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Skriven 2004-10-31 23:33:26 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0410319) for Sun, 2004 Oct 31
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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 31, 2004

Remarks by the President at Victory 2004 Rally
Great American Ball Park
Cincinnati, Ohio



8:07 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. (Applause.) Thank you all for coming. I am
here to ask for your vote, and I am here to ask for your help. (Applause.)
We have come to the great city of Cincinnati, Ohio, asking for you to turn
your friends and neighbors out to the polls on Tuesday. With your help, we
will carry Ohio again and win a great victory on Tuesday. (Applause.)

Perhaps the most important reason of all to put me back into office is so
that Laura will be the First Lady for four more years. (Applause.)

I'm proud of my running mate, Dick Cheney. I admit it, he does not have the
waviest hair in the race. (Laughter.) You all will be happy to know I
didn't pick him because of his hairdo. I picked him because of his
judgment, his experience. He's getting the job done for the American
people. (Applause.)

I want to thank one of Cincinnati's great citizens, Johnny Bench, for
having introduced me today. (Applause.) We can judge a person by the
company he keeps, and I'm keeping good company up here on this stage. I'm
proud you're here, Johnny. Thank you very much.

I'm proud to be here with some elected officials from the great state of
Ohio -- Governor Bob Taft and First Lady Hope Taft are with us. Thank you
for coming. Senator Mike DeWine. Senator George Voinovich is out
campaigning, but put him back into office for six more years. (Applause.)
I'm proud to be here with Senator Jim Bunning from Kentucky, and I hope the
citizens of Kentucky put him back into office. (Applause.) And we love,
Mary, as well.

Steve Chabot, the Congressman from this district, is with us. Congressman,
thank you. (Applause.) My friend, Congressman Rob Portman, is with us
tonight. Thank you for being here, Rob. (Applause.) The Lieutenant Governor
from Ohio, Jennette Bradley, is with us. State Treasurer Joe -- write in my
name -- Deters is with us. (Applause.) I want to thank Betty Montgomery. I
want to thank all the state and local officials. I want to thank Mike
Sodrel, who is from the Indiana 9th congressional district. (Applause.) I
strongly support Mike's bid for the United States Congress. And I strongly
support the bid of Geoff Davis from Kentucky's 4th congressional district.
(Applause.)

I want to thank my friend, Anthony NuZos, for being here today. I'm proud
to call him friend. (Applause.) Marty Brennaman. I want to thank my friend,
Larry Gatlin, and brother, Rudy, for joining us today. (Applause.) I want
to thank the Wil Gravett Band.

But most of all, I want to thank you all. I want to thank the people who
have been putting up the signs and making the phone calls and doing all the
hard work. You're turning out this vote on Tuesday. (Applause.)

This election takes place in a time of great consequence. 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 to get the job done for
four more years. (Applause.)

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

THE PRESIDENT: My four years as your President confirmed some lessons and
taught some new ones. I've learned to expect the unexpected. I've learned
firsthand how hard it is to send young men and women into battle. I am
grateful for the lessons I have learned from my parents: respect every
person, do your best, live every day 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 understand how crucial it is for the American
President to lead with clarity and purpose. (Applause.) As Presidents from
Lincoln to Roosevelt to Reagan so clearly demonstrated, a President must
not shift with the wind. A President has to make tough decisions and stand
by them. (Applause.)

The role of the President is not to follow the path of the latest polls.
The role of a President is to lead based on principle and conviction and
conscience. (Applause.) During these four years I've learned that whatever
your strengths are, you are going to need them, and whatever your
shortcomings are, people will notice them. Sometimes I'm a little too
blunt. I get that from my mother. (Laughter.) Sometimes I mangle the
English language. I get that from my dad. (Laughter.) But all the time,
whether you agree with me or not, you know where I stand, what I believe,
and where I'm going to lead. (Applause.)

You cannot say that about my opponent.

AUDIENCE: Boo!

THE PRESIDENT: I think it's fair to say that consistency is not his strong
suit. (Laughter.) I look at an issue and take a principled stand. My
opponent looks at an issue and tries to take every side. And the people of
Ohio know the difference. (Applause.)

This election comes down to clear choices on five vital issues facing every
American family. The first clear choice concerns your family's budget. When
I ran for President four years ago, I pledged to lower taxes for American
families. I kept my word. (Applause.) We doubled the child credit. We
reduced the marriage penalty. We believe the tax code ought to encourage,
not penalize marriage. (Applause.) We reduced taxes on everybody who pays
taxes. As a result of these good policies, real after-tax income -- the
money in your pocket to spend on groceries or house payments or rent -- is
up 10 percent since I took office. (Applause.)

When you're out there convincing your friends and neighbors to vote, remind
them what our economy has been through. Six months prior to my arrival in
Washington, the stock market was in serious decline. And then we faced the
recession, and corporate scandals, and an attack on our country that cost
us a million jobs in just three months after the attack. But we acted. Our
economy is creating jobs and growing faster than any major economy in the
world. We've added -- (applause.) Home ownership rate is at an all-time
high in America. More minorities own a home today than ever before in our
nation's history. (Applause.)

The entrepreneurial spirit is strong. Small businesses are flourishing all
across the state of Ohio. (Applause.) Ohio farmers are making a living. We
added more than 1.9 million new jobs in the last 13 months. The national
unemployment rate is 5.4 percent. That's lower than the average rate of the
1970s, the 1980s, and the 1990s. (Applause.)

I've traveled your state a lot. I know that in certain areas of this state,
people are struggling. But we're making progress. Ohio added 5,500 new jobs
last month. Your unemployment rate has gone from 6.3 percent to 6 percent
in one month. This economy is strong, and it is getting stronger.
(Applause.)

My opponent has an economic plan, too. He voted to increase taxes 98 times
in the 20 years he's been in the United States Senate.

AUDIENCE: Boo!

THE PRESIDENT: That's five times every year he's been in the Senate. I
would call that a leading indicator -- (laughter) -- a predictable pattern.
Couple that with the fact that he's promised $2.2 trillion in new federal
spending -- that's trillion with a "T." That's a lot -- (laughter) -- even
for a senator from Massachusetts. (Laughter.)

They asked him how he's going to pay for it. He said, oh, we'll just tax
the rich. The problem is, is that by raising the top two brackets, one, you
penalize the small business sector of this country. And secondly, you only
raise between $600 billion and $800 billion. That's far short of the $2.2
trillion. That's what I would call a tax gap. Given his record, it's not
hard to figure out who's going to fill that tax gap. You are. But the good
news is, we're not going to let him tax you. We're going to win Ohio,
Kentucky, and Indiana. (Applause.)

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

THE PRESIDENT: The second clear choice in this election involves the
quality of life for our nation's families. I ran for President to challenge
the soft bigotry of low expectations. By reforming our public schools. I
kept my word. (Applause.) We passed education reforms to bring high
standards to the classroom. Math and reading scores are now on the rise.
We're closing the achievement gap for minority children all across this
country. My vision for a new term is to build on these reforms and extend
them to our high schools so that no child is left behind in America.
(Applause.)

We'll continue to improve life for our families by making health care more
affordable and available. We'll expand health savings accounts. We'll allow
small businesses to join together and buy insurance at the same discounts
that big companies are able to buy insurance for. (Applause.) We'll help
our families in need by expanding community health centers. And we will
help Ohio families and patients and doctors by getting rid of the frivolous
and junk lawsuits that make health care too expensive. (Applause.) In all
we do to improve health care, we will make sure the medical decision are
made by doctors and patients, not by officials in Washington, D.C.
(Applause.)

As you can imagine, my opponent has a different approach. He voted for the
education reform, but now wants to weaken the accountability standards.
He's proposing a big-government health care plan. I don't know if you
remember the debate when they said, tell us about your health care plan.
And one of the things he said was, 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 would end up on the
government plan with his vision. And that is the wrong prescription for
American families. (Applause.)

Now, we got a different point of view when it comes to our docs and
patients. He voted against medical liability reform 10 times, and he put a
personal injury trial lawyer on the ticket.

AUDIENCE: Boo!

THE PRESIDENT: He can run, but he cannot hide. (Applause.)

The third clear choice in this election involves your retirement. 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.) Seniors are already getting discounts on
medicine with drug discount cards. Low-income seniors are getting direct
help to pay for prescriptions. And beginning in 2006, all seniors will be
able to get prescription drug coverage under Medicare. (Applause.)

My opponent has got a record on that. He voted against the Medicare bill
that included prescription drugs. In the campaign he's promised to repeal
the bill, and then shortly thereafter, he promised to keep it. Sounds
familiar. He tries to scare seniors about their Social Security. But he
forgets to mention that he is the one who voted eight times to raise taxes
on Social Security benefits.

AUDIENCE: Boo!

THE PRESIDENT: I have kept the promise of Social Security for our seniors.
And I'll always keep the promise of Social Security for our seniors.
(Applause.) And the Social Security trust is in pretty good shape for baby
boomers like me -- and a couple of other folks I see out there. But we need
to worry about our children and our grandchildren when it comes to Social
Security. We need to worry about whether or not the Social Security system
will be there when they retire. And that is why I believe younger workers
ought to be allowed to take some of their payroll taxes and put it in a
personal savings account, an account that earns a better interest, an
account they call their own. (Applause.)

The fourth clear choice in this election is on the values that are so
crucial to keeping our families strong. I stand for marriage and family,
which are the foundations of our society. (Applause.) I stand for a culture
of life in which every person matters and every being counts. And I proudly
signed the ban on partial birth abortions. (Applause.) And I stand for the
appointment of federal judges who know the difference between personal
opinion and the strict interpretation of the law. (Applause.)

On these issues my opponent and I are miles apart. He said he would only
appoint judges who pass a liberal litmus test. He was part of an extreme
minority that voted against the Defense of Marriage Act. He voted against
the ban on partial birth abortion.

AUDIENCE: Boo!

THE PRESIDENT: There is a mainstream in American politics, and my opponent
sits on the far left bank. (Laughter.) He can run from his record, but he
cannot hide. (Applause.)

The final choice in this election is the most important of all because it
concerns the security of your family. All progress on every other issue
depends on the safety of our citizens. The most solemn duty of the American
President is to protect the American people. (Applause.) If America shows
uncertainty or weakness during these troubled times, this 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've
strengthened protections for the homeland. We're reforming and
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 are fighting the terrorists abroad so we do not have
to face them here at home. We are determined, we are relentless, and we are
succeeding. (Applause.)

Afghanistan is free and is an ally in the war on terror. Pakistan and Saudi
Arabia are making raids and capturing terrorist leaders. Libya is
dismantling its weapons programs. (Applause.) The army of a free Iraq is
fighting for freedom. And al Qaeda no longer controls Afghanistan. We've
shut down its camps. We are systematically destroying the al Qaeda network
across the world. More than three-quarters of al Qaeda's known leaders and
associates have been brought to justice. (Applause.) And the rest of them
know we're on their trail.

And one of the reasons we're protecting America better than we have in the
past is because we've got a great United States military. (Applause.) I'm
proud to be the Commander-in-Chief of such a fine group of people. I want
to thank the military families who have joined us today for your
sacrifices. (Applause.) I want to thank the veterans who are here for
having set such a great example to those who wear the uniform. (Applause.)
And I assure you we'll keep our commitment to our troops. We'll make sure
they have that which 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. That was vital funding. That
was necessary funding. That was important funding. And we received great
support. As a matter of fact, only 12 members of the United States Senate
voted against that funding -- two of whom were my opponent and his running
mate.

AUDIENCE: Boo!

THE PRESIDENT: On national TV, Senator Kerry said it would be irresponsible
to vote against the troops. And then when the vote came around, he did the
irresponsible thing and voted against the troops.

AUDIENCE: Boo!

THE PRESIDENT: And then he entered the flip-flop hall of fame by saying
this -- (laughter) -- "I actually did vote for the $87 billion right before
I voted against it."

AUDIENCE: Flip-flop! Flip-flop! Flip-flop!

THE PRESIDENT: He's given several explanations for that vote since, but
perhaps the most revealing of all was when he said, the whole thing was a
complicated matter. My fellow Americans, there is nothing complicated about
supporting our troops in combat. (Applause.)

Senator Kerry has a pattern of switching positions in this campaign. In the
second debate, he said he always believed Saddam Hussein was a threat,
except, a few questions later, when he said that Saddam Hussein was not a
threat. He said, 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.

Yet, the problems with Senator Kerry's record on national security are
deeper than election-year reversals. For 20 years, on the largest national
security issues of our time, he has been consistently wrong. During the
Cold War, Senator Kerry voted against critical weapon systems and opposed
President Ronald Reagan's policy of peace through strength. History has
shown that Senator Kerry was wrong and President Ronald Reagan was right.
(Applause.)

When former President Bush assembled an international coalition to drive
Saddam Hussein from Kuwait, Senator Kerry voted against the use of force to
liberate the country.

AUDIENCE: Boo!

THE PRESIDENT: History has shown that Senator Kerry was wrong and former
President Bush was right. (Applause.)

Only a year after the first bombing of the World Trade Center, the Senator
proposed massive cuts in America's intelligence, cuts so extreme that his
fellow Massachusetts Senator opposed them. History has shown that Senator
Kerry was wrong -- and we've got to be fair -- Senator Kennedy was right.
(Laughter.)

We have big differences about how to protect you, about how to protect
America's families. In one of the debates, Senator Kerry said we must be
subject to a global test before we commit troops.

AUDIENCE: Boo!

THE PRESIDENT: I'm not making that up. (Laughter.) He wasn't standing that
far away from me when he said it. (Laughter.) The best I can tell, my
opponent's global test means that America must get permission from foreign
capitals before taking action to defend our country.

AUDIENCE: Boo!

THE PRESIDENT: I'll build on our alliances. I will work with our friends
and allies to protect ourselves and to protect freedom. But I will never
submit America's national security decisions to leaders of other countries.
(Applause.)

Senator Kerry, the other day, said that September the 11th didn't change
him much. September the 11th changed my outlook. I remember standing in the
ruins of the Twin Towers on September the 14th, 2001. It's a day I will
never forget. There were workers in hard hats yelling at me at the top of
their lungs, "Whatever it takes." I remember the first responder who had
just come out of the rubble. He grabbed me by the arm, he looked me square
in the eye, and he said, "Don't let me down." Ever since that day, I wake
up every morning trying to figure out how to better protect our country. I
will never relent in defending America, whatever it takes. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA!

THE PRESIDENT: We will continue -- we will continue to use all our nation's
assets to protect the American people. We will wage a comprehensive
strategy to protect you. Perhaps the strongest asset we have is freedom.
See, I believe in the power of liberty to transform societies. I believe
free nations do not breed resentments and export terror. Free nations
become allies in the war on terror. Freedom will help us keep the peace we
all long for, for our children.

Think about what's happened in the recent history of the world. It wasn't
all that long ago that young girls couldn't go to school in Afghanistan
because that country was run by the barbarians called the Taliban. And if
their mothers didn't toe their line of ideological hatred, they would be
whipped in the public square and sometimes executed in the sports stadium.
But because we acted to defend ourselves, because we acted to uphold a
doctrine which said, if you harbor a terrorist, you're equally as guilty as
the terrorist, millions of people went to the polls to vote for a President
of Afghanistan. The first voter was a 19-year-old woman. (Applause.)

Iraq is a dangerous place today because Iraq is moving toward freedom.
There will be elections in Iraq in January. And think how far that society
has come from the days of torture chambers and mass graves. Freedom is on
the march in this world, and America is more secure because of it.
(Applause.) Much of our foreign policy is driven by my deep belief that
everybody yearns to be free. See, 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.)

These are historic times, and a lot is at stake in this election. The
future safety and prosperity of America are on the ballot. But ultimately,
this election comes down to who can you trust -- who can you trust to
provide security for your family? Who can you trust to make sure this
economy continues to grow?

If you believe that taxes should stay low so families can pay the bills,
and small businesses can create jobs, I ask, come stand with me.
(Applause.) If you believe in high standards for our public schools, I ask
you to come stand with me. (Applause.) If you believe that patients and
doctors should be in charge of the health care, I ask you to come stand
with me. (Applause.) If you believe this nation must honor the commitments
of Medicare and strengthen Social Security for generations to come, I ask
you, come stand with me. (Applause.) If you believe this nation should
honor marriage and family, and make a place for the weak and the
vulnerable, I ask you to come stand with me. (Applause.)

If you believe that America should fight the war on terror with all our
might, and lead with unwavering confidence in our ideals, I ask you to come
stand with me. (Applause.) If you are a Democrat who believes your party
has turned too far to the left this year, I ask you to come stand with me.
(Applause.) If you are a minority citizen, and you believe in free
enterprise and good schools and the enduring values of family and faith,
and if you're tired of your vote being taken for granted, I ask you to come
stand with me. (Applause.)

And if you are a voter who believes that the President of the United States
should say what he means, and do what he says, and keep his word, I ask you
to come stand with me. (Applause.)

In 2000, when I campaigned across the state of Ohio and Indiana and
Kentucky, I made this pledge: I said if I got 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. God bless, and
thanks for coming. (Applause.) Thank you all. (Applause.)

END 8:42 P.M. EST
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