For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 15, 2004
Remarks by the President at Victory 2004 Rally
U.S. Cellular Center
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
1:55 P.M. CDT
THE PRESIDENT: It is great -- thank you all. It is great to be
back in Iowa. (Applause.) This isn't the first time we've been here.
(Laughter.) It's not going to be our last, either. (Applause.) I
want to thank you for putting up the signs and doing the hard work. I
want to thank you for what you're going to do over the next couple of
weeks, and that is turn out the vote. There's no doubt in my mind,
with your help, we will carry Iowa and win a great victory on the 2nd
of November. (Applause.)
And I just told the Chairman -- I call him the Chairman. You call
him Chuck. (Laughter.) I said, I got a job for him over the next four
years. He said, what's that? I said, we'll get those lawn mowers
cranked up, there's a lot of grass on the South Lawn. (Applause.)
And tell your friends and neighbors, if they want a safer America,
a stronger America, and a better America, to put me and Dick Cheney
back in office. (Applause.)
I'm pleased -- (audience interruption) -- (Laughter.) I'm pleased
that Laura is traveling with me today. She is -- (applause.) We were
in Las Vegas yesterday, and there was an important conference. The
AARP was having a convention, and they said, send your best speaker
over. So I went to the rally and Laura went to the AARP. (Laughter
and applause.) People have come to know her like I know her. She's
warm, she's compassionate, she's a strong woman. She is a great First
Lady. (Applause.)
I'm proud of my running mate. Dick Cheney is doing a fine job. In
the debate the other night, I admit he didn't have the waviest hair.
(Laughter.) I didn't pick him because of his hairdo. I picked him
because of his experience, his judgment, and he's getting the job done
for the American people. (Applause.)
I appreciate working with the Chairman. He always talks about
Iowa. Chuck Grassley is a really good United States Senator.
(Applause.) And so is your Congressman, Jim Leach. I appreciate Jim.
(Applause.) What a decent and honorable man Jim Leach is. And I'm
proud that the Chairman of the Budget Committee in the House of
Representatives, Jim Nussle, is with us, as well. (Applause.)
I want to thank the grassroots activists, all the people who are
doing all the hard work. You never get thanked enough, and so here's
my chance to thank you before election day. Keep putting up the signs,
keep making the phone calls, turn out the vote, and we will win.
(Applause.)
I enjoyed our debates. I enjoyed standing up there with my
opponent, talking about our differences. And we have big differences.
We have very different records and different plans for the future. My
record is one of reforming education, of lowering taxes, of providing
prescription drug coverage for seniors, for proving homeland
protections, and for waging an aggressive war against the ideologues of
hate. The Senator's record is 20 years of out-of-the-mainstream votes
without many significant reforms or results to show for those 20
years. The records are important because our country faces many
challenges, and the next President must recognize the need for reform
and must be able to achieve them.
On issue after issue, from jobs to health care to the need to
strengthen Social Security, Senator Kerry's policies fail to recognize
the changing realities of today's world and the need for fundamental
reforms. In our final debate, when I talked about the vital link
between education and jobs, the Senator didn't seem to get it. He
said, I switched away from jobs and talking about education. No, good
jobs start with good education. (Applause.) At a time when most new
jobs require at least two years of college, I understand that one of
the best ways to keep jobs in America is to make sure our work force is
educated, the most highly skilled, the most creative and the most
innovative in the world. That's how we create jobs here in America.
(Applause.)
When it comes to health care, once again the other night, with a
straight face -- (laughter) -- the Senator said his health care was not
a government plan.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: I could barely contain myself. (Applause.)
Twenty-two million new people would enroll in a government program
under his plan, the largest expansion of government health care ever.
Eighty percent of the newly-insured would be placed on a government
program like Medicaid. He claims his plan would help small
businesses. Yet studies conducted by people who understand small
businesses concluded that his plan is an overpriced albatross that
would saddle small businesses with 225 new mandates.
I have a different view. We'll work to make sure health care is
available and affordable. We'll help our small businesses. The
decisions will be made by doctors and patients, not by officials in
Washington, D.C. (Applause.)
The Senator said about Social Security, if later on, after a period
of time, we find that Social Security is in trouble, then he'll call a
meeting of experts. (Laughter.) See, it seems that he likes
meetings. (Laughter.) Younger workers understandably worry whether
Social Security will be there when they need it. We have plans for the
future. We will solve problems before they -- before it's too late.
As I said in the debate the other night, our seniors have nothing to
worry about when it comes to their Social Security check. You might
remember the 2000 campaign and those ads said if George W. gets in,
you're not going to get your check. You got your checks. You will
continue to get your checks. (Applause.)
But for the sake of our children and our grandchildren, we must
confront the Social Security problem now. Younger workers must be able
to take some of their own payroll taxes and set up a personal savings
account that will earn better interest, an account they can call their
own. (Applause.)
The last few years the people have gotten to know me. They know my
blunt way of speaking. I get that from Mom. (Laughter and applause.)
They know I sometimes mangle the English language. I get that from
Dad. (Laughter.) Americans also know I tell you what I'm going to do,
and that I keep my word. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. When I came into office -- when I
came into office, the stock market had been in serious decline for six
months, and the American economy was sliding into a recession. To help
families to get this economy growing again, I pledged to reduce taxes.
I kept my word. (Applause.) Because we acted -- and I include the
Senator and members of Congress here from Iowa -- not all of them, but
most of them -- because we acted, the recession was one of the
shallowest in American history. Over the last three years our economy
has grown at the rate -- at the fastest rate of any major
industrialized nation. The home ownership rate in America is at an
all-time high. (Applause.)
I remember campaigning in Iowa, and I made it clear to the farmers
here that I understand a healthy economy requires a healthy farm
economy. And today, farm and ranch income is up. (Applause.) In the
past 13 months we've added more than 1.9 million new jobs. The
unemployment rate in America is 5.4 percent, lower than the average of
the 1970s, the 1980s and the 1990s. (Applause.) The unemployment rate
in Iowa is down to 4.5 percent. This economy is moving forward, and
we're not going back to the old days of tax and spend. (Applause.)
Listen, to make sure jobs stay here in America and people can find
work, America must be the best place in the world to do business. That
means less regulations on the job creators. That means we've got to do
something about the frivolous lawsuits that make it hard for people to
expand their businesses. (Applause.)
To keep jobs here, Congress needs to pass my energy plan. The plan
encourages conservation, it focuses on renewables like ethanol and
biodiesel -- (applause) -- it encourages new technologies, it
encourages clean coal technology and increased domestic production. To
create jobs here in America, we must be less dependent on foreign
sources of energy. (Applause.)
To create jobs, to make sure people can find work, we've got to
reject economic isolationism. We need to open up markets for Iowa farm
products, for example. See, America can compete with anybody, anytime,
anywhere, so long as the playing field is level. (Applause.) To
create jobs, we've got to be wise about how we spend your money -- and
keep your taxes low. (Applause.)
My opponent has his own history on the economy. In 20 years as a
senator from Massachusetts, he's built the record of a -- senator from
Massachusetts. (Applause.) He has voted to raise taxes 98 times.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: That's a vote for a tax increase about five times
every year he has served in the Senate. That qualifies as a pattern.
(Laughter.) He can run from his record, but he cannot hide.
(Applause.)
He looked in the camera, and he promised not to raise taxes on
anyone who earns less than $200,000. The problem is, to keep that
promise, he would have to break almost all of his other ones.
(Laughter.) You see, he's promised about $2.2 trillion in new federal
spending -- that's trillion with a "T" -- and he says he's going to
raise the top two brackets, which raises between $600 billion and $800
billion. There is a tax gap. That's the difference between what he
could raise and what he's promised to spend. You can't have it both
ways. To pay for all his big promises he's made, he's going to have to
raise your taxes.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: But we're not going to let him. We're going to
carry Iowa and win the nation. (Applause.)
When I came into office the public schools had been waiting decades
for hopeful reform. Too many of our children were being shuffled
through school without learning the basics. I pledged to restore
accountability to our school and end the soft bigotry of low
expectations. (Applause.) And I kept my word. (Applause.) We passed
the No Child Left Behind Act, and we're now seeing results. Our
children are making sustained gains in reading and math. We are
closing the achievement gap for minority students. We're making
progress in America, and we leave no child behind. (Applause.)
There is more work to be done. We'll fund early intervention
programs in our high school to help at-risk students. We'll place a
new focus on math and science. Over time we'll require a rigorous
examination before graduation from high school. By raising performance
in our high schools, and by expanding Pell grants for low- and
middle-income families, we will help more Americans start their career
with a college diploma. (Applause.)
My opponent has a history on education issues -- a history of
almost doing nothing. The Senator has pledged to weaken the No Child
Left Behind Act. He's proposed diluting the accountability standards
and looking at measures like teacher attendance to judge whether
students are learning. His proposals would undermine the high
standards and accountability we worked hard to pass. We've moved
beyond the old days of failure and mediocrity and low standards, and
we're not going back. (Applause.)
When I came into office, we had a problem with Medicare -- see,
medicine was changing, but Medicare wasn't. For example, Medicare
would pay tens of thousands of dollars for heart surgery, but wouldn't
pay 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 for our seniors, it didn't make any sense for the taxpayers. I
pledged to bring Republicans and Democrats together to strengthen and
modernize Medicare for our seniors, and I kept my word. (Applause.)
We strengthened Medicare. Seniors are getting discounts on
medicine through prescription drug cards. Rural hospitals and doctors
are being treated fairly in the state of Iowa because of the Medicare
law we passed. Beginning in 2006, all seniors will be able to get
prescription drug coverage under Medicare. (Applause.) Moving forward
on health care; there's much more to do. We need to make health care
more available and affordable. We need a safety net for those with the
greatest needs. I believe in community health centers, places where
the poor and the indigent can get care. In a new term, we'll make sure
every poor county in America has a community health center.
(Applause.)
We'll make sure our poor children are fully subscribed in our
programs for low-income families. We'll do more to make sure health
care is affordable. Most uninsured work for small businesses. Small
businesses are having trouble affording health care. To help our
workers get the health care they need, we should allow small businesses
to join together so they can buy insurance at the same discounts that
big businesses are able to do. (Applause.) We will expand health
savings accounts. We will make sure that health care is available and
affordable by doing something about the junk lawsuits that threaten our
docs and running up the cost of medicine. (Applause.)
By forcing doctors to practice defensive medicine, medical lawsuits
cost the government about $28 billion a year. They cost our economy
anywhere from $60 billion to $100 billion a year. They're driving up
insurance premiums, which drives good doctors out of practice. You
cannot be pro-patient, pro-doctor and pro-trial lawyer at the same
time. (Applause.) You have to choose. My opponent made his choice,
and he put a personal injury lawyer on the ticket. I made my choice.
I'm standing with the doctors and patients. I am for medical liability
reform now. (Applause.)
I believe our country can be an ownership society. You know,
there's a saying that says, no one ever washes a rental car.
(Laughter.) There's some wisdom in that statement. See, when you own
something, you care about it. When you own something, you have a vital
stake in the future of our country. So we encourage entrepreneurship.
Every time a small business is starting, someone is achieving a part of
the American Dream. We encourage home ownership in America. I love
the fact that more and more people are owning up -- opening up the
front door of their home, saying, welcome to my piece of property,
welcome to my home. (Applause.)
You know, on issue after issue, from Medicare without choices, to
schools with less accountability, to higher taxes, my opponent takes
the side of more centralized control and more government.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: There's a word for that attitude -- it's called
liberalism. (Laughter.) He dismisses that as a label, but me must
have seen it differently when he said to a newspaper, I am a liberal
and proud of it. He's been rated by the National Journal as the most
liberal member of the United States Senate. That's hard to do.
(Laughter.) He's had some serious competition. (Laughter.)
See, I have a different record and a very different philosophy. I
don't believe in big government and I don't believe in indifferent
government. I'm a compassionate conservative. (Applause.) I believe
in policies that empower people to improve their lives. I do not
believe in policies that try to run people's lives. (Applause.) And
so we're helping men and women -- helping men and women find the skills
and tools to prosper in a time of change. We're helping all Americans
to have a future of dignity and independence. And that is how I will
continue to lead our country for four more years. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
THE PRESIDENT: In this time of change, some things do not change
-- the values we try to live by: courage and compassion, reverence and
integrity. In changing times, we must support the institutions that
give our lives direction and purpose: our families, our schools, our
religious congregations. 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.)
Listen, my opponent's words on these issues are a little muddy, but
his record is plenty clear. He says he supports the institution of
marriage, but he voted against the Defense of Marriage Act. He voted
against the ban on partial birth abortion.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: He calls himself -- at one time in the race called
himself the candidate of conservative values.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: But he has described the Reagan years as 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.) He can run, but he
cannot hide. (Applause.)
This election will also determine how America responds to the
continuing danger of terrorism. The most solemn duty of the American
President is to protect the American people. (Applause.) If America
shows uncertainty or weakness in this decade, the world will drift
toward tragedy. This will not happen on my watch. (Applause.)
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're defeating the -- we're defending the homeland, we're
strengthening the intelligence services, we're modernizing and
transforming our United States military so we can keep the
all-volunteer army an all-volunteer army. (Applause.) We're staying
on the offensive. We will strike the terrorists abroad so we do not
have to face them here at home. (Applause.) We will spread liberty
and freedom and we will prevail. (Applause.)
Our strategy is succeeding. Think about the world as it was about
three-and-a-half years ago. Afghanistan was the home base of al
Qaeda. Pakistan was a transit point for terrorist groups. Saudi
Arabia was fertile ground for terrorist fundraising. Libya was
secretly pursuing nuclear weapons. Iraq was a dangerous place and a
gathering threat. And al Qaeda was largely unchallenged as it planned
attacks.
Because we led, Afghanistan is free and is now an ally in the war
on terror; Pakistan is capturing terrorist leaders; Saudi Arabia is
making raids and arrests; Libya is dismantling its weapons programs;
the 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 have led, many have joined, and
America and the world are safer.
And part of our strategy for a safe and peaceful world is to
continue to spread freedom. And freedom is on the march. As we worked
to secure ourselves in Afghanistan and Iraq, 50 million people have
been freed from the clutches of brutal tyranny -- 50 million.
(Applause.) Think about what happened in Afghanistan. I want the
youngsters here to realize what took place recently in history. It
wasn't all that long ago that young girls couldn't go to school. Their
mothers were pulled in the public square and whipped because they
wouldn't toe the line to an ideology of hate. These people lived in
darkness. Because we acted, people were freed. Thousands and
thousands of people went to vote for a president. The first person to
vote in the Afghan presidential election was a 19-year-old woman.
Freedom is powerful. (Applause.)
Can you imagine a society that's gone from darkness to light in
three short years? Freedom is on the move. There will be elections in
Iraq. It hadn't been all that long ago that there was torture chambers
and mass graves. Then the people will be having a chance to vote for
president and prime minister of that country. Free societies in the
Middle East will be hopeful societies which no longer feed resentments
and breed violence for export. Free governments in the Middle East
will fight the terrorists, instead of harboring them. Freedom will
help us keep the peace. Freedom will make America more secure. So our
mission is clear: We will help Afghanistan and Iraq train armies and
police, so their people can do the hard work of defending democracy.
(Applause.) We will help them get on the path to stability and
democracy as quickly as possible, and then our troops will come home
with the honor they have earned. (Applause.)
It's a high honor to be the Commander-in-Chief of such a great
military. We're a great military because it's full of great people.
I'm proud of our military. I'm proud of our military families. And I
want to thank the veterans who are here for having set such a great
example for those who wear the uniform. (Applause.)
We will continue to make sure our troops have all the resources
they need to complete their missions. That's why I went to the United
States Congress in September of 2003, and asked for $87 billion of
supplemental funding to support our troops in both Iraq and
Afghanistan. It was really an important piece of legislation. The
bipartisan support was very strong. As a matter of fact, only 12
United States senators voted against the $87 billion -- two of whom are
my opponent and his running mate.
AUDIENCE: Booo.
THE PRESIDENT: Now, when you're out gathering the vote, when
you're out convincing people to go to the polls and getting them to be
for us, remind them of this fact: Only four United States senators
voted to authorize the use of force, and then voted against providing
the funding necessary to support our troops in combat. Only for of a
hundred -- two of whom, 50 percent of whom are my opponent and his
running mate.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: So they asked him why he made the vote -- you might
remember one of the most famous quotes in this campaign season. He
said, I actually did vote for the $87 billion right before I voted
against it.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. He's given a lot of explanations for that
vote since. One of the most interesting ones of all -- he said, well,
the whole thing is a complicated matter. There's nothing complicated
about supporting our troops in combat. (Applause.)
In our debate, Senator Kerry proposed that we should pass a global
test before we defend ourselves.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: The problem with that global test is that the
Senator can't ever pass it. I say that because, in 1990, the United
Nations Security Council passed a resolution supporting action to
remove Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. The international community was
united. Countries throughout the world joined the coalition. Yet,
even after United Nations' approval, in the United States Senate,
Senator Kerry voted against authorization for the use of force. He
couldn't pass his own test.
In this campaign, you might remember he said that removing Saddam
Hussein was a mistake. He actually said he would have done it
differently -- he would have had the U.N. pass another resolution.
(Laughter.) If Senator Kerry had his way, not only would Saddam
Hussein still be in a palace in Baghdad, he'd be occupying Kuwait.
This world of ours is safer with Saddam Hussein sitting in a prison
cell. (Applause.)
We'll continue to build strong alliances. I talked with Tony Blair
today, on Air Force One. He's a great ally. And we'll build on those
alliances, and we'll strengthen our coalitions. But I will never turn
over America's national security decisions to leaders of other
countries. (Applause.)
I believe in the transformational power of liberty. Perhaps I can
explain it to you this way: Prime Minister Koizumi is a good friend of
mine and Laura's. But it wasn't all that long ago that we were at war
with the Japanese. My dad fought in World War II; I know dads and
granddads of the people out here fought in World War II, as well,
against a sworn enemy. And it was a tough war, it was a brutal war,
like all war. And after World War II, Harry S. Truman, President of
the United States, believed in the power of liberty to transform an
enemy into an ally. That's what he believed. So after the war was
over, we worked with the Japanese to build a democracy. There's a lot
of people in this country who were skeptical about that action,
skeptical about whether an enemy could ever become an ally, skeptical
about whether Japan would become a democracy, skeptical about efforts
to help them after they had hurt many of our citizens.
But people believed. And as a result of that belief, today I sit
down with Prime Minister Koizumi talking about how to keep the peace
that we all want. Some day a duly-elected leader of Iraq will sit down
with an American President talking about how to keep the peace in the
Middle East. And our children and our grandchildren will be better off
for it. (Applause.)
I believe that millions in the Middle East plead in silence for
freedom. I believe that women in the Middle East want to grow up in a
free society and they want to raise their children in a free society.
I believe that if given a chance, the people of the Middle East will
embrace the most honorable form of government ever devised by man,
democracy. I believe all these things because freedom is not America's
gift to the world, freedom is the Almighty God's gift to each man and
woman in this world. (Applause.)
For all Americans, these years in our history will always stand
apart. There are quiet times in the life of a nation when little is
expected of its leaders. This isn't one of those times. This is a
time that requires firm resolve, clear vision, and a deep faith in the
values that make us a great nation.
None of us will ever forget that week when one era ended and
another began. September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the
Twin Towers. It is a day I will never forget. Workers in hard hats
were there, yelling at me at the top of their lungs, "Whatever it
takes." I remember a fellow, grabbed me by the arm and he looked me in
the eye, and he said, "Do not let me down." Ever since that day, I
wake up every morning thinking about how to better protect our
country. I will never relent in defending America, whatever it takes.
(Applause.)
Four years ago, as I traveled your great state, in the caucuses and
then in the general election, I pledged that if you honored me with the
high office of President I would uphold the honor and the dignity.
With your help, with your hard work, I will do so for four more years.
(Applause.)
God bless. Thank you all for coming. Thank you all for being
here. On to victory. (Applause.)
END 2:38 P.M. CDT
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