2004 Ad

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Oct 4, 2004

September 27, 2004

The President. Thanks for coming. Thank you all. Thanks for coming.

Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

The President. Thank you all for coming. That's what I'm here to tell you: I'm ready to lead this Nation for 4 more years. And I'm here to ask for your vote.

I think you've got to get out among the people and give them a reason. That's what I'm here to do today. I'm here to give you a reason why you ought to put me back in office for 4 more years. I not only want your vote; I want your help. I'd like for you to register your friends and neighbors, tell them we have a duty in this country to participate in democracy. Register your Republican friends; register your independent friends; register your discerning Democrat friends, people like Zell Miller. And then when it's voting time, head them to the polls and tell them if they want a safer America, a stronger America, and a better America, to put me and Dick Cheney back in office.

Thanks for coming. It's a good sign when this many people come here for a rally. Let me tell you what I think. I think we're going to carry Ohio again, and I think we're going to win a great victory in November.

I wish Laura were here today to see this crowd. I'm going to have dinner with her tonight, and I cannot wait to tell her what I saw. As you might remember, she was a public school librarian. I asked her to marry me. She said, "Fine, just so long as I don't ever have to give a speech." [Laughter] I said, "Okay." [Laughter] Fortunately, she didn't hold me to that promise. The American people got to see her in New York City a while ago, saw what a strong, compassionate, great lady she is. I love her dearly. Perhaps the most important reason to put me back into office is so that Laura is First Lady for 4 more years.

I'm proud of my runningmate. Dick Cheney is a fine man. Listen, I admit it, he doesn't have the waviest hair in the race. [Laughter] I didn't pick him for his hair. I picked him because of his experience, his sound judgment. I picked him because he can get the job done for the American people.

I'm proud to be on this stage with John Boehner. What a fine man he is and a great United States Congressman. I'm proud to have worked with him on important legislation, and I'm proud to call him friend. I'm honored that Mike DeWine is with me today, the fine United States Senator from the State of Ohio. I appreciate you coming, Mike. Speaking about Senators, I hope you put George Voinovich back in office. He's a fine leader, good man.

I appreciate Congressman Rob Portman, Dave Hobson, who is with us, Mike Turner, Steve Chabot. I want to thank you all for coming. I'm proud you're serving the people of the great State of Ohio so well.

I want to thank all the State and local officials who are here. I know the Lieutenant Governor and the State auditor. My friend Joe Deters is here. Write him in. Make sure you write him in. He's a good one.

I want to thank all the grassroots activists. I see my friend Anthony Munoz is here. I appreciate you.

Audience members. Munoz!

The President. Yes. He can still play, I agree. [Laughter] Fortunately, he's on my team. I need him, and I appreciate his hard work.

I want to thank Darryl Worley. I'm honored you're here, Darryl. I hope you like his music as much as I do.

Lakota East High School and Lakota West High School, thank you all for being here.

Most of all, thank you all for coming. It lifts my spirits to see so many people. I'm honored you're here, and I appreciate your interest in this campaign. You know, I'm looking forward to campaigning. I like it. I like to tell people what I believe, where I stand, and where I intend to lead this Nation for the next 4 years.

I believe every child can learn and every school must teach. I went to Washington to challenge the soft bigotry of low expectations. I didn't like a system that had low expectations and just shuffled kids through school year after year, grade after grade without teaching the basics. That's not right. That's not the America we know. So I worked with John Boehner to change the laws. We've raised the standards. We now measure so we can solve problems early, before they're too late. We trust the local people to run their schools. We're making progress in America. An achievement gap is closing, and we're not going to tuna back.

I believe we have a moral responsibility to honor our seniors with good health care. I went to Washington to solve problems, not to pass them on to future Presidents. I felt like we had a problem in Medicare. Medicine was modernizing, but Medicare wasn't. Take, for example, the fact that Medicare would pay some $100,000 for heart surgery but not one dime for the prescription drugs that would prevent the heart surgery from being needed in the first place. That wasn't fair to our seniors. It's not fair to the taxpayers. We brought people together. We've strengthened and modernized medicine. Our seniors will be getting prescription drugs in Medicare in 2006, and we're not going to turn back.