President's Remarks at an Ask President Bush Event in Clive, Iowa7 Flags Event CenterClive, Iowa 12:21 P.M. CDT THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Thanks for coming. Thanks forbeing here. Please be seated; we've got to get started. I've got somethings I want to tell you. First thing I'm going to tell you is I'm here asking for the votein Clive, Iowa. (Applause.) I'm enjoying this campaign. It gives mea chance to get out among the people and tell people what I believe andwhere I stand and where I'm going to lead this country for the nextfour years. I'm here also to ask for your help. There's no doubt inmy mind, with your help we'll carry Iowa and win a great victory inNovember. (Applause.) Thank you all. They tell me I'm the first sitting President ever to visit Clive.(Applause.) I don't know what took all the other ones so long to gethere -- (laughter) -- but thanks for being here. I wish Laura werehere. (Applause.) Imagine this conversation: Will you marry me?Fine, just so long as I never have to give a speech. (Laughter.) Isaid, okay. (Laughter.) Fortunately, she didn't hold me to thepromise, because when people see Laura they see a strong,compassionate, fine, fine First Lady. (Applause.) I think in thecourse of the campaign you have to tell people why they should vote foryou, that's what I'm here to do. But perhaps the most important reasonof all is so that Laura will be the First Lady for four more years.(Applause.) Today, I'm going to talk to some of your fellow citizens about whyour policies make sense, and I'd like to answer some questions if youhave some. Before I do that, I do want to introduce some peopletraveling with me. First, I do want to thank the next congressman fromthe 3rd congressional district, Stan Thompson. He's a good member, Ihope you put him in office. (Applause.) I'm here to tell you he oughtto be the next United States Congressman. (Applause.) I appreciate members of the U.S. Congress from the Iowa delegationfor coming. From the east side of the state, Jim Nussle and Jim Leach,two really fine friends. And I appreciate you all being here.(Applause.) Thanks for coming. Leach is a longtime member, one of themost decent men you'll ever meet. Chairman Nussle is the chairman ofthe Budget committee, making sure that the Iowa taxpayers' monies iswell-spent in Washington. I also want to thank Tom Latham, from northwest Iowa, for beinghere today. Congressman, thanks for coming. Proud you're here.(Applause.) And I just signed an important piece of legislation makinga lot of the tax relief -- extending a lot of the tax relief for fiveyears. And I was able to stand on stage with the Chairman of theSenate Finance Committee, Chuck Grassley. (Applause.) He's a goodman. He went back to Washington. I told him if he'd suffer throughone of my speeches, I'd give him a ride back. (Laughter.) But he'sfrugal. (Laughter.) I also told the people, I said, I'm reallygetting to be good friends with Chuck Grassley, for a reason. Thesouth lawn of the White House -- (laughter) -- is mighty big, and we'relooking for a good mower. (Laughter and applause.) I want to thank the state auditor, David Vaudt, for being here. Iappreciate you coming, David. I want to thank the Senate PresidentLamberti, as well as my friend Stew Iverson, the Majority Leader.Thank you all for coming. Good to see you all. Big Stew, lookinggood. (Applause.) Stew has got that same hair style as the VicePresident. (Laughter.) By the way, I didn't pick the Vice President because of his hair.(Laughter.) I picked him because he's a man of great judgment,wonderful experience, a guy who can get the job done for the Americanpeople. (Applause.) I want to thank David Roederer, the chairman of the Bush/Cheneycampaign. I want to thank all the grassroots activists, the peopleputting up the signs and making the phone calls and registering thevoters. I can't thank you enough for what you're going to do, which isto work as we're coming down the stretch. (Applause.) It really meansa lot. It really means a lot. I'm running because I want this country to be a safer country and amore hopeful country. I understand that we're living in changingtimes, and the institutions of government must change with thosetimes. See, my philosophy of government is that government ought tohelp people realize the great opportunities of our country, not tellyou how to live your lives. (Applause.) There's a fundamentaldifference in this campaign about government philosophy. When I say "changing institutions," I'm talking about the laborlaws need to change with the times. Think about this fact: 30 yearsago, most women stayed at home; today, most women are working insidethe house and outside the house, yet, the labor laws reflect yesterday,not tomorrow. I believe the labor laws ought to change and haveflex-time for workers, so that they can better manage their familiesand their work loads. (Applause.) The retirement systems were designed for yesterday. I believe theyought to be designed for tomorrow. Let me tell you about my plans forSocial Security. First of all, you might remember the campaign in 2000-- Latham reminded me of it. When they were running they said, ifGeorge W. gets elected, he's going to take away your Social Securitycheck. Remember those ads? Well, you remind your friends andneighbors you got your check. (Applause.) That's the same old stalepolitical rhetoric. (Applause.) You'll hear it again this time, too. And baby-boomers, we're in good shape when it comes to SocialSecurity. But it's the youngsters who have to pay for the baby-boomersretirement we better worry about. That's why I believe we ought toallow young workers to take some of their own tax money and set up apersonal savings account that will earn better interest in the SocialSecurity trust today, so they can be able to more likely get thebenefits of the Social Security system; a personal savings account theycall their own; a personal savings account they can pass on to theirkids or grandkids; and a personal savings account that the governmentwill not take away. (Applause.) We've got to make sure that our worker training programs work.They were designed for yesterday. They need to be designed fortomorrow. Listen, in this changing world of ours, it requires --oftentimes requires new skills. These jobs are new jobs, the jobs ofthe 21st century. Just look at the health care industry. It's abooming part of our economy; yet, oftentimes, people don't have theskills necessary to fill those jobs. So one of the things governmentmust do is make sure the Workforce Investment program works; make surethere's access to our community college system; expand Pell grants andexpand government help for workers. This is the kind of thing that is necessary to make sure peoplehave the skills necessary to fill the jobs of the 21st century. And doyou realize that most new jobs in America now require at least twoyears of college; yet, one in four of our students gets there? Andthat's why it's essential we keep working on No Child Left Behind, tomake sure every child has got the skills necessary to read and writeand add and subtract. (Applause.) I'm looking forward to discussing No Child Left Behind with theAmerican people. You might remember there were times when they wouldjust move kids through school, grade after grade, year after year,without teaching the basics. I don't think that's right. That's whatI call -- that's why I went to -- when I say I went to Washington tochallenge the soft bigotry of low expectations, that's what I'm talkingabout. Expectations were so low that they just moved kids through.We've changed that. We're raising the bar. We believe in localcontrol of schools, but we're now saying, in return for increasedfederal spending, measure. Show us whether or not a child can read.Let's correct problems early, before it is too late. We've got to stop this business about shuffling kids throughschool, and we are. There's an achievement gap in America that'sbeginning to close. But there's more to be done. I believe we oughtto have intermediate help programs for at-risk students in highschool. We ought to emphasize math and science. We ought to expandPell grants for low-and middle-income families. We want more of thekids graduating from college being able to fill the jobs of the 21stcentury. That's how you make sure this country is a hopeful place.(Applause.) In changing times, it helps to own something. It brings stabilityto your life. I'm proud of the fact that home ownership rates are atan all-time high in America under my administration. (Applause.) Andso we got plans to make sure home ownership is spread to every cornerof America. Speaking about ownership, it helps when somebody owns their ownhealth care account in changing times. There's a big difference ofopinion about health care in this campaign. I believe the decisionsought to be made by you and your doctor. My opponent believes that thefederal government ought to be making your decisions. AUDIENCE: Booo! THE PRESIDENT: Yes. That's what I call -- he's got a systemthat's creeping toward "Hillary Care." (Laughter and applause.) I got a common-sense, practical way of making sure health care isavailable and affordable. I'm a big believer in community healthcenters. That's where the poor and the indigent can get primary andpreventative care. I believe every poor county in America ought tohave a community health center to make sure health care is availablefor people. I believe we ought to make sure that the children's healthcare program for low-income families is fully subscribed. To make sure health care is affordable, I want to help the smallbusinesses afford health care. Do you realize 50 percent of theuninsured today work for small businesses? Small businesses are havingtrouble affording health care. I believe they ought to be allowed topool risk with other small businesses so they can afford insurance atthe same discount big businesses get. (Applause.) I believe in health savings accounts: individualized healthsavings accounts that provide for catastrophic care, and tax-freesavings for routine medical costs. It's a plan that you own. When youchange jobs, or if you change jobs, you take your health care with your-- with wherever you go. These are innovative, common-sense ways tomake sure that health care is available and affordable. I'll tell you another thing we need to do about health care costs.We got to do something about these frivolous lawsuits that are runningup the costs on small businesses. (Applause.) You cannot bepro-doctor, pro-patient, and pro-trial lawyer at the same time.(Laughter.) I think you have to choose. My opponent made his choice,and he put a trial lawyer on the ticket. I made my choice: I'm formedical liability reform -- now. (Applause.) Let me talk about Medicare right quick. I went to Washington tofix problems, not to pass them on to future Presidents. I thoughtMedicare needed to be fixed. It's a very important program. Yet, asmedicine modernized, Medicare was not modernizing with it. And I'llgive you an example. Medicare would pay $100,000 or so for heartsurgery, but not one dime for the prescription drugs that would preventthe heart surgery from being needed in the first place. That didn'tmake any sense for our seniors. It did not make any sense for thetaxpayers. So I worked with Democrats and Republicans to modernizeMedicare. And starting in 2006, our seniors will get a prescriptiondrug benefit in Medicare. (Applause.) And today our seniors can signup for a drug discount card; 4.4 million seniors have done so, in orderto derive substantial savings at their local pharmacies. We're making a difference when it comes to health care. But all wedo to make sure health care is available and affordable, we'll makesure the decision making is between patient and doctor, not betweenbureaucrats in the nation's capital. (Applause.) It's important to make sure America is a hopeful place, by growingour economy. I want you to tell your friends and neighbors and remindthem what we have been through. The stock market was in significantdecline prior to my arrival in Washington, D.C. That was an indicatorthat something was taking place in the economy, and, sure enough, wehad a recession. And the recession hurt us, but so did the corporatescandals. You know, our economy is based upon trust. And when some ofour citizens didn't tell the truth, it shook our confidence and hurtour economy. We passed tough laws and that made it abundantly clearthat we're not going to tolerate dishonesty in the boardrooms ofAmerica. (Applause.) And then the attacks hurt us. And then we got attacked. OnSeptember the 11th, 2001, our nation was brutally attacked, and thoseattacks cost us a million jobs during the three months after Septemberthe 11th. Think about what we've been through as an economy:recession, attack, corporate scandal. And, yet, the economy is strongand it's getting strong. It's growing at rates as fast as nearly inany 20 years. Your great state of Iowa has got a farm economy that'sreally strong. Unemployment rate in this state is 4.5 percent. Thenational unemployment rate is 5.4 percent -- lower than the average ofthe 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. (Applause.) And people say, how did it happen? How did we get out of thisrecession so quickly? One reason is we've got great workers.Secondly, the entrepreneurial spirit is strong in America. More andmore people are owning their own small business. Thirdly, we hadwell-timed tax cuts. (Applause.) Those tax cuts left more money inthe hands who earned it. People had more money to spend. (Applause.) The tax cuts also helped to stimulate the job creators. Not onlydid we help to stimulate demand, but we helped to stimulate the jobcreators. See, 70 percent of new jobs in America are created by smallbusiness owners. Ninety percent of small businesses pay tax at theindividual income tax rate, because they're either subchapter-Scorporation or a sole proprietorship -- those are legal terms whichbasically mean they pay an individual income tax. And so when you cutindividual income taxes on everybody who pays taxes, you're reallyhelping our small businesses. And when you help the small businesses,you help the job creators. And when you help the job creators,somebody is more likely to find work. We've added 1.7 million jobssince August of 2003. The tax relief plan is making a difference.(Applause.) And there's a difference in taxes in this campaign. There's a bigdifference. I've lowered taxes and my opponent wants to raise taxes. AUDIENCE: Booo! THE PRESIDENT: You may have noticed, he changes positions quitefrequently. (Laughter.) But not on taxes. (Laughter.) During his 20years in the Senate, he's voted to raise your taxes 98 times. AUDIENCE: Booo! THE PRESIDENT: Now, all of a sudden, he's saying, well, he's for amiddle class tax relief. Except he voted against raising the childcredit. He voted against reducing the marriage penalty. He votedagainst creating a 10 percent bracket, which helps low-incomeAmericans. Plus, he's proposed $2.2 trillion in new federal spending.And so how -- he said -- they asked him, how are you going to pay forit? And he said, oh, I'll just tax the rich. We've heard that before,haven't we? Well, I want you to remember one thing. We're about to talk to abusiness owner that will be affected by the so-called tax-the-richpolicy. If most small businesses pay individual income taxes, and youraise the top two brackets, you're taxing job creators. And that's badeconomic policy, to be taxing the people who are creating the newjobs. If you want more jobs, you keep people's taxes low, not run themup. (Applause.) If you propose $2.2 trillion, and you only raise a little over $600billion by raising the top two brackets, there's a gap. (Laughter.)Two-point-two trillion in spending, a little over $600 billion inrevenues raised, means you've got to fill the hole. You've got to findadditional taxes if you're going to fulfill your promises. And guesswho ends up paying? Every time somebody out of Washington makes thepromises and falls short of being able to raise the revenues, they'regoing to tax the middle class every singe time, aren't they? Let me tell you one other problem he has with that. He says, oh,I'm just going to tax the rich. Well, the rich hire lawyers andaccountants for a reason -- that's to stick you with the tab. Butwe're not going to let him tax you, we're going to carry Iowa and thecountry in November. (Applause.) A couple other points I want to make and then I -- then I want totalk to some of our citizens. It's one thing to have overcomeobstacles and get the economy growing, the fundamental question is,what do you intend to do to keep it growing? Now that we're on thetrack to recovery, how do you make sure the recovery is lasting? Hereare some ideas for you. In order to make sure jobs stay here in America, America must bethe best place in the world to do business. That means lessregulations. My opponent's plan is increase regulations. I believe inproviding regulatory relief. If you want to keep jobs here in America,there needs to be fewer frivolous lawsuits that make it hard foremployers to expand the job base. (Applause.) If we want to keep jobshere in America, Congress needs to pass my energy plan. You can't havea growing economy unless we have a reasonable energy plan, an energyplan that encourages conservation, that provides money for research anddevelopment, so that we can develop alternative sources of energy; anenergy plan that relies upon ethanol and biodiesel to help us becomeless dependant on foreign sources of energy -- (applause) -- an energyplan that uses technology so we can burn the coal of our country; anenergy plan which encourages the aspiration for natural gas inenvironmentally friendly ways. To keep jobs here we must become lessdependant on foreign sources of energy. (Applause.) To keep jobs here we've got to open up markets. One reason Iowa'sfarmers are doing so well -- I fulfilled a promise. I said: If you letme be President I'll work to make sure you can sell your crops anywherein the world; and it's making a difference. We're selling a lot of soybeans to China. (Applause.) And that's the task of the President. See, you'll hear some talk about, you know, reviewing tradeagreements. That's really kind of hinting about economicisolationism. That makes no sense for Iowa workers, and farmers, andsmall business owners. It makes no sense to wall ourselves off fromthe world. What we ought to be doing is opening up markets. We'veopened up our markets for foreign goods and it's good for you. Ifyou've got more products to choose from, you're likely to get what youwant at a better price and higher quality, that's how the marketworks. So what the President ought to be doing is what I'm doing,which is saying: China, you treat us the way we treat you. Saying tothe world: Open up your markets the way we've opened up our markets.And I'm saying that with confidence because I know we can compete withanybody, anytime, anywhere so long as the rules are fair. (Applause.) One thing I forgot to mention about the Medicare Plan that Chuckand I worked on, along with the members of Congress, is that weunderstood under Medicare Iowa's hospitals weren't being treatedfairly. I remember that clearly when I campaigned here in 2000. WhenI was knocking on doors I can remember a lot of the citizens here weresaying, now, if you get up there do something about the ruralhospitals, make sure Iowa's hospitals are treated fairly. Idelivered. So did Chuck Grassley, so did these members of Congress.Iowa's hospitals are being treated fairly under the new Medicare law.(Applause.) In order to make sure this economy grows we've got to keep people'staxes low. We need to make sure the tax relief we pass is permanent.Today, I singed a piece of legislation that extended the child credit,marriage penalty and the 10 percent bracket for five more years.(Applause.) And we're about to talk to a family -- Bobbi and Ricardo Ramirezare with us. Thanks for coming. I've asked them to join us because Iwant you to hear their story. You know a lot of times politicianstalk, or economists talk about tax relief this, tax relief that -- butI always think it's good to put a face on it, let people know exactlywhat the tax relief has meant. What do you do? What do you all do? MRS. RAMIREZ: My husband works for Knapp Properties, he's aresidential maintenance worker, and I'm a stay at home mother. THE PRESIDENT: Very good. And how many kids we got? MRS. RAMIREZ: We have three girls. THE PRESIDENT: There they are. Hi, girls. Good to see you.Thanks for coming. (Applause.) And so tax relief? MRS. RAMIREZ: Tax relief has been a huge blessing for us. THE PRESIDENT: How much did you save? MRS. RAMIREZ: We saved about $1,700. (Applause.) THE PRESIDENT: Yes. That's probably not a lot when you're workingup in Washington -- (laughter) -- it's a lot for this family. It'stheir money to begin with. (Applause.) What did you do? What did you do with the money? MRS. RAMIREZ: We were able to use the money mostly for ourchildren, to be able to get them school clothes, and school suppliesand extra curricular activities that maybe we normally would not havebeen able to do, like softball and dancing and things like that. THE PRESIDENT: Yes. They were able to use the money so they coulddo their job as a mom and dad. When you think about it -- (applause)-- they were able to fulfill -- begin to fill ambitions for theirfamily. (Applause.) That's what tax relief means. It not only helpsthe economy -- just remember they said, we were able to go out and buysome school supplies. Well, when somebody shows up to buy schoolsupplies, it means somebody has got to make those school supplies.Somebody makes them, somebody is going to work. But, equallyimportantly, these people with more money were able to begin to realizedreams for their children. Tax relief was important. You also did something with your home. MRS. RAMIREZ: We did. We refinanced our home, and we were able to-- in the amount that we saved for interest, we didn't raise ourmonthly payment, but we were able to build on and put an addition ontoour home. THE PRESIDENT: Right, and refinancing their home -- low interestrate -- (applause.) Low interest rates, good fiscal policy meant theywere able to improve their home. Nothing better than hearing somebodystand up and say, I'm improving my home; this is my piece of property.(Applause.) That's what the American experience is all about, isn'tit? And tax relief helps. (Applause.) Do you realize that had we not extended the tax relief, this goodfamily would have paid $600 additional in taxes last year -- nextyear? See, that's $600. The fundamental question in this campaign is,who do you want spending the people's money? Now, look, I think weneed to set priorities -- that's why I work with Chairman Nussle, toset priorities. But I believe that after we fund our priorities, theRamirez family can spend their money better than the federal governmentcan. (Applause.) I'd like to -- Jeff Henning is with us. Jeff, thanks for coming. MR. HENNING: Good afternoon, Mr. President. THE PRESIDENT: Straight out of Johnstown, Iowa. (Laughter.) MR. HENNING: Close, Mr. President. THE PRESIDENT: Good to have you. MR. HENNING: You, too. THE PRESIDENT: You run what? MR. HENNING: Henning Construction Company. THE PRESIDENT: Henning Construction Company. That's -- since yourname is Jeff Henning, I presume you own it. MR. HENNING: Yes, I own the store. (Laughter.) THE PRESIDENT: That's good. Did you start it? MR. HENNING: My grandfather started it in 1924. THE PRESIDENT: Oh, fantastic. Isn't that interesting?(Applause.) And so give me a sense of the business. MR. HENNING: We are general contractors. As I say, we have fourgenerations. Our business and our customers have come to us as aresult of the tax bonus act, and said, we need to make investment, wewant to take advantage of this. Therefore, our business has grown by60 percent this year. THE PRESIDENT: See, what he's saying is, is that part of the taxcode incented small businesses to invest. If they invested, they gottax relief. Investment means spend money. And so one of the thingsthey spent money on, I take it, was something you had to build. MR. HENNING: That's correct. We build buildings and equipment forour customers, and we had to make substantial investments, ourselves,in order to equip those troops to do that work. THE PRESIDENT: Yes. So what did you buy? MR. HENNING: We bought forklifts, equipment, trucks, vehicles -- THE PRESIDENT: Somebody had to make them. See, here's how theeconomy works. Good tax policy says to Jeff or his customers, invest.And when he invests, somebody has to make the product he buys. And soit has a ripple effect. And we'd rather that ripple effect be done inthe private sector. That's what we're beginning to see in thiscountry. Have you hired anybody? MR. HENNING: Yes, we have. We've hired 56 people additional thisyear -- THE PRESIDENT: This year? Yeah! (Applause.) All of them live inJohnstown? MR. HENNING: No, Mr. President, they're all over the United Statesof America. THE PRESIDENT: Really? This guy has got quite a far reach.(Laughter.) He is a intercontinental businessman. (Laughter.) Let meask you this: You were talking to me about your concerns about thedeath tax. Why? MR. HENNING: Well, Mr. President, we just went through some estateplanning. We have two daughters in the business, and in order for usto be able to pass this on, they would have to sell the business ifsomething happened if we didn't take care of it. THE PRESIDENT: See, this is a problem in America, and we're aboutto talk to a farmer who can relate to it, as well. But it's a problemwhen you've got a family-owned business and the tax code forces you tosell it. I think we need to simplify the tax code, and one way tosimplify it is to get rid of the death tax forever. (Applause.) Good job. Oh, wait a minute. I got one other point. Hold on. Igot one other thing to tell you about this good man. He's an S corp.That's one of those companies that pays taxes at the individual incometax rate. MR. HENNING: That's correct. THE PRESIDENT: Yes, see, I wasn't making it up. (Laughter.) Andso when you hear them say, tax the rich, think about Jeff. That's theso-called rich. He hired 54 people this year. And I'm going to tellyou, when they start taking money out of employers' pockets like him,he's going to be less likely to hire somebody. If we want to keep thisjob -- this recovery growing and people being able to find work, weshould not be taxing Jeff Henning's company. We ought to beencouraging his company to expand and grow. (Applause.) And my opponent doesn't understand that. Either he doesn'tunderstand it, or he doesn't care, because he wants more money for thefederal government. Let's talk to Craig Lang. Yarrabee Farms, straight out ofBrooklyn. And I'm talking Brooklyn, Iowa. (Laughter.) MR. LANG: Yes, that's right. THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for coming. MR. LANG: Thank you. THE PRESIDENT: Tell us about your farm. MR. LANG: Well, I'm fifth generation farmer. My great-greatgrandfather walked from Ohio to Brooklyn, Iowa back in 1860, and we'vehad that farm in our family ever since. And we not only own it, wealso operate it. THE PRESIDENT: That's good, yes. How's the farm economy? MR. LANG: It's great. It was wonderful to hear you talk aboutworld trade -- in Iowa, 30 percent -- everything that the farmerproduces in Iowa is sold somewhere outside of our borders. It's justabsolutely important that we're competitive as farmers in the worldmarket, and your administration is allowing us to do that. (Applause.) THE PRESIDENT: Actually, our administration is creating theconditions for somebody who knows what they're doing to be able tosucceed. We can't make you succeed. That's up to you. (Applause.)All we can do is create the conditions, the opportunity, by opening upmarkets and have good tax policy. Did the tax policy help you? MR. LANG: That's right, the reduction tax policy, the incomeexpensing, all those things have been very important this year. We'vehad one of the best years -- my brother, my father, and myself. Infact, it's been such a great year that we're -- right now we're workingwith an attorney and CPA and -- THE PRESIDENT: That's a heck of a year if you've got to hire anattorney. (Laughter.) MR. LANG: -- to make sure that at the time of a death, that theestate taxes aren't a burden on our family, so the next generationbeside me can have the opportunity to operate that farm, too.(Applause.) THE PRESIDENT: Yes, see, that's a problem, isn't it? Here's agood man who is trying to figure out ways to pass his farm on, so hehas to hire a lawyer and an accountant to do it. And, again, this iswhere the death tax makes a huge difference. And people got understandout there listening that if you own a farm sometimes you don't havemuch liquidity. And in order to pay the tax you actually have to sellthe farm in order to be able to pay the tax. I hope that's an unintended consequence of the fellows who wrotethe death tax years ago, but it's a lousy consequence. And that's whywe got to get rid of this death tax, we want farms to stay family tofamily if that's what the owners choose to do. We want people to makedecisions. (Applause.) I appreciate you. Finally, Hank Evans is here. Hank, thanks for coming. We've got amic headed your way. You are the owner of? MR. EVANS: AFGHAN Johnson Millwork Company. THE PRESIDENT: And where are you? Des Moines -- right here. MR. EVANS: We're in West Des Moines. THE PRESIDENT: Very good, thanks for coming. What do you do? MR. EVANS: We custom build architectural millwork and we buildthings like teller lines, reception desks and nurses stations. THE PRESIDENT: Really? MR. EVANS: Store fixtures. THE PRESIDENT: Must we doing well -- a lot of nurses. MR. EVANS: It's been a good year, sir. THE PRESIDENT: A couple of points that we want to talk about Hankabout is one, he's concerned about the health care costs of hiscompany, at least you told me you were backstage. MR. EVANS: Yes, Mr. President, our health care has gone up about20 percent on average over the last half dozen years. A number ofyears ago, through the Association of Business and Industry, we had agroup health plan for all the members of that association, 2,000 ofthem. When the law changed we were no longer able to do that, and as aresult the level of health care we've been able to offer is not onlyhad the cost has gone up, but the quality has gone down. We would loveto see the ability for that association to again offer health care. Itwould allow us hire and attract and keep better workers and offer thema better plan. THE PRESIDENT: Right. Was this a health care association planjust for Iowa? MR. EVANS: It was, yes; the Iowa Association of Business andIndustry. THE PRESIDENT: Basically what he's saying is -- and here is whatwe're talking about, see -- a stand-alone purchaser of health, likeHank, means he's not going to be able to afford a policy relative tobeing able to have others bid with him. In other words, the morepeople you have to spread risk, the lower the cost of your insurance isgoing to be. That makes sense, doesn't it? And so if you're a smallerbusiness and stand-alone trying to purchase insurance in themarketplace, it's going to be a lot higher than if you had others toshare the risk with you. And here in Iowa, evidently, you had thecapacity to do that, but law changed. MR. EVANS: Yes, it did. THE PRESIDENT: See, what I believe we need to do is let Hank andhis company pool with people not only in Iowa, but in other states.The bigger the pool the less costly the insurance. But federal lawwon't let us do that now. And my opponent doesn't want that tohappen. I think it makes sense to have it happen because I want Hankmaking the health care decisions. I don't want there to be a greatfederal pool -- (applause.) He's done something else very interesting. Remember I was talkingabout making sure the work force training programs work, actually meansomething. Explain what you've done. This is a fantastic story. MR. EVANS: Well, trying to find cabinet makers is about liketrying to find hens teeth, Mr. President -- they're very scarce. THE PRESIDENT: Really? (Laughter.) MR. EVANS: We've had difficulty for years finding good workers.So about three years ago we went to the local community college, DMAC,up in Ackley, and we set up on an architectural mill worker trainingprogram. It's a year-long program, we're training 16 kids a year nowto be architectural mill workers and cabinet makers. THE PRESIDENT: Isn't that something? Community colleges aregreat. (Applause.) I'll tell you something really interesting. Thinkabout the attractiveness of the community college system. Curriculumchange, if need be. In other words, if there's a demand for workers,the community college can change curriculum, or adapt curriculum, orcome up with curriculum necessary to train those workers for the jobswhich actually exist. And all of a sudden, here you have an employerthat says, I'm going to be creative. I'm going to work with the localeducation institute to help people get the skills necessary to actuallywork. In the old days, some of these worker training programs, they'dtrain people for jobs which didn't exist. Now we got an opportunity totrain people for jobs which actually exist. And that's why I'm goingto ask Congress to spend $250 million to make sure industry-typeprograms with community colleges are expanded. People want to work;they don't have the skills sometimes. And we can do -- provide skillsin a creative way, just like Hank has done, so people can realize theirdreams here in this country. (Applause.) Thanks for coming. MR. EVANS: Thank you. THE PRESIDENT: I want you to know that in changing times, somethings don't change -- the values we try to live by: courage andcompassion, reverence and integrity. We stand for a culture of life inwhich every person matters and every person counts. (Applause.) Westand for marriage and family, which are the foundations of oursociety. (Applause.) And we stand for judges who know the differencebetween personal opinion and the strict interpretation of the law.(Applause.) Okay, a couple of other points. I got some other things I got totell you. I just saw somebody stand up with an "Army Wife for Bush"shirt. I'm going to talk about -- (applause.) Thank you. That's whatI want to talk about, a safer America. My most solemn duty is toprotect you. My most solemn obligation as the President is to doeverything in our power to prevent harm to the American people. You know, as I was campaigning here in 2000, I never dreamt thatwe'd be attacked the way we were. Nobody asked for this attack inAmerica. But since they came, we're going to deal with it. I want toshare some thoughts with you. Let me share some thoughts with you.(Applause.) Let me share some thoughts with you about what I have learned andwhat I hope the country has learned. First of all, we're dealing witha -- with an enemy that has no conscience. Today, if you noticed,there was a car bomb near a school. These people are brutal. They --they're the exact opposite of Americans. We value life and humandignity; they don't care about life and human dignity. We believe infreedom; they have an ideology of hate. And they're tough, but not astough as America. (Applause.) It's really important for people tounderstand you cannot negotiate with these people, you cannot hope forthe best. We must -- we must chase them down all around the world, sowe do not have to face them here at home. That's lesson number one, berelentless and determined, never yield. (Applause.) Secondly, that this is a different kind of war that requires adifferent kind of strategy. And it's really important for you torealize that these people -- their ambition is beyond just a singleattack. Their ambition is to take over countries from which they canspread their ideology of hate. That's why they were in Afghanistan.They're like a parasite, hopefully being able to overcome a weak host.And they were in the process of doing that. And so I laid out a doctrine that said, if you harbor a terrorist,you're equally as guilty as the terrorist. Now, when the Presidentsays something, I believe the President must speak clearly, and when hesays something, must mean what he says. I meant what I said(Applause.) And thanks to our military, the Taliban got routed. Now, let me tell you about the Taliban. Their vision was so darkthat many young girls were not allowed to go to school. It's hard forpeople in America to imagine that, but that's the way it was. And iftheir mothers, or if the women of that country didn't toe the line,they'd be taken out into the public square and whipped, or killed.These people were barbarians. And by routing them out, by topplingtheir government, not only did we deny al Qaeda a safe haven, but wehave liberated people. And I want you to hear this statistic. I think it's one of themost powerful statistics of the 21st century. Because we acted, 10million citizens in that country, 41 percent of whom are women, haveregistered to vote in the October 9th presidential election. Amazing,isn't it? (Applause.) It's an amazing statistic. The way I like todescribe it is people are emerging from darkness to light because offreedom. And it's in our interests that Afghanistan be free. It's inour interests that we have an ally in the war on terror. It's in ourinterests that we have a model of freedom in a part of the world wherefreedom is desperately needed. The third lesson is, when we see threats, we must deal with thembefore they fully materialize. When we see a threat -- see, in the olddays we'd see a threat and we'd say, well, maybe this threat will -- weneed to deal with, or maybe we don't. But we never thought it wouldcome to hurt us. Every threat now must be taken seriously. We scanthe world, watching very carefully -- if our job is to protect you,then we just got to watch every threat seriously. And we saw, I saw, my administration saw -- Congress saw, by theway -- a unique threat in Saddam Hussein. You know, at the time wethought he had stockpiles of weapons. Everybody did. Since then wehave found that he has had the capability of making weapons. Andhere's the danger. Saddam Hussein was a sworn enemy of America. Wehad been to war with Saddam Hussein before. Saddam Hussein was asource of great instability in a volatile part of the world. SaddamHussein had the capability of making weapons. At the time, of course,we knew he had used them, so we knew he had that mind-set. Since thenwe've discovered he had the capability. And we knew that he hadterrorist connections. Saddam Hussein -- here's the danger. SaddamHussein could have shared that capability of weapons of massdestruction with the enemy. And that's a risk we could not afford totake. Knowing what I know today, I would have made the same decisionto remove Saddam Hussein from power. (Applause.) We have a difference of opinion -- we have a difference of opinionin this campaign. My opponent calls Iraq a "great diversion" from thewar on terror. I strongly disagree. The reason why Zarqawi isfighting so hard, why this terrorist is fighting so hard, is becausehe understands the stakes. A free Iraq will be a devastating blow forthe ideologues of hate. He call it a diversion from the war on terror,I call it a battle in the war on terror. (Applause.) You cannot be the Commander-in-Chief of this country and tell thosefine troops in Iraq that they're participating in a grand diversionfrom the war on terror. You can't be the Commander-in-Chief and leadthose troops and at the same time say: wrong war, wrong place, wrongtime. (Applause.) No, we have a difference of opinion. My opponent said that -- inthe debate -- I didn't say this, he said it ?- that we must pass aglobal test before we commit troops into harm's way. AUDIENCE: Booo! THE PRESIDENT: Think about that now. Our most solemn duty is toprotect you. Can you imagine taking an international poll of nationsto determine whether or not we need to protect you? It was really interesting, in 1991, when my Dad was President, hesaw a threat, and that was that Saddam Hussein was going to overrunKuwait. And he went to the Congress and the United Nations and puttogether a vast coalition, that I think under any scrutiny would passthe global test. My opponent voted against authorizing the use offorce in 1991. So now he says, you know, Iraq would have been a --Iraq is a mistake, and voted against 1991 -- that means Saddam wouldnot only have been in his palaces, that means he would have been inKuwait, as well. The policies of my opponent are dangerous for worldpeace. If they were implemented they would make this world not morepeaceful, but more dangerous. (Applause.) In Iraq we're going to have elections in January. In Iraq we'retraining people, Iraqis, so they can do the hard work of defendingthemselves. We're training and equipping army, national guard, police,border patrol -- I don't know if you've seen any newspapers recently,but in Samarra, the Iraqi soldiers performed brilliantly. Slowly butsurely they're getting the confidence and the training necessary forthem to do the hard work, that's our strategy. They're willing tofight for freedom and they need the help to do so. In Iraq we're goingto spend money to help them rebuild that society. In Iraq we'llcontinue to work with our friends and allies, and we've got a greatcoalition. You can't lead a coalition by saying to the leaders ofthose countries: Join me for the wrong war. (Laughter and applause.) As a matter of fact, my opponent -- in the debate they said -- hekept saying: I've got a plan. If you listen carefully to it, the planwas to call a summit. I've been to summits. You don't bringterrorists to justice at summits. I can imagine him walking in to theleaders of the world saying: We need your help, but Iraq is a mistake;we need your help, commit your troops into harms way for the wrong war,at the wrong time, and the wrong place. He has no plan. A summitwon't solve the problem. Strong consistent leadership is what thisworld needs. (Applause.) Two other points, real quick. I'm not trying to filibuster.(Laughter.) Two points, to the Army wife, I say to you, one, thank youfor your husband's sacrifice. (Applause.) And I -- (applause.) Holdon for a minute. You're filibustering. (Applause.) And we owe youand your loved one the full support of the federal government. Andthat's why I went to the Congress to ask for $87 billion of funding.And it was important funding. It was funding that would give ourtroops that which they needed for combat in both Afghanistan and Iraq.And the bipartisan support was overwhelming for the funding. Thinkabout this fact: Only four United States senators voted for theauthorization of force and against funding the troops -- only four, twoof whom are my opponent and his running mate. AUDIENCE: Booo! THE PRESIDENT: So I asked him about the vote and he issued thefamous quote of the campaign: I actually did vote for the $87 billion,before I voted against it. (Laughter.) And they pressed him, he'sgiven about five different answers on the vote. He said, well, he wasproud of the vote. Then he said it was a complicated matter.(Laughter.) And then he said that it was a protest vote. On nationalTV, he said: Well, that vote was a protest vote. Think about somebodywho wants to be the Commander-in-Chief saying that he's going to voteagainst important support for the troops in combat and calling it aprotest vote. Finally he said, oh, his vote -- the other night on thedebate, he said: Well, the vote was a mistake. No, what was a mistakewas -- he said: What I said was a mistake. No. What he said wasn'tthe mistake. His vote was the mistake. (Applause.) Finally, let me share with you about my beliefs on liberty. Ibelieve liberty has got the ability to transform societies. I do. AndI believe that because I'm watching it happen in Afghanistan. But alsoI spend time with my friend, Prime Minister Koizumi. He's aninteresting guy. I saw him at the United Nations recently when I wasup in New York, and I said, I'm telling people all across the countryabout our relationship; do you mind? He said, no. I didn't tell him Iwas going to tell you that Elvis is his favorite singer. (Laughter.)It's true. (Laughter.) Think about this story, though -- think about what I'm tellingyou. It wasn't all that long ago that my dad and your dads orgranddads were fighting the Japanese. They were the sworn enemy of theUnited States of America. And after World War II, after we won, HarryTruman believed that liberty could transform an enemy into an ally.That's what he believed. And I bet there was a lot of skepticism,don't you? There was a lot of heartache, lot of anger at theJapanese. Why help them, you know, they killed some of our sons? Whydo we care? But Harry Truman cared, because he had a vision that was along-term vision about world peace. People in America cared, becausethey have deep faith in the values that makes us a unique nation. As aresult of Harry Truman's faith in liberty, I now sit down at the tablewith the leader of a country that we -- was a sworn enemy, talkingabout the peace we all want. Think about that. Think about whatliberty can do. (Applause.) People like Zarqawi know the power of liberty. And that's whythey're resisting. He's got one weapon -- they can't whip our military-- he got one weapon; his weapon is to shake our conscience. Hisweapon is to conduct such horrific acts against innocent people thatAmerica loses its will, and our faith in liberty to change the world isshaken. My faith in liberty will not be shaken. I understand whatwe're doing has got a chance to change the world for the better. Someday when we achieve our goal in Afghanistan, which is helping thiscountry get up to be a democracy, some day an American President willbe sitting down with a duly-elected leader from Iraq, talking about thepeace, talking about how to keep the peace in a troubled part of theworld. And our children and our grandchildren will be better off forit. (Applause.) I want to thank you all -- I want to thank you all for giving methe chance to share with you why I'm running. See, I believe somebodyrunning for office can't just sit on their laurels, they've got to talkabout what they are going to do. I'm here to tell you America will bea safer place, a stronger place, and a better place when you send meand Dick Cheney back into office for four more years. (Applause.) All right, let me see if we got some time for some questions. I'mready to take some questions if anybody has got a question. Yes, sir,holding the child right there. Q Mr. President, first, we just want to tell you that we prayfor you every night as our President. THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, sir. (Applause.) Q We thank God that we live in a representative republic andwe're able to home-school our children, and the fact that we're sharingwith Leon Moseley (phonetic) the other night at the Christian Coalitiondinner what we're teaching our children about a representativerepublic, and he said maybe my little seven-year-old should come downhere and share it with you. Can you tell the President what NoahWebster (phonetic) said about our republic? SEVEN-YEAR-OLD: It would do our system well to learn at an earlyage that the correct principles of our republic is the holy Bible, theNew Testament, and Christianity. (Applause.) THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you. Let me say something aboutreligion. Let me tell you something about religion. First of all,that was well-done. Here's the strength of America. You can worshipor not worship, and be equally patriotic. That's the strength of thiscountry. Think about it. A free society -- a truly free society isone in which people can worship the Almighty God or choose not toworship the Almighty God, and you're free to do so. And you're justequally an American, no matter what choice you make. Let me tell you something else. If you choose to worship theAlmighty, you're equally an American if you're a Christian, Jew, orMuslim. That's the strength of America. It's essential that wemaintain that strength. (Applause.) Thank you for your prayers.(Applause.) Amazing nation when they pray for the President and hisfamily. It strengthens us and sustains us, and for that, I'm reallygrateful. I appreciate it a lot. All right, anybody got a question out here? Yes, ma'am. Q Why is Medicare -- THE PRESIDENT: She asked about Medicare going up 17 percent. I'llgive you the answer right now. First of all, because there was aformula fixed by the United States Congress in 1996. This wasn't theadministration saying, raise it. This went up because of a formulathat my opponent voted for, for example. Secondly, because the costfor doctors went up. In other words, when they reimbursed doctors morefor Medicare, your premium went up. Thirdly, it went up because thereare additional benefits that you're going to realize as a result of thelaw we passed: preventative medicine. And it's the first time everthat Medicare -- you as a Medicare patient can get a screening apreventative care. Never has that been done before, and now we've gotit in the new law. In '06, you're going to get a drug benefit. Butthose are the reasons why. Thanks for asking. (Applause.) Yes, sir. Q -- my son was able to serve in Iraq, and by the grace of Godhas come home safe -- THE PRESIDENT: Fantastic. Thank you. (Applause.) What branch ofservice? Q He's in the Army. THE PRESIDENT: Army. Good. Q My question is, is when can other parents rest easy, knowingtheir sons and daughters are on their way home? THE PRESIDENT: You bet. Thanks for asking. As soon as themission is complete. As quickly as possible, but we got to get themission done. (Applause.) I'll tell you, it's -- whether it be forthe sake of your son who sacrificed, or for a son who did not comehome, we must complete the mission in their honor. In the honor ofyour son's sacrifice and service, and in the honor and the sacrifice ofthose who didn't make it, it's essential we finish the job. It's inour interests that Iraq become a free country. Think about what a free country will do in the broader MiddleEast. Think about what the signal will send to the Palestinian people,who must reject corrupt leadership and embrace a peaceful form ofgovernment called democracy -- true democracy. Think about the examplethat a free Iraq will set for women in the broader Middle East. Ibelieve everybody desires to be free. I believe that. And it'sessential that there be a -- an example of freedom in a part of theworld that is desperate for freedom. If we want to win this war onterror, we not only need to stay on the offense, we need to helpnations become free nations. I believe all these things becausefreedom is not America's gift to the world, freedom is the AlmightyGod's gift to each man and woman in this world. (Applause.) Yes, ma'am. You're young. Q I was excited about your proposal about funding for communitycolleges. THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Q I, myself, have gone back to school. THE PRESIDENT: Good. Thank you. Q My daughter is 12 years old. She's been behind in readingall along, but since I went back to school, myself, last fall, she hasincreased and is reading above grade level at this point. THE PRESIDENT: Fantastic. Q My point is that that also -- educated parents educate theirchildren better. And that affects No Child Left Behind. Would thisfunding affect all of community colleges, or merely the industrialaspect of community college? THE PRESIDENT: First of all, there's a lot of money going to helppeople get worker training. We spend billions for worker trainingprograms. What I'm talking about is a specific program aimed atencouraging the job creators and the community colleges to cometogether to give people the skills necessary to fill the jobs. I mean,there's trade adjustment assistance. There is help. I don't know ifyou're receiving federal help or not, but there is all -- Q (Inaudible.) THE PRESIDENT: Well, full scholarships help. (Laughter.) Soundslike -- full scholarship is more than half scholarship. (Laughter.) She said something interesting about No Child Left Behind. Shesaid, "my daughter was not reading at grade level." Think about that.How do you know, unless you measure? How can a mom say, stand up infront of the President of the United States and say, you know, mydaughter wasn't reading at grade level and now she's reading abovegrade level -- unless you measure? If you do not measure, you cannotdiagnose problems and solve them. (Applause.) That's what No ChildLeft Behind has done. (Applause.) It gives you the confidence to say,my daughter is reading above grade level. Think about a system in which you have no idea. And what happensin a system like that is -- is that somebody gets out of high schooland they can't read, and all of a sudden, that person becomesdisillusioned and can't find the work of the 21st century. No ChildLeft Behind is really a good piece of legislation. We start early inmeasuring. People say, oh, don't test. You've got to test. How canyou tell whether or not the curriculum is working? How can a parentdecide whether or not her child's school is measuring up to the nextneighborhood school? This isn't a way to punish people. This is a wayto solve problems. It's essential that we stay strong when it comes toaccountability. That's how we make sure children are educated. Listen, I was the governor of Texas, I heard them say all the time,all you're doing is teaching the test. No, we're teaching a child toread so they can pass the test. And we better determine whether or notthat child can read. (Applause.) I appreciate you bringing it up. Thefirst teacher -- a child's first teacher is a mom or a dad. And you'reright, and I appreciate you helping a young child. (Applause.) Yes, sir. Q (Inaudible) -- I am appreciative of your leadership. We havea son that was in Iraq, in the Marine Corps -- THE PRESIDENT: You do? Q -- he went in -- THE PRESIDENT: You don't look old enough. (Laughter.) Q Thank you. THE PRESIDENT: Certainly, the mom doesn't look old enough.(Laughter.) Q He went in with the invasion, did seven months there, cameback and he went back again. He was in the Sunni Triangle, and he'sback now, safely, at home. THE PRESIDENT: Good. Q I served under your father, in Desert Storm, in the AirForce. (Applause.) THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, sir. Q Right now I'm currently in the Air Force Reserve. And myquestion to you is, I know the Reserves have more commitment and moreresponsibilities, and I'm wondering how will that look in the next fouryears for the Reserves? THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I appreciate that. Let me talk about themilitary -- (applause) -- thanks for your service. (Applause.) He'swondering whether he's going to get called up. Let's get to the bottomline. (Laughter.) Yes, that's what I thought. (Laughter.) Here's the goal. The goal is to train the Iraqi citizens so theycan do the work. And it takes the -- it will take away the need for usto rotate troops in. That's the goal. People say, what's thetimetable? Let me tell you what's wrong with saying a timetable. Youmight remember my opponent said, well, we'll have them out of there insix months. I got on him for that, because you can't send a signal forsix months. Well, six months -- so the enemy says, fine, I'll waitthem out for six months and one day. That doesn't do any good. You know, if I tell the Iraqis, well, we're coming out whether weget the job done or not -- then they'll quit. They need confidencethat we'll help them do the job. These people have gone from thetyrannical situation to freedom. And that's hard to do. And you needthe confidence necessary to start assuming the obligations of a freesociety. And that's why it's essential we not send any mixed signalsto them, and that we're wise about, you know, talking abouttimetables. My answer to you, as quickly as possible. But the way to relievethe pressure off of our troops and the coalition troops is to trainIraqis as quickly as possible. We've got 100,000 of them trained now;we've got 125,000 of them trained by -- at the end of this year; we'llhave nearly 200,000 trained by the end of next year. And that's asignificant number of troops and folks to help. You know, my opponent says, well, what we're going to do is getother nations to send troops in. They're not going to go in for thewrong war. I know these people. (Laughter.) I've talked to them alot. They're our friends. They're not going to say, yes, let ussacrifice for the wrong war at the wrong place at the wrong time. To answer your question, sir, we're going to do our job as quicklyas we can and make sure we get the job done. Now, secondly, I want to answer something -- you didn't ask it, butI'm going to ask it myself. (Laughter.) Are you going to keep theall-volunteer army volunteer? And the answer is absolutely.(Applause.) That is why we increased pay to make the all-volunteer armywork. That's why we increased housing benefits. That's why we'remaking sure these troops are skilled. Secondly, in order to win the war on terror, we need specializedforces. This is specialty work. If you draft, you don't get thespecialized force you need. We don't need a draft. We will not have adraft so long as I'm the President of the United States. (Applause.) Yes, ma'am. Q I want to thank you, Mr. President, for not joining theInternational Criminal Court. (Applause.) And thank you for -- THE PRESIDENT: Put the mic on. Q Thank you for not joining the International Criminal Courtand thank you for signing into law the partial birth abortion ban act,which was -- (applause.) THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you all. Listen,I understand the life debate. And I believe reasonable people whodisagree on the issue can come together for common-sense policy.Banning partial birth abortion was common-sense policy. People on bothsides of that issue recognize the brutality of the practice. Myopponent wasn't for the ban. He's out of the -- really out of themainstream, it seems like to me, on that issue. The lady brought up the International Criminal Court. This is acourt based in The Hague, where our troops, or diplomats, could bebrought before a foreign judge, an unaccountable foreign judge, becauseof decisions made by our country. I think that would be really bad. Ithink it would be bad for our troops to have to be, you know, facing anunaccountable prosecutor in a foreign land for decisions that theCommander-in-Chief made. Listen, if somebody does something wrong in our country, we've gotplenty of justice, and we don't need to be signing up for a federal --international court. My opponent would join the International CriminalCourt. AUDIENCE: Booo! THE PRESIDENT: You see, they talk about, you know, popularity. Idon't think you should try to be popular and make bad decisions. Thatmay be popular in certain European capitals to join the InternationalCriminal Court, but I assure you it is unpopular with our military andthe diplomats, it is bad policy. And my opponent is wrong insupporting the International Criminal Court. (Applause.) Yes, ma'am. You. (Laughter.) Q (Inaudible.) Okay, I'll speak louder. (Laughter.) Thankyou, President Bush, for your integrity. You're a man of honesty and Itrust you with my life and my family's. THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) Q (Inaudible.) (Laughter and Applause.) THE PRESIDENT: That's kind of boiling it down right there, youknow? Thank you, I appreciate that. My job as President is to do a lot of things and make a lot oftough decisions. The job also is to set the right example, to live,you know, a life that will make the people proud. I told the people ofIowa when I was campaigning that if I had the honor of serving thisoffice -- if I was given the honor of serving the office, I woulduphold the honor and dignity of the office. And I'll do so for fourmore years. (Applause.) Thank you, sir. Yes, ma'am. They've got a mic coming right behindyou -- hope this one works. Q I would like to know when you go in to the next debate, ifyou would just stand up and tell that opponent of yours exactly whatyou're saying today. (Applause.) We're behind you. We pray for you.(Applause.) THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you. You know, I appreciatethat. It's what you -- that's about the only thing to do, is tellpeople what you believe. I -- the last debate was really interesting.I mean, here we had a fellow who said he's for a global test for U.S. policy, that hethought my decision on Korea was the wrong decision. See, let me talkabout Korea right quick so you understand. There was a bilateral relations between Korea and the United Statesbefore I became President. We had an agreement. We paid the Koreans,gosh, I think about $350 million in fuel oil in the hopes that theywould honor the agreement they made. Part of the agreement was theycouldn't enrich uranium, and they enriched uranium. And myadministration found it out. So I figured that, well, if one bilateralrelations failed, maybe the next one won't work, and tried to dosomething differently to get other nations -- you might remember, I'vebeen criticized as being a unilateralist, but here I am puttingtogether a multilateral effort -- that means more than one voice --saying to the North Koreans, give up your weapons. And perhaps themost important voice in that discussion is China. And we went down to Crawford, and Jiang Zemin, the predecessor ofHu Jintao, and I sat down at the table and said, why don't we come upwith a joint declaration, a joint statement that says that the UnitedStates and China both think the Korea Peninsula ought to be nuclearweapons-free. And he agreed, and we said that. And so now we haveChina involved. Not one voice, but two. And then we got South Koreainvolved; and then Japan involved; and Russia involved. There's fivecountries now saying the same thing. So this time if Kim Jong-il decides to renege on any agreement,he's not only showing disrespect for the United States, he's showingdisrespect for China. And my opponent says we need to go back to theold days of unilateralism with North Korea. It failed once; it willfail again. And so I believe we're on the right path to convincingNorth Korea to give up its weapons. (Applause.) Let me say what else in that last debate. I'm glad you brought upthat last debate. He also said -- they asked him, was it a mistake togo in -- or he said it was a mistake to go into Iraq. And then whenasked, well, then is it a mistake to have our troops dying there, hesaid, no. You cannot have it both ways. You can't have it both ways.And if you try to have it both ways, it sends mixed messages. See,what I -- listen, I understand tactics change. But what shouldn'tchange is someone's core beliefs because of politics. (Applause.) All right, I'm getting the hook. I got to go back to Washington.I can't thank you enough for coming. I'm honored to have yoursupport. Work hard, and we'll carry Iowa and win a great victory inNovember. (Applause.) END 1:38 P.M. CDT Printer-Friendly Version Email this page to a friend IssuesBudget Management
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