Text 3, 506 rader
Skriven 2004-10-30 23:37:18 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0410305) for Sat, 2004 Oct 30
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Remarks by the President at Victory 2004 Rally
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 30, 2004

Remarks by the President at Victory 2004 Rally
Brown County Veterans Memorial Complex
Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin



11:50 A.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming. (Applause.) Thank you all. It's
good to be with all the cheeseheads. (Applause.) It's great to be back in
Brown County. We're here to ask for your vote, and here to ask for your
help. (Applause.) It is close to voting time. We have a duty in our
democracy to vote. And so I'm asking you to get your friends and neighbors
and remind them of that duty. Find our fellow Republicans and turn them
out. Find independents and turn them out. Find discerning Democrats --
(applause) -- and head them to the polls. And when you get them going 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.)

Perhaps the most important reason of all to put me back in for four more
years is to make sure that Laura is the First Lady for four more years.
(Applause.)

I'm proud of my running mate. I don't want to offend anybody here who is
follically challenged -- (laughter) -- but I admit it, Vice President
Cheney doesn't have the waviest hair in the race. (Laughter.) People in
this part of the world will be happy I didn't pick him because of his
hairdo. I picked him because of his judgment. I picked him because of his
experience. He's getting the job done for the American people. (Applause.)

I'm proud of your former governor, my friend and Cabinet Secretary, Tommy
Thompson. He's done a great job. (Applause.) You know, one of the jobs of a
President is to surround himself with smart, capable people. I obviously
know how to do that when I picked Tommy Thompson. (Applause.)

I want to thank Congressman Mark Green for being such a fine member of the
United States Congress. (Applause.) I want to thank his wife, Sue. I want
to thank Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner, and wife, Cheryl, for joining us
today. (Applause.) I want to thank Congressman Tom Petri for joining us
today. I want to thank Congressman Paul Ryan for joining us today.
(Applause.)

I want to thank your State Treasurer, Jack Voight. I want to thank the
Assembly Speaker for being here. I want to thank Milwaukee County
Executive, Scott Walker. I call him, Scott W. (Applause.) I want to thank
all the local officials, the Mayors and the City Council folks. I want to
thank Tina Danforth, the Oneida Nation Chairwoman, for joining us today.
(Applause.) I want to thank Bob Scheick, the Stockbridge Tribal President,
for joining us today. I am honored -- I'm honored these tribal leaders are
here, and I look forward to working on a government-to-government basis in
the next four years to help build a more hopeful America for every citizen
who lives in this country. (Applause.)

I hope you vote for Tim Michels for the United States Senate. (Applause.)
Laura and I have come to know he and Barbara, and he is a fine, fine man.
He'll make a great United States senator. (Applause.)

I want to thank my friend, Kayne Robinson, who's the President of the NRA,
the National Rifle Association. I want to thank Wayne LaPierre for being
with us today. I'm proud to have -- (applause) -- I'm proud to have the
endorsement and support of so many of the sportsmen and women across the
state of Wisconsin. I appreciate Jeff Schinkten who's the Whitetail
Unlimited founder and board president, for supporting my candidacy.
(Applause.) I want to thank Lee Greenwood for being here, my friend.
(Applause.)

But most of all, Laura and I thank you all for coming. Thank you for taking
time out of your Saturday afternoon to come by and say hello. I want to
thank those of you who are putting up the signs. I want to thank those of
you who are making the phone calls. I want to thank you for turning out
such a huge crowd today. I want to thank you for what you have done and
what you're going to do. (Applause.) By working hard and by turning out the
vote, there is no doubt in my mind we will carry Wisconsin and win a great
victory in November. (Applause.)

The person who sits in the Oval Office for the next four years will set the
course of the war on terror and the direction of our economy. America will
need strong, determined, optimistic leadership, and I am ready for the job.
(Applause.) My four years as your President have confirmed some lessons and
have taught me some new ones. I've learned to expect the unexpected because
war and emergency can arrive suddenly on a quiet morning. I have learned
firsthand how hard it is to send young men and women into battle, even if
the cause is right. I've been grateful for the lessons I have learned from
my parents: respect every person, do your best, live life to its fullest.
I've been strengthened by my faith and humbled by its reminder that every
life is part of a larger story. (Applause.)

I know how a President must lead, as Presidents from Lincoln to Roosevelt
to Reagan so clearly demonstrated. A President must not shift with the
wind. A President has to make the tough decisions and stand by them.
(Applause.) In the last four years, Americans have learned a few things
about me. Sometimes, I am a little too blunt. (Laughter.) I got that from
my mother. (Laughter.) Sometimes -- sometimes, I mangle the English
language. (Laughter.) I got that from my father. (Laughter.) But all the
time, whether you agree with me or disagree with me, you know where I
stand, you know what I believe, and you know where I'm going to lead.
(Applause.)

You can't say that about my opponent. I think it is fair to say that
consistency is not his long suit. (Laughter.) Next Tuesday, the citizens of
this country will vote. They will vote for conviction, they will vote for
principle, they will vote for somebody who knows how to lead this country.
And with your help, they'll be voting for George W. Bush. (Applause.)

This election comes down -- this election comes down to five choices for
America's families. And 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. The terrorists who
killed thousands of innocent people are still dangerous and determined to
strike. 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. (Applause.) And if our country, if America
shows any uncertainty or any weakness in this decade, the world will drift
toward tragedy. This is not going to happen on my watch. (Applause.)

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
protecting the homeland. We're transforming -- or reforming and
strengthening our intelligence capabilities. We are transforming our
military. The all-volunteer army will remain an all-volunteer army. There
will be no draft. (Applause.) We are relentless, we are steadfast, we are
determined. We will chase the terrorists around the globe so we do not have
to face them here at home. (Applause.)

Because we led, Afghanistan is a free nation and now an ally in the war on
terror. Because we led, Pakistan is capturing terrorist leaders, Saudi
Arabia is making raids and arrests. Because we led, Libya is dismantling
its weapons programs. Because we led, an army of a free Iraq is fighting
for freedom, and more than three-quarters of al Qaeda's key members and
associates have been brought to justice. (Applause.)

We will not only stay on the offense with all our assets, we will stay on
the offense by spreading freedom and liberty. I believe in the power of
liberty to transform societies. And I want the youngsters to know firsthand
what I mean. Just look at what happened in Afghanistan. It wasn't all that
long ago that the people of that country lived under the brutal reign of
barbarians, ideologues of hate, called the Taliban. Young girls were not
allowed to go to school. And if their mothers did not toe the line, they
were taken into the public square and whipped, and sometimes executed in a
sports stadium. Because we acted in our own self-defense, because we upheld
a doctrine that I clearly laid out for the world, which said, if you harbor
a terrorist you're equally as guilty as the terrorist, because we did what
we said we were going to do, millions of people in Afghanistan voted for
President of that country. And the first voter was a 19-year-old woman.
(Applause.)

And America is better off to have freedom take the place of tyranny in
Afghanistan. And there are going to be elections in Iraq in January. Think
how far that country has come from the days of torture chambers and the
brutal reign of a hater of America who had mass graves for thousands of his
citizens. Freedom is on the march, and America and the world are more
secure because of it. I believe -- I believe in my heart of hearts that
every person in the world desires to live in a free society. I believe this
because I understand that freedom is not America's gift to the world;
freedom is the Almighty God's gift to each man and woman of this world.
(Applause.)

A President must lead with consistency and strength. In a war, sometimes
your tactics have to change, but never your principles. Americans have seen
how I do my job. On good days and on bad days, when the polls are up or the
polls are down, I am determined to protect the security of the American
people, and I will always support the men and women who wear our nation's
uniform. (Applause.)

I want to thank those who wear the uniform who are here today. I want to
thank the military families who are here today for your sacrifice. And I
want to thank the veterans who are here today for having set such a great
example for the men and women of today's military. (Applause.) And we'll
make sure our troops have got the full support of the government.

That's why I went to the Congress and requested $87 billion of funding to
support our troops in combat. It was important. This happened in September
of 2003. And it was vital, a vital funding request. And we got good
bipartisan support there in Washington. Only 12 members of the Senate voted
against the funding, two of whom are my opponent and his running mate.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE PRESIDENT: But I want to tell you this fact. As you're gathering up the
vote, remind your friends and neighbors about this: Only four members of
the United States Senate, four out of a hundred, voted to authorize force
and then voted against the funding to support the troops they authorized.
And two of those four were my opponent and his running mate. They kept
asking him -- they kept asking him why he made the vote he did. And he
uttered perhaps the most famous quote of the 2004 campaign, when he said, I
actually did vote for the $87 billion right before I voted against it.
(Laughter.)

Now, I haven't spent a lot of time in the coffee shops here in Green Bay,
but I suspect I'm not going to find many people who talk that way.
(Laughter and applause.) They kept pressing him, they kept asking for
answers. He's given several answers since then, but perhaps the most
revealing of all was that he said, the whole thing was a complicated
matter. (Laughter.) My fellow Americans, there is nothing complicated about
supporting our troops in combat. (Applause.)

My opponent's positions are kind of like the weather here in Green Bay --
(laughter) -- if you don't like it, wait a little bit and it will change.
(Laughter and applause.)

My opponent's record on national security has a far deeper problem than
election-year flip-flopping. And it's important for you to understand the
record. 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 Reagan was right.
(Applause.)

When former President Bush led a coalition against Saddam Hussein in 1991,
because the tyrant had invaded Kuwait and threatened the peace and
stability of the world, Senator Kerry voted against the use of force to
liberate Kuwait. History has shown that Senator Kerry was wrong, and former
President Bush was right. (Applause.)

In 1994, just one year after the first bombing of the World Trade Center,
Senator Kerry proposed massive cuts in America's intelligence budget, so
massive that even his colleague from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy, voted
against them. History has shown that Senator Kerry was wrong and -- we have
got to be fair -- in this case, Senator Kennedy was right. ((Laughter and
applause.)

During the 20 years -- during the last 20 years, in key moments of
challenge and decision for America, Senator Kerry has chosen the 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 crises and in times of war. Senator
Kerry has turned his back on "pay any price," and "bear any burden," and he
has 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 that America
should lead with strength and purpose and confidence in our ideals, I would
be honored to have your support. And I'm asking for your vote. (Applause.)

We have big differences about how to approach the security of our country.
You might remember one of our debates when my opponent said that America
must pass a global test before we commit our troops.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE PRESIDENT: I'm not making that up. (Laughter.) I heard it, too.
(Laughter.) As far as I can tell that means we've got to get permission
from foreign capitals before we act in our own defense. That's --

AUDIENCE: No!

THE PRESIDENT: That is a dangerous policy in the world in which we live.
I'll work with our friends. I will work with our allies. I understand how
important these alliances are, but I will never turn over America's
national security decisions to leaders of other countries. (Applause.)

The security of our families are -- is at stake. We've got to be firm and
resolved. My opponent was quoted about September the 11th, and he said, it
didn't change him much at all. Well, September the 11th changed me. It made
me look at the world in a different light. I'll never forget the day I
stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers -- that was September the 14th, 2001.
I'll never forget the sights and the sounds of that moment when the workers
in hard hats were yelling at me at the top of their lungs, "Whatever it
takes." And one of the first responders -- I don't know if he worked for
the fire department of New York, or the police department -- he came out of
the rubble, and he grabbed me by the arm, and he looked me right in the eye
and he said, "Do not let me down." Ever since that day, I wake up every
morning trying to figure out how to better protect America. I will never
relent in defending this country, whatever it takes. (Applause.)

The second clear choice in this election concerns your family's budget.
When I ran for President four years ago, I pledged to lower taxes for our
families, and I kept my word. (Applause.) We raised the child credit. We
lowered the penalty on marriage. We believe the code ought to encourage
marriage, not penalize marriage. (Applause.) We created a 10-percent
bracket. We reduced taxes on everybody who pays taxes, and we're overcoming
obstacles because of that plan.

When you're out gathering the vote, remind your friends and neighbors that
six months prior to my arrival the stock market was in serious decline.
That would be six months prior to my arrival in January of 2001. And then
we had a recession, and corporate scandals, and an attack that cost us
about a million jobs in the three months after September the 11th. But our
economic policies are working. This economy of ours is strong and it is
getting stronger. (Applause.)

We've added 1.9 million jobs in the last 13 months. (Applause.) Home
ownership rate is at an all-time high in America. (Applause.) More minority
families own a home than ever before in our nation's history. (Applause.)
Wisconsin farmers are making a living. (Applause.) The small business
sector in our country is strong. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and it
is well. (Applause.) The national unemployment rate is 5.4 percent. Let me
put that in perspective for you: That's lower than the average rate of the
1970s, the 1980s, and the 1990s. The unemployment rate in the great state
of Wisconsin is 5 percent. We're overcoming the obstacles. We're strong,
and we are getting stronger. (Applause.)

My opponent has different plans for your budget. He's going to take a big
chunk out of it. He voted against the child credit -- raising the child
credit. He voted against reducing the marriage penalty. He voted against
the tax relief. And had he had had his way, the average family in Wisconsin
would be paying $2,000 more per year in taxes.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE PRESIDENT: Now, that probably doesn't seem like a lot to some of them
in Washington, but I understand, it's a lot for the families in Green Bay,
Wisconsin. (Applause.) People can use that $2,000. It can help them raise
their children, help them make a living -- and if you're a small business
owner.

My opponent's been in the Senate for 20 years, and he voted to raise taxes
98 times. That's five times a year. Now, I would call that a leading
indicator. (Laughter.) He's also promised $2.2 trillion in new spending --
that would be trillion with a "T." (Laughter.) And that's a lot, even for a
senator from Massachusetts. (Laughter.)

So they asked him how he's going to pay for it, and he threw out that same
old, tired line: Oh, we'll pay for it by taxing the rich. That means he's
going to raise the top two brackets. You know most small businesses are
sole proprietorships or sub-chapter S corporations, which means they pay
tax at the individual income tax level. Seventy percent of new jobs in
America are created by small businesses. So therefore, when you run up the
top two brackets, you're taxing job creators, you're taxing small business
owners. And that doesn't make any economic sense at all.

And secondly, when you top -- raise the top two brackets, you raise between
$600 billion and $800 billion, which is far short of the $2.2 trillion he
has promised. I call that a tax gap. (Laughter.) And given his record,
guess who gets to fill the tax gap. You do. The good news is, you're not
going to get taxed. We're going to carry Wisconsin and win on November the
2nd. (Applause.)

The third -- the third clear choice in this election involves the quality
of life for our families. That means good education and quality health
care. As a candidate, I pledged 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 I proudly signed into law. In return for
increased federal spending, we're now expecting results because we believe
every child can learn and we expect every school to teach. You cannot solve
a problem unless you diagnose the problem. And so the new system enables us
to diagnose and solve problems. The test scores are on the rise across this
country in reading and math. We're closing an achievement gap for minority
students all across this country. And we refuse to go back to the days of
low standards and mediocrity in our classrooms. (Applause.)

And we will improve health care by making sure it is available and
affordable. To make sure health care is available, we'll expand community
health centers to help the poor and the indigent get primary and
preventative care. We'll make sure our program for children of low-income
families is fully subscribed. A compassionate society takes care of those
who cannot help themselves. But I also recognize that most of the uninsured
work for small businesses. And so to enable the small businesses to better
afford insurance, we ought to allow them to join together to pool risk so
they can buy insurance at the same discounts that big companies are able to
do. (Applause.)

We will expand health savings accounts to help our families and our
entrepreneurs. And to make sure health care is available and affordable, we
will do something about the frivolous lawsuits that are running up the cost
of medicine and driving too many doctors out of business. (Applause.) I
have met too many OB/GYNs as I've traveled our country who are having
trouble staying in practice because these lawsuits are running up their
premiums and running them out of practice. And I have met too many women
who are concerned about whether or not they and their child will get the
health care they need. Too many communities have been upset because doctors
can no longer practice medicine.

This is a national problem, I'm telling you, that requires a national
solution. You cannot be pro-doctor, pro-patient, and pro-personal injury
trial lawyer at the same time. (Applause.) I think you have to make a
choice. My opponent made his choice. He has voted against medical liability
reform not once, but 10 times as a senator. And he put a personal injury
trial lawyer on the ticket.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE PRESIDENT: I've made my choice. I'm standing with the doctors. I'm
standing with the patients of Wisconsin. I am for medical liability reform
-- now. (Applause.)

My opponent has got a different point of view when it comes to health care.
You might remember the debate when he said, well, the -- they asked him
about his plan, and he -- he looked in the camera and he said, the
government doesn't have anything to do with it. I could barely contain
myself. (Laughter.) The government has got a lot to do with it. Eighty
percent of the people that would be signed for health insurance under his
plan would go on the government health care plan. If you make it easier for
people to sign up for Medicaid, small businesses will drop insurance
because the government will provide the insurance. And so you're moving
people from the private sector to the public sector. And when the
government starts writing the check, the government starts making the
rules. And then the government starts making the rules for your family's
health care, they start making the decisions for your family's health care.
And they start making the decisions for your doctors. Federalizing health
care is the wrong prescription for American families. (Applause.)

In all we do to make sure health care is available and affordable, we will
make sure the decisions are made by doctors and patients, not by officials
in Washington, D.C. (Applause.)

The fourth clear choice in this election involves your retirement. Now, our
nation has made a solemn commitment to America's seniors on Social Security
and Medicare. When I ran for President four years ago, I promised to keep
that commitment and improve Medicare by adding prescription drug coverage.
I kept my word. (Applause.) The Medicare debate -- the Medicare debate was
one of those debates in which people said a lot of stuff, but nothing ever
got done. I worked with Republicans and Democrats to make the system work
better. We would pay thousands of dollars for a heart surgery under
Medicare, but not one dime for the prescription drugs that could prevent
the heart surgery from being needed in the first place. It didn't make any
sense. The system wasn't working. We got the job done. And beginning in
2006, all seniors will get prescription drug coverage under Medicare.

And we'll keep our commitment in Social Security, as well. (Applause.) Let
me talk about Social Security -- well, you don't have any choice. I'm going
to talk about Social Security. (Laughter.) You might remember the 2000
campaign when they ran the ads in Wisconsin that tried to scare our seniors
by saying that if George W. gets elected, the seniors will not get their
checks. Remind your friends and neighbors, George W. got elected and the
seniors got their checks. And the seniors will continue to get their
checks. (Applause.) No matter how they try to scare Wisconsin seniors, the
seniors will get their checks.

And baby boomers like me and like some of the others I see out there --
(laughter) -- are in pretty good shape when it comes to Social Security.
But we need to worry about our children and our grandchildren. We need to
worry about whether the Social Security trust will be available for them
when they need it. And therefore, I think younger workers ought to be
allowed to take some of their payroll taxes and set up a personal savings
account -- a personal saving account they call their own, a personal
savings account the government cannot take away. (Applause.)

My opponent takes a different approach about Social Security. He's promised
he's going to protect the system, but what he didn't tell you was he voted
eight times for higher taxes on Social Security benefits. He can run from
his record, but he cannot hide. We're not going to let him hide.

And he didn't offer anything for the youngsters when it comes to
strengthening Social Security. The job of a President is to confront
problems, not to pass them on to future Presidents and future generations.
In a new term, I will bring people together and strengthen Social Security
for generations to come. (Applause.)

And the fifth clear choice is on the values that are crucial for our
country. We stand for things. We stand for marriage and family, which are
the foundations of our society. (Applause.) We stand for a culture of life,
in which every person matters and every being counts. I proudly signed the
ban on partial birth abortions. (Applause.) And 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 has had a different point of view. He voted against the ban on
partial birth abortion. He voted against the Defense of Marriage Act. And
at one point in this campaign, he said that the heart and soul of America
can be found in Hollywood.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE PRESIDENT: The heart and soul of America is found in communities all
across the great state of Wisconsin. (Applause.)

All these choices make this one of the most important elections in our
history. And the decision is in the best of hands. It is in the hands of
the American people. (Applause.) In less than 72 hours, the American people
will be voting, and the decision comes down to who do you trust?

AUDIENCE: You! (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: I offer --

AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

THE PRESIDENT: I offer -- I offer leadership and results for a time of
threat and a time of challenge. I ask for your trust; I ask for your vote;
I ask for your help. I have a vision for this country that is clear. I know
where I want to take us, and it's to a more hopeful tomorrow.

One of my favorite quotes is by a fellow Texan named Tom Lea. He said,
"Sarah and I live on the east side of the mountain. It is the sunrise side,
not the sunset side. It is the side to see the day that is coming, not to
see the day that is gone." During this campaign, my opponent has spent much
of the campaign talking about the day that is gone. I'm talking about the
day that's coming. (Applause.) I see a day where prosperity reaches every
corner of America. I see a day when every child can read and write. I see a
day when we achieve the peace that we all long for our children and our
grandchildren.

When I campaigned across your state four years ago, I made this pledge,
that if elected, I would uphold the honor and the dignity of the office.
With your help, with your hard work, I will do so for four more years.

God bless. Thank you all for coming. Thank you all. (Applause.)

END 12:32 P.M. CDT
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