[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 44 (Monday, November 1, 2004)]
[Pages 2567-2572]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks in Alamogordo,
New Mexico

October 24, 2004

    The President. Thank you all. Thanks for coming out on a beautiful 
Sunday afternoon. Laura and I are so pleased to be here in Alamogordo. 
It's great to be back in the great State of New Mexico.
    We're getting close to voting time, and I'm here to ask for your 
vote and for your help. Tell your friends and neighbors in the coffee 
shops and community centers and places of worship, we have a duty to 
vote in the United States. Get them headed to the polls. Don't overlook 
discerning Democrats like Zell Miller of Georgia. And when you get them 
headed to the polls, remind them if they want a safer America, a 
stronger America, and a better America, to vote for Bush-Cheney.
    I'm keeping really good company in the First Lady. You know, when 
I--I don't know if you know this or not, we both grew up kind of around 
the corner. As a matter of fact, we were in the seventh grade together 
at San Jacinto Junior High in Midland. And then we became reacquainted. 
She was a public school librarian when I met her again.
    Audience member. [Inaudible]--moment!
    The President. It sure was. When I asked her to marry me, she said, 
``Fine, just make me a promise.'' I said, ``Okay, what is it?'' She 
said, ``Promise me I'll never have to give a political speech.'' 
[Laughter] I said, ``Okay, you got a deal.'' Fortunately, she did not 
hold me to that promise. She's giving speeches all over the country, and 
when people see her speak, they see a compassionate, warm, strong First 
Lady.
    And I'm proud of my runningmate, Dick Cheney. Now, look, I admit 
it--I admit it, he does not 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. He's getting the job done for the 
American people.
    I'm proud to be sharing this platform with a great United States 
Senator in Pete Domenici. You know, if you had to describe Senator 
Domenici, you would call him a class act. And he is. I know you're proud 
of him, and Laura and I are proud to call him friend. I want to thank 
Congressman Steve Pearce and his wife, Cynthia.
    I want to thank the Alamogordo Tiger Band for being here today. It's 
good to be in country where the cowboy hats outnumber the ties. I want 
to thank the people who have helped put on this rally and are putting up 
the signs, making the phone calls, turning people out to vote. There is 
no doubt in my mind that with your help, we will carry New Mexico and 
win a great victory in November. Con su apoyo, vamos a ganar.
    You know, we've just got 9 days to go. And the voters have a clear 
choice between two very different candidates with 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 
proudly running on mine. The Senator is running from his. [Laughter] And 
there's a reason why. There is a mainstream in American politics, and my 
opponent sits on the far left bank. I'm a compassionate conservative and 
proudly so. At a time when our country has much to accomplish and much 
more to do, I offer a record of reform and a record of 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 our 
future.
    The first clear choice is the most important, because it concerns 
the security of your family. All progress on every other issue depends 
on the safety of our citizens. This will be the first Presidential 
election since September the 11th, 2001. Americans will go to the polls 
in a time of war and ongoing threats unlike any we have faced before. 
The terrorists that killed thousands of innocent people are still 
dangerous, and they are determined to strike us again. The outcome of 
this election will set the direction of the war against terror. The most 
solemn duty of the American President is to protect the American people.

[[Page 2568]]

    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've 
strengthened the protections for our homeland. We're reforming and 
strengthening our intelligence services. We're transforming our All-
Volunteer Army. There will not be a draft. We're staying on the 
offensive. We're 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're on their trail.
    My opponent has a very different approach. He says that September 
the 11th, quote, ``didn't change me much at all''----
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. ----end quote. [Laughter] And that's pretty clear. He 
considers the war on terror primarily a law enforcement and intelligence 
gathering operation. His top foreign policy advisers question whether 
we're even in a war at all, saying, ``The war on terror is just like a 
metaphor, kind of like the war on poverty.'' Anyone who thinks we're 
fighting a metaphor does not understand the enemy we face. You cannot 
win a war if you are not convinced we are even in one.
    My opponent also 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.'' The Senator used to 
recognize that Saddam Hussein was a gathering threat who hated America. 
After all, he 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. Even so, he said so. He used to understand that Saddam 
was a major source of instability in the Middle East. He 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-
year amnesia. [Laughter] I know then--I knew then and I know now that 
America and the world are safer with Saddam Hussein sitting in a prison 
cell. We have a different point of view when it comes to defending 
America. Senator Kerry now calls Iraq a ``diversion.'' 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 coalition forces 
arrived. And then he fled to Iraq, where he's fighting us today. He 
swore 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? Peaceful small-business owners? 
[Laughter] Running a benevolent society? [Laughter]
    Our troops will defeat Zarqawi and his likes overseas in Iraq so we 
do not have to face them here at home.
    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 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. Those were his words. That would be too late. In our 
debates, he said we can defend America if we pass a ``global test.''
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. I'm not making that up. He was standing right about 
right there. Listen, I'll work with our friends and allies. We'll 
continue to build strong coalitions to keep us secure. But I will never 
turn over America's national security decisions to leaders of other 
countries.
    I want to thank those who wear our Nation's uniform. I want to thank 
our great United States military. It's such an incredible honor to be 
the Commander in Chief of such

[[Page 2569]]

a great military. And our military is great because of the character of 
the men and women who wear our uniform. 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 for your sacrifice.
    And I want to assure you that we'll make sure our troops have got 
all the tools necessary to complete their missions in Afghanistan and 
Iraq. That's why I went to the Congress and asked for $87 billion in 
supplemental funding to support our troops in harm's way. It was a vital 
request. It was necessary. And we got great bipartisan support. I want 
you to tell your friends and neighbors this startling statistic: Only 4 
Members of the United States Senate--4 out of 100--voted to authorize 
the use of force and then voted against the funding necessary to support 
our troops in combat, and 2 of those 4 were my opponent and his 
runningmate.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. You might remember, when asked to explain his vote he 
said, and I quote, ``I actually did vote for the $87 billion, before I 
voted against it.'' [Laughter] I've spent quite a bit of time in New 
Mexico. I've never heard anybody talk that way in this State. [Laughter] 
They kept pressing him, and he's given a lot of answers about his vote. 
One of the most interesting ones of all was he said, ``It's a 
complicated matter.'' There's nothing complicated about supporting our 
troops in harm's way.
    And we will continue to protect in America by spreading freedom. I 
believe in the transformational power of liberty. I believe that free 
nations do not breed resentments and export terror. Free nations become 
allies in the war against terror.
    I want you to tell your children what has taken place in a brief 
period of time. Tell them what happened in Afghanistan. Because we 
defended ourselves, because we upheld the doctrine that said, ``If you 
harbor a terrorist, you're as equally guilty as the terrorists,'' 25 
million people live in freedom in Afghanistan. It wasn't all that long 
ago that young girls couldn't go to school because the ideologues of 
hate, the Taliban, had such a dim view of the world. And if their 
mothers didn't toe their line, they were taken into public squares and 
whipped and sometimes killed in a sports stadium. Because we acted, 
millions of people in Afghanistan went to vote in a Presidential 
election. The first voter was a 19-year-old woman. Freedom is on the 
march.
    Iraq will have Presidential elections. Think how far that country 
has come from the days of torture chambers and mass graves. It is in our 
interests that we spread liberty. It's in our interests that we help 
societies become free. I believe 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.
    The second clear choice in this election concerns the family's 
budget. When I ran for President 4 years ago, I pledged to lower taxes 
for American families. I kept my word. We doubled the child credit to 
$1,000 per child. We want to help people raise their children. We 
reduced the marriage penalty. The 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 everybody who 
pays taxes. As a result of our policies, real, after-tax income--that's 
money in your pocket--has gone up by about 10 percent since I became the 
President.
    When you're out there rounding up the vote, remind your friends and 
neighbors about what this economy has been through. Six months prior to 
my arrival in Washington, the stock market was in serious decline. Then 
we had a recession. Then we had corporate scandals. And then we got 
attacked. And that attack cost us about a million jobs in the 3 months 
after September the 11th.
    But our economic policies are working. This country is on the road 
to growth. We're growing at rates as fast as any in 20--nearly 20 years. 
The homeownership rate is at an alltime high in America. Our farmers and 
ranchers are making a living. Small businesses are flourishing. The 
entrepreneurial spirit is strong. We've added 1.9 million new jobs in 
the past 13 months. The national unemployment rate is 5.4 percent, lower 
than the average rate of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. And the 
unemployment rate in New Mexico is 5.3 percent. This economy is getting 
stronger.

[[Page 2570]]

    Now, my opponent has a different plan for your budget. He intends to 
take a big chunk out of it. You know, he voted against the higher child 
credit and the marriage penalty relief, and he voted against lower tax 
rates. I want the people to understand that if he had had his way, the 
average middle class family would be paying $2,000 more in taxes to the 
Federal Government.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. It's part of a pattern. All told, during his 20 years 
in the United States Senate, he's voted to increase taxes 98 times. 
That's five times for every year he's been in the Senate. I'd call that 
a predictable pattern. [Laughter] If a Senator does something that 
often, he must really enjoy it. [Laughter] During this campaign, he's 
made a lot of big promises too--a lot of them. As a matter of fact, he's 
promised about $2.2 trillion worth of new spending. That's trillion with 
a ``T.'' That's a lot even for a Senator from Massachusetts. [Laughter]
    So they asked him, ``How you going to pay for it?'' He said, ``Oh, 
we'll just tax the rich.'' The problem is, is that his ledger doesn't 
add up, see. If you run up the top two brackets like he said, it's going 
to raise about 600 to 800 billion dollars. That's far short of 2.2 
trillion. And when there's a gap like that, guess who usually gets stuck 
with the bill?
    Audience member. We do!
    The President. The good news is, we're not going to let him tax you; 
we're going to carry New Mexico and win a great victory on November the 
2d.
    The 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 for a successful life. When I ran for President 4 years ago, I 
promised to challenge the soft bigotry of low expectations by reforming 
our public schools. I kept my word. We passed the No Child Left Behind 
Act, which is bringing high standards to our classrooms and making 
schools accountable to our parents. We're seeing great progress across 
this country. Math and reading scores are on the rise. We're closing the 
achievement gap. More and more Latino youngsters are learning how to 
read and write and add and subtract. And the country is better off for 
it. We'll build on these reforms. We'll extend them to our high schools 
so that no child is left behind in America.
    We'll continue to improve lives for our families by making health 
care more affordable and more accessible. We'll expand health savings 
accounts so small businesses can cover their workers and more families 
are able to get the health care accounts that they manage and own. We'll 
expand--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'll help families in need by expanding community health 
centers, make sure every eligible child is enrolled in our Government's 
low-income health insurance programs.
    And we're going to help patients and doctors everywhere by doing 
something about these junk lawsuits that are running up the cost of 
medicine and running good docs out of practice. You cannot be pro-doctor 
and pro-patient and pro-personal-injury-lawyer at the same time. You 
have to choose. And my opponent made his choice. 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 doctors 
and patients of New Mexico. I am for medical liability reform--now.
    We have a difference when it comes to health care. My opponent voted 
against health savings accounts. He's voted against association health 
plans. He's voted 10 times against medical liability reform. He can run 
from his record, but he cannot hide.
    And now he's proposing a new plan, a new idea, which is a big-
Government health care plan. That's what it is. It would cause about 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 
would be enrolled with the Federal Government. We just have a different 
philosophy. You know, in one of the debates, he actually looked in the 
camera with a straight face and he said, 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] His plan

[[Page 2571]]

would move America down the road to Federal control of health care, and 
that is wrong road for America's families.
    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 involves your retirement. Our Nation has 
made a solemn commitment to our seniors on Social Security and Medicare. 
When I ran for President 4 years ago, I promised to keep that commitment 
and improve Medicare. By adding prescription drug coverage, I kept my 
word. Seniors are now getting discounts on medicine with drug discount 
cards. Low-income seniors are getting $600 worth of help this year and 
next year. And beginning in 2006, all seniors will be able to get 
prescription drug coverage under Medicare.
    We'll keep the promise of Social Security for our seniors. And we'll 
strengthen Social Security for generations to come. Listen, every 
election there is a predictable event that takes place, and that is they 
run TV ads saying to our seniors, ``If George W. gets elected, you're 
not going to get your checks.'' That's what happened in 2000. They said, 
``If George W. gets elected, our seniors will not get their Social 
Security checks.'' You might remember that. In this campaign, as we're 
coming down the stretch, tell your friends, George W. got elected and 
the seniors got their checks. And the seniors will continue to get their 
checks. And baby boomers like me, we're in pretty good shape when it 
comes to the Social Security Trust.
    But we need to worry about our children and our grandchildren. We 
need to worry about whether or not Social Security will be there when 
they retire. So I believe younger workers ought to be able to take some 
of their own money and put it in a personal savings account that they 
own and that the Government cannot take away.
    Once again, my opponent takes a different approach. You know, he 
talked about protecting Social Security. I want to remind you and I want 
you to remind your friends and neighbors that he voted eight times to 
tax Social Security benefits. That's his record. He can run, but he 
cannot hide.
    It's the job of the President to confront problems, not to pass them 
on to future Presidents and future generations. The other night at the 
debates, when I talked about Social Security, he defended the status 
quo. He had nothing to offer to our younger workers. In a new term, I'll 
bring Republicans and Democrats together and strengthen Social Security 
so our children and our grandchildren will have a system available for 
them when they retire.
    And 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 stand for the appointment of Federal 
judges who know the difference between personal opinion and the strict 
interpretation of the law. I believe marriage is a sacred commitment. It 
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 
during my predecessor's time, defining marriage as a union of a man and 
a woman, the vast majority of Democrats supported that bill and my 
predecessor 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 reasonable people can find common ground on 
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 signed that law. But 
Senator Kerry was part of an out-of-the-mainstream minority that voted 
against the ban.
    In the course of this campaign, he said the heart and soul of 
America can be found in Hollywood.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. No, most American families do not look to Hollywood 
as a source of values. The heart and soul of America is found in places 
like Alamogordo, New Mexico.
    All these choices make this one of the most important elections in 
our history. The security and prosperity of our country, the health and 
the education of families, the retirement of our seniors, the direction 
of our culture

[[Page 2572]]

are all at stake. And the decision is in the best of hands; it's in the 
hands of the American people.
    I see a good day for America. I clearly see a better tomorrow for 
all of us. One of my favorite quotes was written by a Texan from right 
down the road in El Paso, Texas. 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.'' You know, when you really listen to the words in this campaign, 
my opponent has spent much of this campaign talking about the day that 
is gone. I'm talking about the day that is coming.
    We've been through a lot together over the last 3\3/4\ years. 
Because we've done the hard work of climbing the mountain, we see the 
valley below. We'll protect our families. We'll build on our prosperity. 
We'll defend our deepest values. We will spread freedom and liberty 
around the world, and that will help us keep the peace we all want.
    You know, when I campaigned in New Mexico 4 years ago asking for the 
vote, I said that if you gave me the honor to serve, 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. Thanks for coming. I appreciate you all.

Note: The President spoke at 3:50 p.m. at Alamogordo High School. In his 
remarks, he referred to Senator Zell Miller of Georgia, who made the 
keynote address at the Republican National Convention; former President 
Saddam Hussein of Iraq; senior Al Qaida associate Abu Musab Al Zarqawi; 
and Usama bin Laden, leader of the Al Qaida terrorist organization.