Remarks at a Republican
Campaign Rally in
The President. Thank you, John, and
thank you for that great music to the Kickapoo Chiefs
High School Band, the Bolivar Liberators High School Band, and the Southwest
Baptist University Bearcats Band. And let me say a special hello to Wayne
Newton; Tom Fowler -- [applause] -- to a great Congressman, Gene Taylor; and a
great future Congressman and author of Missouri's tax-limiting Hancock
amendment, Mel Hancock; and one of America's best Governors, John Ashcroft. And
let me say here that as we've worked to restore respect for values and basics
in our nation's schools, no Governor has done more to blaze the trail than John
Ashcroft.
And
one other thing: As our administration set America on the path of what is now
the longest peacetime expansion on record and as we negotiated the first real
reduction in U.S. and Soviet nuclear missiles in world history, no one has been
a better ally in the Senate than Kit Bond or Jack Danforth.
And
I can't go any farther without a hello to some fellows that I have a personal
link to at
You
know, I watched a certain debate a couple of weeks ago. I don't often feel
sorry for liberals, but I came close. [Laughter] I couldn't help thinking the
problem with those fellows on the other side is not camera angles or lighting.
It's not whether their candidate is likable or not. No, it's the very thing
that they've spent this campaign trying desperately to hide. When our liberal
friends refuse even to whisper the ``L'' word and insist that this election is
not about ideology, it's about competence, they're just acknowledging that
where they want to take
But
you know, the American people always have a way of
figuring out the facts. Our liberal friends have spent the last 3 months trying
to dress up their agenda in our clothes, but somehow nothing fits. When they
say ``opportunity,'' they mean ``subsidies.'' When they say ``reducing the
deficit,'' they mean ``raising taxes.'' And when they say ``strong defense,''
they mean ``cut defense spending.'' No wonder their favorite machine is the snowblower. They talk about it being time for a change.
Well, where have they been these last 8 years? We are the change. We began it 8
years ago. And the choice this year is to go back to the stagnant status quo of
the past or to go forward with the change.
When
George Bush and I took office,
I
was so surprised to find out a certain figure that I think you would be, too.
When I said that about this proportion of Americans, do you know that what the
statisticians called the potential employment pool is everyone, male and
female, from 16 years of age on up, all the way. In other words, the total
population of the
Between
1977 and 1981 -- I don't know why I pick those years -- [laughter] -- the real
income of the typical American family dropped 7 percent. Since then, it's
soared more than 10 percent. Now, think of what reducing mortgage interest
rates by over a third means to young families seeking to purchase a new home.
Think of what reducing inflation to a third of what it was means to families
seeking to protect their life savings. And think of what our tax reduction
program has meant to families, most of whom now pay a top rate of only 15
percent. Yes, what you heard in a recent debate, I've heard echoed in my talks
with the leaders of many other nations. Today they tell me the
Audience members.
The President. You're right. Yes,
we've come a long way in the last 8 years, but, my friends, everything that you
and I and George Bush have worked for these last 8 years, everything, could be
lost faster than you can say gun control. [Laughter] The liberals talk about
reaching for the center, but from the economy to national defense they've taken
positions only a McGovern could love.
We've
achieved arms reduction agreements with the Soviets and a new
warmth in relations not through weakness but through our policy of peace
through strength. You know, you'd think our liberal friends would have learned
from that. But not long ago former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger wrote
that their ticket this year seems to be, in his words, ``viscerally
antimilitary.'' They'd cut the B - 1 bomber. They'd cut the MX missiles, our
strategic defense against ballistic missiles. And if they had their way, and
what they proposed already, we would have to get rid of two carrier battle groups
in the Navy.
Audience members. No! No! No!
The President. You know, in fact, what
they plan for the Navy is so bad that by the time they get through, Michael may
have to row the boat ashore.
Now,
our liberal friends have promised that come January the Reagan era is over -- --
Audience members. No! No! No!
The President. -- -- and their era will just be
beginning. Let me ask you something, and could you give me an answer loud
enough so they can hear it all the way to
Audience members. No!
The President. Do you want our foreign
policy in the hands of those who criticized our rescue mission in
Audience members. No!
The President. I guess what I'm asking
is: Do you want the liberals in control in
Audience members. No!
The President. You just made my day.
Yes, we've accomplished much these last 8 years, but we could have accomplished
even more -- including, I believe, balancing the budget -- if both Houses of
Congress had been friendly. Ours is a system of three equal branches of
government. Two branches, the President and Congress, are chosen by election.
The third, the courts, is chosen by the other two. When you vote for a
candidate for the House or Senate, you're voting for the direction of the
country and the world as much as when you're voting for President.
So,
if we're going to keep the liberals out of the White House, shouldn't we ask:
Since we must ride two horses, Congress and the President, across every stream,
shouldn't they both be going in the same direction? We don't want a President
who would raise taxes. Why elect a Congress that would? We don't want a
big-spending President. Why should we want a big-spending Congress? We don't
want a President who would cut our defenses. Why vote for a Congress that wants
to do that?
You
know, I once belonged to the party of Harry Truman. I'll let you in on a little
secret: I still do. I know it's often said that the once-proud party of Harry
Truman is dead and gone, that the left has taken over its leadership and now
defines it, especially its liberal leadership in Congress -- an old label on a
new and very different package. But you know something? The party of Harry
Truman couldn't be killed. Harry Truman's party believed in working Americans
and in keeping America's defenses strong and, yes, in ``one nation under God.''
And today the party that believes in that is stronger than ever. It's called
the Republican Party.
You
see, the secret is: When we left the Democratic Party -- or when they left -- I
should say, took over the Democratic Party, then we took over the Republican
Party. So, yes, today Harry Truman's party is the Republican Party, and it's
time to give that party a bigger stick in the Congress and cut the liberals
down to size.
So,
let me ask you one or two more questions, and again, I hope you'll shout your
answers so they can be heard all the way to
Do
you want a Congress that will work with George Bush, and not against him?
Audience members. Yes!
The President. Do you want a new
Congress where the liberals are no longer running the show?
Audience members. Yes!
The President. Will you turn out and
get your friends to turn out on election day and send
Mel Hancock to the House of Representatives?
Audience members. Yes!
The President. Will you go vote and
get your friends to go vote and keep George Bush's friend and my friend, Jack Danforth, in the United States Senate?
Audience members. Yes!
The President. Will you keep a friend
of ours in the Governor's chair -- John Ashcroft? [Applause] And will you give
him help he can rely on and make R.B. Grisham part of that great statewide
team?
Audience members. Yes! R.B.! R.B.! R.B.!
The President. You know, what they say
is true: This year
I
mentioned voting a few moments ago. Earlier this year I had the privilege of
doing something I never thought an American President would be able to do.
There, at the
The
race is still up for grabs. So, in closing, I'd just ask you to take history in
your hands. You and I work much too hard to cut your taxes to let our opponents
come into office and raise them all over again. So, on November 8th, go into
that polling booth and do some negative campaigning of your own -- the right
kind of negative campaigning. Say no to new taxes, and say
yes to the Republican ticket. And if you don't mind one last personal request:
Win one for the Gipper!
Thank
you, and God bless you all.
Note: The President
spoke at