For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 31, 2004
President's Remarks in Cincinnati, Ohio
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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