For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 15, 2004
President's Remarks at Victory 2004 Rally in Central Point, Oregon
Jackson County Fairgrounds
Central Point, Oregon
6:16 P.M. PDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. It's great to be back in
Oregon. It's great to be back in Jackson County, Oregon. (Applause.)
Laura and I are staying at the Jacksonville Inn tonight. (Applause.)
Last President to stay there was Rutherford B. Hayes. (Laughter.) I
understand Rutherford complained about the tab. (Laughter.) I'm not
going to. We're thrilled to be here.
I want to thank not only you all coming from Jackson County, I want
to thank the folks from the Klamath Basin who are here as well.
(Applause.) It's great to be in a part of the world where the boots
outnumber the suits. (Applause.) I've come to ask for your vote.
(Applause.) And I'm here to ask for your help. (Applause.) Tell your
friends and neighbors we have a duty in our country to vote. Head them
to the polls -- (applause) -- Republicans and independents and
discerning Democrats, like Zell Miller. (Applause.) And when you get
them heading to the polls, tell them if they want a safer America, a
stronger America and a better America to put me and Dick Cheney back
into office. (Applause.)
I am keeping great company with the First Lady. (Applause.) She
is -- we were in Las Vegas earlier today, and they had the AARP
convention, and so they said, why don't you send your best speaker to
that convention. So Laura spoke there, and I went to the rally.
(Laughter.) She was a public school librarian when I met here again.
We went to the 7th grade together at San Jacinto Junior High in
Midland, Texas.
AUDIENCE: Awww!
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, how about that? (Laughter.) And she said,
fine I'll marry you, I just never want to have to give a speech. I
said, okay, you've got a deal. Fortunately, she didn't hold me to the
deal, and the people of America see a compassionate, decent, strong
woman when she gets up and gives a speech. (Applause.)
I'm proud of my running mate, Dick Cheney. (Applause.) He's a
good, strong man. I'm proud to be up here with a fine American, a
great friend, John McCain. I thank you, John, for coming.
(Applause.) We have a lot of fun traveling together. It makes a big
difference that he's campaigning for me. I can't thank him enough for
doing so.
I'm also proud to be up on the stage with a fine United States
Senator in Gordon Smith. (Applause.) We're real fond of Greg Walden.
(Applause.) And Mylene, his wife. (Applause.) You're well
represented in the halls of Congress by Greg. He's a good, solid man.
All he does is talk about water. (Laughter.) And forests.
(Applause.) And the people of this district. (Applause.)
I want to thank all the other state and local officials. I want to
thank the grassroots activists who are here, the people who are putting
up the signs and turning out the vote. With your help, we'll carry
Oregon and win a great victory in November. (Applause.)
I enjoyed the debate last night. (Applause.) You know, these
debates clarify the differences in our records, our approaches, and our
plans for the future. I'm proud of my record. My opponent seemed to
want to avoid talking about his. (Laughter.) My record is one of
lowering taxes, of reforming education, providing prescription drug
coverage to seniors, improving our homeland protections, and waging an
aggressive war against the ideologues of hate. (Applause.)
The Senator's record is 20 years of out-of-the-mainstream votes,
without many significant reforms or results. Our very different
records are a window into what we believe and what we do -- we'll do
for the next four years. That's why these debates are important. See,
the Senator believes in a bigger government; I believe in more freedom
and choices for the citizens of this country. (Applause.) The Senator
believes government ought to dictate; I believe you ought to decide.
(Applause.)
And sometimes it's a little hard to tell exactly what he believes.
(Laughter.) He tries to obscure his philosophy. Take health care.
Once again last night, with a straight face, the Senator tried to say
his health care plan is not a government plan. I could barely contain
myself when I heard that. (Applause.) Yet 22 million people would
enroll on a government program under his plan. That would be the
largest expansion of government health care ever. Eighty percent of
the newly-insured on his plan would be placed on a government program,
like Medicaid. He claimed his position would help small business.
It's not what the people who studied his plan say. They say his plan
would be an overpriced albatross that would saddle small business with
225 new mandates.
I have a different view. I want to make health care more
affordable and available by helping small businesses, not by saddling
them with a bunch of regulations. (Applause.)
Once again, last night, with a straight face, the Senator said --
well, shall we say, refined his answer on his proposed global test.
That's the test he would administer before defending America. After
trying to say it really wasn't a test at all, last night he once again
defended his approach, saying, I think it makes sense. (Laughter.)
The Senator now says we'd have to pass some international truth
standard. The truth is we should never turn America's national
security decisions over to international bodies or leaders of other
countries. (Applause.)
The last few years the American people have gotten to know me.
They know my blunt way of speaking. (Applause.) I get that from my
Mom. (Laughter.) They know I sometimes mangle the English language.
(Laughter.) I get that from my Dad. (Laughter.) Americans also know
I tell you exactly what I'm going to do, and I keep my word.
(Applause.)
When we 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 and get this economy growing again, I
pledged to reduce taxes. I kept my word. (Applause.) The results are
clear: The recession was one of the shallowest in American history.
Over the last three years, our economy has grown at the fastest rate as
any in nearly 20 years. The home ownership rate in America is at an
all time high. (Applause.) Farm and ranch incomes are up.
(Applause.) The past 13 months we've added 1.9 million new jobs in
America. (Applause.)
The unemployment rate across our country is 5.4 percent, lower than
the average of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. (Applause.) Here in Oregon
I understand that some of the areas are lagging behind, but we're
making progress. This state has added more than 40,000 jobs since
January of 2002. So long as somebody is looking for work and can't
find a job means we'll continue to expand the economy with pro-growth,
pro-entrepreneur, pro-farmer, pro-small business policies. (Applause.)
To make sure we can find job -- people can find jobs here, America
must be the best place in the world to do business. If you want jobs
to create, you've got to be a good place to create jobs. That means we
need less regulations on our small businesses. (Applause.) We need to
do something about these frivolous lawsuits that are making it harder
for our employers to expand the job base. (Applause.)
To create jobs, Congress needs to pass my energy plan. It
encourages conservation, it encourages the use of renewables like
ethanol and biodiesel, it encourages new technologies, it encourages
clean coal technology, it encourages increased domestic production. To
create jobs here in America, we must become less dependent on foreign
sources of energy. (Applause.)
To protect jobs in communities in the West, we need to reduce the
risk of devastating wildfires. (Applause.) That's why I was proud to
work on and sign the Healthy Forests Restoration Act. (Applause.)
Under this good law, we're clearing the underbrush that serves as fuel
for fire. Because we acted, our forests are healthier, residents of
small businesses are safer, and people across the West are better off.
My opponent says he's in touch with the West, but sometimes I think
he means Western Massachusetts. (Laughter.) When the Health Forests
bill came up in the Senate, it had the support of both senators from
Oregon, one Republican and one Democrat. It had the strong support of
your congressman. And Senator Kerry was against it.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: When I signed the Healthy Forests Act last
December, he said, we're taking a chainsaw to public forests.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: Now it's time to campaign in the West. He's kind
of turning his position around a little bit. (Laughter.) He's
actually -- he's now saying that he actually likes a lot of part of the
law. I guess it's not only the wildfires that shift in the wind.
(Laughter and applause.)
To create jobs, we need to reject economic isolationism and open up
markets for U.S. products. Listen, we can compete with anybody,
anytime, anywhere, so long as the rules are fair. (Applause.) To
create jobs, we need to be wise about how we spend your money and keep
your taxes low. 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. (Laughter.) He's voted to raise taxes 98
times.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: That's a vote for a tax increase about five times
every year he's served in the Senate. I think that qualifies as a
pattern. He can run from his record, but he cannot hide. (Applause.)
You might remember the debate last Friday. The Senator looked in
the camera and promised not to raise taxes on anyone who earns less
than $200,000 a year. The problem with that, is to keep that promise
he must break all his other ones. His plan to raise taxes on the top
two income brackets will raise about $600 billion, but his spending
promises will cost almost four times as much, more than $2.2 trillion
-- that's with a T. You can't have it both ways. To pay for all his
promises, his spending promises, he's going to have to raise your
taxes. The choice in this election is clear, when it comes to taxes.
(Applause.)
He's had a -- tell your friends and neighbors he's had a history of
voting to raise taxes, and he has promised to raise them in this
campaign. And that's the kind of promise a Washington politician
usually keeps. (Laughter.)
I believe our families and our economy are better off when
Americans keep more of what they earn. In a new term, I will work with
the United States Congress to keep your taxes low. (Applause.)
When I came to office, our public schools had been waiting for
decades for hopeful reform. Too many of our children were shuffled
through school, year after year, grade after grade, without learning
the basics. I pledged to restore accountability to our schools and end
the soft bigotry of low expectations. I kept my word. (Applause.)
We're now seeing the results of our reforms. Our children are making
sustained gains in reading and math. We're closing the achievement gap
for minority students. We're making progress for our families. We
will leave no child behind in America. (Applause.)
To build a more hopeful America, we must have the best prepared and
most highly skilled workforce in the world. Most new jobs are filled
by people with at least two years of college; yet one in four of our
students gets there. So we'll fund early intervention programs in our
high schools to help at-risk students. We'll place a new focus on math
and science. Over time, we'll require a rigorous exam before
graduation. By raising the performance in our high schools and by
expanding Pell grants for low and middle-income families, we will help
more Americans start their careers with a college diploma. (Applause.)
When I came into office, we had a problem with Medicare. Medicine
was changing, but Medicare was not. For example, Medicare would pay
tens of thousands of dollars for a heart surgery, but not one dime for
the prescription drugs that might 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 our tax payers. I pledged to bring
Republicans and Democrats together to strengthen and modernize Medicare
for our seniors, and I kept my word. (Applause.) Seniors are already
getting discounts on medicine, and beginning in 2006, all seniors will
be able to get prescription drug coverage under Medicare. (Applause.)
No, we're moving forward on health care, and there's much more to
do. We need to make health care more affordable and available for all
our people. We need a safety net for those with the greatest needs. I
believe in community health centers, a place where the poor and the
indigent can get primary and preventative care. In a new term, we'll
make sure every poor county in America has a community health center.
(Applause.)
We need to do more to make sure poor children are fully subscribed
in our programs for low-income families, so they can get the health
care they need. We must do more to make sure health care is
affordable. Most of the uninsured in America are employees of small
businesses. Small businesses are having trouble affording health
care. To help more workers get health care, we should allow small
businesses to join together so they can buy insurance at the same
discounts as big businesses can do. (Applause.) We must expand health
savings accounts, so workers and small businesses are able to pay lower
premiums and people can save, tax free, in a health care account they
call their own.
To make sure health care is available and affordable, we've got to
do something about the junk lawsuits that are running up the cost of
health care. (Applause.) By forcing doctors to practice defensive
medicine, medical lawsuits cost the government about $28 billion a
year. They cost our nation's economy anywhere from $60 billion to $100
billion a year. They drive up insurance premiums which drive good docs
out of practice. You cannot be pro-patient and pro-doctor and
pro-plaintiff attorney at the same time. (Applause.) You have to
choose. My opponent made his choice, and he put a plaintiff attorney
on the ticket. I made my choice. I'm standing with the doctors and
patients. I'm for medical liability reform now. (Applause.)
The choice for health care is clear in this election. My opponent
wants to move in the direction of government-run health care. I
believe health decisions should be made by patients and doctors, not by
officials in Washington, D.C. (Applause.) I've set out policies that
move America toward a positive and optimistic vision. I believe our
country can be an ownership society. You know, there's an old saying,
no one ever washes a rental car. (Laughter.) A lot of wisdom in that
statement. When you own something, you care about it. When you own
something, you have a vital stake in the future of our country. We're
encouraging entrepreneurship, because every time a small business is
started, someone is achieving the American Dream. (Applause.)
We're encouraging health savings accounts so people have the
security of owning their own health care plan. We're providing --
promoting home ownership. Listen, I love it when more and more people
open up the door where they live and say, welcome to my home; welcome
to my piece of property. (Applause.)
In a new term, I'll take the next great step to build an ownership
society by strengthening Social Security. Our Social Security system
needs fixing. We'll keep the promise of Social Security to our
seniors. You might remember the 2000 campaign, when they ran those ads
that said, if George W. gets in, the seniors won't get their checks.
The seniors got their checks. (Applause.) And our seniors will
continue to get checks.
And the baby boomers are 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 be worried about whether Social Security
will be around when they need it. For their sake, we must strengthen
Social Security by allowing younger workers to save some of their
payroll taxes in a personal savings account that they can call their
own, that the government will not take away. (Applause.)
When it comes to Social Security, my opponent wants to maintain the
status quo.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: That's unacceptable. He's against these Social
Security reforms. He's against just about every reform that gives more
authority and more control to the individual. On issue after issue,
from Medicare without choices to schools with less accountability to
higher taxes, he takes the side of more centralized control and more
bureaucracies. And there's a word for that attitude. It's called
liberalism.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: He dismisses that as a label. But he must have
seen it differently when he said to a newspaper, I am a liberal and
proud of it.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: Nonpartisan National Journal magazine did a study
and named him the most liberal member of the United States Senate.
That takes a lot of hard work. (Laughter.) Another group known as the
Americans for Democratic Action has given Senator Kerry a higher
lifetime liberal rating than that given to Ted Kennedy. And that's an
accomplishment. (Laughter.)
I have a different record and a 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, not in policies
that try to run their lives. (Applause.)
These are changing times, but in a 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 will support the
institutions that give our lives direction and purpose -- our families,
our schools, our religious congregations. (Applause.) We stand for a
culture of life in which every person counts and every being matters.
(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
a strict interpretation of the law. (Applause.)
My opponent's words on these issues are a little muddy, but his
record is pretty clear. He says he supports the institution of
marriage, but he voted against the Defense of Marriage Act.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: He voted against the ban on partial birth
abortion.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: One time he called himself the candidate of
conservative values, but he has described the Reagan years as a period
of moral darkness.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: There is a mainstream in American politics, and my
opponent sits on the far left bank. (Laughter.) He can run, but he
cannot hide. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
THE PRESIDENT: 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 have
fought the terrorists across the Earth -- not for pride, not for power,
but because the lives of our citizens are at stake. (Applause.) Our
strategy is clear. We'll defend the homeland; we're strengthening our
intelligence; we're transforming our military. We will keep the
all-volunteer army an all-volunteer army. (Applause.) We're staying
on the offensive. We're striking the terrorists abroad so we do not
have to face them here at home. (Applause.) We will spread freedom
and liberty, and we will prevail.
Our strategy is succeeding. Think about the world as it was
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 acted, because the United States of America led,
Afghanistan is an ally in the war on terror. (Applause.) 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.)
In defending ourselves, we have freed 50 million people.
(Applause.) Think about what happened recently in Afghanistan. It
wasn't all that long ago that the country was ruled by brutal
ideologues of hate who had a dark vision of the world. Young girls
were not allowed to go to school -- many young girls were not. Their
moms, if they didn't toe the ideological line, were taken into the
public square and whipped, sometimes killed in a sports stadium.
Recently, thousands and thousands of Afghan citizens once under the
rule of the Taliban voted in a presidential election. (Applause.) The
first voter in that election was a 19-year-old woman. (Applause.)
Iraq will have elections in January. We're standing with the
people of Afghanistan and Iraq. When America gives its word, America
must keep its word. (Applause.) And we're standing with them because
we understand that 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 terrorists, instead
of harboring them. And that helps us keep the peace. (Applause.) Our
mission is clear: We'll help those countries train their armies and
police forces so the citizens of Afghanistan and Iraq 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.)
I see some folks who wear the uniform -- thank you for your
service. (Applause.) I want to thank the veterans who are here for
having set such a great example to those who wear the uniform.
(Applause.) I want to thank the military families who have joined us
today. (Applause.) I assure you we'll keep the commitment I made to
our troops and their loved ones. We'll make sure they have all the
resources they need to complete their missions.
And that's why I went to the United States Congress in September of
2003 and requested $87 billion for important funding to support our
troops in combat. We received great support for that funding request.
As a matter of fact, only 12 United States senators voted against the
funding for our troops in harm's way -- two of whom are my opponent
and his running mate.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: As you round up the vote, remind people of this
fact: only four United States senators voted to authorize the use of
force, and then voted against funding the troops -- two of whom are my
opponent and his running mate.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: You might remember, perhaps, one of the most famous
quotes of the 2004 campaign. When asked to explain his vote, my
opponent said, I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted
against it.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: I suspect a lot of people in Jackson County, Oregon
don't speak that way. (Applause.) And they kept pressing him and he
had all kinds of different explanations. One of the most interesting
was, he finally said, it is a complicated matter. (Laughter.) There's
nothing complicated about supporting our troops in combat. (Applause.)
I believe in the transformational power of liberty. Let me tell
you a story that will help make the point. One of our good friends is
Prime Minister Koizumi of Japan. That doesn't sound unusual, probably,
except for think about what life was like some 60 years ago with the
Japanese. They were our mortal enemy. My dad fought against the
Japanese, Senator McCain's dad fought against the Japanese. I'm
confident there are people here whose dad or granddad saw combat
against the Japanese. It was a tough war.
After we won the war, Harry S. Truman believed in the
transformational power of liberty to convert an enemy into an ally.
And so he worked to build a democracy in Japan. There were a lot of
citizens here who, I'm confident, weren't very happy about that
decision. Why would you want to work with an enemy? The enemy can't
possibly convert to a democracy. Too many of our lives were lost
during the war. But we had great faith in the ability of liberty to
transform a nation. And today, because of that faith, I sit down with
Prime Minister Koizumi talking about the peace we all want, talking
about how to deal with the issues of the world -- to make the world
more peaceful. Some day a duly-elected leader of Iraq will be sitting
down with an American President talking about the peace in the Middle
East. And our children and our grandchildren will be better off for
it. (Applause.)
I believe millions in the Middle East plead in silence for
freedom. I believe women in the Middle East want to grow up in a free
society and raise their children in freedom. 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. 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 -- 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
the deep faith in the values that makes us a great nation.
None of us will ever forget that week when one era ended and
another began. As John mentioned, I stood in the ruins of the Twin
Towers on September the 14th, 2001. It is a day I will never forget.
Workers in hard hats yelling at the top of their lungs, "Whatever it
takes." A guy 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 working hard
to figure out how best to protect America. I will never relent in
defending the security of this country, whatever it takes. (Applause.)
Four years ago when I traveled your beautiful state asking for the
vote, I said if you gave me a chance to serve, I would uphold the honor
and the dignity of the office to which I had been elected. With your
help, with your hard work, with your vote, I will do so for four more
years.
Thanks for coming. May God bless. (Applause.) Thank you all very
much. (Applause.)
END 6:33 P.M. PDT
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