SPEECHES
FROM THE 2004 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
George W. Bush
Campaign Remarks
in Wisconsin
October 26, 2004 • Onalaska, WI
Thank you all. What a great way to spend
a Tuesday, and that's to be on a bus traveling throughout
the great state of Wisconsin. (Applause.) Thank you all
for coming out to say "hello." It's such an honor
to be here. Laura and I are -- our spirits are lifted up
because so many have come out to say "hello." We're
honored you are here. I'm here to ask for your vote. I'm
here to ask for your help. There's no doubt in my mind
if we turn out our vote in Wisconsin, we'll win a great
victory on November the 2nd. (Applause.)
I don't know if you know the history of -- of me and Laura.
We were in the 7th grade together in San Jacinto Junior
High, in Midland, Texas. And then we became reacquainted
years later, when she was a public school librarian. And
I asked her to marry me -- I'm sure some of you can relate
to this. She said, fine, but make me a promise. I said,
what is it? Well, promise me I'll never have to give a
political speech. (Laughter.) I said, okay, you've got
a deal. (Laughter.) Fortunately, she didn't hold me to
that promise. She's giving a lot of speeches, and when
she does the American people see a warm, compassionate,
great First Lady. (Applause.)
I have been -- I have been traveling your state a lot
talking about the reasons why I think people ought to put
me back into office. But perhaps the most important one
is so that Laura will be First Lady for four more years.
(Applause.)
I am proud of my running mate, Dick Cheney. (Applause.)
In all due respect to those who are here who are folically
challenged -- (laughter) -- I readily concede my running
mate does not have the waviest hair in the race. You'll
be pleased to know I did not pick him because of his hairdo.
(Laughter.) I picked him because of his experience and
his judgment and his ability to get the job done. (Applause.)
And I'm proud of your friend, Tommy Thompson. He has done
a great job. (Applause.) I gave him one of the toughest
jobs in Washington, D.C., and he has responded. He has
done a fabulous job to help those who hurt. (Applause.)
Just take the issue of Medicare. Tommy and I went to Washington
to solve problems, not to pass them on to future Presidents
and future generations. That's our job, to tackle the tough
problems. Medicare was a problem. See, Medicare hadn't
changed, but medicine had. For example, they pay nearly
$100,000 for heart surgery, but not one dime for the prescription
drugs that could prevent the heart surgery from being needed
in the first place. Tommy recognized that wasn't fair,
I recognized it wasn't fair. We brought Republicans and
Democrats together. We did what other Presidents and other
Secretaries couldn't do -- we modernized Medicare, and
starting in 2006, our seniors will get prescription drug
coverage. (Applause.)
Let me say one other thing to our seniors here in Wisconsin.
You might remember the 2000 campaign, when they ran those
ads that said: If George W. gets elected, our seniors are
not going to get their Social Security checks. Remember
those? Yes. Well, I want you, as you're gathering up the
vote, remind your friends and neighbors that George W.
did get elected and our seniors did get their Social Security
check. (Applause.) And our seniors will continue to get
their Social Security checks. But we're also going to strengthen
Social Security for our younger generation. Our youngsters
ought to be allowed to take some of their payroll taxes
and set up a personal savings account they call their own,
an account the government cannot take away. (Applause.)
I want to thank Congressman Mark Green, who is with us
today. Congressman, I appreciate you coming. He's a fine,
good, young member of the House of Representatives. (Applause.)
I want to thank the Mayor of Onalaska with us today. Mr.
Mayor, I'm proud you're here. Thanks for coming. Fill the
potholes. (Laughter and applause.)
I'm proud to be standing with the next United States senator
from Wisconsin, Tim Michels. (Applause.) He married a lady
named Barbara. (Laughter.) I know some Barbaras. (Laughter.)
One of them is still telling me what to do. (Laughter and
applause.) And I'm still listening, I want you to know.
(Applause.)
I'm very impressed by a candidate for Wisconsin's 3rd
congressional district, a man I hope you support, the next
congressman, Dale Schultz. (Applause.)
I want to thank the grassroots activists who are here,
the people who are putting up the signs, making the phone
calls, the people who helped turn out such a huge crowd
here. I'm honored to have your support. (Applause.) Now
is the time to keep the work up. Now is the time to find
every single voter, and tell them we have a duty -- a duty
in this country to vote. When you get them headed to the
polls, remind them if they want a safer America, a stronger
America, and a better America, to put me and Dick Cheney
back in office. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more
years!
THE PRESIDENT: We are -- we're only one week away from
the vote -- (applause) -- and I'm focusing on the big issues
that are facing our -- our country's families. This election
comes down to five clear choices for our families: your
family's security, your family's budget, your quality of
life, your retirement, and the bedrock values that are
so critical to our country's future. (Applause.)
First and foremost -- (applause) -- I've talked about
the quality retirement when I'm talking about Medicare
and making sure it exists and strong, that helps our families.
When I'm talking about Social Security and making sure
it's around today, as well as around tomorrow, that helps
our families. But the first biggest concern of any President
is your security. Our nation is at war against the terrorist
enemy unlike any we have faced before. The most solemn
duty of the American President is to protect the American
people. (Applause.)
We will be relentless, determined, steadfast, and strong.
We will not relent. We will stay on the offensive until
the fight is won. (Applause.)
Another big issue, of course, is our economy. It affects
the quality of life. It affects your budget. It affects
how much money you have in your wallet. We will expand
and strengthen our economic recovery to make sure opportunity
spreads throughout every corner of this country. This campaign
offers a clear choice when it comes to the economy and
our vision for how to create jobs. My policies support
and strengthen the small businesses, which are creating
most new jobs in America. (Applause.)
I'm going to spend a little time talking about the vision
of enhancing the entrepreneurial spirit. My opponent promises
to raise your taxes.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: And, unfortunately, for our small business
owners, that's a promise most politicians tend to keep.
(Laughter.) Our economy has been through a lot. When you're
out there rounding up the vote, I want you to remind people
that six months prior to my arrival, the stock market was
in serious decline. Our economy was declining in the last
half of the year 2000. We fell into a recession. We had
corporate scandals, which affected our economy. By the
way, we passed tough laws. We have made it abundantly clear,
we will not tolerate dishonesty in the boardrooms of America.
(Applause.)
We were attacked. And those attacks cost us about a million
jobs in the three months after September the 11th. But,
see, I understand something. I understand the engine of
growth that this economy has found with the entrepreneurs
and workers of America. And that's why we passed the largest
tax relief in a generation, tax relief which encouraged
consumption and investment. (Applause.)
And it's working. The economic stimulus plan we passed
is working. This country created about 1.9 million jobs
in the last 13 months. The national unemployment rate is
down to 5.4 percent. And let me remind you of where that
stands: that's lower than the average rate of the 1970s,
the 1980s, and the 1990s. (Applause.) The unemployment
rate in Wisconsin is down to 5 percent. That is down almost
a full point since the summer of 2003. We're headed in
the right direction in America. (Applause.)
Our farmers are doing well. Farm income is up, and that's
good for our economy. (Applause.) The home ownership rate
is at an all-time high in America. (Applause.) We're on
the move. We're going forward, and we're not going to go
back to the days of tax and spend. (Applause.)
This is a time of fantastic opportunity. The job of government
is to create an environment in which the entrepreneurial
spirit can flourish, in which people are willing to work
hard to realize their dreams. Government doesn't create
wealth. Government creates the environment that says, take
the risk, start a business if you choose to, own something.
Today Joan Shelley is with us. I want you to hear her
story. Joan is right there. First of all, she is a mom.
She and her husband have got eight children. (Applause.)
Listen to her story. She didn't think she was spending
enough time -- she worked as a nurse -- didn't spend enough
time at home. First of all, she's got her priorities straight.
(Applause.) If you are fortunate enough to be a mom or
a dad, your most important responsibility is to love your
child with all your heart and all your soul. (Applause.)
So guess what happened? Six years ago, she decided to
start an on-line business selling cabinet hardware from
the basement of her home. How many times have you heard
that story? You know, I sat around the kitchen table and
came up with an idea and started a business; I started
a business in my garage; she started hers in her basement.
Today, KnobGallery employs 20 people -- (applause) -- most
of them moms who wanted more flexibility for their families.
This administration believes in flex time. The world has
changed. Our labor laws ought to change with them. Moms
and dads ought to be able to have the flex time in the
work place so they can balance family and the need to work.
(Applause.)
KnobGallery is a thriving, $1.4 million business. Her
family is working in the business: Kristina turns out --
designs the company's web page. Joan is living the American
Dream. She has started her own business. She owns her own
company. And she -- I said, are you going to increase the
jobs? She said, I'm intending to add more people to work.
See, the more Joans that start up their own business, the
more likely that somebody is going to find a job in America.
The role of the government is to create an environment
for the Joan Shelleys to feel comfortable in starting and
expanding their business. (Applause.)
Ric Hartman is with us. There he is -- hi, Ric. He managed
at one time the in-house design shop of a large packaging
firm for 15 years. Last October, about a year ago, he learned
the company was going to close his operation. So guess
what he did? He got some of the people he worked with,
put them in a van, went to a local flower mill and said,
this is where we're going to start a new company. See,
the entrepreneurial spirit must be strong if America is
going to be a hopeful place. Five came with him. Today,
he runs a profitable small business called Hartman Design.
Here's what he said, "Deep down, I think every design
person wants to run their own shop." Deep down a lot
of people in America want to run their own shop. Deep down
people have a desire to start their own business, and when
they do, somebody is more likely to find a job. (Applause.)
A hopeful America and one that's good for your budget
is one in which small businesses are thriving, in which
people from all walks of life feel comfortable about starting
their own business. Do you realize minority businesses
are up in America? That is hopeful and positive for the
future of this country. (Applause.) Seven out of ten new
jobs in America are created by small businesses. And there
is a source of upward mobility in America that comes with
ownership. When a woman owns her own business she's upwardly
mobile. When a Latino or an African American starts his
or her own business they become upwardly mobile. Ownership
is a powerful part of the American Dream. (Applause.)
And so the fundamental question in this campaign: Who's
got the best strategy to make sure the entrepreneurial
spirit is strong; who's got the idea -- who understands
and who can best make sure that more small businesses grow
in America? First, in order to make sure the entrepreneurial
spirit is strong, America must be the best place in the
world to do business. (Applause.) If you want businesses
to start, this must be the best place in the world to do
business. (Applause.)
And, secondly, to make sure this is a hopeful world, we've
got to make sure the work force is the best trained in
the world. A lot of good jobs and a lot of good hopes start
with good education. First, let me talk about how to make
sure this is the best place in the world to do business.
One, we've got to keep your taxes low. (Applause.) We passed
good tax relief. We raised the child credit. That helps
if you're a mom or a dad. We reduced the marriage penalty.
I believe strongly the tax code ought to encourage marriage,
not penalize marriage. (Applause.) We created a 10 percent
bracket. That helps the working families. But we also said,
if you pay taxes, you ought to get relief. If you're going
to have tax relief, everybody who pays taxes ought to get
relief. That's only fair. (Applause.)
But guess what happens? What most Americans don't know,
and evidently what my opponent doesn't know, is that most
small businesses are either a subchapter-S corporation,
like the two small businesses I just mentioned, or sole
proprietorships, which means you pay tax at the individual
income tax rate. Ninety percent of businesses in America
pay individual income taxes, which says, when you cut the
taxes on everybody who pays taxes, you're helping the small
businesses. See, there is a connection between good tax
relief and growth in the small business sector.
And so to encourage small business investment, not only
do we say, you can have more money in your coffer so you
can expand your business or pay more money or better afford
health care, but we encourage investment by increasing
the small business expensing deduction from $25,000 to
$100,000. See, I understand if you create the demand for
goods and services and provide incentives for investment,
the economy grows. That's what you -- that's what you've
got to understand. It's a difference of opinion. It's a
difference of philosophy. (Applause.) My opponent believes
the economy grows by growing the size of the federal government.
I believe the economy grows by growing the size of the
coffers of small businesses. (Applause.)
Here's what Paul Schoeneck of New Berlin, Wisconsin said.
See, his business, like the other two, were subchapter-S
corporations. He said about tax relief, "We have doubled
our work force. We've increased pay. We have consistently
paid out bonuses. We've significantly increased our gross
and net income. We've increased our production lines by
nine, remodeled our offices, and significantly improved
our infrastructure." That's what he said. Those aren't
my words. That is what a small business owner from Wisconsin
has said about the tax relief. He said, "Without tax
relief, this would not have been possible." (Applause.)
I want you, when you hear these people talking about tax
relief, about how it only benefited certain people, this
tax relief has helped our small businesses grow and prosper,
and this economy is on the move because the entrepreneurial
spirit is strong. (Applause.)
And taxes are an issue in this campaign. I'm running against
a fellow who's promised $2.2 trillion of new federal spending.
That's with a "T" That is -- that's a lot even
for a Senator from Massachusetts. (Laughter.) So they said,
how are you going to pay for it? He said, oh, we'll just
tax the rich. That means, raise the top two brackets. By
raising the top two brackets, he's taxing the small business
sector of America. That's bad economic policy. Just as
the economy is beginning to grow, just as the small businesses
are feeling confident -- I talked to the two small business
owners here. I said, you're going to hire somebody? They
said, we're thinking about hiring new people. But running
up the taxes on them would make it less likely they'd hire
somebody. It's bad economic policy to tax the small business
owners of America, which is precisely what my opponent's
plan would do. (Applause.)
See, when you say you're going to run up the top two brackets,
you raise about $600 billion, maybe $800 billion, depending
on whose accountant you use. (Laughter.) But the point
is, in either case, you're far short of the $2.2 trillion
that he has promised. There is a gap. There is a gap between
what he's promised and what he can deliver. And guess who
usually gets to fill the gap?
AUDIENCE: We do!
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, you do. But we're not going to let
him tax you. We're going to win on November the 2nd. (Applause.)
The bottom line about our economic visions is this: To
pay for all his new spending he's proposed, my opponent
will have to raise taxes not just on small business owners,
but on everyone who's ever worked for a small business,
shopped at a small business, or walked by a small business.
(Laughter.) We're not going to let him tax you. We're going
to win. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more
years!
THE PRESIDENT: To make sure -- to make sure that this
economy is strong and the small businesses can flourish,
we've got to do something about the frivolous and junk
lawsuits. These kind of lawsuits cost our economy about
$230 billion a year. This amounts to about $3,000 a year
for the average family. They're expensive, and they're
really expensive on small businesses. If part of the vision
is to make sure the small business sector of our economy
flourishes, we've got to do something about the liability.
The average cost of tort liability for a small business
is about $150,000. That's money that could be better used
for employees, worker training, health care, expanding
the business, creating new jobs. (Applause.)
My opponent and I have a different approach. He's sided
with the personal injury trial lawyers time and time again.
They're powerful in Washington, make no mistake about it.
It's hard to get good legal reform out of the United States
Senate because they're influential. As a matter of fact,
he's raised more money from lawyers than any other member
of the United States Senate. That's about $22 million so
far, since 1989, and still counting. And there's a reason
why. He's voted five times against protecting small businesses
on punitive damages. He's made it clear where he stands.
He's made it abundantly clear. He's put a personal injury
trial lawyer on the ticket.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: Now, I'm going to stand -- I'm going to
stand with our small business owners and continue to be
for legal reforms in Washington, D.C. (Applause.)
We need less regulations on our small businesses. We need
reasonable regulations. I can't guarantee that anybody
in Washington has ever read the forms small businesses
have to fill out. I wish I could say they have; I doubt
it. But one way to make sure we reduce the burden on our
-- not only our small businesses, but our -- the working
people here in America is to reform the tax code. It's
a complicated mess. It is too complex. (Applause.) I'm
going to bring people together. Listen, I recognize the
-- first of all, the code is a million pages long. American
workers and small business owners and families spend six
billion hours a year filling out the forms. We can do a
better job. We can make this tax code pro-growth, pro-family,
and fair. And I will bring Republics [sic] and Democrats
together to do so. (Applause.)
A couple of other quick points on how to make sure the
environment is good for business growth so that you've
got more money, so that you can manage your budget better,
so that people can find a job. We need -- Congress needs
to pass my energy plan. It's a plan that makes sense. It's
common sense. It encourages conservation; it encourages
the use of renewables, like ethanol and biodiesel. It uses
technologies to help us burn coal more cleanly. It encourages
exploration for natural gas in environmentally friendly
ways. To make sure that this environment for growth is
strong, we need to be less dependent on foreign sources
of energy. (Applause.)
Let me talk right quick about education, because I believe
a good economy requires this work force of ours to be educated.
I think the two go hand in hand. I don't think you can
have a hopeful environment for growth if our people aren't
educated. It all starts with the younger kids. That's why
I went to Washington to challenge the soft bigotry of low
expectations. You know, this business about just shuffling
the children through, grade after grade, year after year,
without learning the basics was not good enough for America,
as far as I'm concerned. I believe every child can learn,
and I believe every school must teach. (Applause.) And
so we increased funding, particularly for Title I students.
But we said, in return for extra funding, show us whether
or not a child can read and write and add and subtract.
See, I understand you can't solve a problem until you
diagnose a problem. You can't fix a problem until you fully
understand the nature of the problem. By measuring -- by
measuring, we now know where the problems exist in America,
and we're providing the extra money to solve them. And
guess what's happening? Kids are learning to read and write
and add and subtract. Because we're measuring, we now know
the benchmarks. We're seeing progress. We're closing the
achievement gap amongst minority students in America. And
we're not going to go back to the old days of mediocrity
and low standards. (Applause.)
I think one of the country's greatest assets is the community
college system. Community colleges are able to adjust their
curriculum to meet the needs of the job providers. I've
met small businesses who have told me about helping set
up a curriculum in our community colleges so our workers
can gain the skills necessary to fill the jobs of the 21st
century. You just heard about Joan's company, where in
her basement, she started a company over the Internet.
In other words, we need new skill sets as this economy
of ours changes. And a great place for America's workers
to gain new skill sets is in the community college system
all across our country. (Applause.)
Most of the uninsured in America work for small businesses.
Small businesses are having trouble affording health care.
That's why I believe small businesses ought to be allowed
to pool risk to join together so they can buy insurance
at the same discount that big companies are able to do.
(Applause.)
We'll expand health savings accounts to help our families
and small businesses to be able to better afford health
insurance, and at the same time, provide a health account
that you can own, and you can manage, you can take with
you from job to job. And we'll make sure we do something
about these frivolous lawsuits that are running up the
cost of health care. This is a national issue. I have met
too many OB/GYNs who are being driven out of practice because
the lawsuits are running up their cost of doing business,
their premiums. And I've met too many patients of OB/GYNs
who are having to drive for miles, wondering whether or
not they and their child will get the health care they
need.
Medical liability is a crisis in America. And it's a crisis
because we can't get anything done in the United States
Senate, because the trial bar is too strong. My opponent
has voted against medical liability reform not once, not
twice, but 10 times. In a new term, I'm going to bring
people together and say, the people have spoke. We need
medical liability reform now to make sure health care is
affordable and available. (Applause.)
We have a big difference when it comes to health care
in this campaign. And it is a big difference. I remember
that debate when my opponent stood up there with a straight
face, and he said, "The government has nothing to
do with it," -- "it" being his health care
plan. I could barely contain myself. (Laughter.) The government
has got a lot to do with it -- a lot to do with it. Eight
out of 10 people would end up on the government health
care. Think about this, when you run up the Medicaid, make
Medicaid more eligible for people, it's going to provide
an incentive for small businesses to not provide insurance
for their employees because the government will. That doesn't
make any sense to be moving people from private insurance
to the government. When the government writes the check,
the government starts setting the rules, and you don't
want the federal government making the rules when it comes
to your health care. (Applause.)
I've come here to Wisconsin to tell the people I understand
how this economy works, and my policies are standing square
with the workers, the families, and the small business
owners of America. I also want to tell you in changing
times, some things do not change, the values we try to
live by: courage and compassion, reverence and integrity.
In changing times, we will support, and must support, the
institutions that give our lives direction and purpose:
our families, our schools, and our religious congregations.
(Applause.)
We stand for a culture of life in which every person matters
and every being counts. (Applause.) We stand for marriage
and family, which are the foundations of our society. (Applause.)
We stand for the appointment of federal judges who know
the difference between personal opinion and the strict
interpretation of the law. (Applause.)
My opponent takes a different approach. His words on these
issues are a little murky, but his record is really clear.
(Laughter.) He says he supports the institution of marriage,
but voted against the Defense of Marriage Act, which overwhelmingly
passed with Democrat and Republican votes. My predecessor
signed that bill into law, which defined marriage as a
union between a man and a woman, and my opponent voted
against it. He says -- you know, he says he's got a personal
view on the issue of life, but he voted against the ban
on the brutal practice of partial birth abortion.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: He's called the Reagan years a time of
moral darkness.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: There is a mainstream in American politics,
and my opponent sits on the far left bank. (Applause.)
My fellow Americans, he can run from his views, but he
cannot hide. (Applause.)
All the progress we hope for in America and all the prosperity
and opportunity we want for every family and for our children
ultimately depends on the security of our nation. We're
in the middle of a global war on terror. We face a determined
enemy. In the war on terror, there's no place for confusion,
no place for weakness, no substitute for victory. (Applause.)
I believe if America shows uncertainty or weakness in this
decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This will
not happen on my watch. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more
years!
THE PRESIDENT: Since that terrible morning of September
the 11th, 2001, we 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
defending the homeland; we're strengthening our intelligence
services; we're transforming our military. There will be
no draft. The all-volunteer army will remain an all-volunteer
army. (Applause.) We're on the offensive. We will strike
the terrorists abroad so we do not have to face them here
at home. (Applause.)
We're promoting democracy and liberty, the great alternatives
to despair and terror. I want you to tell your children
about what took place in Afghanistan. It wasn't all that
long ago that young girls lived under the reign of the
Taliban, a brutal, barbaric people. They would not let
young girls go to school, and if their mothers didn't toe
their ideological line, they were taken in the public square
sometimes and whipped. These people were dark and dim.
There was darkness in Afghanistan. Because we defended
ourselves, because we believe in freedom, the Afghanistan
people went by the millions to the polls to vote for their
President. The first voter -- the first voter was a 19-year-old
woman. (Applause.)
Iraq will have a presidential elections. Think how far
that country has come from the days of torture chambers
and mass graves. Freedom is on the march. Freedom is on
the move, and our country is better for it. (Applause.)
A President must lead with consistency and strength in
these troubling times. In war, sometimes you change your
tactics, but you never change your principles. (Applause.)
And Americans have seen how I do my job. (Applause.) Thank
you. Even when you might not agree with me, you know where
I stand, what I believe, and what I intend to do. On good
days and on bad days, whether the polls are up or the polls
are down, I am determined to win this war on terror, and
I will always support the men and women of the United States
military. (Applause.)
My opponent has taken a different approach. It's fair
to say that consistency has not been his strong point.
(Laughter.) Senator Kerry says we're better off with Saddam
Hussein out of power, except when he declared that removing
Saddam made us less safe. He stated in our second debate
that he always believed that Saddam was a threat -- except,
a few questions later, when he said Saddam Hussein was
not a threat. (Laughter.) He says he was right when he
voted to authorize the use of force against Saddam Hussein,
but that I was wrong to use force against Saddam Hussein.
(Laughter.)
And now he's throwing out a wild claim that he knows where
bin Laden was in the fall of 2001, and that our military
passed up a chance to get him at Tora Bora. It is unjustified
criticism of the military commanders in the field. It is
the worst kind of Monday-morning quarterbacking. (Applause.)
Our Commander in Afghanistan at the time was General Tommy
Franks, and he wrote this about Tora Bora. He said, "The
Senator's understanding of events does not square with
reality." (Laughter.) That's what the man who was
there said. He says the American Special Forces were actively
involved in the search for the terrorists in Tora Bora,
and that intelligence reports at the time placed bin Laden
in one of several countries. They didn't know whether he
was here, there, or otherwise. In other words, they didn't
have hard intelligence. Maybe my opponent has seen something
we all haven't seen.
As a matter of fact, Senator Kerry, before he got into
political
difficultly and revised his views, he said this about
Tora Bora on national TV, in the fall of 2001, he said, "I
think we have been doing this pretty effectively and we
should continue to do it that way." At the time the
Senator said about Tora Bora, "I think we have been
smart. I think the administration leadership has done it
well, and we are on the right track." All I can say
about that is, I am George W. Bush and I approve of that
message. (Applause.)
My opponent's record on national security has a far deeper
problem than election-year flip-flopping. On the largest
national security issues of our time, he has been consistently
wrong. When Ronald Reagan was confronting the Soviet Union
at the height of the Cold War, Senator Kerry said that
President Reagan's policy of peace through strength was
making America less safe. History has shown that Senator
Kerry was wrong and President Ronald Reagan was right.
(Applause.)
When former President Bush led a coalition against Saddam
Hussein in 1991, Senator Kerry voted against the use of
force to liberate Kuwait, even though the United Nations
had passed a resolution and there was a strong coalition
and agreement with U.S. policy. History has shown that
Senator Kerry was wrong, former President Bush was right.
(Applause.)
In 1994, just one year after the first bombing of the
World Trade Center, my opponent proposed massive cuts in
America's intelligence budget, so massive that even his
Massachusetts colleague, Ted Kennedy, opposed them. History
has shown that Senator Kerry was wrong -- we've got to
be fair -- Senator Kennedy was right. (Laughter and applause.)
The President must be consistent and strong in these difficult
times. Just last year, when American troops were in combat
in Afghanistan and Iraq, I proposed $87 billion of increased
funding to support our troops in harm's way. It was important
funding. Bipartisan support for that funding was very strong.
As you round up the vote, I want you to remind your friends
and neighbors of this startling statistic: Only four members
of the United States Senate -- four out of 100 -- voted
to authorize the use of force, and then voted against funding
for our troops in harm's way. And two of those four were
my opponent and his running mate.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: You might remember, when they asked him
about the vote, he said this. He said, "I actually
did vote for the $87 billion, right before I voted against
it." History has shown that Senator Kerry was right,
then wrong, then briefly right, then wrong again. (Laughter
and applause.) They finally kept pressing him -- they finally
kept pressing him. He said the whole thing about the $87
billion was a complicated matter. My friends, there is
nothing complicated about supporting our men and women
in combat. (Applause.)
And speaking about those men and women, we have got a
fantastic military and I'm proud to be their Commander-in-Chief.
(Applause.) And I want to thank the military families who
are here today for your sacrifice. (Applause.) And I want
to thank the veterans who are here today for having set
such a great example. (Applause.)
During the last 20 years, in key moments of challenge
and decision for America, Senator Kerry has chosen a position
of weakness and inaction. With that record he stands in
opposition not just to me, but to the great tradition of
the Democratic Party. The party of Franklin Roosevelt and
Harry Truman and John Kennedy is rightly remembered for
confidence and resolve in times of war and hours of crisis.
Senator Kerry has turned his back on "pay any price," and "bear
any burden." He's replaced those commitments with "wait
and see," and "cut and run." Many Democrats
in this country do not recognize their party anymore. And
today I want to speak to every one of them. If you believe
America should lead with strength and purpose and confidence
and resolve, I'd be honored to have your support and I'm
asking for your vote. (Applause.)
Our differences on keeping the security of the country
and protecting our families are vast. My opponent says
that September the 11th did not change him much at all.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: And his policies make that clear. He says
the war on terror is primarily a law enforcement and intelligence-gathering
operation. Well, my outlook was changed on September the
11th. I'll never forget going to the Ground Zero on September
the 14th, 2001. There were workers in hard hats there yelling
at the top of their lungs, "Whatever it takes." I'll
never forget the sights and sounds. I'll never forget the
person looking me straight in the eye and saying, "Do
not let me down." Ever since that day I wake up every
morning trying to figure out how best to protect our country.
I will never relent in defending America, whatever it takes.
(Applause.)
When I traveled your state -- when I traveled your state
four years ago, I made a pledge that if I was elected,
I would uphold the honor and the dignity of the office
to which I had been elected. With your help, with your
hard work, I will do so for four more years. Thanks for
coming. God bless. (Applause.) Thank you all. (Applause.)
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