hold down-- [applause].
    Guess who else is a health savings account owner? Doc, you're a 
health savings account owner--Dr. Schwieterman. Where are you from, doc?
    Dr. Tom Schwieterman. I'm from Mercer County, which is on the other 
side of the State, Mr. President.
    The President. Welcome. Glad you're here. You are a doctor of?
    Dr. Schwieterman. Family practice, and I provided obstetrics up 
until a month ago.
    The President. Yes. We've got a problem. ``Provided up until a month 
ago''--helps define what we're here to talk about, which is good health 
care for people.
    Doc, tell me, you have been--you've told me something really 
interesting. I don't know if you know this, but my grandfather was 
raised in Columbus, Ohio. He ended up being a Senator from Connecticut--
Connecticut, yes. My dad, as you know, was in politics. I'm in politics. 
Anybody in your family ever been a doctor before?
    Dr. Schwieterman. I am the fourth generation family physician in the 
same town and actually in the same building in rural Mercer County.
    The President. Yes. Nothing wrong with following the old family 
footsteps. [Laughter]
    Dr. Schwieterman. Little easier, though.
    The President. Right, girls. [Laughter] Oops.

[[Page 2538]]

    So, we were backstage talking. I mean, this is, obviously, not the 
first time I met Tom, or the doc, I call him. We have a--he's a rural 
doc. Rural health care is really important for the quality of life in a 
State like Ohio. And so tell me, describe your problem.
    Dr. Schwieterman. We have a family practice that has a very long 
heritage, of course, 113 years of providing general medical care and 
obstetrics. Over those 113 years, we have delivered over or near 10,000 
children, and--[applause]. Thank you. See, my dad's right there. He 
delivered 5,000.
    The President. Is that Dad?
    Dr. Schwieterman. That's my dad.
    The President. Hey, Dad. You raised a good boy.
    Dr. Schwieterman. And during those 110-13 years, we have never had a 
claims made against our practice. We have retained a majority of those 
births within the practice. And unfortunately, last month, we were 
forced to do our last delivery, and this was a fourth generation 
patient. And she unfortunately ended the legacy that we have enjoyed for 
so long.
    The President. And why? Tell people why. They need to know the 
truth. The people of Ohio need to understand what's taking place as a 
result of all these lawsuits.
    Dr. Schwieterman. For the past 3 years, we've pretty much done ob at 
cost. What we took in is what we paid out in malpractice, and this year, 
we--our premiums went up 40 percent, and it became a point where we 
could not afford to maintain a small business with our employees, take 
care of our patients, with the premiums going from 25 to 80 thousand 
dollars in 48 months.
    The President. Yes. Let me tell--people need to hear this. This is 
an issue in this campaign. The quality of life in the State of Ohio 
depends on whether or not you've got good docs and good, strong 
hospitals and people being able to find health care in cities and in 
rural America.
    Let me talk to you about these lawsuits. First of all, docs practice 
what's called defensive medicine. If you've got a lawyer looming right 
behind you all the time, if you're worried about what happens in the 
court--in the--okay, fine. Everybody needs a good lawyer. I've got too 
many myself. Anyway --[laughter]--it's the difference between some 
lawyers and personal injury trial lawyers that are constantly out there 
trying to convert this legal system into what looks like a lottery. And 
guess who ends up paying for the ticket? The taxpayers and the people, 
because the quality of health care is going down.
    If you've got a lawsuit, if you think you're going to get sued, 
you're going to practice more medicine than is needed so you can defend 
yourself in a court of law. That's what happens, and guess what that 
does to the Federal budget, for example. The defensive practice of 
medicine costs our budget about $28 billion a year. I say ``our'' 
budget, because when I talk about the Government budget, you pay for it. 
It's your money, 28 billion a year in excess costs in Medicaid and 
Medicare and veterans' health benefits. This is a national issue.
    Secondly, because of the lawsuits, because many people just settle 
whether the suit has merit or not, premiums go up. And guess who pays 
the premiums? You do.
    And thirdly, as a result of a lot of these lawsuits, people just 
can't simply practice medicine anymore. And you just talk--you just 
heard the story that unfortunately is being repeated over and over and 
over again in America. This country needs medical liability reform--now.
    And this is an issue in this campaign. This is an issue in 
campaign--this campaign. Oh, I heard him in the debates, my opponent. I 
heard him talking about medical liability reform. But let me tell you 
something. We had a bill on the floor of the United States Senate to 
provide liability protection to ob-gyns, and my opponent voted ``no.'' 
He's voted against medical liability reform 10 times in the United 
States Senate. He can run, but he cannot hide from that record.
    Barb Coen is with us. Doc, thanks. Where do you work?
    Dr. Barb Coen. I work in Norton, Ohio, at a practice called 
Generations Women's Health Care, with my partner, Dr. Susan Clark, who's 
here.
    The President. Where's the doc? Oh, there you go. Thanks for coming. 
I appreciate you. Very good. Dr. Clark?
    Dr. Coen. Dr. Clark.

[[Page 2539]]

    The President. Yes, Dr. Clark. Good to see you, doc. You must have 
drawn the short straw, so you're the one who had to actually get up here 
and talk in front of all the cameras. [Laughter] Tell us about your 
practice. Just give--tell people exactly what's happening.

[Dr. Coen made brief remarks, concluding as follows.]

    Dr. Coen. And as all of you know who've had a baby, the relationship 
between an ob-gyn and a pregnant patient is pretty special. They trust 
you with not only their life but the life of their unborn child. I can't 
tell you what an honor it is to be the first person to touch a new life 
when it comes into the world. There is absolutely nothing like it.
    The President. Listen, it was pretty cool to be the second person 
when I touched Barbara and Jenna. [Laughter] Go ahead. They'll be happy 
to hear I let the doc go first. [Laughter]

[Dr. Coen made further remarks.]

    The President. Thank you, doc. I appreciate you. Thank you. 
[Applause] Okay, thanks, hold on. We've got more work to do here. Thank 
you. Stay right there. Thank you all. And not only do we need 
legislation, we need something that works. Legislation that doesn't work 
is not a good deal. We're not going to do that. We need to make sure 
that there is a real cap on noneconomic damages. If you want docs to be 
in practice, we need to make sure that the reform of the medical 
liability law works. That's why I believe in firm caps to keep docs in 
business.
    Andy Kazar is with us. Andy, tell us your story. This is--just, 
again, I want people listening to understand the consequences of not 
getting a good medical liability law out of the United States Senate, a 
law that my opponent has consistently opposed. Please.

[Andy Kazar made brief remarks.]

    The President. See, this is--the story is being repeated all across 
the country. I was in Pennsylvania yesterday--ob-gyns can't practice. 
Women have to drive miles in order to find a doc. This is not the 
quality of life that we expect here in America. And it's caused by 
frivolous lawsuits. Make no mistake about it, it is a legal culture.
    When you're out rounding up the vote or if you're listening and 
trying to determine who you're for, remember the stories up here, 
remember the stories of goodhearted docs who are worried about 
practicing their skill. And remember the story about moms who are deeply 
concerned about their child. This is a big issue in this campaign.
    Now, I want to talk about a couple of other issues, and then we'll 
all go home and start working. Actually, I'm going down to Florida; 
you're going to go home and start working. [Laughter] The--and I'm not 
going down there to sit on the beach, either. [Laughter] I'm going down 
there to campaign.
    Two other--a couple of other things. I talk about time of change, 
and these are changing times. Some things don't change. The values we 
try to live by don't change, courage and compassion, reverence and 
integrity. And we stand for a culture of life in which every person 
matters and every being counts. We stand for institutions like family 
and marriage, which are the foundations of our society. And we stand for 
judges--Federal judges who know the difference between personal opinion 
and the strict interpretation of the law.
    Talking about education and health care, these are very important 
issues. But let me say to you that it all goes to naught if we don't 
secure this country, that the security of the American people is the 
most important responsibility of the President. If we show any 
uncertainty or weakness in this decade, this world of ours will drift 
toward tragedy. This isn't going to happen so long as I'm your 
President.
    Let me talk to you--I want to talk to you about some of the lessons 
that I've learned as your President after September the 11th. First of 
all, we face an enemy which has no conscience. They are coldblooded. 
Therefore, you can never hope for the best with them. You cannot 
negotiate with them. You can't say, ``Oh, well, maybe we'll sign a peace 
treaty, and therefore, they'll change their ways.'' The only way to 
secure America, to keep us safe, is to find them and bring them to 
justice before they hurt us again. And therefore, any strategy has got 
to be one that

[[Page 2540]]

is consistent, firm, and resolved and never relenting. [Applause]
    Hold on a second. Hold on for a--I've got some more I've got to tell 
you.
    Secondly, this is a different kind of war. You've got to understand, 
I wish I wasn't talking about war. No President ever wants to be the 
President of a country--of our country during war. War is horrible. But 
it's necessary to be realistic during these times. Our most solemn duty 
is to protect you, and it's a different kind of war than we're used to. 
It's a kind of war when you say something, you need to speak clearly and 
mean what you say.
    And so when I said, ``If you harbor a terrorist, you're just as 
guilty as the terrorist,'' I meant what I said. I was speaking to the 
Taliban in Afghanistan. And see, I was talking to the Taliban because 
they were providing safe haven for Al Qaida. Al Qaida was training 
there. And we said, ``Listen, get rid of Al Qaida.'' They didn't believe 
the United States of America. But because of a great military and 
because I meant what I said, Al Qaida and--the Taliban is no longer in 
control of Afghanistan and Al Qaida is on the run.
    We're making progress. Three-quarters of Al Qaida and their 
associates have been brought to justice. I assure you, we're after the 
rest of them. And the Taliban no longer is in power. And as a result of 
our action, America and the world are safer.
    But I want to tell your sons and daughters about what has taken 
place in an incredibly brief period of time. It wasn't all that long ago 
in Afghanistan that young girls were not allowed to go to school. Think 
about a society that was run by such barbarians that girls were not 
allowed to be educated. These ideologues of hate had a dark vision about 
the future. As a matter of fact, if their moms didn't toe the line, 
they'd be whipped in the public square and sometimes executed in a 
sports stadium. In defending ourselves and upholding doctrine, we 
liberated the people of Afghanistan. Twenty-five million people now live 
in freedom. Millions went to the polls to vote for their President, and 
the first voter was a 19-year-old woman.
    Three-and-a-half years ago, if you would have asked anybody whether 
or not women would be voting in Afghanistan for President, they would 
have said, ``You're crazy. You're wrong.'' And freedom is on the march. 
Darkness has turned to light in Afghanistan, and America is better off 
for it. We're better off to have an example of freedom in that part of 
the world. We're better off to have an ally in Afghanistan, an ally in 
the war on terror. And we're making progress in Iraq.
    The third lesson of September the 11th, by the way, is we've got to 
take threats seriously before they fully materialize. You can't hope--
you cannot hope for the best. It used to be, prior to September the 
11th, that if we saw a threat, we could deal with it or not deal with it 
because we didn't ever think it would come home to hurt us. That's what 
we thought. That all changed on September the 11th. You better have a 
President who fully understands that.
    My opponent in his convention speech said, ``Oh, we'll respond if 
attacked.'' That is a pre-September the 11th mindset that is dangerous 
in the world in which we live. We've got to take threats seriously 
before they come to hurt us.
    And I saw a threat in Saddam Hussein. The world is better off with 
Saddam Hussein sitting in a prison cell. [Applause] Thank you all.
    There will be Presidential elections there in January. Think how far 
that society has come from the days of mass graves and torture chambers.
    You know, I told the story one time about the seven--there's a lot 
of docs here and healers here. One of the most poignant stories of my 
Presidency was when the Oval Office door opened and in came seven men 
from Iraq, all of whom had had their right hand cut off by Saddam 
Hussein because the currency of that country had devalued and he needed 
scapegoats. It's a true story, I'm telling you. And I asked one of the 
men there, I said, ``Why you?'' He said he was a small merchant who 
needed gold to make jewelry, and he sold dinars to buy another currency 
so he could buy the gold, and it just happened to be on the day that 
Saddam was looking for a scapegoat. He found seven small merchants, 
seven individuals, hauled in, Xs carved in their foreheads, and their 
right hands cut off.

[[Page 2541]]

    They had come to see me in the Oval Office because, guess what 
happened? Great compassion existed for them when their stories were 
known. They had been to Houston, Texas, to get new hands put on. And the 
guy who did it is a guy I know, and he said, ``Would you mind welcoming 
these citizens of the world into the Oval Office,'' which I was more 
than happy to do. They came in; they were in awe of the Oval Office, of 
course. You know, I'm kind of a weeper at times; and they were weeping; 
I was semi-weeping. The guy grabs a Sharpie with his new hand and folds 
it and writes a prayer in Arabic blessing the United States of America. 
I told the guy, I told him, I said, ``Freedom is on the march in your 
country. There will be institutions greater than the people there. One 
of the great things about the American Presidency is the office is 
always greater than the person. And someday in your country, the 
institutions will be bigger than the individuals, so that no leader will 
ever be able to pluck you out of society and cut off your right hand 
again.''
    People want to be free in this world. There will be elections in 
Iraq. Listen, these enemies are trying to stop us. This guy Zarqawi, 
he's trying to stop the march of freedom. Freedom frightens these 
ideologues of hate. It is the worst thing that can happen to them. They 
can't stand the thought of free societies.
    I love to tell the story about our friend Koizumi. I'm getting kind 
of wound up here, yes. [Laughter] She wants me to--all right, hold on a 
second. I kind of felt the invisible hook, you know. [Laughter]
    I want to share this with you, though, because it's important for 
you to know my thinking about how to make this world a better place. I 
have a deep desire for your children to grow up in a peaceful world. I 
understand my duty to protect this country. I believe that liberty can 
transform societies. I believe that, and living proof of that is the 
fact that Prime Minister Koizumi is a good friend of Laura and mine. 
That probably doesn't seem much to some, but remember, it wasn't all 
that long ago, 60 years ago, that we were at war with the Japanese. The 
Japanese were the sworn enemy of the United States of America. My dad 
fought against the Japanese. I'm confident many of your relatives fought 
against the Japanese.
    And after we won the war in World War II, Harry S. Truman, President 
of the United States, and others in our country believed in the power of 
liberty to transform an enemy into an ally. There was a lot of skeptics 
then. You can understand why. ``An enemy couldn't conceivably become a 
democracy,'' some would say. ``Why do we even care about working with a 
country that had inflicted * so much harm on the citizens of this 
country?'' But there was great faith in this view. And as a result of 
that and as a result of helping Japan become a democracy, I sit down at 
the table with the Prime Minister of a former enemy, talking about how 
to keep the peace in a troubled world, talking about doing what we all 
want, and that is to extend the peace.
    * White House correction.
    Someday, an American President will be sitting down with the duly 
elected leader of Iraq talking about the peace in the Middle East, and 
our children and our grandchildren will be better off for it. [Applause]
    Hold on for a second. I have a--I believe that people want to be 
free. Freedom is not America's gift to the world; freedom is the 
Almighty God's gift to each man and woman in this world.
    In the closing days of this campaign, it's very important for you to 
remind your friends and neighbors we have--my opponent and I have a 
different vision about how to keep America secure. He talks in terms of 
a ``global test'' before we commit troops. I didn't make that up. The 
man was standing right there when he said it--well, right here to my 
right during the debate. He wasn't there physically right now. I saw a 
lot of heads turn. [Laughter]
    Listen, I work with our friends and allies. We'll continue to build 
alliances. But I will never turn over America's national security 
decisions to leaders of other countries.
    I want to thank you all for coming to greet us. I want to thank you 
for your help. I know where I want to lead this country. I know what it 
takes to continue to expand this economy so people can find work. I've 
got a vision for a health care plan that empowers patients

[[Page 2542]]

and docs. I believe in high standards in our schools, and we'll continue 
to press for educational excellence for every child. And I understand 
that the President of the United States must be consistent and firm and 
resolved in these troubling times.
    You know, when I campaigned across your State, I said if you gave 
me--in 2000--if you gave me a chance to serve, I would uphold the honor 
and the dignity of the office to which I had been elected. With your 
hard work, with your help, I will do so for 4 more years.
    God bless. And thank you all for coming.

Note: The President spoke at 2:06 p.m. at the Canton Palace Theatre. In 
his remarks, he referred to Mayor George M. McKelvey of Youngstown, OH, 
who introduced the President; Gov. Bob Taft and Lt. Gov. Jennette B. 
Bradley of Ohio; Mary Regula, wife of Congressman Ralph Regula; former 
President Saddam Hussein of Iraq; senior Al Qaida associate Abu Musab Al 
Zarqawi; and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan. This item was 
not received in time for publication in the appropriate issue.