For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 24, 2004
President's Remarks in New Mexico
Alamogordo High School
Alamogordo, New Mexico
3:50 P.M. MDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Thanks for coming out on a
beautiful Sunday afternoon. Laura and I are so pleased to be here in
Alamogordo. It's great to be back in the great state of New Mexico.
(Applause.)
We're getting close to voting time, and I'm here to ask for your
vote and for your help. (Applause.) Tell your friends and neighbors
in the coffee shops and community centers and places of worship, we
have a duty to vote in the United States. Get them headed to the
polls; don't overlook discerning Democrats, like Zell Miller, of
Georgia. (Applause.) And when you get them headed to the polls,
remind them if they want a safer America, a stronger America and a
better America, to vote for Bush-Cheney. (Applause.)
I'm keeping really good company in the First Lady. You know, when
I -- (applause.) I don't know if you know this or not, we both grew up
kind of around the corner. As a matter of fact, we were in the 7th
grade together at San Jacinto Junior High in Midland. (Applause.) And
then we became reacquainted. She was a public school librarian when I
met her again.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: -- moment!
THE PRESIDENT: It sure was. (Applause.) When I asked her to
marry me she said, fine, just make me a promise. I said, okay, what is
it? She said, promise me I'll never have to give a political speech.
(Laughter.) I said, okay, you got a deal. Fortunately, she did not
hold me to that promise. She's giving speeches all over the country
and when people see her speak, they see a compassionate, warm, strong
First Lady. (Applause.)
And I'm proud of my running mate, Dick Cheney. (Applause.) Now,
look, I admit it -- I admit it, he does not have the waviest hair in
the race. (Laughter.) 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'm proud to be sharing this platform with a great United States
Senator in Pete Domenici. (Applause.) You know, if you had to
describe Senator Domenici, you would call him a class act. And he is.
I know you're proud of him, and Laura and I are proud to call him
friend. I want to thank Congressman Steve Pearce. (Applause.) And
his wife, Cynthia. (Applause.)
I want to thank the Alamogordo Tiger Band for being here today.
(Applause.) It's good to be in country where the cowboy hats outnumber
the ties. (Applause.) I want to thank the people who have helped put
on this rally and are putting up the signs, making the phone calls,
turning people out to vote. There is no doubt in my mind that, with
your help, we will carry New Mexico and win a great victory in
November. (Applause.) Con su apoyo vamos a ganar. (Applause.)
You know, we've just got nine days to go. And the voters have a
clear choice between two very different candidates with dramatically
different approaches and records. You know where I stand. (Applause.)
And sometimes you even know where my opponent stands. (Laughter.) We
both have records. I'm proudly running on mine. (Applause.) The
Senator is running from his. (Laughter.) And there's a reason why.
There is a mainstream in American politics and my opponent sits on the
far left bank.
I'm a compassionate conservative, and proudly so. (Applause.) At
a time when our country has much to accomplish and much more to do, I
offer a record of reform and a record of results. This election comes
down to five clear choices for America's families, five choices on
issues of great consequence: your family's security, your family's
budget, your quality of life, your retirement and the bedrock values
that are so critical to our families and our future.
The first clear choice is the most important, because it concerns
the security of your family. All progress on every other issue depends
on the safety of our citizens. This will be the first presidential
election since September the 11th, 2001. Americans will go to the
polls in a time of war and ongoing threats, unlike any we have faced
before. The terrorists that killed thousands of innocent people are
still dangerous, and they are determined to strike us again. The
outcome of this election will set the direction of the war against
terror. The most solemn duty of the American President is to protect
the American people. (Applause.)
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've strengthened the protections for our
homeland. We're reforming and strengthening our intelligence
services. We're transforming our all-volunteer army -- there will not
be a draft. (Applause.) We're staying on the offensive. We're
relentless. We are determined to protect the American people and we're
succeeding. More than three-quarters of al Qaeda's key members and
associates have been brought to justice, and the rest of them know
we're on their trail. (Applause.)
My opponent has a very different approach. He says that September
the 11th "didn't change me much at all."
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: End quote. (Laughter.) And that's pretty clear.
He considers the war on terror primarily a law enforcement and
intelligence-gathering operation. His top foreign policy advisors
question whether we're even in a war at all, saying the war on terror
is just like a metaphor, kind of like the war on poverty. Anyone who
thinks we're fighting a metaphor does not understand the enemy we
face. You cannot win a war if you are not convinced we are even in
one. (Applause.)
My opponent also misunderstands our battle against insurgents and
terrorists in Iraq. After voting to authorize force against Saddam
Hussein, after calling it the right decision when I sent troops into
Iraq, the Senator now calls it the wrong war. The Senator used to
recognize that Saddam Hussein was a gathering threat who hated
America. After all, he said so. He used to recognize that Saddam was
a state sponsor of terror with a history of pursuing, and even using,
weapons of mass destruction. Even so, he said so. He used to
understand that Saddam was a major source of instability in the Middle
East. He said so. And when he voted to authorize force, the Senator
must have recognized the nightmare scenario that terrorists might
somehow access weapons of mass destruction.
Senator Kerry seems to have forgotten all that as his position has
evolved during the course of this campaign. You might call it election
year amnesia. (Laughter.) I know then -- I knew then and I know now
that America and the world are safer with Saddam Hussein sitting in a
prison cell. (Applause.)
We have a different point of view when it comes to defending
America. Senator Kerry now calls Iraq a diversion. But the case of
just one terrorist shows how wrong his thinking is. A man named
Zarqawi is responsible for planting car bombs and beheading Americans
in Iraq. He ran a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, until
coalition forces arrived. (Applause.) And then he fled to Iraq, where
he's fighting us today. He swore his allegiance to Osama bin Laden.
If Zarqawi and his associates were not busy fighting Iraqi and American
forces in Iraq, what does Senator Kerry think they would be doing?
Peaceful, small business owners? (Laughter.) Running a benevolent
society? (Laughter.)
Our troops will defeat Zarqawi and his likes overseas in Iraq so we
do not have to face them here at home. (Applause.)
The choice in this election could not be clearer. You cannot lead
our nation to decisive victory on which the security of every American
family depends if you do not see the true dangers of the post-September
the 11th world. My opponent has a September 10th, point of view. At
his convention, he declared that his strategy will be to respond to
attacks after America is hit.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: Those were his words. That would be too late. In
our debates he said we can defend America if we pass a global test.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: I'm not making that up. He was standing right
about right there. Listen, I'll work with our friends and allies.
We'll continue to build strong coalitions to keep us secure. But I
will never turn over America's national security decisions to leaders
of other countries. (Applause.)
I want to thank those who wear our nation's uniform. I want to
thank our great United States military. (Applause.) It's such an
incredible honor to be the Commander-in-Chief of such a great
military. And our military is great because of the character of the
men and women who wear our uniform. (Applause.) I want to thank the
veterans who are here today for having set such a great example.
(Applause.) I want to thank the military families who are here, for
your sacrifice. (Applause.) And I want to assure you that we'll make
sure our troops have got all the tools necessary to complete their
missions in Afghanistan and Iraq. (Applause.)
That's why I went to the Congress and asked for $87 billion in
supplemental funding to support our troops in harm's way. It was a
vital request. It was necessary. And we got great bipartisan
support. I want you to tell your friends and neighbors this startling
statistic: only four members of the United States Senate -- four out
of 100 -- voted to authorize the use of force and then voted against
the funding necessary to support our troops in combat -- and two of
those four were my opponent and his running mate.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: You might remember when asked to explain his vote
he said -- and I quote -- "I actually did vote for the $87 billion,
before I voted against it." (Laughter.) I've spent quite a bit of
time in New Mexico -- I've never heard anybody talk that way in this
state. (Laughter.) They kept pressing him and he's given a lot of
answers about his vote. One of the most interesting ones of all was he
said, it's a complicated matter. There's nothing complicated about
supporting our troops in harm's way. (Applause.)
And we will continue to protect in America by spreading freedom. I
believe in the transformational power of liberty. I believe that free
nations do not breed resentments and export terror. Free nations
become allies in the war against terror. I want you to tell your
children what has taken place in a brief period of time. Tell them
what happened in Afghanistan. Because we defended ourselves, because
we upheld the doctrine that said if you harbor a terrorist, you're as
equally guilty as the terrorists, 25 million people live in freedom in
Afghanistan. It wasn't all that long ago that young girls couldn't go
to school because the ideologues of hate, the Taliban, had such a dim
view of the world; and if their mothers didn't toe their line, they
were taken into public squares and whipped, and sometimes killed in a
sports stadium. Because we acted, millions of people in Afghanistan
went to vote in a president -- presidential election. The first voter
was a 19-year-old woman. Freedom is on the march. (Applause.)
Iraq will have presidential elections. Think how far that country
has come from the days of torture chambers and mass graves. It is in
our interests that we spread liberty. It's in our interests that we
help societies become free. I believe people want to be free. 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.)
The second clear choice in this election concerns the 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 to $1,000 per child -- we want to help people raise
their children. We reduced the marriage penalty. The tax code ought
to encourage marriage, not penalize marriage. (Applause.) We dropped
the lowest bracket to 10 percent to help our working families. We
reduced income taxes for everybody who pays taxes. As a result of our
policies, real, after-tax income -- that's money in your pocket -- has
gone up by about 10 percent since I became the President. (Applause.)
When you're out there rounding up the vote, remind your friends and
neighbors about what this economy has been through. Six months prior
to my arrival in Washington, the stock market was in serious decline.
Then we had a recession. Then we had corporate scandals. And then we
got attacked. And that attack cost us about a million jobs in the
three months after September the 11th. But our economic policies are
working. This country is on the road to growth. We're growing at
rates as fast as any in 20 -- nearly 20 years. The home ownership rate
is at an all-time high in America. (Applause.) Our farmers and
ranchers are making a living. Small businesses are flourishing. The
entrepreneurial spirit is strong. We've added 1.9 million new jobs in
the past 13 months. The national unemployment rate is 5.4 percent,
lower than the average rate of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
(Applause.) And the unemployment rate in New Mexico is 5.3 percent.
This economy is getting stronger. (Applause.)
Now, my opponent has a different plan for your budget -- he intends
to take a big chunk out of it. You know, he voted against the higher
child credit and the marriage penalty relief, and he voted against
lower tax rates. I want the people to understand that if he had had
his way, the average middle class family would be paying $2,000 more in
taxes to the federal government.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: It's part of a pattern. All told, during his 20
years in the United States Senate, he's voted to increase taxes 98
times. That's five times for every year he's been in the Senate. I'd
call that a predictable pattern. (Laughter.) If a senator does
something that often, he must really enjoy it. (Laughter.) During this
campaign he's made a lot of big promises, too -- a lot of them. As a
matter of fact, he's promised about $2.2 trillion worth of new
spending. That's trillion with a "T." That's a lot even for a Senator
from Massachusetts. (Laughter.)
So they asked him, how you going to pay for it? He said, oh, we'll
just tax the rich. The problem is, is that his ledger doesn't add up,
see. If you run up the top two brackets like he said, it's going to
raise about $600 billion to $800 billion. That's far short of $2.2
trillion. And when there's a gap like that, guess who usually gets
stuck with the bill?
AUDIENCE: We do!
THE PRESIDENT: The good news is, we're not going to let him tax
you. We're going to carry New Mexico and win a great victory on
November the 2nd. (Applause.)
The third clear choice in this election involves the quality of
life for our nation's families. A good education and quality health
care are important for a successful life. When I ran for President
four years ago I promised to challenge the soft bigotry of low
expectations by reforming our public schools. I kept my word.
(Applause.) We passed the No Child Left Behind Act, which is bringing
high standards to our classrooms and making schools accountable to our
parents. We're seeing great progress across this country. Math and
reading scores are on the rise. (Applause.) We're closing the
achievement gap. More and more Latino youngsters are learning how to
read and write and add and subtract. (Applause.) And the country is
better off for it. (Applause.) We'll build on these reforms. We'll
extend them to our high schools, so that no child is left behind in
America. (Applause.)
We'll continue to improve lives for our families by making health
care more affordable and more accessible. We'll expand health savings
accounts so small businesses can cover their workers, and more families
are able to get the health care accounts that they manage and own.
We'll expand -- create association health plans so small businesses can
join together and buy insurance at the same discounts that big
companies are able to do. We'll help families in need by expanding
community health centers, make sure every eligible child is enrolled in
our government's low-income health insurance programs.
And we're going to help patients and doctors everywhere by doing
something about these junk lawsuits that are running up the cost of
medicine and running good docs out of practice. (Applause.) You
cannot be pro-doctor and pro-patient and pro-personal injury lawyer at
the same time. (Applause.) You have to choose. And my opponent made
his choice -- he put a personal injury trial lawyer on the ticket.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: I have made my choice. I'm standing with the
doctors and patients of New Mexico. I am for medical liability reform
now. (Applause.)
We have a difference when it comes the health care. My opponent
voted against health savings accounts, he's voted against association
health plans. He's voted 10 times against medical liability reform.
He can run from his record, but he cannot hide. (Applause.)
And now he's proposing a new plan, a new idea, which is a
big-government health care plan -- that's what it is. It would cause
about 8 million families to lose private coverage they get at work and
have to go on a government plan. Eighty percent of the people who get
coverage would be enrolled with the federal government. We just have a
different philosophy. You know, in one of the debates, he actually
looked in the camera with a straight face, and he said, when it comes
to his health care plan -- and I quote -- "The government has nothing
to do with it." I could barely contain myself. (Laughter.) His plan
would move America down the road to federal control of health care.
And that is wrong road for America's families.
In all we do to improve health care, we will make sure the
decisions are made by doctors and patients, not by officials in
Washington, D.C. (Applause.)
The fourth clear choice involves your retirement. Our nation has
made a solemn commitment to our 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 now getting
discounts on medicine with drug discount cards. Low-income seniors are
getting $600 worth of help this year and next year. And beginning in
2006, all seniors will be able to get prescription drug coverage under
Medicare. (Applause.)
We'll keep the promise of Social Security for our seniors. And
we'll strengthen Social Security for generations to come. Listen,
every election there is a predictable event that takes place, and that
is they run TV ads saying to our seniors, if George W. gets elected
you're not going to get your checks. That's what happened in 2000.
They said, if George W. gets elected, our seniors will not get their
Social Security checks. You might remember that. In this campaign, as
we're coming down the stretch, tell your friends, George W. got elected
and the seniors got their checks. (Applause.) And the seniors will
continue to get their checks. And baby boomers like me, we're 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 worry about whether or not Social Security will be there when
they retire. So I believe younger workers ought to be able to take
some of their own money and put it in a personal savings account that
they own and that the government cannot take away. (Applause.)
Once again, my opponent takes a different approach. You know, he
talked about protecting Social Security. I want to remind you, and I
want you to remind your friends and neighbors, that he voted eight
times to tax Social Security benefits. That's his record. He can run,
but he cannot hide. (Applause.)
It's the job of the President to confront problems, not to pass
them on to future Presidents and future generations. The other night
at the debates, when I talked about Social Security, he defended the
status quo. He had nothing to offer to our younger workers. In a new
term, I'll bring Republicans and Democrats together and strengthen
Social Security so our children and our grandchildren will have a
system available for them when they retire. (Applause.)
And the fifth clear choice in this election is on the values that
are so crucial to keeping America's families strong. And here, my
opponent and I are miles apart. I stand for the appointment of federal
judges who know the difference between personal opinion and the strict
interpretation of the law. (Applause.) I believe marriage is a sacred
commitment. (Applause.) It is a pillar of our civilization. And I
will always defend it. This is not a partisan issue. When Congress
passed the Defense of Marriage Act during my predecessor's time,
defining marriage as a union of a man and a woman, the vast majority of
Democrats supported that bill, and my predecessor signed it into law.
But Senator Kerry was part of an out-of-the-mainstream minority that
voted against the Defense of Marriage Act.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: I believe reasonable people can find common ground
on difficult issues. Republicans and Democrats, and many citizens on
both sides of the life issue came together and agreed we should ban the
brutal practice of partial birth abortion. (Applause.) I signed that
law. But Senator Kerry was part of an out-of-the-mainstream minority
that voted against the ban.
In the course of this campaign, he said the heart and soul of
America can be found in Hollywood.
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: No, most American families do not look to Hollywood
as a source of values. The heart and soul of America is found in
places like Alamogordo, New Mexico. (Applause.)
All these choices make this one of the most important elections in
our history. The security and prosperity of our country, the health
and the education of families, the retirement of our seniors, the
direction of our culture are all at stake. And the decision is in the
best of hands -- it's in the hands of the American people.
I see a good day for America. I clearly see a better tomorrow for
all of us. One of my favorite quotes was written by a Texan from right
down the road, in El Paso, Texas. (Applause.) He said -- he said,
"Sarah and I live on the east side of the mountain. It's the sunrise
side, not the sunset side. It's the side to see the day that is
coming, not to see the day that is gone." (Applause.) You know, when
you really listen to the words in this campaign, my opponent has spent
much of this campaign talking about the day that is gone. I'm talking
about the day that is coming. (Applause.)
We've been through a lot together over the last
three-and-three-quarters years. Because we've done the hard work of
climbing the mountain, we see the valley below. We'll protect our
families. We'll build on our prosperity. We'll defend our deepest
values. We will spread freedom and liberty around the world, and that
will help us keep the peace we all want.
You know, when I campaigned in New Mexico four years ago, asking
for the vote, I said that if you gave me the honor to serve I would
uphold the honor and the dignity of the office to which I had been
elected. With your help, I will do so for four more years.
God bless. Thanks for coming. (Applause.) I appreciate you all.
(Applause.)
END 4:23 P.M. MDT
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