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[Republican National Convention] Acceptance Speech 8/20/92 [OA 7578] [1]
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[Republican National Convention] Acceptance Speech 8/20/92 [OA 7578] [1]
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Originally Processed With FOIA(s):
FOIA Number:
S; 1998-0528-F
S
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This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the George Bush Presidential
Library Staff.
Record Group/Collection:
George H.W. Bush Presidential Records
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Speechwriting, White House Office of
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Speech File Backup Files
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Folder ID Number:
13826-008
Folder Title:
[Republican National Convention] Acceptance Speech 8/20/92 [OA 7578] [1]
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2
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Houston, Texas)
For Immediate Release
August 20, 1992
ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT
TO THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION
Houston Astrodome
Houston, Texas
9:20 P.M. CDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. Thank you,
thank you very much. And I am proud to receive, and I am honored
to accept your nomination for President of the United states.
(Applause.)
May I thank my dear friend and our great leader, Bob
Dole, for that wonderful introduction. (Applause.)
Let me say this: This nomination is not for me
alone. It is for the ideas, principles, and values that we stand
for.
My job -- my job has been made easier by a leader
who's taken a lot of unfair criticism, with grace and humor --
the Vice President of the United States, Dan Quayle. (Applause.)
And I am very grateful to him.
I want to talk tonight about the sharp choice that I
intend to offer Americans this fall -- a choice between different
agendas, different directions, and, yes, a choice about the
character of the man you want to lead this nation.
I know that Americans have many questions -- about
our economy, about our country's future, even questions about me.
And I'll answer them tonight.
First, I feel great. (Applause.) And I am
heartened -- I'm heartened by the polls -- the ones that say that
I look better in my jogging shorts than the Governor of Arkansas!
(Applause.)
Four years ago, I spoke about missions -- for my
life and for our country. I spoke of one urgent mission --
defending our security and promoting the American ideal abroad.
Just pause for a moment to reflect on what we've
done.
Germany is united -- and a slab of the Berlin Wall
sits right outside this Astrodome. (Applause.)
Arabs and Israelis now sit face-to-face and talk
peace.
Every hostage held in Lebanon is free. (Applause.)
The conflict in El Salvador is over, and free
elections brought democracy to Nicaragua. (Applause.)
Black and white south Africans cheered each other at
the Olympics.
The Soviet Union can only be found in history books.
- 2 -
The captive nations of Eastern Burope and the
Baltics are captive no more.
And today on the rural streets of Poland, merchants
sell cans of air labeled: The last breath of COMMUNISM.
(Applause.)
If I had stood before you four years ago and
described this as the world we would help to build, you would
have said: "George Bush, you must have been smoking something,
and you must have inhaled." (Applause.)
This convention is the first at which an American
President can say the Cold War is over, and freedom finished
first. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: USA, USA, USA, USA --
THE PRESIDENT: some want to rewrite history, want
to skip over the struggle, claim the outcome was inevitable. And
while the U.S. postwar strategy was largely bipartisan, the fact
remains that the liberal, McGovern wing of the other party --
including my opponent -- consistently made the wrong choices.
(Applause.)
In the 70s, they wanted a hollow army -- we wanted a
strong fighting force.
In the 80s -- and you remember this one -- in the
'80s, they wanted a nuclear freeze -- and we insisted on peace
through strength. (Applause.)
From Angola to Central America -- they said, "Let's
negotiate, deliberate, procrastinate." " We said -- just stand up
for freedom.
Now the Cold War is over and they claim, "Hey, we
were with you all the way!"
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE PRESIDENT: You know, their behavior -- really,
their behavior reminds me of the old con man's advice to the new
kid. He said, "son, if you're being run out of town, just get
out in front and make it look like a parade." (Applause.)
Well, make no mistake -- the demise of communism
wasn't a sure thing, it took the strong leadership of presidents
from both parties, including Republicans like Richard Nixon and
Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan. (Applause.) And without their
vision and the support of the American people, the Soviet Union
would be a strong superpower today and we'd be facing a nuclear
threat tonight.
My opponents say I spend too much time on foreign
policy, as if it didn't matter that schoolchildren once hid under
their desks in drills to prepare for nuclear war. I saw the
chance to rid our children's dreams of the nuclear nightmare, and
I did. (Applause.) over the past four years, more people have
breathed the fresh air of freedom than in all of human history.
I saw a chance to help, and I did. (Applause.) These were the
two defining opportunities -- not of a year, not of a decade, but
of an entire span of human history.
I seized those opportunities for our kids and our
grandkids, and I make no apologies for that. (Applause.)
Now, the Soviet bear may be gone, but there are
still wolves in the woods. We saw that when saddam Hussein
invaded Kuwait. The Mideast might have become a nuclear powder
keg -- our energy supplies held hostage. so we did what was
richt and what was necessatv. we destroved a threat freed a
- 3 -
people, and locked a tyrant in the prison of his own country.
(Applause.)
What about the leader of the Arkansas National Guard
-- the man who hopes to be Commander-In-Chief? well. I bit the
bullet, and he bit his nails. (Applause.)
Listen to this now. Two days after Congress
followed my lead. my opponent said this, and I quote directly:
"I guess I would have voted with the majority if it was a close
vote. But I agree with the arguments the minority made."
Now, sounds to me like his policy can be summed up
by a road sign he's probably seen on his bus tour, "slippery When
Wet." (Applause.)
Look, this is serious business.
Think about the impact of our foreign policy
failures the last time the Democrats controlled both ends of
Pennsylvania Avenue. Gas lines. Grain embargoes. American
hostages blindfolded.
There w111 be more foreign policy challenges like
Kuwait in the next four years. Terrorists and aggressors to
stand up to; dangerous weapons to be controlled and destroyed.
And freedom's fight is not finished. And I look forward to being
the first President to visit a free, democratic Cuba.
(Applause.)
who will lead the world in the face of these
challenges? Not my opponent. In his acceptance speech he
devoted just 65 seconds to telling us about the world.
Then he said that America was -- and I quote again
-- I want to be fair and factual -- I quote, being "ridiculed"
everywhere. well, tell that to the people around the world, for
whom America is still a dream. Tell that to leaders around the
world, from whom America commands respect. (Applause.)
Ridiculed? Tell that to the men and women of Desert storm.
(Applause.)
AUDIENCE: USA, USA, USA, USA --
THE PRESIDENT: Let me just make an aside comment
here, because of what you've been reading in the paper. This is
a political year, but there's a lot of danger in the world. You
can be sure I will never let politics interfere with a foreign
policy decision. Forget the election; I will do right -- what is
right for the national security of the United states of America.
And that is a pledge from my heart. (Applause.)
Fifty years ago this summer, I was 18 years of age.
I see some young people in the audience tonight, and I remember
how I felt in those days. (Applause.) I believed deeply in this
country, and we were faced with a world war. so I made a
decision, to go off and fight a battle much different from
political battles.
And I was scared. but I was willing. I was young.
but I was ready. I had barely lived when I began to watch men
die. I began to see the special place of America in the world.
And I began to see, even then, that the world would become a much
smaller place, and faraway places could become more and more like
America.
And 50 years later. after change of almost biblical
proportions, we know that when freedom grows, America grows.
Just as a strong America means a safer world, we have learned
that a safer world means a stronger America. (Applause.)
This election is about change. But that's not
unusual, because the American revolution is never ending. Today,
the pace of change is accelerating. We face new opportunities
and new challenges. The question is -- who do you trust to make
change work for you?
AUDIENCE: George Bush! George Bush! George Bush!
THE PRESIDENT: My opponent says America is a nation
in decline. of our economy he says, we are somewhere on the list
beneath Germany, heading south toward Sri Lanka.
Well, don't let anyone tell you that America is
second-rate, especially somebody running for president.
(Applause.)
Maybe he hasn't heard that we are still the world's
largest economy. No other nation sells more outside its borders.
The Germans, the British, the Japanese can't touch the
productivity of you -- the American worker and the American
farmer. (Applause.) My opponent won't mention that. He won't
remind you that interest rates are the lowest they've been in 20
years, and millions of Americans have refinanced their homes.
(Applause.) And you just won't hear that inflation -- the thief
of the middle-class -- has been locked in a maximum security
prison.
You don't hear much about this good news because the
media also tends to focus only on the bad. When the Berlin wall
fell, I half expected to see a headline: "Wall Falls, Three
Border Guards Lose Jobs." (Laughter.) And underneath it
probably says: "Clinton Blames Bush." (Laughter.)
You don't hear a lot about progress in America. so
let me tell you about some good things we've done together.
Just two weeks ago, all three nations of North
America agreed to trade freely from Manitoba to Mexico. This
will bring good jobs to Main street USA. (Applause.)
we passed the Americans with Disabilities Act --
bringing 43 million people into the economic mainstream. I must
say, it's about time. (Applause.)
our children will breathe easier because of our new
Clean Air Act.
We are rebuilding our roads. providing jobs for more
than half a million Americans,
We passed a child care law, and we took a stand for
family values by saying that when it comes to raising children,
government doesn't know best, parents know best. (Applause.)
I've fought against prejudice and anti-Semitism all
my life. And I am proud that we strengthened our civil rights
laws -- and we did it without resorting to quotas. (Applause.)
And one more thing of vital importance to all.
Today, cocaine use has fallen by 60 percent among young people.
To the teenagers, the parents and the volunteers who are helping
us battle the scourge of drugs in America, we say, thank you;
thank you from the bottom of our hearts. (Applause.)
Do I want to do more? You bet. Nothing hurts me
more than to meet with soldiers home from the Persian Gulf who
can't find a job; or workers who have a job, but worry that the
next day will bring a pink slip. And what about parents who
scrape and struggle to send their kids to college, only to find
them back living at home, because they can't get work.
- S -
The world is in transition, and we are feeling that
transition in our homes. The defining challenge of the '90s is
to win the economic competition -- to win the peace.
we must be a military superpower. an economic
superpower, and an export superpower. (Applause.)
In this election, you'll hear two versions of how to
do this. Theirs is to look inward, and protect what we already
have. ours is to look forward -- to open new markets, prepare our
people to compete, to restore our social fabric -- to save and
invest -- SO we can win. (Applause.)
We believe that now that the world looks more like
America, it's time for America to look more like herself. And so
we offer a philosophy that puts faith in the individual, not the
bureaucracy. A philosophy that empowers people to do their best,
so America can be at its best. In a world that is safer and
freer, this is how we will build an America that is stronger,
safer and more secure.
We start with a simple fact: Government is too big,
and spends too much. (Applause.)
I've asked Congress to put a lid on mandatory
spending except Social Security. And I've proposed doing away
with over 200 programs and 4,000 wasteful projects and to freeze
all other spending. (Applause.)
The gridlock Democrat Congress said: "No."
AUDIENCE: BOOOO --
THE PRESIDENT: so, beginning tonight, I will
enforce the spending freeze on my own. And if Congress sends me
a bill spending more than I asked for in my budget, I will veto
it fast. (Applause.) Veto it fast -- faster than copies of
Millie's book sold.
Now, Congress won't cut spending, but refuses to
give the President the power to eliminate pork barrel projects
that waste your money. Forty-three governors have that power.
So I ask you, the American people: Give me a Congress that will
give me the line-item veto. (Applause.)
Let me tell you about a recent battle I fought with
the Congress, a battle in which I was aided by Bob Michel and his
troops, and Bob Dole and his. This spring, I worked day and
night to get two-thirds of the House members to approve a
balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.
we almost had it, but we lost by just nine votes.
NOW, listen how. Just before the vote, the liberal leaders of
the Congress convinced 12 members who cosponsored the bill, to
switch sides and vote no. Keep in mind, they voted against a
bill they had already put their names on.
Something fishy is going on. And look at my
opponent on this issue. Look at my opponent. He says he's for
balanced budgets. But he came out against the amendment. He's
like that on a lot of issues. first one side, then the other.
He's been spotted in more places than Elvis Presley. (Applause.)
After all these years, Congress has become pretty
creative at finding ways to waste your money. So we need to be
just as creative at finding ways to stop them. I have a brand
new idea. Taxpayers should be given the right to check a box on
their tax returns, so that up to 10 percent of their payments can
go for one purpose alone: to reduce the national debt.
(Applause.)
But we also need to make sure -- we need to make
sure that Congress doesn't just turn around and borrow more money
to spend more money. so I will require that for every tax dollar
set aside to cut the debt, the ceilings on spending will be cut
by an equal amount. (Applause.) That way, we will cut both debt
and spending, and take a whack out of the budget deficit.
(Applause.)
My feelings about big government come from my
experience; I spent half my adult life in the private sector. My
opponent has a different experience, he's been in government
nearly all his life. His passion to expand government knows no
bounds.
0.
He's already proposed -- and listen to this
carefully -- he has already proposed $220 billion in new
spending, along with the biggest tax increase in history -- $150
billion dollars -- and that's just to start.
AUDIENCE: BOOO --
THE PRESIDENT: He says he wants to tax the rich,
but, folks, he defines rich as anyone who has a job. (Laughter.)
You've heard of the separations of powers. well. my
opponent practices a different theory: the power of separations.
Government has the power to separate you from your wallet.
(Laughter.)
NOW let me say this: When it comes to taxes, I've
learned the hard way. There's an old saying: "Good judgment
comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.
Two years ago, I made a bad call on the Democrats
tax increase. I underestimated Congress's addiction to taxes
with my back against the wall, I agreed to a hard bargain: One
tax increase one time in return for the toughest spending limits
ever.
Well, it was a mistake to go along with the
Democratic tax increase. (Applause.) And I admit it. But
here's the question for the American people. who do you trust in
this election? The candidate who raised taxes one time and
regrets it, or the other candidate who raised taxes and fees 128
times, and enjoyed it every time? (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Viva Bush! Viva Bush!
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.
AUDIENCE: Hit 'em again. harder. harder. Hit 'em
again, harder, harder --
THE PRESIDENT: when the new Congress convenes next
January, I will propose to further reduce taxes across the board
-- provided we pay for these cuts with specific spending
reductions that I consider appropriate, so that we do not
increase the deficit. (Applause.) I will also continue to fight
to increase the personal exemption and to create jobs by winning
a cut in capital gains taxes. (Applause.)
That will especially help small businesses. you
know. they create -- small businesses -- they create two-thirds
of the new jobs in America. But my opponent's plan for small
business is clear, present -- and dangerous. Beside new income
taxes, his plan will lead to a new payroll tax to pay for a
government takeover of health care, and another new tax to pay
for training. And that is just the beginning.
And if he gets his way, hardware stores across
America will have a new sign up: "Closed for despair.' And I
MORE
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guess you'd say his plan really is "Elvis Economics America
will be checking into the "Heartbreak Hotel." (Applause.)
I believe that small business needs relief -- from
taxation, regulation, and litigation. (Applause.)
And, thus, I will extend for one year the freeze on
paperwork and unnecessary federal regulation that I imposed last
winter. (Applause.) There is no reason -- there is no reason
that federal regulations should live longer than my friend George
Burns. I will issue an order to get rid of any rule whose time
has come -- and gone.
I see something happening in our towns and in our
neighborhoods. Sharp lawyers are running wild. Doctors are
afraid to practice medicine. And some moms and pops won't even
coach Little League any more. We must sue each other less -- and
care for each other more. (Applause.)
I am fighting to reform our legal system, to put an
end to crazy lawsuits. And if that means climbing into the ring
with the trial lawyers, well, let me just say, round one starts
tonight. (Applause.)
After all, my opponent's campaign is being backed by
practically every trial lawyer who ever wore a tasselled loafer.
(Applause.) He's not in the ring with them, he's in the tank.
There are other things we need to do to get our
economy up to speed -- prepare our kids for the next century.
We must have new incentives for research, and new training for
workers. Small businesses need capital and credit, and defense
workers need new jobs. And I have a plan to provide affordable
health care for every American, controlling costs by cutting
paperwork and lawsuits, and expanding coverage to the poorest of
the poor.
We do not need my opponent's plan for a massive
government takeover of health care, which would ration care and
deny you the right to choose the doctor. (Applause.) who wants
a health care -- who wants health care with a system with the
efficiency of the House Post Office, and the compassion of the
KGB?
what about our schools? What about our schools? MY
opponent and I both want to change the way our kids learn. He
wants to change our schools a little bit. and I want to change
them a lot.
Take the issue of whether parents should be able to
choose the best school for their kids. My opponent says that's
okay -- as long as the school is run by government. And I say
every pkrent and child should have a real choice of schools --
public, private or religious. (Applause.)
so we have a clear choice to fix our problems. DO
we turn to the tattered blanket of bureaucracy that other nations
are tossing away? or do we give our people the freedom and
incentives to build security for themselves?
Here's what I'm fighting for.
-- Open markets for American products,
-- lower government spending,
-- tax relief.
-- opportunities for small business,
-- legal and health reform,
-- job training,
-- and new schools built on competition, ready for
the 21st century. (Applause.)
why are these proposals not in effect today? Only
one reason -- the gridlock Democratic Congress. (Applause.)
It's a very good idea -- a very good idea.
Now, I know Americans are tired of the blame game,
tired of people in Washington acting like they're candidates for
the next episode of American Gladiators. I don't like iw,
either. Neither should you. But the truth is the truth. Our
policies have not failed, they haven't even been tried.
(Applause.)
Americans want jobs. And on January 28th, I put
before Congress a plan to create jobs. And if it had been passed
back then, 500,000 more Americans would be at work right now.
But in a nation that demands action -- Congress has become the
master of inaction.
It wasn't always this way. I heard President Ford
tonight. I served in Congress 22 years ago, under him. And,
back then, we cooperated, we didn't get personal, we put the
people above everything else. Heck, we didn't even own blow
dryers back in those days.
At my first inauguration -- I said that people
didn't send us to bicker. I extended my hand -- and I think the
American people know this -- I extended my hand to the
congressional leaders, to the Democratic leaders -- and they bit
it.
The House neadership has not changed in 38 years.
It is a body caught in a hopelessly tangled web of PACs, perks,
privileges, partnership, and paralysis. (Applause.) Every day.
Congress puts politics ahead of principle, and above progress.
Now, let me give you just one example. February
20th, 1991. It was at the height of the Gulf War. On that very
same day, I asked American pilots to risk their lives to fly
missions over Baghdad. And I also wanted to strengthen our
economic security for the future. so that very same day. I
introduced a new domestic energy strategy which would cut our
dependence on foreign oil by 7 million barrels a day.
How many days did it take to win the Gulf war?
Forty-three. How many did it take Congress to pass a national
energy strategy? Five hundred and thirty-two -- and still
counting. (Applause.) I have ridden stationary bikes that can
move faster than the United States House of Representatives and
the United States Senate, controlled by the Democrat leadership.
(Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Hit 'em again. hit 'em again, harder,
harder.
THE PRESIDENT: I'm fixing to. (Applause.) Where
does my opponent stand with Congress? well, up in New York at
their convention, they kept the congressional leaders away from
the podium -- hid them away. And they didn't want America to
hear from the people who really make the decisions. They hid
them for a very good reason -- because the American people would
recognize a dangerous combination: A rubber check Congress --
and a rubber stamp President. (Applause.)
Governor Clinton and Congress know that you've
caught on to their lingo. They know when they say, "spending,"
you say -- "uh-oh." so now they have a new word. "investment."
They want to "invest" $220 billion more of your money -- but I
want you to keep it. (Applause.)
9
Governor Clinton and Congress want to put through
the largest tax increase in history, but I will not let that
happen. (Applause.) And Governor Clinton and Congress don't
want kids to have the option of praying in school, but I do.
(Applause.) Clinton and Congress don't want to close legal
loopholes and keep criminals behind bars, but I will.
(Applause.) Clinton and Congress will stock the Judiciary with
liberal judges who write laws they can't get approved by the
voters.
Governor Clinton even says that Mario Cuomo belongs
on the Supreme Court. (Laughter.) wait a minute, though. No,
wait. Maybe not a bad idea. If you believe in judicial
restraint, you probably ought to be happy. After all, the good
Governor of New York can't make up his mind between chocolate and
vanilla at Baskin Robbins. (Applause.) He's there, we won't
have another court decision for 35 years. And maybe that's all
right, too.
Are my opponent and Congress really in cahoots?
Look at one important question: should we limit the terms of
Congress?
AUDIENCE: Yes. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Governor Clinton says, no. Congress
says, no. I say: Yes. (Applause.)
We tried this -- look, we tried this once before,
combining the Democratic governor of a small southern state, with
a very liberal vice president, and a Democratic Congress.
America does not need "Carter II." (Applause.) We do not want
to take America back to those days of malaise. But Americans
want Washington? to know -- where's proof that we will have better days in
I'll give you 250 reasons. And that's how many
members of Congress are expected to leave Washington this year.
Some are tainted by scandal -- the voters have bounced them the
way they bounced their own checks. But others are good members.
Republican and Democrat. And they agree with me -- the place
just doesn't work anymore.
One hundred-fifty new members -- from both parties
-- will be coming to Washington this fall. And every one will
have a fresh view of America's future.
after this election, I will meet with every one of these
I pleige today to the American people, immediately
members, before they get attacked by the PACs, overwhelmed by
their staffs, and cornered by some camera crew. (Applause.) And
I will lay out my case for change. Change that matters. real
America. change that makes a difference. Change that is right for
that maybe it's time to get back to our roots.
You see, there is a yearning in America, a feeling
Sure we must change, but some values are timeless.
I believe in families that stick together, fathers who stick
around. And I happen to believe very deeply in the worth of each
individual human being, born or unborn. (Applause.) And I
believe in teaching our kids the difference between what's wrong
and what's right, teaching them respect for hard work and to love
their neighbors. And I believe that America will always have a
special place in God's heart, as long as he has a special place
that patriotism is not just another point of view.
in ours. (Applause.) And maybe that's why I've always believed
There are times in every young person's life when
God introduces you toyourself. And I remember such a time. It
was back many years ago, when I stood watch at 4 a.m.. up on tho
bridge of a 'submarine, the United states Finback -- U.S.S.
Finback. And I would stand there and look out on the blackness
of the sky, broken only by the sparkling stars above. And I
would think about friends I lost, a country I loved, and about a
girl named Barbara. (Applause.) And I remember -- I remember
those nights as clearly as any in my life.
You know, you can see things from up there that
other people don't see. You can see storm clouds rise and then
disappear. The first hint of the sun over the horizon, and the
first outline of the shore faraway.
Now, I know that Americans. are uneasy today. There
is anxious talk around our kitchen tables. But from where I
stand, I see not Ame ica's sunset, but a sunrise.
The world changes for which we've sacrificed for a
generation, have finally come to pass, and with them a rare and
unprecedented opportunity, to pass the sweet cup of prosperity
around our American table.
Are we up to it? I know we are. As J travel our
land, I meet veterans who once worked the turrets of a tank, and
can now master the keyboards of high-tech economy. I see
teachers, blessed with the incredible American capacity for
innovation, who are teaching our children a new way to learn. for
a new century. I meet parents, some working two jobs with hectic
schedules. who still find new ways to teach old values to steady
their kids in a turbulent world.
And I take heart from what is happening in America,
not from those who profess a new passion for government, but from
those with an old and enduring faith in the human potential.
Those who understand that the genius of America is our capacity
for rebirth and renewal. America is the land where the sun is
always peeking over the horizon.
Tonight I appeal to that unyielding, undying.
undeniable American spirit. I ask you to consider, now that the
entire world is moving our way, why would we want to go back
their way? I ask not just for your support for my agenda, but
for your commitment to renew and rebuild our nation -- by shaking
up the one institution that has withstood change for over four
decades. (Applause.) Join me in rolling away the roadblock at
the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, so that in the next four
years. we will match our accomplishments outside, by building a
stronger, safer, more secure America inside.
Forty-four years ago -- in another age of
uncertainty -- a different president embarked on a similar
mission. His name was Harry S. Truman. And as he stood before
his party to accept their nomination, Harry Truman knew the
freedom I know this evening, the freedom to talk about what's
right for America. and let the chips fall where they may.
Harry Truman said this: "This is more than a
political call to arms. Give me your help, not to win votes
alone, but to win this new crusade and keep America safe and
secure for its own people.
Well, tonight I say to you -- join me in our new
crusade -- to reap the rewards of our global victory -- to win
the peace -- so that we may make America safer and stronger --
for all ouz people.
May God bless you. and may God bless the United
States of America. Thank you very much. Thank you so much.
Thank you all. (Applause.)
END
10:20 P.M. CDT
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ways Strateg ruman
159 Remarks Commending Management and Labor Leaders on
the Railroad Settlement. July 8, 1948
I WANT to congratulate you gentlemen on
the press exactly what happened and what
this settlement. It is great for our country,
the agreement is.
I wanted to see this thing settled as it should
Again I want to congratulate you.
be done, by bargaining and not in any other
way. You did this on your own hook, and
NOTE: The dispute was settled when the unions
agreed to accept 1 wage increase of 15 1/2 cents an
I feel very good about it. I congratulate all
hour for firemen and engineers and the railroads
of you on it. I am satisfied that you would
agreed to revise certain rules to the advantage of the
like to have this publicly known as a settle-
employees. The agreement ended the 61-day period
of operation and control of the railroads by the
ment on your own hook, and I 3m going to
Army under Executive Order 9937 (3 CFR. 1943-
ask you gentlemen to go out of here and tell
1948 Comp., P. 701).
160 Address in Philadelphia Upon Accepting the Nomination
of the Democratic National Convention. July 15, 1948
I AM SORRY that the microphones are in
Now it is time for us to get together and
the way, but I must leave them the way
beat the common enemy. And that is up
they are because I have got to be able to see
to you.
what I am doing-as I am always able to
We have been working together for vic-
see what I am doing.
tory in a great cause. Victory has become a
I can't tell you how very much I appre-
habit of our party. It has been elected four
clate the honor which you have just con-
times in succession, and I am convinced it
ferred upon me. I shall continue to try to
will be elected a fifth time next November.
deserve it.
The reason is that the people know that
I accept the nomination.
the Democratic Party is the people's party,
And I want to thank this convention for
and the Republican Party is the party of
its unanimous nomination of my good friend
special interest, and it always has been and
and colleague, Senator Barkley of Kentucky.
always will be.
He is a great man, and a great public servant,
The record of the Democratic Party is
Senator Barkley and I will win this election
written in the accomplishments of the last
and make these Republicans like it-don't
16 years. I don't need to repeat them. They
you forget that!
have been very ably placed before this con-
We will do that because they are wrong
vention by the keynote speaker, the candi-
and we are right, and I will prove it to you
date for Vice President, and by the
in just a few minutes.
permanent chairman.
This convention met to express the will
Confidence and security have been brought
and reallirm the beliefs of the Democratic
to the people by the Democratic Party.
Party. There have been differences of opin-
Farm income has increased from less than
ion, and that is the democratic way. Those
$2½1/2 billion in 1932 to more than $18 bil-
differences have been settled by a majority
lion in 1947. Never in the world were the
vote, as they should be.
farmers of any republic or any kingdom or
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Harry S: Truman, 1948
July 15 [160]
any other country as prosperous as the farm-
We have started the foreign aid program,
ers of the United States; and if they don't
which means the recovery of Europe and
do their duty by the Democratic Party, they
China, and the Far East. We instituted the
are the most ungrateful people in the world!
program for Greece and Turkey, and I will
Wages and salaries in this country have
say to you that all these things were done
increased from 29 billion in 1933 to more
in a cooperative and bipartisan manner.
than $t28 billion in I947. That's labor, and
The Foreign Relations Committees of the
labor never had but one friend in politics,
Senate and House were taken into the full
and that is the Democratic Party and Frank-
confidence of the President in every one of
lin D. Roosevelt.
these moves, and don't let anybody tell you
And I say to labor what I have said to the
anything else.
farmers: they are the most ungrateful peo-
As I have said time and time again, foreign
ple in the world if they pass the Democratic
policy should be the policy of the whole
Party by this year.
Nation and not the policy of one party or
The total national income has increased
the other. Partisanship should stop at the
from less than $40 billion in 1933 to $203
water's edge; and I shall continue to preach
billion in 1947, the greatest in all the his-
that through this whole campaign.
tory of the world. These benefits have been
I would like to say a word or two now on
spread to all the people, because it is the
what I think the Republican philosophy
business of the Democratic Party to see that
is; and I will speak from actions and from
the people get a fair share of these things.
history and from experience.
This last, worst 80th Congress proved just
The situation in 1932 was due to the poli-
the opposite for the Republicans.
cies of the Republican Party control of the,
The record on foreign policy of the Demo-
Government of the United States. The Re-
cratic Party is that the United States has
publican Party, as I said a while ago; favors
been turned away permanently from isola-
the privileged few and not the common
tionism, and we have converted the greatest
everyday man. Ever since its inception, that
and best of the Republicans to our viewpoint
party has been under the control of special
on that subject.
privilege; and they have completely proved
The United States has to accept its full
it in the 80th Congress. They proved it by
responsibility for leadership in international
the things they did to the people, and not
affairs. We have been the backers and the
for them. They proved it by the things they
people who organized and started the Unit-
failed to do.
ed Nations, first started under that great
Now, let's look at some of them-just a
Democratic President, Woodrow Wilson, as
few.
the League of Nations. The League was
Time and time again I recommended ex-
sabotaged by the Republicans in 1920. And
tension of price control before it expired
we must see that the United Nations con-
June 30, 1946. I asked for that extension
tinues a strong and growing body, so we
in September 1945, in November 1945, in
can have everlasting peace in the world.
a Message on the State of the Union in
We removed trade barriers in the world,
1946; and that price control legislation did
which is the best asset we can have for peace.
not come to my desk until June 30, 1946,
Those trade barriers must not be put back
on the day on which it was supposed to ex-
into operation again.
pire. And it was such a rotten bill that
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Public Pupers of the Presidents
couldn't sign it. And 30 days after that,
if it is not repealed, as the Democratic plat-
they sent me one just as bad. 1 had to sign
form says it ought to be repealed.
ic, because they quit and went home.
On the Labor Department, the Republican
They said, when OPA died, that prices
platform of 1944 said, if they were in power,
would adjust themselves for the benefit of
that they would build up a strong Labor
the country. They have been adjusting
Department. They have simply torn it up.
themselves all right! They have gone all
Only one bureau is left that is functioning,
the way off the chart in adjusting themselves.
and they cut the appropriation of that $0
at the expense of the consumer and for the
it can hardly function.
benefit of the people that hold the goods.
I recommended on increase in the mini-
I called a special session of the Congress
mum wage. What did I get? Nothing.
in November 1947-November 17, 1947
Absolutely nothing.
and I set out a re-point program for the
I suggested that the schools in this country
welfare and benefit of this country, among
are crowded, teachers underpaid, and that
other things standby controls. I got noth-
there is a shortage of teachers. One of our
ing. Congress has still done nothing.
greatest national needs is more and better
Way back 4½ years ago, while I was in
schools. I urged the Congress to provide
the Senate, we passed a housing bill in the
$300 million to aid the States in the present
Senate known as the Wagner-Ellender-Taft
educational crisis. Congress did nothing
bill. It Was a bill to clear the slums in the
about it. Time and again I have recom-
big cities and to help to erect low-rent hous-
mended improvements in the social security
ing. That bill, as I said, passed the Senate
law, including extending protection to those
4 years ago. It died in the House. That
not now covered, and increasing the amount
bill was reintroduced in the 80th Congress
of benefits, to reduce the eligibility age of
as the Taft-Ellender-Wagner bill. The
women from 65 to 60 years. Congress
name was slightly changed, but it is prac-
studied the matter for 2 years, but couldn't
tically the same bill. And it passed the
find the time to extend or increase the bene-
Senate, but it was allowed to die in the
fits. But they did find time to take social
House of Representatives; and they sat on
security benefits away from 750,000 people,
that bill, and finally forced it out of the
and they passed that over my veto.
Banking and Currency Committee. and the
I have repeatedly asked the Congress to
Rules Committee took charge, and it still
pass a health program. The Nation suffers
is in the Rules Committee.
from lack of medical care. That situation
But desperate pleas from Philadelphia in
can be remedied any time the Congress wants
that convention that met here 3 weeks ago
to act upon it.
couldn't get that-housing bill passed. They
Everybody knows that I recommended to
passed a bill they called a housing hill, which
the Congress the civil rights program. I
isn't worth the paper it's written on.
did that because I believed it to be my duty
In the field of labor we needed moderate
under the Constitution. Some of the mem-
legislation to promote labor-management
bers of my own party disagree with me vio-
harmony, but Congress passed instead that
lently on this matter. But they stand up and
so-called Taft-Hartley Act, which has dis-
do it openly! People can tell where they
rupted labor-management relations and will
stand. But the Republicans all professed
cause strife and bitterness for years to come
to be for these measures. But Con-
408
Harry S. Truman, 1948
July 15 [160]
gress failed to act. They had enough men
came there, and that bill is at rest in the
to do it, they could have had cloture, they
House of Representatives.
didn't have to have a filibuster. They had
The Republican platform is for extend-
enough people in that Congress that would
ing and increasing social security benefits.
vote for cloture.
Think of that! Increasing social security
Now everybody likes to have low taxes,
benefits! Yet when they had the oppor-
but we must reduce the national debt in
tunicy, they took 750,000 off the social secu-
times of prosperity. And when tax relief
rity rolls!
can be given, it ought to go to those who
I wonder if they think they can fool the
need it most, and not those who need it
people of the United States with such poppy-
least, as this Republican rich man's tax bill
cock as that!
did when they passed it over my veto on
There is a long list of these promises in
the third try.
that Republican platform. If it weren't so
The first one of these was so rotten that
late, I would tell you all about them. I
they couldn't even stomach it themselves.
have discussed 1 number of these failures of
They finally did send one that was somewhat
the Republican 8oth Congress. Every one
improved, but it still helps the rich and
of them is important. Two of them are of
sticks a knife into the back of the poor.
major concern to nearly every American
Now the Republicans came here a few
family. They failed to do anything about
weeks ago, and they wrote a platform. I
high prices, they failed to do anything about
hope you have all read that platform. They
housing.
adopted the platform, and that platform had
My duty as President requires that I use
a lot of promises and statements of what
every means within my power to get the laws
the Republican Party is for, and what they
the people need on matters of such impor-
would do if they were in power. They
tance and urgency.
promised to do in that platform a lot of
I am therefore calling this Congress back
things I have been asking them to do that
into session July 26th.
they have refused to do when they had the
On the 26th day of July, which out in
power.
Missouri we call "Turnip Day," I am going
The Republican platform cries about cruel-
to call Congress back and ask them to pass
ly high prices. I have been trying to get
laws to halt rising prices, to meet the hous-
them to do something about high prices ever
ing crisis-which they are saying they are
since they met the first time.
for in their platform.
Now listen! This is equally as bad, and
At the same time I shall ask them to act
as cynical. The Republican platform comes
upon other vitally needed measures such as
out for slum clearance and low-rental hous-
aid to education, which they say they are for;
ing. I have been trying to get them to pass
a national health program; civil rights legis.
that housing bill ever since they met the
lation. which they say they are for; an in-
first time, and it is still resting in the Rules
crease in the minimum wage, which I doubt
Committee, that bill.
very much they are for; extension of the
The Republican platform favors educa-
social security coverage and increased bene-
tional opportunity and promotion of edu-
fits, which they say they are for; funds for
cation. I have been trying to get Congress
projects needed in our program to provide
to do something about that ever since they
public power and cheap electricity. By
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Public Papers of the Presidents
indirection, this 80th Congress has tried to
as a result of Republican misrule and
sabotage the power policies the United States
inaction.
has pursued for 14 years. That power lobby
In 1932 we were attacking the citadel of
is as bad as the real estate lobby, which is
sitting on the housing bill.
special privilege and greed. We were fight-
ing to drive the money changers from the
I shall ask for adequate and decent laws
temple. Today, in 1948, we are now the
for displaced persons in place of this anti-
Semitic, anti-Catholic law which this 80th
defenders of the stronghold of democracy
Congress passed.
and of equal opportunity, the haven of the
ordinary people of this land and not of the
Now, my friends, if there is any reality
behind that Republican platform, we ought
favored classes or the powerful few. The
battle cry is just the same now as it was in
to get some action from a short session of the
1932, and I paraphrase the words of Frank,
80th Congress. They can do this job in 15
days, if they want to do it. They will still
lin D. Roosevelt as he issued the challenge,
have time to go out and run for office.
in accepting nomination in Chicago: "This
They are going to try to dodge their re-
is more than a political call to arms. Give
sponsibility. They are going to drag all the
me your help, not to win votes alone, but to
red herrings they can across this campaign,
win in this new crusade to keep America
but I am here to say that Senator Barkley and
secure and safe for its own people."
I are not going to let them get away with it.
Now my friends, with the help of God
Now, what that worst Soth Congress does
and the wholehearted push which you can
in this special session will be the test. The
put behind this campaign, we can save this
American people will not decide by listening
country from a continuation of the 80th
Congress, and from misrule from now on.
to mere words, or by reading a mere plat-
form. They will decide on the record, the
I must have your help. You must get
record as it has been written. And in the
in and push, and win this election. The
record is the stark truth, that the battle lines
country Congress. can't afford another Republican
of 1948 are the same as they were in 1932,
when the Nation lay prostrate and helpless
NOTE: The President spoke at 2 a.m. in Convention
Hall in Philadelphia. The address was carried on
a nationwide tadio broadeast.
161 Statement by the President Upon the Death of
General Pershing. July 15, 1948
IT BECOMES my sad duty to announce that
John f. Pershing, General of the Armies of
duty. He had a genius for organization, as
the United States, a great American, died
everyone who served under him will bear
this morning at Walter Reed General Hos-
witness. In World War I, he led the great-
pital in Washington.
est army this country had, up to that time,
Embodied in General Pershing's charac-
been called upon to assemble.
ter were all those soldierly qualities that are
The sorrow at his passing will not be con-
essential to a great captain: brilliant leader-
fined to his own country. Friend and foe
ship, steadfast courage, tireless energy, un-
alike have publicly paid tribute to his loy-
swerving loyalty, and constant devotion to
alty to duty, his ability to lead and inspire,
his wisdom and courage under extreme
410
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LEVEL 1 - 4 OF 9 STORIES
Copyright 1992 Federal Information Systems Corporation
Federal News Service
MARCH 13, 1992, FRIDAY
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING
LENGTH: 8682 words
HEADLINE: REMARKS BY REPRESENTATIVE NEWT GINGRICH (R-GA)
TO THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF STATE LEGISLATURES
HYATT RECENCY CAPITOL HILL
KEYWORD:
GINGRICH REMARKS
BODY:
REP. GINGRICH: (Applause.) Thank you, Paul. I appreciate the chance to be here,
although I have to say after about four hours of sleep, I didn't appreciate it
quite as much an hour ago as I meant to. But I regard all of you as very, very
important elements in how this country governs itself, and I have some very
Federal News Service, MARCH 13, 1992
specific suggestions for you, I guess at three levels.
First of all, I want to share just a couple of ideas on leadership. Second, I
want to try to recruit you to be revolutionaries. And third, I want to suggest
five steps you can take both back home and in helping us that I think will
improve your position and ours.
First of all, it just occurred to me looking at your "Leaders to Leaders"
slogan, I do a lot of studying on how institutions change, and my PhD is in the
history of institutional change, and I thought I'd share very briefly, like for
90 seconds, three sets of principles I've found very, very helpful in the
process of leadership and the principles that I try to teach in a variety of
places where I work on leadership, including inside the military.
The first one is I use a planning model that's very structured, but very simple.
It's a heirarchy of four words, and I recommend it to all of you for whatever
you're working on, whether it's the legislature or your own career or trying to
solve a problem, because I think the model drives a pattern of thought that's
very powerful. And the top word in the heirarchy is vision. And literally, you
need to stop and sort out on one page or less, what are you trying to
accomplish? What is success? And if you force yourself to think it through and
put it in simple enough language that other people can read it, you're a long
way towards success. The second level is strategies, which 15 always plural
because there are no visions simple enough to have a single strategy. The third
level is projects, which is simply definable, delegateable achievements. And -
A steal from Prot: what if POTUS, after establishing
his business credentials, talked about his
"strategies" for America as a business might.
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the bottom level is tactics, what do you do every day?
The reason I suggest this to you is two-fold. First of all, when you attempt to
lead large groups of people, any group more than five, in order to get a shared
understanding of what you're doing, it is very important to have some kind of
model that disciplines you and forces you to know what level you're talking at.
Otherwise, it all falls apart. Basically, this model is adapted from the way Aug 45
that the Americans fought World War II as a global war.
Ag
'92
But, if you start with the notion of getting your colleagues together or getting
your staff together or getting your constituents together to talk first about
the vision of what you're trying to accomplish and make sure you all agree on
that; then to brainstorm on the strategies to implement the vision; and then to
define projects that are delegateable achievements, 50 you can then have lots of
people working on it. Now, you think about a project as a building block of a
strategy, and then that defines what you do every day at a tactical level.
And let me give you just one example. This is a country in which routinely the
urgent drives out the important. Now, all of you as leaders have that
experience every day. You get up, you have these three important things you
want to do, and by the time you've gotten to the office, 19 urgent things have
shown up, none of which is as important as the three things you'd already
thought of, but all of which have to be done.
Well, historically, the way we operate as a people is we jump in the car, start
driving, and then pull out a map. And what this is designed to do is to force
Federal News Service, MARCH 13, 1992
you to first stop, design a map called a vision, and then figure out what your
strategies are before you start running around doing urgent things.
Second example, I would suggest to you just three simple principles. I actually
thought of this talking to high school students, but I found it really works.
B
The first is to think big in terms of your career, in terms of where you're
going, in terms of your state government. Now, Peter Drucker said that the only
characteristic of Nobel Prize-winning scientists that made them different than
other scientists was that when they were very young, they decided on very big
projects. Didn't work particularly harder than other scientists, didn't
necessarily have any greater level of genius, but they had asked large enough
questions to genuinely change things.
2
The second would be plan long. Almost nothing can be done in human institutions
that really matters in less than about seven years. Now, if that's true, it
means that you need to have plans that are large enough that if you achieve
them, they're worth seven years of investment.
Most of the time what we do, and again if you're at all like me, you've had this
experience a lot, is we get so drowned in small projects, all of which keep us
50 busy that at the end of the year, we have an accumulation of tactical
achievements which don't amount to any kind of breakthrough. And we're so busy
doing the little things that each year we say to ourselves, pretty soon, I'm
going to start doing something that really matters. And then, by the time
you've risen in leadership to the level you're at, if you're at all like me,
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Imagine that you picked up tomorrow morning's paper back home, in your home
town, the children had outscored the Germans and Japanese in math and science.
That would be a revolutionary change in the educational achievement of the
average American.
Now, I want to suggest to you that all of us are in a position that Roger
Milliken (sp) once defined as insanity. He said "Insanity is when you think
that by doing more of what you're already doing, you'll get a different result."
The fact is our health care system is bankrupt, grotesquely too expensive, has
massively too much red tape, is dominated by guilds operating on a medieval
power structure, and needs to be thoroughly overhauled. The fact is our school
systems are non-competitive and need to be overhauled. The fact is our tax code
IS anti-work, anti-savings, and anti-job creation, and needs to be overhauled.
The fact is our structure of centralized bureaucracy, civil service laws, and
rigid bureaucratic work rules is simply destructive and has to be overhauled.
You just go down the list.
Now, what people say, including most of us in politics, is, "Boy, I really want
to change things, and I know it has to be a huge change. Would you consider
this?" And the reforms we come up with are by definition not going to get us
anywhere. The level of incremental improvement we are going to make with any
set of modest reforms is irrelevant. In this case I would say to you, the
presidential candidates frankly, the person who comes closest to the right
pattern in terms of emotion would be Tsongas and Brown and Buchanan because
Federal News Service, MARCH 13, 1992
they at least understand we are talking about a big change. I happen to
disagree with the details of their changes but they have the right instinct.
This is a country that is in desperate trouble. We are in trouble in our
government structures, we are in trouble in a welfare state that teaches bad
values, we are in trouble in a criminal justice system that is more criminal
nice
line
than justice, and we are not going to give our grandchildren a competitive,
prosperous, successful America until we literally just replace the welfare
state. Now I didn't say be against it. There is a huge difference between the
Goldwater-Reagan model of conservatism, which was largely anti-government and I
was for it and in the context of the Great Society I thought they were right,
but in fact it is an inadequate answer. It doesn't get you to where you need to
go. You have to actually have a replacement model.
Let me suggest what the replacement model would look like at a values level.
And I'm a conservative. I think this is a conservative framework. But I think
most of you, not matter how liberal you are, will find the principals are right,
even if you would apply them differently. There are four areas that, I think,
you have to think through, and you ought to task your staffs to literally review
what you're doing in the context of these four areas.
The first is technology. We're being filmed by C-Span I mean, taped by an
audiotape. Do you realize that most high school students spend a lot of time in
cars? They have audio tapes in cars. I know of very few high school systems
that audiotape lectures 50 students can listen to them. Simply not thought
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of. I know of relatively few schools that put things on MTV. Simply not
thought of. We don't think about the multiple use of technology. I'll give you
two examples you're all familiar with.
First, every one of you has stood at a counter, given someone your credit card,
and had them verify in real time by telephone that you're allowed to spend
money. Now you think about it. It was averaging 2.3 seconds with Visa and
Mastercard when I visited Bentonville, Arkansas, and looked at the future of Wal
Mart. They were in real time connected to every cash register at every store in
the country -- could pull up cash register number eight in Corpus Christi store
number three, and show me what sale it had just completed, what the products
were, and how they had approved it.
I mean, you compare that to the Veterans Administration. You call the
Administration. They can't answer the question. You write them a letter. They
lose the letter. You go to your local congressman or senator. He or she writes
them a letter. They write back that they lost your records in the Great Fire in
1953 in St. Louis. You've now wasted six months of your life. At American
Express, Mastercard, and Visa, we expect them, we demand them to be operating on.
2.3 seconds. Now, that's an example of the gap.
We have two clocks in our head. We have a clock for the private sector when WE
voluntarily give up money. It has a second hand. We have a clock for the
government sector when we involuntarily give up money. It has 15-minute
increments. That is entirely a cultural affectation. There is no reason that
Federal News Service, MARCH 13, 1992
the government needs to be as incompetent, as bureaucratic, as backward, and as
anti-consumer as it is. It's simply the inevitable rigidification of the civil
service laws and the procurement laws that are now over a century old in their
design.
The second example: all these automatic telecards. Most of you do, anyway --
you walk in, 3:00 in the morning, you need money. Almost nobody ever goes to an
automatic teller to give it money. (Laughter.) Put your card in, and notice
what they've done, and think about how you apply this to government. They have
convinced you to be a voluntary teller. How you ever thought about that? Some
banks actually charge you for the privilege. You now do every step of the
transaction the teller used to do. You do it for free, you don't expect the
bank to pay you. Well, how many places in government are there lines which we
could eliminate by automation? How many places could we become 24 hours a day,
seven days a week, and simply transfer out to the citizen the opportunity to do
what they want to do?
So phase one is have your staff meet with the best technical people in your
state, recognizing that technology is always the human-machine interface. That
is, I'd rather have an old computer with an operator who knows what they're
doing than a new computer with nobody who understands it. It's the telephone,
knowing how to dial it. So it's the combination. We ought to ask people -- you
ought to consider setting up a technology commission that looks at the whole
system and rethinks it at a vision level, and then comes back and redesigns it
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as a user-friendly, modernized, and technologically-oriented system of
government.
Second level: basic economic and management principles. Very simple concept.
Imagine that Boris Yeltsin called you and asked you for advice on how to make
Russia productive. Might I suggest to you, by the way, that the notion that
Boris Yeltsin might call you tells you why I'm a revolutionary. You live in a
world in which the mayor of St. Petersburg, Russia, is to the right of the mayor
of New York City. That's how big the changes have been. And if you think I
exaggerate, remember that when Yeltsin came to the United Nations, the only
place he went in New York City was he went to dinner at the Federal Reserve Bank
to meet with 50 business leaders in order to be able to invite them to build
plants and create jobs in Russia. And I'm enough of a utopian that I believe
that someday we'll have a mayor of New York who will do the same, and it is
possible to get him to go to the Federal Reserve Bank -- (laughter) -- to meet
with business leaders to talk about designing --
And let me say to all of you, I mean, it's a funny line, but let me tell you
something. America's biggest cities are job-destroying bureaucratic nightmares
of systemic corruption. I mean, if you think I exaggerate, go back and read Tom
King's thousand-page report on the Jersey City schools. Read Governor Cuomo's
report on the construction industry in New York City. Read "City For Sale."
Read the introduction by Mario Vargas Llosa of Fernando DeSoto's "The Other
Path", the introduction of Vargas Llosa's, the poet-laureate of Peru and ran
Federal News Service, MARCH 13, 1992
for president down there. The introduction is about a lawyer-dominated,
bureaucratic, red-tape driven model. It happens to be Lima, but it is, in fact,
every major American city.
We raise the taxes, we raise the red tape, we set up a political structure
that's corrupt, and then we say to ourselves, "Gee, why don't we have jobs
here?" We then design a criminal justice system which puts violent young thugs
back on the street 50 that it is physically dangerous, and then we say to small
businessmen, "Why don't you come into this neighborhood and open up a store?" We
then establish a union-dominated, unbelievably bureaucratic, and extraordinarily
ineffective public school which fails to educate kids. We sent kids in
September into buildings that we know are going to fail them, and we tolerate
the failure for nine months, and when they get out in May, we're suprised that,
in fact, they have failed, precisely as WE knew in September, because we didn't
change the teachers, we didn't change the principal, we didn't change the work
rules, and we know they had failed the previous year. Now if you take a
building that has failed last year, why do you think it will be different next
year if you change nothing about it? And then we turn and say, "Gee, why do the
big cities fail?"
Finally, we have a welfare system which encourages males to abandon women, which
discourages marriage, which discourages work, which ends up teaching children
you might as WP]] hang around the house and watch 5080 operas because nobody
near you is getting educated, and which dissociates effort from reward.
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And let me tell you, this is not some right-wing statement. I saw some guy at
ABC the other day that said, you know, the Republicans are playing the race card
again. They're talking about welfare reform. The Atlanta Constitution asked in
10 states in the South in Janaury, do you believe we should require work from
adults who get government money, including women with young children? The
hardest way you can ask it. And in those 10 states, Southern blacks by 82 to 11
said yes. Nationally, among all Americans in USA Today in January, the number
was 80 to 13.
This country is sick and tired of being told that it is morally superior to give
people money for nothing so they can decay in misery. And when you tell middle
class women you may have to go back to work six weeks after you deliver the
child so you can pay the taxes 50 this woman over here who has no education
Berself and 15 not educating her child can have, in effect, mandated leave on
welfare for five years, it doesn't make any sense to any racial group in this
country, to any ethnic background, or in any geographic center. I'll bet you
there is not a city in this country where you have a majority against workfare.
And yet the political elite of this country consistently fails to get that.
Now, that's a sign of how bad a revolution we need.
Now, let me carry it a stage further. Just apply the basic economic and
management principles that you would tell Yeltsin about. More free enterprise,
more private property, more entrepreneurship, less bureaucracy, less red tape.
Two examples: First of all, if you get a chance, read the Reader's Digest
Federal News Service, MARCH 13, 1992
article, how the Union stole the big apple in the Janaury Reader's Digest.
There is no culture on the planet rich enough to have, as Reader's Digest
reports, a $57, 000-a-year public school janitor whose union contract requires
him to mop the school floor three times a year. You can't do it. There's no
city in the country rich enough to hire garbage men -- sanitation workers -- on
a contract which has some of the crews working four hours and being paid four
hours to go to a health spa. And yet, as the New York Times reported three
weeks ago, Mayor Dinkins just signed a contract again with the same union under
the same work rules. This 15 madness!
And I'm not just picking on big cities and Mayor Dinkins. The Health Care
Financing Administration of the Bush administration -- if I came to you and said
do you know why the Russians failed? In the end, they failed because they were
a huge, centralized, paper-dominated, red tape-ridden, bureaucratic network.
I'll give you a dumb example. They hired three professors at the University of
Moscow to academically study health care. They produced a thoroughly academic
model based on resources, not the marketplace, resources as defined by
intellectuals. They then divided that model into 7,000 increments, and they
then dictated that every doctor in Russia from Minsk to Vladivostok would be
paid a set fee based on the 7,000 models generated by an academic.
That is, of course, the resource-based, relative value scale of HCFA. It is
socialist madness. It is crazy. And you can tell how crazy it is. The only
two places in American life where technology gets more expensive are the
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Defense Department and Health care, because in both places government has SO
screwed up the marketplace that you can't make it work. And HCF A is as
thoroughly socialist as anything in New York City or as anything in Moscow.
It's just nuts. And therefore, WE have to abolish it and replace it.
The third level after technology and basic economic and management principles is
quality. I wear a quality pin from Millikin Industry. I once spent
two-and-a-half days with their senior management watching them work. Quality,
in the Edwards Deming model is a cultural transformation. If you don't
understand it now, as soon as your legislative session is over, find a company
in your state which is systematically applying quality and go study with them.
Spend a couple of days in their system. Watch how they do it. It is as
different from the traditional mass production as Henry Ford's assembly line was
from a cottage industry in 1880. Deming came to understand what he called
profound knowledge. He's 92 years old. Let me make this point to all of you --
to everyone who wants to get off on Japan-bashing.
Deming was born in Cody, Wyoming. He grew up knowing Buffalo Bill. He studied
quality at AT&T under Shoehart (ph) in the 1920s. We had 37,000 engineers in
World War II who understood statistical quality control. We gave it up after
World War II because we were 50 dominant we didn't have to worry about it. If
we could produce it, somebody'd by it. In 1950, he was invited by the Japanese
to come and visit, and they got 80 percent of the industrial capital of Japan in
one room for a seminar, and 50 he talked to all the leaders in a way that they
Federal News Service, MARCH 13, 1992
could reinforce each other. And he spent days with them.
Now, quality is not Shintoism, it's not Confucianism, it's not Buddhism, it's
not some fancy oriental secret; it 15 a profound set of basic principles about
how you think about life, how you think about your customer, how you think about
your job, and how you think about your co-workers. And when you discipline
yourself to study -- and I've just had two long sessions with Deming and I'm
going to have another one next week. I spent 7-1/2 hours with him the day after
Thanksgiving and came to the conclusion that I had to be a revolutionary because
you cannot apply quality in the welfare state.
It is antithetical to the work rules, it's antithetical to the procurement
system. It is madness to talk about lowest-cost producer. It's the exact
opposite of Toyota, which talks about the most effective, most efficient, best
producer for cost. A totally different standard. And you go right down the
list. And it is genuinely so different from everything we're used to that if
you study Deming and apply the American-designed, American-developed model to
ourselves, you just transform everything.
We have a hospital in Atlanta which has been studying Deming for three years.
They've lowered the cost of cardiac care by 50 percent. Now, you start getting
50 percent drops -- and, by the way, that's the correct dynamic model. You want
cost crashes, not cost containment. Cost containment is by definition a losing
strategy. You start getting 50 percent drops in the cost of care, it is amazing
how much you can save.
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Lastly, we want to apply basic American values. Technology, basic economic and
management principles, quality on the Demming model, basic American values.
This is the hardest and most sophisticated area, and I understand it least. Let
me just give you two quick examples. One: Bureaucratic cultures work for a
bureaucratic government. Germans get up in the morning and they say, "Tell me
what the rules are." No wonder Max Weber (sp) wrote the basic book on
bureaucracy. A bureaucratic government loves people who are acculturated to
listening to the rules.
Now, all of you who have traveled Europe will recognize the model. In Germany,
the German people have a contract with their politicians. They cannot establish
a speed limit because, if they did, the German people would obey it. I want you
to think about that cultural contract. If the Bundestag Monday adopted a
90-kilometer or 55-mile an hour speed limit, virtually every German would obey
it until the next election. Then they would wipe out the current generation of
politicians. They would elect the no-speed-limit party and they would go back
to 150 miles an hour. (Laughter.)
Now, I don't want to offend any of you, representing great and important states
as you do, but I do want to suggest to you that the American cultural response
to the challenge of speed limits has been dramatically different than the German
response. That in most of America. including maybe even your state, the
American response to the challenge of speed limits is to see it as a benchmark
of opportunity. (Laughter.)
Federal News Service, MARCH 13, 1992
I want to be daring for just one second. How many of you in the last week have
gone over the posted number, at least once? Raise your hand. How many of you
at least once? (Laughter.) I did this in Charleston, South Carolina without
thinking one night at a Republican regional meeting about three weeks ago.
Governor Carroll Campbell was sitting at the head table, and like an honest man,
he raised his hand. The place roared with approval. Now, I had just given a
right-wing conservative assault on crime. I had just suggested that we require
prisoners to work eight hours a days, six days a week, pay them minimum wage,
and then charge them the cost of incarceration. I also suggested that prisoners
study three hours a day, that this becomes part of what going to prison means.
The group had applauded cheerfully.
I then said to them, "All of you just said you're a bunch a law breakers. Now,
what are you doing, psychologically?" Of course, the same thing just happened
here. I mean, everybody who drove a car raised their hand, and we now know who
has a chauffered vehicle, those three people who didn't raise their hand.
(Laughter.)
Now, this sounds silly, but let me tell you how profound this is. And this is
part of why I became a revolutionary. I had a woman approach me in Henry
County, Georgia, a very well-meaning social worker, and she said to me, "Boy, am
I angry. People on food stamps sell their food stamps, and that is illegal.
And I said to her, "Of course they do. After all, they are Americans.' And she
just got very angry. And she said, "What do you mean?" I said, "LOOK. In a
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free society, if your government gives you a negotiable commodity and you come
to believe that that commodity is of greater value at 70 percent of face value
in cash than it is at 100 percent in stamps, you know in your heart your
government wants you to sell it, because no rational, healthy, free society
would ask its citizens to act against their own best interest. And you're
sophisticated enough as a citizen that if the middle class taxpayers and the
news media force the government to hire food stamp police, you'll cooperate.
You will not sell the stamps until 5:30, when they've gone home." (Laughter.)
Now, let me give you a stage further. Every high school I have talked to -- and
you can test this yourselves -- every high school I have talked to for 14 years
as a congressman, every class I have asked the question, "How many of you know
somebody who cheats?" every hand has gone up, in every high school, every time.
Why? Because we have allowed education and learning to be driven out by
bureaucracy, petty regulation, and red tape. Across the board. Education is
the missionary experience of civilizing the young and acquainting them with the
concept of learning. It has nothing to do with red tape. And yet every one of
us has participated in well-meaning ways in increasing the amount of paperwork,
increasing the bureaucracy.
We did one experiment I recommend to you, called Earning by Learning. Dr. Mel
Steely (ph), West Georgia College, can tell you about it. We went out to poor
neighborhoods, five public housing projects, second and third graders, children
living in poverty, single head of household, no books at home, food stamps,
Federal News Service, MARCH 13, 1992
designated by their teachers as at risk, likely not to learn how to read. We
set up a totally private project. I funded it with money I had earned making
speeches. West Georgia College coordinated it. We hired one adult for $500 to
coordinate five counties. We had 49 adult volunteers under President Bush's
1,000 Points of Light concept. We said to the students, "We will pay you $2 for
every book you read." That's very radical. It's child labor and it piece
work. (Laughter.) I did not have a single child, no matter how poor, who failed
to understand the theoretical concept, They had to go to the public library
which was free, check out books which are free, which is why we have public
libraries. Many of them got their card for the first time. Once a week, they'd
come in and see an adult volunteer who could not be related to them. They'd
give the adult volunteer the books they said they' read -- these are, after
all, second and third graders -- and we found something we did not design but
which happened by accident. They had to actually comprehend the book, not just
read it, because they had to be able to answer questions. So WE were actually
asking for a much higher level of sophistication than most first and second
grades do. If they could answer the questions they got $2. If they couldn't
answer the questions they didn't get paid. They were sent off to sit in the
corner and read.
Kids got so incredibly excited except in Douglas County, Georgia where they said
to us -- literally true -- they said to us the first time: You're going to
cheat. You will manipulate us, get us to read, and then you won't pay us.
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(Laughter.) Now, I want you to understand, in terms of why I'm a revolutionary,
this is a culture so sick that seven and eight-year-old kids in public housing
were telling us how little they trusted their government. That particular
group, we paid every week in cash. They doubled the number of kids every week.
So suddenly, the only kids seven and eight years old with cash were the ones who
were reading.
What did we accomplish? Two hundred and eighty-two students read 3,602 books,
we paid them $7,204. Our top student was an eight-year-old girl in Villi Rica,
Georgia who read 83 books, WE paid her $166. Her dad took a day off of work to
protect her. (Laughter.) Well, I mean, you have to think about this when you
start giving that level of cash to an eight-year-old.
We taught three things simultaneously. First, we taught literacy. We had
students in seven weeks jump two grades in reading ability. Compare this with
any program you funded last year in your state. Why did they jump 50 fast?
Because all of a sudden, this was a big deal. They read in the morning to
grandma, they read in the afternoon to mom, they read in the evening to their
friends, they practiced, practiced, practiced, practiced because they were
getting money. They were being told they were important. It's the Hawthorne
effect which ever student of behavioral management understands. If you study
people and make them feel important, they will work better automatically,
without regard to what you do for them.
Second: We were empowering them. You give a kid $166 at eight years of age,
Federal News Service, MARCH 13, 1992
they've got power. These kids consistently bought back-to-school clothing, they
bought the first sneakers they ever owned, they were involved in somehow having
a litte more control over their world.
Third: We taught free enterprise. You don't have to be a pimp or a prostitute
or a drug dealer. You can do an honest day's work, get an honest day's pay
doing something which is good for you and your society. We did all of that for
less than $8,000.
We spent $6.1 billion on Title I funding for the disadvantaged. I don't know
how much your states spend, but go back and look at it. Do any of you seriously
doubt that if we just transferred three billion books worth of reading, $6
billion in cash, to the poor next year we'd get more learning out of poor
Americans than we get today? Now, I'm not suggesting that we do that. But I am
suggesting that the core model is correct, that thinking in terms of a total
replacement of the current bureaucratic system, thinking in terms of going back
to incentives, innovation, dynamic models, encouragement, cash, things that get
people to move, things that work in America, no country on the planet is less
law abiding and less willing to obey rules than the United States, and for two
generations we have tried to manage this society by rules and regulations. It
is hopeless. This culture just rejects them.
I'll give you one test. None of you have ever seen a movie in which the hero
said yes, we could save the girl, but it would break rule 212(c). In this
culture, WE expect our heroes to say they may fire me, they may take away my
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pension, they may put me in jail, but by God, we're going to save her life.
Now, in that kind of a culture, you'd better have a dynamic, incentive-driven
model of management because you're not going to be able to guide them and manage
them by red tape and bureaucracy.
Now, let me summarize. You apply technology, basic economic and management
principles, quality on the Deming model, basic American values. Our goal is to
replace the welfare state. We are genuine revolutionaries because that is the
only way we're going to get it done. We meet Jefferson and Lincoln's
requirement that every generation of Americans is allowed to have a political
revolution.
I give you five challenges. One: go back home and do things. Earning by
Learning can be done, for example, by taking the amount of money you'll spend,
dividing by two, and that's the number of books you'll pay for. If you had $100
that's 50 books. How many kids do you want to -- do you have to teach how to
read? Figure out your own versions, don't take mine. But do. Don't just be a
politician, be a leader.
I have a guy in Phoenix who's now getting $100,000 raised this year for a
Phoenix Earning by Learning program. There's a school in Texas, a public school
system, now paying 50 cents a book for every third grader for every book they
read. There are nine states trying out Earning by Learning. But take the
concept of incentive and apply it wherever you want to in a nonburgaucratic
model.
Federal News Service, MARCH 13, 1992
Second: Think through how you replace the welfare state in your state and
introduce the bills to do it.
Third: Be daring as an association. Come back to us with radical
decentralization. What is the bill which would allow you to control Medicaid
and how much money could you save if we gave you that kind of power? What's the
bill that would allow you to control workfare and how could we aggregate 35 job
training systems, 96 federal food programs? How could we eliminate 85 percent
of our bureaucracy, transfer the responsibility and the cash to you, and have
you run it?
Your national association ought to come to us and say here's the model
legislation. We'd like you to pass "X".
Fourth: Find breakthroughs and success stories and send them to me. And if you
see people doing the right thing, empower them. Reward them. The simple act of
creating an award, the Baldridge Award at the Department of Commerce, has begun
to change all of American industry for almost no money. You ought to have, for
example, an award in your state for the institutions, hospitals, doctors, et
cetera, which do the most to improve the quality of care and lower the cost of
care simultaneously, and recognize it. Suddenly, people show up. There are
200,000 businesses this year that wrote in for an application for the Baldrige
Award, and in order to apply you have to study quality. So for almost no money,
the federal government is beginning to transform the leadership of American
industry.
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Lastly, preach the concept that it is possible to change everything, that it is
possible to replace the welfare state, that we can have a peaceful political
revolution. Ronald Reagan said in his first inaugural, "We have every right to
dream heroic dreams, after all, we are Americans.'
And I came here today with a heroic dream: A neighborhood that's safe, with
every child having had prenatal care; a system that encourages males to stay
with the children that they create; a system that encourages every person to
stay in school and actually learn; a system in which learning is the measure of
education, not money, not bureacuracy, not red tape; a system where you can walk
around your neighborhood and you're safe because truly violent barbarians are
locked up forever and required to work to pay for themselves; a system in which
the taxes and the regulations and the government attitudes encourage the
creation of jobs, 50 that when you get finished going to that school in that
safe neighborhood where you've been focused on wellness and you're healthy,
you're actually in a position to go out knowing something and have a job close
enough to home you can actually visit your parents on Sunday.
I believe all of that 15 possible. I don't believe it's possible with the
Republican plan. I don't believe it's possible with the Democratic plan. But
I
believe as Americans we could in fact be fellow revolutionaries and, together,
we could in fact replace the welfare state. And I believe the fate of the human
race depends on us. If we collapse, if we produce a generation that is
drug-ridden, AIDS-infected, illiterate, and inefficient, we will not lead the
Federal News Service, MARCH 13, 1992
planet. If we do not lead the planet, no one will replace us and the Irans and
the Iraqs and the Libyas will truly create a horrifying 21st century.
So I think we bear the moral burden, not just for ourselves, not just for our
taxpayers, not even just for our children, we bear the moral burden of the hopes
and dreams of every child in every country on this planet that some day they can
grow up in peace, in safety, and in prosperity. And I came today to ask you and
to beg of you to look seriously at being a revolutionary, whatever your party,
whatever your background, and together to replace the welfare state. Thank you,
and God bless you. (Applause.)
I'm told we have a couple of minutes for questions. I don't want to impose on
you, but I'll be glad to answer any questions you might have, or counter-attacks
if I've offended somebody. Anyone want to pursue anything in particular before
I get out of your hair?
Yes, sir?
Q In the prison pay system that you propose, how can the prisoner who refuse to
work participate in that system?
REP. GINGRICH: Let me say two things. First of all, I think you'd end up doing
an awful lot of government work with prisoners working. That is that government
would become the largest single contractor, although they'd always have it on a
competitive basis so the prison actually had to be productive and didn't just
become a sinecure of corruption.
Second, I think you'd just have a different scale. I mean, you say to people,
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August 3, 1992
MEMORANDUM FOR RAY PRICE
FROM:
JENNIFER GROSSMAN
SUBJECT:
THEMES
1)
THE THINGS THAT MUST GUIDE CHANGE
ARE THE THINGS THAT
MUST NEVER CHANGE.
People are seeking something old even as they are
grasping for something new. Change is here: exciting,
painful, frightening, and confusing. Values
increasingly seen as the key to stability. Concern
over values under siege. Politically: when we place
values center stage we put character in the
spotlight.
2)
THE FLIP SIDE OF CHANGE IS TRUST. THE PEOPLE MUST TRUST
THEIR LEADER, YES. BUT A LEADER MUST TRUST THE PEOPLE.
First part: a leader you trust, the man who manages
change with all its accompanying uncertainty (this
segues out of theme one). Second part: the leader
trusts you. Philosophical framework for empowerment
agenda (trust parents, not government, to choose kids
schools
trust you to better with your paycheck than
government will do with your taxes, etc.)
3)
GOVERNMENT CAN MAKE GOOD LAWS
BUT IT CAN'T MAKE MEN GOOD.
This segues out of "leader trusts you. The greatest
perversion of democracy in our time is the
misconception of the role of government. As with theme
two, this theme delineates our differences with the
opposition. Also underpins "spiritual revival" and
"Points of Light."
4)
NOT EVERYONE WILL AGREE WITH OUR AGENDA
FRANKLY, I'D HAVE
TO WONDER IF SOME PEOPLE DID.
Puts a circle of meaning around bad polls and publicity
while showcasing GB as a man of integrity, a man who
will do the right thing. Let others listen to the
pundits and the polls
GB will listen to his heart.
The special interests, the cultural elite, the
Congress
they have tried to define who we are, but we
are defined by who they are.
August 3, 1992
MEMORANDUM FOR RAY PRICE
FROM:
JENNIFER GROSSMAN
SUBJECT:
THEMES
1)
THE THINGS THAT MUST GUIDE CHANGE
ARE THE THINGS THAT
MUST NEVER CHANGE.
People are seeking something old even as they are
grasping for something new. Change is here: exciting,
painful, frightening, and confusing. Values
increasingly seen as the key to stability. Concern
over values under siege. Politically: when we place
values center stage
we put character in the
spotlight.
2) THE FLIP SIDE OF CHANGE IS TRUST. THE PEOPLE MUST TRUST
THEIR LEADER, YES. BUT A LEADER MUST TRUST THE PEOPLE.
First part: a leader you trust, the man who manages
change with all its accompanying uncertainty (this
segues out of theme one). Second part: the leader
trusts you. Philosophical framework for empowerment
agenda (trust parents, not government, to choose kids
schools
trust you to better with your paycheck than
government will do with your taxes, etc.)
3)
GOVERNMENT CAN MAKE GOOD LAWS
BUT IT CAN'T MAKE MEN GOOD.
This segues out of "leader trusts you.' The greatest
perversion of democracy in our time is the
misconception of the role of government. As with theme
two, this theme delineates our differences with the
opposition. Also underpins "spiritual revival" and
"Points of Light.'
4)
NOT EVERYONE WILL AGREE WITH OUR AGENDA
FRANKLY, I'D HAVE
TO WONDER IF SOME PEOPLE DID.
Puts a circle of meaning around bad polls and publicity
while showcasing GB as a man of integrity, a man who
will do the right thing. Let others listen to the
pundits and the polls
GB will listen to his heart.
The special interests, the cultural elite, the
Congress
they have tried to define who we are, but we
are defined by who they are.
Grossman
man
There are times in every young man's life, when God
introduces you to yourself. I remember such a time. I had the
four a.m. watch duty on the USS Finback -- just sitting alone in
the watch tower
thinking. I thought about the friends I lost,
about the girl I missed, and the country I loved. I thought
about war
I prayed for peace. I remember those nights as the
most important of my life.
You know, you see things from a watch tower that others
don't see. You see the enemy ships on a distant horizon
you
know when the storm will break if the crew can hold
and when
all others feel lost
you can see the shore.
Our ship of state is pulling though a storm. The world has
been remapped. The global economy is undergoing the greatest
transformation in our lifetimes. And America is being rocked by
the changes. Some folks have panicked: Change course! Go back!
Jump ship! America: don't be fooled by the songs of sirens. The
Democrats never quite got their "sea legs" -- I believe they
still think that's another name for imitation crab. I have
weathered storms before, America. I can see the horizon. I can
see the shore.
TEXAS/VALUES:
MC GROARTY
AUG. 5, 1992
For Barbara and me, this night has special meaning.
This is our last time around the track. It's good to come home
to Texas -- come home, to where it all began.
Now I know, some people say I was born to privilege. I've
never understood that. I never said I was born a Texan. //
I remember travelling to towns like Wink and Kermit and
Crane. Towns where parents worried and watched when a kid
crossed the street
...
towns that sent their kids halfway around
the world to fight in [Korea] and Da Nang and Desert Storm. //
Barbara and I settled in to the rythyms of West Texas.
Friday night football
...
Saturday picnics
...
and the Sunday
sermon. We raised a family
...
built a business
made
friends. We shared the small triumphs -- we shared the grief
that never goes away. Lived life -- as the author says -- its
own self. //
We worked hard -- Texans always work hard. We always
managed -- as Texans always do -- to find a minute or two under a
shade tree. Not to rest, just to plan.
And when the work was done, we sat around the table late at
night
and we talked. We talked about report cards and
schoolyard fights. About small things
...
about big dreams. //
The lessons I learned here
...
are the ones I live by now.
No, I wasn't born here in Texas. But in Texas
...
I came of
age.
92 AUG 5 P5: 43
DEFENSE/FOREIGN POLICY:
DRAFT LANGUAGE ON S.D.I.
MC GROARTY
AUG. 5, 1992
Let the other side put their faith in a 20-year old
treaty that technology has passed by -- with a country that no
longer exists.
Let the other side explain to the American people why
shooting a bullet with a bullet is provocative / why defense is
dangerous -- why we're safer when we're utterly defenseless
against a renegade ruler armed with a single ballistic missile.
Let the other side explain why they've cast vote after vote
to deny this Nation the technology -- defensive technology --
that will give us security against nuclear attack.
When they say: "we're better off defenseless, " I say:
Remember the lessons of Desert Storm. When the Scuds came
raining down, thank God our troops didn't have to rely on some
abstract theory of deterrence. Thank God we had the technology
to shoot those Scuds out of the sky.
Tonight, I make this pledge: If we wish to make good on all
we've done these first four years to reduce the threat of nuclear
war -- we must use the next four years to build a defense against
the weapons that remain. For the sake of ourselves and our
children, we will deploy S.D.I. //
# # #
Et 52 S GULG 26
GOVERNMENT
--THE GREATEST PERVERSION OF DEMOCRACY IN OUR TIME HAS BEEN THE
MISCONCEPTION OF THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT.
--government must return to its limits: do things right and do
the right things.
-government can make good laws
but it can't make men good.
--government must act to help families -- not replace them.
--when it comes to government, the other side says: "Pump Up the
Volume."
--We want a weightwatcher government. They want to watch and
wait.
--You don't fix a broken car by giving it more gas. You don't
fix a broken program by feuling it with more money.
-Programs building castles in the sand.
EDUC
--When it comes to challenging the education establishment, the
Democrats have become the party of the shameless teacher's pets -
- repeating everything they're told by the teachers' unions.
It's time to stop polishing bad apples.
--Your kid gets sent home from school for breaking the rules.
When a drug dealer confronted him, he was caught praying for his
life.
--"Developed economies demand developing minds."
--when kids have to punch a picture of a hamburger to order lunch
because they can't read
--I don't want an America where our kids have to say their
prayers in their head and the pledge under their breath.
/ Foreism
21
And while I want to see the world as proud of America, but
more than that, I want America to be proud of ourselves.
We are a nation of optimism and hope -- a nation not of
doubters, but of dreamers -- not of pessimists, but of pioneers.
A special place where miracles don't just they happen
every
day. not of talkers, hit donor happen,
I know this race is long, and we are far behind. And yet I
the monory
also believe -- deep in my heart that we will win. We will win
because Because our ideas are stronger, Became we are committed to the American
idea and we understand the American way
the way of cowage +
My mission is not complete, although we considenter, have changed the of reward, kindness wft
world, there is work to do here at home. I want am to ready roll up my & l we .
sleeves and get to work.
ht me my and simply - from the
In closing, I can only say I love my family. I love my heart:
country. I love my God.
God bless you, and god bless the United States of America.
In politics life,
America doesn't pramin
the medel - it promise the
race. And we 00 not shy
from that race,
There are times in every young man's life, when God
introduces you to yourself. I remember such a time. I had the
four a.m. watch duty on the USS Finback -- just sitting alone in
the watch tower
thinking. I thought about the friends I lost,
about the girl I missed, and the country I loved. I thought
about war
I prayed for peace. I remember those nights as the
most important of my life.
You know, you see things from a watch tower that others
don't see. You see the enemy ships on a distant horizon
you
know when the storm will break if the crew can hold
and when
all others feel lost
you can see the shore.
Our ship of state is pulling though a storm. The world has
been remapped. The global economy is undergoing the greatest
transformation in our lifetimes. And America is being rocked by
the changes. Some folks have panicked: Change course! Go back!
Jump ship! America: don't be fooled by the songs of sirens. The
Democrats never quite got their "sea legs" -- I believe they
still think that's another name for imitation crab. I have
weathered storms before, America. I can see the horizon. I can
see the shore.
--the Democratic Party is still in the dark
but that's no
surprise
that's where the negatives are developed.
-Years of losing have put the Democrats in a touchy position.
When it comes to the country, they say: "If you don't look bad,
we don't look good. " (twist on Sassoon ad)
-Some say their party has cracked-up. If elected, you'll find
out that they're all they're cracked-up to be.
--Friends don't let friends vote drunk
FOR THE FIRST LADY'S SPEECH?
"And yes
I have been very proud
to Stand By My Man. "
'Okay
so maybe I'm not perfect. Maybe I baked too many
cookies and held too many teas." ((I admit it. It was a
mistake. Just read my hips.) )
"Finally I've got the body
to match the brains."
CONGRESS
--I've spent four years trying to get the tiger by the tail.
Elect a Democrat President and he'll simply unlock the cage.
--At home George Bush has faced down an equally intransigent
enemy
they'r holding Americans hostage
they got their
own bunker
it's time to send more patriots to the Democratic
Congress.
VETOES
-When Congress wanted to spend way past it's curfew
I have had
to say no. When Congress said, "Buy me a big, new program"
I
have had to say no. When Congress says it's hungry for more
taxes
I have had to say no. So when Congress says "You're no
fun, " I say "You're not kidding. Thirty-One lashes with a veto
pen. (or: Silly Congress Tricks are for kids) "
--Now the Democrats say they want a new babysitter
say the last
one was too strict. They say the new one will let them do
whatever they want. You know something, America -- they're
right.
QUOTES
"A penny saved is a Congressional oversight."
Hal Lee Luyah
"[Democrats] can't get elected unless things get worse -- and
things won't get worse unless they get elected."
Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, Time, Jun 17, 1985
GOVERNMENT
August 17, 1992
MEMORANDUM FOR STEVE PROVOST
FROM:
JENNIFER GROSSMAN
SUBJECT:
MORE SPEECH RESEARCH
FOREIGN CHANGES
BERLIN WALL
--If I had told you we'd tear down the Berlin Wall
you would've
given me a bid on the Brooklyn Bridge.
--Four years ago the Berlin Wall split a nation
and divided a
world. We've seen that wall come tumbling down. Today we market
chunks of it as paperweights. (or) Right outside this hall,
we've got a slab of that wall (true)
a souvenir of freedom.
COLD WAR
--If I had told you at the last convention that in four years
would bring the birth of sixteen new democracies -- who would
have believed me.
--If I had told you that we would eliminate 7,000 of our most
dangerous nuclear weapons -- and then convince the Soviets to do
the same -- could America have imagined it.
--and if I had thrown in for good measure, a promise that, if any
Middle Eastern madman should threaten to rain on this parade of
peace, that well, we'd just rally the entire world in swift and
massive retaliation to steal his thunder and silence his fury
SOVIET UNION
-their new definition of "Siberia" is being at the back of the
line to get into McDonald's ( (gives a whole new meaning to
breadlines) )
from perestroika to Pizza Hut
-Dallas is one of the most watched TV shows on Russian TV
--The former Soviets are finally realizing the old bolshevik
slogan: "Peace, Land, Bread." Only they're doing it at
McDonalds. We've even thrown in the meat.
--they've traded the hammer and the sickle for the
and the
("from Harleys and skateboards" both are popular there )
--videos popular in Moscow: Star Wars, The Howling, The Empire
Strikes Back, Rambo
--When Soviet were asked in a recent poll what lifestlye appealed
to them most, 65% of them said "American."
SPEAKING STYLE
--Bush's speaking style: it went out of fashion a long time ago.
"Now I'm not much for words, and maybe that's a fault. But I
believe in the old fashioned definition of eloquence: 'truth
spoken simply.
PERSONAL. 4
--After college, my professors encouraged me to go after a Rhodes
scholarship -- spend a year in England
But I had places to go
and things to see. After school
I
lit
out
for
Texas.
(
Unlike
someone
we know.)
--salesman: "traveling through towns called Muleshoe, Wink, and
Notrees."
--kicking back with a Lonestar in Nell's diner, talking
football
--In '68 the civil rights open housing bill came before the
House. Mail from his district was overwhelmingly against the
bill. While others might have listened to the polls -- Bush
listened to his heart. He voted for the bill. The response from
back home was ugly -- even threatening. Bush returned to Texas
to give a speech. The air was thick with catcalls and hissing.
Bush confronted the crowd, told them about how at that very hour
there were black soldiers fighting for the American way of life
over in Vietnam. As Bush spoke, the crowd quieted down. In the
end, they gave him a standing ovation. Bush says now: "More than
twenty years later I can truthfully say that nothing I've
experienced in public life, before or since, has measured up to
the feeling I had when I went home that night."
--from What I Saw at the Revolution:
Noonan asked Bush when he first became aware of the
realities of life (what the hell does that mean) and GB told
her about getting to know the barrios and border towns of
Texas when he was a young man. He was walking through a
barrio when he saw a little boy wearing ragged clothes, an
old undershirt and no shoes. With him was his mother, they
were holding hands -- Bush saw the poverty, but was struck
by something else. He said: "This little boy had nothing in
terms of physical things -- but here he is with his
mother
and there's love. And it was a feeling of how much
we have in common. He was like my kids.' (this was when
Bush was running for Congress)
Bush also talked about going to Africa and holding children
who were the victims of famine: "The one I feel in my heart
was when I held a seven-year-old kid in my arms in Somalia.
Seven years
seventeen pounds. It haunted me. I know
what drives me -- everyone matters."
--from Representing America, a book with chapters by former U.S.
representatives to the U.N. Here's what GB has to say, I don't
know if it helps us in the "I learned from
"
series:
"To be really effective in terms of securing votes, you have
to get out and work at it. I liked that part of the job; I
liked the politics of the UN."
"I believe strongly in personal relationships in bilateral
diplomacy. I think the United States should not be above
going to the smaller embassies, meeting with the ambassadors
from smaller countries, working with the regional
groups
it is important that the human side of the United
States is seen through the eyes of diplomats from other
countries."
"The UN's greatest strength lies in the economic and social
objectives, and its greatest weakness lies in its inability
to bring instant peace to troubled situations --
particularly when larger powers are involved."
TEXAS
Country songs:
"Houston, I'm Coming to See You"
"Houston means I'm One Day Closer to You. "
"Texas on a Saturday Night" (Willie Nelson)
"Texas When I Die" (Tanya Tucker)
-I'm going to give it to you straight. I'm a Texan. And
there's no such thing as the Texas Side-Step.
Here's a little scenery from the Midland-Odessa area:
Towns like: Wink
Sundown
Blackwater
Rivers like: Wild Horse Draw
Cottonwood Creek
Mustang Draw
August 17, 1992
MEMORANDUM FOR STEVE PROVOST
FROM:
JENNIFER GROSSMAN
SUBJECT:
LANGUAGE
Steve, I don't have any idea what's going on out there. But
I thought you might be able to use some extra soundbites in your
arsenal. Much of this you've seen before, but I just wanted you
to have it at hand if you need it. A couple of thoughts
during
the Brinkley interview, I was struck by the way the President
said "I want the American people to know my heartbeat. " Maybe
something along the lines of "Here's my heartbeat
=
It's
simple and personal. The President is also fond of the phrase
"Life Its Ownself." You could couch it " as the author says.." "
perhaps in any discussion of his life story. Don't forget: "I
finish what I start. "
CONVENTION
-Tonight is a special night
For Republicans, it is the end of
the beginning. For Democrats, it is the beginning of the end.
--Remember the Democratic National Convention? Where was the
Democratic leadership of the House? Where was the Democratic
leadership of the Senate? They locked them away behind closed
doors
Gives a whole new meaning to the term: "closet
liberal
If
--It's going to be tough to outflank the opposition. Elvis was
already here in '74. (true fact, he performed then at the
Astrodome).
OPPO
--Clinton was born with a silver soundbite in his mouth
--They've run a campaign of safe bets and sound bites.
--During a political season in Great Britain, Margaret Thatcher
once remarked: "We were told that our campaign wasn't
sufficiently slick. We regard that as a compliment."
--I've got to hand it to my opponents
they 're two very
promising young men. I'm sure they'll keep on promising.
--He says he'd make a model president. I don't know. He might
make a good model, though.
-would you buy a used car from this man?
SPIN NEGATIVE SPIN
--when we call a spade a spade
the Clinton camp demands a
retraction.
CHANGE CANDIDATES
***The other side talks of change. They just don't get it. The
fact is, we are the change. The Democratic Platform speaks of
the "Revolution of '92" -- a revolution in which the Democrats
are leading the charge. Kind of reminds me of the old con man's
advice to the new kid on the block: "Son," he said, "When you're
bein' run outta town, just get in front and make it look like a
parade.
"
New Covenant/Born-Again Democratic Party: During this campaign,
the Democrats have promised that their born-again. But they're
really like the guy who goes to church on Sunday to repent what
he did on Saturday
and will probably do on Monday.
-Different views on a kinder gentler America: Their America will
be kinder to enemies abroad
gentler to criminals at home.
Kinder to bureaucracy
gentler to the special interests.
JOKES
Maybe he's just having a bad hair day.
Barbara keeps a copy of Clinton's economic plan on her bedside
table. She says she loves a good mystery.
--Some of you may have heard that the Baby Boom Boys took a
cross-country tour. Well, they ran into a little problem. An
officer pulled them over and wrote them a ticket. Turns out they
were trying to smuggle a little liberalism accross the Mason-
Dixon line.
--From copy-cat covenants
to counterfeit cookies -- there's
just no end to what some people will try to pull. I think there
should be a roadside warning on the Democratic campaign trail.
It should read: "Slippery When Wet."
PHILOSOPHICAL DIFFERENCES
--he has offered XX in new spending
but America is not for
sale.
--I believe in equal rights
not special priveleges.
--Now I may be showing my age -- but even I remember a time when
the White House was occupied territory -- occupied by the
Democrats. It was a time when foreign policy was conducted
through capitulation. The flag was a quaint relic. Patriotism
was passe. And freedom was just another word for nothing left to
lose. When the Democrats ran the county, America was
a
joke.
At home, their slogan was: "Government Knows Best. They
told us that government knows best how to spend our money. That
government knows best how to make our choices. That government
knows best where our kids should go to school. Government always
knew best. But all that time -- the American people
knew
better.
( (John Major on Labor Government: "It was a world in which we
were told that government knows best. They knew best how to
spend our money -- how to make our choices. They knew best who
should own homes and run businesses
Through all that time
the
people of Britain knew better.) )
OPPO.2
SLICK WILLIE
--I've got to hand it to my candidate -- he's an extremely agile
politician. He's got his finger to the wind with his nose to the
grindstone while he straddles the fence with both ears to the
ground.
--Marching to the tune of different drummers.
--The new Elvis may be rocking you tonight. But America, he'll
roll you in the morning.
Now they say you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
You got to hand it to those Democrats. Every four years
if
first you don't suceed: try
try
try
try
try again.
Some say Bill Clinton doesn't have a record to stand on. Maybe
that's why he keeps jumping all over mine.
--When it comes to spending, the Democrats say we're stingy.
I'll tell you something
it sure is easy to be generous with
other people's money.
--The only place where they don't show the prices on the menu is
in the Democratic platform.
--our opponents are very thoughtful. They know there are two
sides to every argument. And they have adopted both.
--George McGovern on the trojan-horse ticket: "I have a hunch
that they're more liberal underneath, and prove it when they're
elected.
"
--"I can remember way back when a liberal was one who was
generous with his own money." (will Rogers) [That's before they
discovered how much more fun it was to be generous with other
people's money. ]]
THE GREATEST PERVERSION OF DEMOCRACY IN OUR TIME HAS BEEN THE
MISCONCEPTION OF THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT.
government must return to its limits: do things right and do
the right things.
-government can make good laws
but it can't make men good.
You don't fix a broken car by giving it more gas. You don't
fix a broken program by feuling it with more money.
"Insanity is when you think that by doing more of what you're
already doing, you'll get a different result." -- Roger Milliken
Programs building castles in the sand.
Government that guards Americans from themselves
but who
shall guard the guards?
WELFARE
Robs dignity, destroys hope
The greatest act of charity is to help people off of it.
these ideas won't work unless Americans do too.
the poor don't want greater dependence
they want a new
declaration of independence.
if you tell people long enough that they're victims
sooner or
later they 11 start acting like ones.
the choice is clear: we can either cut the system some more
slack
or put the bounce back into the safety net
--our welfare system is neither well
nor fair.
Deadbeat Dads
You can run
but you cannot hide.
--I see a future where families stick together
and fathers
stick around.
Welfare and families
--a system that penalizes famlies for working
for saving
for
staying together.
--a welfare check isn't a father
--marriage matters
--let other people talk about "new covenants. " Let us help these
families keep some of the old ones.
Opposition
--we will not discover new solutions until we find the courage to
let go of the old ones
-poverty pimps
--Long ago the liberals declared war on poverty
their battle is
over
and poverty won.
Quotes
"Human action can be modified to some extent, but human nature
cannot be changed.' -Abraham Lincoln (nexus with NP "pragmatism
about human nature
idealism about human potential.")
'Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to
work hard at work worth doing." --Teddy Roosevelt
-Kimi Gray, home ownership activist, on why she wants to own her
own home: " want to help on my taxes. I want to leave something
to my children. I want to own some brick. That's the American
Dream, isn't it." (quoted in the New York Times, July 13, 1990)
--Danish proverb: "Trust everybody -- but [trust] yourself most
of all." ----> the greatest tragedy is not that the system lacks
faith in Americans. It's that it makes Americans lose faith in
themselves.
MORALANG
there's a hole in the heart of the American dream
--my opponent reminds me of the cynic who knows the price of
everything but the value of nothing.
--a rope of sand
written on the wind
--every life is a portrait of the person who lives it. These
people have signed their with charity and good will.
QUOTES:
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters
compared to what lies within us. " (Emerson).
--"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we
give. " (Churchill)
FAMLANG
ABORTION
--My opponent is fond of saying: "We can't afford to wast a
single American." Well, Governor, last year we wasted about 1.7
million Americans -- 1.7 million Americans deprived of their most
basic right
their right to life.
what about those heartbeats, America?
QUOTES:
-Tolstoy: "All happy families are alike, but an unhappy family
is unhappy in its own way. "
Mormon quote about how "No success can overcome failure in the
home."
Santayana: "Family is one of nature's masterpieces."
Father Hersburgh: "The most important thing a father can do for
his children is to love their mother.' "
MLK: "I don't know what the future holds, but I know who holds
the future."
FOREIGN POLICY
DEFENSE
beware of sheep in wolves' clothing.
for the Democrats: "freedom's just another word for nothing
left to lose. "
our national symbol's the American Eagle
not the clay
pigeon.
MIDDLE EAST
"where peace still roams as the region's prodigal son"
"turn the cycle of demanding an eye for an eye into one of
offering a hand for a hand. "
GULF WAR
When the Bagdad Butcher invaded Kuwait
I bit the bullet,
while some folks in Congress bit their nails. And Saddam
Hussein
well, he bit the dust.
PHILOSOPHICAL
when we do the hard work of freedom
freedom works.
patriotism is not
just another point of view.
NEW WORLD ORDER
--We have won the war. Now we must wage the peace.
"We won the Cold War despite people the Democrats
but we won
it for them too. "
Desert One VS. Desert Storm
POP CULTURE/HUMOR
New Kids on the Block
Clinton-Gore on the campaign trail: Leggo my Ego
the Dukes of Hazard
-Clinton's got a new slogan: "Don't Hate Me Because I'm
Beautiful"
Clinton-Gore: "The Young and the Restless"
the Breck Boys
Ivana Trump: "Good hair is the best revenge."
Me Too slogans and You Too taxes
America: if you liked Carter
you'll love Clinton.
If we talk about Clinton's Little Rock record: "Do we really
want to get a piece of the Rock. "
Clinton's Economic Plan: "Final Exit" (after the suicide book)
"Tastes Great
Less Filling" (beer commercial)
My plan's bullish on America
their plan's just plain bull.
remote control economy
velcro values
the Care Bear candidates
Actually, Mr. Clinton has acquired quite a bit of foreign
policy experience in his travels
Mr. Eggroll
The
International House of Pancakes.
Clinton-Gore: Leadership for the Seventies
-macrame morals
Sen. Nickles: "Clinton/Gore: they've got what it takes
to
take what you've got. "
Cliff's Notes Covenants
Their motto: reach out and tax somebody
Southern Comfort
August 4, 1992
MEMORANDUM FOR RAY PRICE
FROM:
JENNIFER GROSSMAN
SUBJECT:
THOUGHTS ON CLINTON
SLICK WILLIE
--Clinton was born with a silver soundbite in his mouth
--They've run a campaign of safe bets and sound bites.
--During a political season in Great Britain, Margaret Thatcher
once remarked: "We were told that our campaign wasn't
sufficiently slick. We regard that as a compliment."
--I've got to hand it to my opponents
they're two very
promising young men. I'm sure they 11 keep on promising till
November.
--He says he'd make a model president. I don't know. He might
make a good model, though.
--would you buy a used car from this man?
SPIN NEGATIVE SPIN
when we call a spade a spade
the Clinton camp demands a
retraction.
CHANGE CANDIDATES
The other side talks of change. They just don't get it. The
fact is, we are the change. The Democratic Platform speaks of
the "Revolution of '92" -- a revolution in which the Democrats
are leading the charge. Kind of reminds me of the old con man's
advice to the new kid on the block: "Son," he said, "When you're
bein' run outta town, just get in front and make it look like a
parade.
"
New Covenant/Born-Again Democratic Party: During this campaign,
the Democrats have promised that their born-again. But they're
really like the guy who goes to church on Sunday to repent what
he did on Saturday
and will probably do on Monday.
-Different views on a kinder gentler America: Their America will
be kinder to enemies abroad
gentler to criminals at home.
Kinder to bureaucracy
gentler to the special interests.
--I want to throw out the garbage
they want to change the air
freshener.
BABY BOOM BOYS
--Bill Clinton: leadership for the 1970's.
--And when his country called on him to serve
Hell no, he
wouldn't go.
JOKES
--Maybe he's just having a bad hair day.
-Barbara keeps a copy of Clinton's economic plan on her bedside
table. She says she loves a good mystery.
--Some of you may have heard that the Baby Boom Boys took a
cross-country tour. Well, they ran into a little problem. An
officer pulled them over and wrote them a ticket. Turns out they
were trying to smuggle a little liberalism across the Mason-
Dixon line.
From copy-cat covenants
to counterfeit cookies -- there's
just no end to what some people will try to pull. I think there
should be a roadside warning on the Democratic campaign trail.
It should read: "Slippery When Wet. "
PHILOSOPHICAL DIFFERENCES
--he has offered XX in new spending
but America is not for
sale.
--I believe in equal rights
not special privileges.
-When it comes to taxes, Bill Clinton will put you out of
pocket. When it comes to his economic policy, Bill Clinton will
put you out of your job. When it comes to leadership, America,
Bill Clinton will put you out of your misery.
--We have enough Liberal Bills coming out of Washington DC. We
don't need one more. ((or: Think of it this way -- If you put
one Liberal Bill in Washington
you'll get one-hundred out. ))
--Clinton's economic plan: Paying Your Bill.
Now I may be showing my age -- but even I remember a time when
the White House was occupied territory -- occupied by the
Democrats. It was a time when foreign policy was conducted
through capitulation. The flag was a quaint relic. Patriotism
was passe. And freedom was just another word for nothing left to
lose. When the Democrats ran the county, America was
a
joke.
At home, their slogan was: "Government Knows Best. " They
told us that government knows best how to spend our money. That
government knows best how to make our choices. That government
knows best where our kids should go to school. Government always
knew best. But all that time -- the American people
knew
better.
( (John Major on Labor Government: "It was a world in which we
were told that government knows best. They knew best how to
spend our money -- how to make our choices. They knew best who
should own homes and run businesses
Through all that time
the
people of Britain knew better.) )
--They say you can tell a man's character by the kind of company
he keeps. Well I think you can say the same about Bill Clinton.
He's the posterchild of the pundits
the babydoll of big
labor
the sweetheart of the NEA
the darling of the law lobby.
THEIR LEAD
--Don't despair, America. We're going to win. Don't start
crying before you're hurt.
OPPO
SLICK WILLIE
--Clinton was born with a silver soundbite in his mouth
--They've run a campaign of safe bets and sound bites.
--During a political season in Great Britain, Margaret Thatcher
once remarked: "We were told that our campaign wasn't
sufficiently slick. We regard that as a compliment."
--I've got to hand it to my opponents
they're two very
promising young men. I'm sure they'll keep on promising.
--He says he'd make a model president. I don't know. He might
make a good model, though.
--would you buy a used car from this man?
SPIN NEGATIVE SPIN
-when we call a spade a spade
the Clinton camp demands a
retraction.
CHANGE CANDIDATES
The other side talks of change. They just don't get it. The
fact is, we are the change. The Democratic Platform speaks of
the "Revolution of '92" --- a revolution in which the Democrats
are leading the charge. Kind of reminds me of the old con man's
advice to the new kid on the block: "Son," " he said, "When you're
bein' run outta town, just get in front and make it look like a
parade.
"
--New Covenant/Born-Again Democratic Party: During this campaign,
the Democrats have promised that their born-again. But they're
really like the guy who goes to church on Sunday to repent what
he did on Saturday
and will probably do on Monday.
-Different views on a kinder gentler America: Their America will
be kinder to enemies abroad
gentler to criminals at home.
Kinder to bureaucracy
gentler to the special interests.
--I want to throw out the garbage
they want to change the air
freshener.
BABY BOOM BOYS
--Bill Clinton: leadership for the 1970's.
--And when his country called on him to serve
Hell no, he
wouldn't go.
JOKES
-Maybe he's just having a bad hair day.
--Barbara keeps a copy of Clinton's economic plan on her bedside
table. She says she loves a good mystery.
--Some of you may have heard that the Baby Boom Boys took a
cross-country tour. Well, they ran into a little problem. An
officer pulled them over and wrote them a ticket. Turns out they
were trying to smuggle a little liberalism accross the Mason-
Dixon line.
From copy-cat covenants
to counterfeit cookies -- there's
just no end to what some people will try to pull. I think there
should be a roadside warning on the Democratic campaign trail.
It should read: "Slippery When Wet. "
PHILOSOPHICAL DIFFERENCES
--he has offered XX in new spending
but America is not for
sale.
--I believe in equal rights
not special priveleges.
-When it comes to taxes, Bill Clinton will put you out of
pocket. When it comes to his economic policy, Bill Clinton will
put you out of your job. When it comes to leadership, America,
Bill Clinton will put you out of your misery.
--We have enough Liberal Bills coming out of Washington DC. We
don't need one more. ( (or: Think of it this way -- If you put
one Liberal Bill in Washington
you'll get one-hundred out. ))
--Clinton's economic plan: Paying Your Bill.
Now I may be showing my age -- but even I remember a time when
the White House was occupied territory -- occupied by the
Democrats. It was a time when foreign policy was conducted
through capitulation. The flag was a quaint relic. Patriotism
was passe. And freedom was just another word for nothing left to
lose. When the Democrats ran the county, America was
a joke.
At home, their slogan was: "Government Knows Best. " They
told us that government knows best how to spend our money. That
government knows best how to make our choices. That government
knows best where our kids should go to school. Government always
knew best. But all that time -- the American people
knew
better.
( (John Major on Labor Government: "It was a world in which we
were told that government knows best. They knew best how to
spend our money -- how to make our choices. They knew best who
should own homes and run businesses
Through all that time
the
people of Britain knew better. ))
They say you can tell a man's character by the kind of company
he keeps. Well I think you can say the same about Bill Clinton.
He's the posterchild of the pundits
the babydoll of big
labor
the sweetheart of the NEA
the darling of the law lobby.
THEIR LEAD
-Don't despair, America. We're going to win. Don't start
crying before you're hurt.
PERSONAL. 4
--After college, my professors encouraged me to go after a Rhodes
scholarship -- spend a year in England
But I had places to go
and things to see. After school
I lit out for Texas.
--salesman: "traveling through towns called Muleshoe, Wink, and
Notrees."
--kicking back with a Lonestar in Nell's diner, talking
football
--In '68 the civil rights open housing bill came before the
House. Mail from his district was overwhelmingly against the
bill. While others might have listened to the polls -- Bush
listened to his heart. He voted for the bill. The response from
back home was ugly -- even threatening. Bush returned to Texas
to give a speech. The air was thick with catcalls and hissing.
Bush confronted the crowd, told them about how at that very hour
there were black soldiers fighting for the American way of life
over in Vietnam. As Bush spoke, the crowd quieted down. In the
end, they gave him a standing ovation. Bush says now: "More than
twenty years later I can truthfully say- that nothing I've
experienced in public life, before or since, has measured up to
the feeling I had when I went home that night."
--from What I Saw at the Revolution:
Noonan asked Bush when he first became aware of the
realities of life (what the hell does that mean) and GB told
her about getting to know the barrios and border towns of
Texas when he was a young man. He was walking through a
barrio when he saw a little boy wearing ragged clothes, an
old undershirt and no shoes. With him was his mother, they
were holding hands -- Bush saw the poverty, but was struck
by something else. He said: "This little boy had nothing in
terms of physical things -- but here he is with his
mother
and there's love. And it was a feeling of how much
we have in common. He was like my kids." (this was when
Bush was running for Congress)
Bush also talked about going to Africa and holding children
who were the victims of famine: "The one I feel in my heart
was when I held a seven-year-old kid in my arms in Somalia.
Seven years
seventeen pounds. It haunted me. I know
what drives me -- everyone matters."
--from Representing America, a book with chapters by former U.S.
representatives to the U.N. Here's what GB has to say, I don't
know if it helps us in the "I learned from
" series:
"To be really effective in terms of securing votes, you have
to get out and work at it. I liked that part of the job; I
liked the politics of the UN."
"I believe strongly in personal relationships in bilateral
diplomacy. I think the United States should not be above
going to the smaller embassies, meeting with the ambassadors
from smaller countries, working with the regional
groups
it is important that the human side of the United
States is seen through the eyes of diplomats from other
countries."
"The UN's greatest strength lies in the economic and social
objectives, and its greatest weakness lies in its inability
to bring instant peace to troubled situations --
particularly when larger powers are involved."
TEXAS
Country songs:
"Houston, I'm Coming to See You"
--"Houston means I'm One Day Closer to You. "
"Texas on a Saturday Night" (Willie Nelson)
--"Texas When I Die" (Tanya Tucker)
--I'm going to give it to you straight. I'm a Texan. And
there's no such thing as the Texas Side-Step.
Here's a little scenery from the Midland-Odessa area:
Towns like: Wink
Sundown
Blackwater
Rivers like: Wild Horse Draw
Cottonwood Creek
Mustang Draw
PERSONAL.
VIC GOLD: DON'T WANT TO GO INTO LOSS OF ROBIN CONJURES UP
GORE'S MAUDLIN AND EMBARRASSING SELF-DISPLAY. DON'T TALK ABOUT
BARBARA'S MOM'S FUNERAL, THAT'S DUMB. HE TALKED ABOUT WHETHER IT
WAS AS A SALESMAN, OR AS A POLITICIAN, OR AS AN AMBASSADOR,
GEORGE BUSH OPERATED ON THE LEVEL OF PEOPLE -- NOT IDEOLOGY OR
GRAND ABSTRACTIONS. WHERE OTHERS SAW "THE MASSES" GB SAW
INDIVIDUALS. **ALSO: AUGUST 14, 1945, WORLD WAR ENDED. THE
FEELING OF THE COUNTRY AT THE TIME, HIGH-SPIRITED, OPTIMISTIC,
LOOKING FORWARD. THERE WAS THIS GREAT VISION OF THE FUTURE, AND
IT WAS AN AMERICAN FUTURE. VIc SAID THAT A REFLECTION BACK ON
THAT TIME COULD A) HELP SHAPE A POSITIVE ANALOGY FOR OUR TIMES,
AND B) REMIND VOTERS THAT WHEN HIS COUNTRY CALLED ON HIM TO
SERVE, BUSH STOOD WHERE DUTY REQUIRED HIM TO STAND.
LOOKING FORWARD:
Vic SAID THERE WAS POTENTIAL IN THE FOLLOWING PASSAGE. It's
ABOUT HIS TIME ON THE SUB THAT RESCUED HIM. I THINK IT'S PRETTY
POWERFUL. IT'S ALSO FLEXIBLE, I.E. CLEARLY IT WAS A FORMATIVE
TIME, HE HAD LOST TWO FRIENDS, HE WAS AT THE START OF HIS
LIFE. BUT IT'S ALSO A SEGUE INTO A BLANK PAGE: YOU CAN DEFINE
WHAT WAS "AWAKENED":
"THEN THERE WERE THE BETTER MOMENTS SPENT STANDING WATCH ON
THE TOWER DURING THE MIDNIGHT TO FOUR A.M. SHIFT, WHEN THE
FINBACK RAN ON THE SURFACE TO RECHARGE ITS BATTERIES. THE
SUB MOVED LIKE A PORPOISE, WATER LAPPING OVER ITS BOW, THE
SEA CHANGING COLORS, FIRST JET BLACK, THEN SPARKLING WHITE.
IT REMINDED ME OF HOME AND OUR FAMILY VACATIONS IN MAINE.
THE NIGHTS WERE CLEAR AND THE STARS so BRIGHT YOU FELT YOU
COULD TOUCH THEM. IT WAS HYPNOTIC. THERE WAS PEACE, CALM,
BEAUTY -- GoD's THERAPY.
I STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND THE 'LOGIC' OF WAR -- WHY SOME
SURVIVE AND OTHERS ARE LOST IN THEIR PRIME. BUT THAT MONTH
ON THE FINBACK GAVE ME TIME TO REFLECT, TO GO DEEP INSIDE
MYSELF AND SEARCH FOR ANSWERS. As YOU GROW OLDER AND TRY To
RETRACE THE STEPS THAT MADE YOU THE PRESON YOU ARE, THE
SIGNPOSTS TO LOOK FOR ARE THOSE SPECIAL TIMES OF INSIGT,
EVEN AWAKENING. I REMEMBER MY DAYS AND NIGHTS ABOARD THE
U.S.S. FINBACK AS ONE OF THOSE TIMES -- MAYBE THE MOST
IMPORTANT OF THEM ALL."
--IN WAR I LEARNED ABOUT SACRIFICE. I REMEMBER ONE CLEAR DAY,
OUT IN THE PACIFIC. I TOOK MY AVENGER ON A MISSION TO CHICHI
JIMA. Two OF MY BUDDIES, JACK DELANEY AND TED WHITE, THEY WERE
ON THE PLANE WITH ME. I HAD KNOWN TED SINCE I WAS I KID
WE
USED TO PLAY FIGHTER GAMES IN THE BACKYARD NOW IT WAS FOR REAL.
As WE APPROACHED TARGET, WE CAUGHT FLAK. THERE WAS FIRE LICKING
AT THE WINDOWS, WE UNLOADED OUR BOMBS JUST IN TIME. I ORDERED
BAIL OUT. AND I JUMPED. BUT I NEVER SAW MY PALS AGAIN. ONE
WENT DOWN WITH THE AVENGER. THE OTHER ONE'S CHUTE DIDN'T WORK.
--INTERESTING, BUT NEITHER HERE NOR THERE:
"OUR SQUADRON WAS COMING IN AFTER A STRIKE, THE AVENGERS
FIRST, THEN THE FIGHTER PLANES. I'D ALREADY LANDED AND WAS
STANDING ON THE DECK, WATCHING AS THE PILOT JAMMED HIS
THROTTLES FORWARD TRYING TO GET AIRBORNE AGAIN, BUT LOST AIR
SPEED. HIS PLANE SPUN IN, ENDING UP BY A GUN MOUNT. THE
GUN CREW WAS WIPED OUT. JUST A FEW YARDS AWAY WAS A
CREWMAN'S LEG, SEVERED AND QUIVERING. THE SHOE WAS STILL
ON. MORE THAN FORTY YEARS LATER I CAN STILL SEE IT. p.34
--FROM MIDWAY TO MIDLAND
August 8, 1992
MEMORANDUM FOR RAY PRICE
FROM:
JENNIFER GROSSMAN
SUBJECT:
TRUMAN'S ACCEPTANCE SPEECH
In November of '91, Clinton said that his party's main issue
of 1992 should be, "will we call an end to this Reagan revolution
experiment?" The error this question betrays is reflected in
Reagan's line: "They just don't get it
this is the change."
The "Truman Strategy" bandied about over at the campaign is
really a highbrow way of saying: our voters are still there, we
must remind them why they voted for us, and become more like
ourselves.
The mistake the Republicans made in the 40's was thinking
that the '46 midterms gave them a mandate to try and bury the New
Deal. Truman knew that the New Deal coalition was still there;
it just needed to be mobilized, which he did in the campaign. If
we believe that the country is still essentially anti-tax, anti-
big government, and socially conservative, it behooves us to go
back to these principles in '92.
Attached is Truman's convention speech for your perusal.
83000
######
numi
<<<<<<<<
OFFICE OF PRESIDENTIAL SPEECHWRITING
FACSIMILE TRANSMITTAL SHEET
Number of Pages (Including Cover) 3
To RAY PRICE
Fax Number 212/947-7118
Date 8/8
From
JENNIFER
Office Number 202/456-7752
******
COMMENTS
******
None of this is earth -shattering. cell
Continue to dig. clm going to call Vic
Gold tommonow.
-JAG
8000
nume
OFFICE OF PRESIDENTIAL SPEECHWRITING
FACSIMILE TRANSMITTAL SHEET
Number of Pages (Including Cover) 5
To RAY PRICE
Fax Number 212/947-7118
Date AUG. 5
From JENNIFER GROSSMAN
Office Number 202/456-7752
COMMENTS
First 2 pages: a couple of language fragments
for your amusement. Second two: language
on Texas / Values lcl really like this) + SDI.
Its from Dan Mc Groanty, our senior writer.
If you have a chance, let me know
where you are and what you need cl
hope all is going well.
-JAG
Thank you
the other side wants us to fight fair
so
tonight I promise to keep my eloquence in check. Four years ago
America
I came to you and told you that I was a quiet man
a
quiet man who heard the quiet voices others didn't hear.
All my life I have tried to listen a little harder
to look
a little farther. Where others saw danger to a young kid
I saw
the duty of a grown man. Where others saw the girl next door
I
saw Barbara Bush. Where others saw sagebrush
I saw Texas gold.
Where others saw a cold war
I saw a coming peace. Where others
saw problems
I saw promise. I tried to listen a little
harder
to look a little farther
I saw the things others
don't see.
Some have gotten so caught up in the moment
that they 've
forgotten the hour. So caught up in changing course that they've
forgotten where they want to go. The world has been
remapped
the global market has been transformed
and our
economy is undergoing the greatest transition in its history.
Some feel the pains and want to stop the growing. Some feel the
waves, and want to jump the ship. But I can see the horizon,
America
I can see the shore.
Our future hangs between the heartbeats of time. We can't
go back, America
we can't cross a burnt bridge. America has
changed the world
and some now fear how the world will change
America. Some say we should take our ball and go home. I say we
should step up to the plate. Don't forget we invented the game.
I have faith in America
because I have faith in Americans.
We won't just pull through
we will roar back: bigger, bolder,
better than we ever were.
random:
I remember my favorite scene from my favorite movie, "It's a
Wonderful Life. " George and Mary got a call from New York, and
they had to share a phone. The guy in New York wanted them to
invest in a new deal. He said it was "the chance of a lifetime." "
Mary looked at George and repeated: "it's the chance of a
lifetime. " They took their chance
George and Mary knew the
real chances
the real choices
they saw the things that others
don't.
GOVERNMENT
THE GREATEST PERVERSION OF DEMOCRACY IN OUR TIME HAS BEEN THE
MISCONCEPTION OF THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT.
-government must return to its limits: do things right and do
the right things.
-government can make good laws
but it can't make men good.
-government must act to help families -- not replace them.
--We want a weightwatcher government. They want to watch and
wait.
--You don't fix a broken car by giving it more gas. You don't
fix a broken program by feuling it with more money.
--Programs building castles in the sand.
EDUC
-When it comes to challenging the education establishment, the
Democrats have become the party of the shameless teacher's pets -
- repeating everything they're told by the teachers' unions.
It's time to stop polishing bad apples.
--Your kid gets sent home from school for breaking the rules.
When a drug dealer confronted him, he was caught praying for his
life.
"Developed economies demand developing minds.'
when kids have to punch a picture of a hamburger to order lunch
because they can't read
--I don't want an America where our kids have to say their
prayers in their head and the pledge under their breath.
FOREIGN POLICY
DEFENSE
beware of sheep in wolves' clothing.
for the Democrats: "freedom's just another word for nothing
left to lose. "
double dutch defense policy
our national symbol's the American Eagle
not the clay
pigeon.
COLD WAR
when my predecessor, Ronald Reagan, called the Soviet Union the
"evil empire, " we were roundly ridiculed by our critics. When
the empire fell last year, one Russian citizen put it this way:
"It was evil. Thank God we have finally been delivered from it. "
-never again will a child have to go to bed wondering if he'll
ever wake up. The doomsday clocks, the bomb shelters, the duck
and cover drills
those days are over.
MIDDLE EAST
-"where peace still roams as the region's prodigal son"
"turn the cycle of demanding an eye for an eye into one of
offering a hand for a hand. "
GULF WAR
When the Bagdad Butcher invaded Kuwait
I bit the bullet,
while some folks in Congress bit their nails.
PHILOSOPHICAL
when we do the hard work of freedom
freedom works.
NEW WORLD ORDER
We have won the war. Now we must wage the peace.
August 18, 1992
MEMORANDUM FOR STEVE PROVOST
FROM:
JENNIFER GROSSMAN
SUBJECT:
MORE LANGUAGE
DEM'S CONVENTION
--you put your left foot in, you put your left foot out, you put
your left foot in -- then you stick it in your mouth. (Hokie
Pokie)
CHARACTER
--character is what you are when no one is looking
it's what
you say when you think no one is listening.
--you've got to give the other side credit. They say: if you've
got it
flaunt it. Well -- they've got the second part down
pat.
--I'll tell you a little something I learned from my old navy
days: the guy who blows his horn the loudest is usually in a fog.
IF YOU LIKED CARTER
YOU'LL LOVE CLINTON
(On why we're revisiting the Carter era) "Those who cannot
remember the past are condemned to repeat it." -- Santayana
--My opponent says this election is about change but how will
he change America, when he can't even change his own party.
--after the last liberal has left the world stage
the
Democratic Party will be there to turn out the light.
--Double-digit inflation: if you told your girl she looked like a
million bucks -- she thought you were selling her short.
BERLIN WALL
--as reported in yesterday's Washington Post, there is a section
of the Berlin Wall on display at the arena on the Astrodome
grounds
I'm having someone check on how far it is from podium
and if it sports any relevant graffitti.
RNCNOT
--Drop-by, offstage announce, Rich Bond introduces, 200 people,
all RNC members, some White House Staff and spouses, 10 min
remarks. They've been there. You've got people from every
state.
--I don't know if many of you know this, but one of Rich's
favorite movies is called "The Repo Man." One of the characters
in the movie has a line that goes: "Repo men are very intense."
I can see why Rich likes that movie. Well starting today
the
repo men and women of the RNC have but one mission: It's time to
Repo the Big 'Mo.
--this has been an historic convention
for the Republicans, it
is the end of the beginning. For the Democrats
it is the
beginning of the end.
For months now
and every time we tried to set the record
straight
every time we called a spade a spade
Elvis was at the astrodome in 1974 ((I thought I did a fair job
last night. But you know, it's still going to be tough to
outflank the competition. I mean, Elvis was already here in
'74.))
--beware of sheep in wolves' clothing.
--they talk about "tax fairness" -- but we've heard that old line
before. Don't let that tax fool you, America
and don't let
that fool tax you.
--We had a quiet night
Barbara brought along Clinton's economic
plan for a little bedside reading. She say's she loves a good
mystery.
--I want them to know what my heartbeat is.
--We have won the war. Now we must wage the peace.
--And if the Democrats are finished borrowing it
I'd
like
my
language back: We have changed the world and now we can change
America.
the things that must guide change are the things that must
never change.
--I believe that the greatest perversion of democracy in our time
has been the misconception of the role of governmetnt.
Government must return to it's limits
to do what's right, and
do the right things.
--government can make good laws
but it can't make men good.
--I believe that the transmission of values depends on
parents
they think it depends
on your perspective.
--I believe that patriotism is not just another point of view.
--Remember the Democratic Convention -- where was the Democratic
leadership of the House? Where was the Democratic leadership of
the Senate? They had them hiding behind closed doors. Gives a
whole new meaning to the term "closet liberal."
--the other side talks of change the fact is, they just don't
get it. We are the change. Their platform heralds the
"Revolution of '92" --- a revolution they are leading. Kind of
reminds me of the old con man's advice to the new con man in
town: "Son," he said, "When you're bein' run outta town, just get
in front and make it look like a parade."
--It's been a great convention
one of the things I love about
being back in Texas is the music. The great thing about Texas is
it's cultural diversity. Why, right here in Houston, you can
listen to both kinds of music: country
and western.
11vn
--We shared the small triumphs -- we shared the pain that never
goes away. Lived life -- as the author says -- its own self.
--it's never the wrong time to do the right thing.
****I don't want to win this thing out of personal ambition
I
want to win it for the country. I like fishing, I've got my
family and my health
wouldn't I prefer tossing horshoes. Let
me tell you why I'm going after it.
--a call beyond political ambition
August 18, 1992
MEMORANDUM FOR STEVE PROVOST
FROM:
JENNIFER GROSSMAN
SUBJECT:
ACCEPTANCE SPEECH LANGUAGE
EMPOWERMENT
We have learned that the only Great Society is a good society.
-- (on helping the poor) : The Democrats want to slip more money
under the door. We want to hand them the keys.
--We put a roof over their heads, but we forgot to build a door.
The poor aren't asking for a free ride
they just want us to
clear the roadblocks.
FAILED POLICIES OF THE PAST
to rephrase a famous old saying: those who cannot remember the
missteps of the past
are condemned to step in it again.
they're just spitting into the wind.
CONGRESS
they want to rearrange the deck chairs
I want to clear the
decks.
when I set course
they dropped anchor.
BUSH
(UN, China) : I always knew that America was important to the
world
I found out how important the world was to America.
CLINTON
Clinton's like the politician who says: "The question is
.
Some are for
.
And some are against
And after serious
consideration and thought, I agree with them. " (maybe balanced
budget?)
Let me tell you the story about the farmer and his pig. This
pig was so slick that it kept slipping out of it's pen. One day
the farmer went looking for it, and followed its tracks all over
creation. When he came back, his wife asked if he knew where the
pig was. The farmer said: "Yes ma'm I found him
he's on both
sides of the fence."
MORALANG (values language)
--THE THINGS THAT MUST GUIDE CHANGE ARE THE THINGS THAT MUST
NEVER CHANGE.
--government can make good laws
but it can't make men good.
--it's never the wrong time to do the right thing.
--let me talk a little about covenants
no, not the new kind.
Let me talk about some old ones. [Run through moral
We camel sy that
have a special plas
mandates
moral foundation for our agenda].
--there's a hole in the heart of the American dream
--my opponent reminds me of the cynic who knows the price of
everything but the value of nothing.
--a rope of sand
--written on the wind
--America has been a question in search of an answer. But in
many ways
we've carried the answer inside of us all the while.
--every life is a portrait of the person who lives it. These
people have signed their with charity and good will.
QUOTES:
--"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters
compared to what lies within us." (Emerson).
--"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we
give.' (Churchill)
--America is great because America is good. If America ever
ceases to be good, she will cease to be great (DeTocqueville).
FAMILY LANGUAGE
--marriage matters
(KIDS ON G.B.)
--out of the mouths of Babes: nine-year old Vance says "He is a
good leader to have around in case some crazy guy attacks you. "
Eight year old Cassandra says: "George Bush is okay
for a
boy." And Marina, all of twelve years old, says "I'm waiting to
see what he does in the next seven years
then I'll make my
decision." Well, Marina, I don't know what I'll be doing in the
next seven years -- but I know what I'll be doing in the next
four. \\\
GOVT AND FAMILY:
the last thing we need is the government as a babysitter
the hand that rocks the cradle
ABORTION
--My opponent is fond of saying: "We can't afford to wast a
single American." Well, Governor, last year we wasted about 1.7
million Americans -- 1.7 million Americans deprived of their most
basic right
their right to life.
-what about those heartbeats, America?
WE'VE WON OUR BATTLES BUT HAVE YET TO WIN THE WAR:
--applies to childcare choice and school choice (childcare stage
one -- school choice is stage two)
QUOTES:
--Tolstoy: "All happy families are alike, but an unhappy family
is unhappy in its own way. "
--Mormon quote about how "No success can overcome failure in the
home. "
--Santayana: "Family is one of nature's masterpieces."
--Father Hersburgh: "The most important thing a father can do for
his children is to love their mother."
--MLK: "I don't know what the future holds, but I know who holds
the future."
RACE RELATIONS
for better or for worse in sickness and in health America
is one family One Nation Under God.
--"an America by the numbers only adds up short"
-"some bureaucrat's paint-by-number dream"
"when you're in the trenches, you don't care what color your
cover is. When you're on a mission, you don't ask your wingman
how he prays. II
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
To: Ray Price
From: Steve Provost
Re: Acceptance Speech
Last week I promised you one folksy anecdote the President might
use in dealing with the infamous tax issue in his acceptance
speech. The anecdote is from an old episode of Andy Mayberry.
Deputy Barney Fife asks Sheriff Andy why he has such good
judgement. "Well," says Andy, "good judgement comes from
experience." Barney then asks: "where does experience come
from?" Andy replies, "bad judgement."
Well, I made on bad judgement in my first term, but like Sheriff
Andy, I learned from the experience. (blah, blah, blah, blah)
Also, consider calling the other ticket -- "the Kareoke Kids" --
after the lip syncing craze that is currently sweeping middle-
America. Finally, reporters continue to grab onto the --
"change is all you have left in your pocket" line.
Hope you are being left alone and that the sweet God of
inspiration is being kind to you.
SCULLY
o
I'm not much for words, and maybe that's a fault
o
At times the Democratic convention seemed like an oratory
contest, each speaker in his turn trying to get the crowd even
more teary eyed. Well, that may make for good late-night
television, but this election isn't a contest of words. It's a
contest of principles, a clash of ideas, a test of character
o
I go by the old definition of eloquence: "The truth spoken
simply.'
o
Words -- not even 58-minutes' worth -- won't put the
unemployed back to work; won ;
won
o
Good populist quote: Someone once said that the average
American is always slightly better than average
o
And before this election is over, the American people
will see my opponent for what he is: A big-talking, big-spending,
big-taxing born-again family man. Slick, but no substance; all
polish and no shoe.
FOREIGN POLICY
o
Suppose a candidate from either party had come before you in
1988 and vowed: "I promise before my term is out to help bring an
end to the Cold War. Within the nest four years, I promise the
Berlin Wall will have fallen -- and with it the Warsaw Pact
forces that have menaced Europe for three generations will have
retreated and disappeared. The Soviet Union will crumble into
dust, and in its place 16 [?] new democracies will struggle into
life -- all in four years. I promise to eliminate 7,000 of our
own most destructive nuclear missiles, and to persuade the new
Russian republic to do the same
Oh yes, and if any middle-
east dictator should rise up to threaten the world's newly won
peace, I promise to rally all the western democracies in swift
and massive retaliation, and drive the dictator back
Well, of course, if anyone promised such things, he'd have
been laughed out of the convention center. No one thought it
possible -- I sure didn't. And yet all of it, and more, has come
to pass
o
Sometimes, looking back on the past four years, it seems as
if we've all been party to a miracle. And maybe we have
No
single politician can claim credit for it. It was not the work
of presidents and prime ministers. Like most of history's real
triumphs, it was the work of ordinary people
THE ECONOMY
o
In sum, our opponent's economic plan will cost 200 billion
dollars in tax money over four years, billions more in new
government regulation, as many as two million jobs, and our
competitive edge in vital new technologies. I guess this is what
he means by "Putting People First."
o
of all the thousands of federal programs in the budget,
there's just one that Governor Clinton is on record as opposing -
- a $10 million-a-year subsidy for honey producers. So, in
answer to charges that he has no plan to reduce the deficit, this
is the best our opponent can promise: a war on all those bees
living the sweet life off the federal dole.
FOREIGN POLICY
?
o
Four years ago, Manuel Noriega was living the high-life off
drugs that were killing Americans. Now he shares a modest home
with fellow low-lifes in a maximum security prison in Florida
[?]. And Panamanians are living in a democracy for the first time
in
PERSONAL
o
I believe that public and private life are joined in a theme
called character.
"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what
we give."
0 I'm remivaded of the old
can man's sovie to the new
hid : "Sm, when you're thin)
rm outra town, just get
out in front & maha it 100h
like & parade:
NEW YORK TIMES
August 16, 1992
These Democrats want it so bad, they
are lusting so bad, their bodies are
twitching with wanting the White
House."
Republicans close to Mr. Bush, who
had begun to despair and panic, were
thrilled and relieved in recent weeks to
see him turn up the volume.
Representative Jerry Lewis of Cali
fornia, a longtime Bush supporter, re
called a recent meeting with Republi
can House members at the Capito
where the President waved his arm:
and pounded the podium so hard tha
one of his Presidential seal cuff link:
flew off and his loose cuff flappe
around his wrist.
An elated Mr. Lewis picked it up off
the floor after the meeting and plans tc
frame the fragment as a memento of
the moment in 1992 when he saw the
President engage in the battle.
Mr. Bush largely views his politica
plight as the fault of others: a public
that does not appreciate his accom
plishments in foreign affairs, a group
of advisers who have given him bac
advice, a press corps that favors Bil
Clinton and a political landscape that is
churning like the wild earth.
"He has a strong feeling that if any
body goes from third place to a 30-poin
lead in one week, as Clinton did, there
are anomalies built in there that We
don't understand," said Marlin Fitz
BUS
water. "It's not real. He doesn't thin]
40 percent of the population changes it
mind in four days."
His closest advisers paint a pictur
of a President who regrets that, agai
and again, he went against his ow
F. Carter Smith for The New York Times
instincts and gave in to the advice (
hawn Morreale, a high school student in Houston, with convention signs yesterday painted by volunteers.
strategists: agreeing to raise taxes a
part of the 1990 budget deal; agreein
Political Memo
to do nothing to revive the econom
after his advisers told him last yea
that it would be a shallow recession
Weary and Feeling the Presidency's Weight
succumbing to his political team's pa
ic after the upset of Dick Thornburg
the Republican candidate who lost
Harris Wofford in the Pennsylvar
By MAUREEN DOWD
must defend his choice of Dan Quayle
from down deep in his gut and his eyes
Senate race in 1991, and allowing hi
as Vice President: He must try to win
sparkle and he gets that smile on his
Special to The New York Times
self to be talked into recasting his t
HOUSTON, Aug. 15 - His aides see
over suspicious conservatives with
face and here he comes."
the help of a prime-time blessing by
After eight years sutured to Presi-
to Japan in January into a domes
dent. Reagan, Mr. Bush wanted to be
mission in search of "jobs, jobs, job
sometimes around his eyes, an ex-
Ronald Reagan. He had to plead with
Part of the problem, the advis-
ression of weariness that was not,
himself, indulging his butterfly atten-
ere before.
Mr. Baker, again, to rescue his cha-
tion span and his patchwork political
say, is that Mr. Bush is bored by
The Peter Pan President who
otic campaign. And he has to begin
philosophy. The result was an "in-box"
mestic affairs, and had always inte
explaining all over again who he is,
Presidency, taking problems as they
ed
to
maintain
the
status
quo
on
eemed to grow younger and bounci-
what he stands for, and where he
came in, offering a series of, results
domestic
side,
doing
only
enough
r during his first years of his Admin-
stration has faced health problems
wants to take the country.
rather than a consistent program with
develop a re-election agenda.
"He is less sure of himself on thi
nd staff problems and political prob-
Now comes the test: Is the problem
a clear philosophy.
so complicated as the budget ag
ems, and he has finally felt the
that the President has not been get-
'It's Crazy Out There'
ment," said one member of Mr. Bu:
veight of the office he once wore so
ting out an effective message, as
Those close to George Bush say that
inner circle.-
ghtly.
Bush loyalists claim? Or is the prob-
he has felt frustrated, angry and con-
But while all of Mr. Bush's boost
lem the reality of Mr. Bush's record,
fused at the criticism he has received
talk about how he has been ill ser
Gleaming, for a Moment
as Clinton strategists argue?
from all sides in the last few months. If
with bad advice, their explanations
When George Bush put his old Tex-
The President's new masterminds
many Americans are befuddled by the
the question: Why does he keep per
S pal, James A. Baker 3d, in charge
will try to make the public forget the
President's passivity on the domestic
around
him
long
after
he
has
been
}
f the future this week, he recovered
large chunks of the Bush Presidency
front, Mr. Bush is befuddled by what he by their advice, and why can't he $
ome of his gleam - at least momen-
that were static, muddled and incon-
sees as the fickleness of the public and
ply follow his own best judgment, a
arily. The President laughingly de-
sistent. Instead, they will once again
the press, and the "screwy climate"
in did during the Persian Gulf war?
ended himself- to his spokesman,
portray Mr. Bush as a man with iron
the country.
Bush is the President, after all.
Jonathan Bush came to the airport to
His advisers say that the proble
Marlin Fitzwater, for wearing white
principles, staunch ideology and a
meet his brother when he came to New
that Mr. Bush hates dismissing pe-
ocks to a press conference with
coherent framework for governing
York recently for a campaign appear-
and hangs on too long, hoping
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Is-
the country.
ance and the President fretted, "It's
ael. He returned to his favorite ritu-
Everyone knows it will not be easy.
crazy out there."
things will shake out. Long after
ils, poking fun at his straight man,
'George is kind of like Houdini at
Upset by defections in his own party,
of his advisers urged him to repla
Brent Scowcroft, the national securi-
the former Navy pilot urges audiences
obstreperous. chief of staff, Jo
y adviser, and trading spicy jokes
this point," said the President's
to be loyal by using the analogy of his
Sununu, Mr. Bush kept the ma
with Mr. Baker.
brother, Jonathan Bush, an invest-
wing man in World War II. Speaking to
had been instrumental in helpin
"Obviously, a burden was lifted,"
ment banker who has come to the
a group of House Republicans and a
win the New Hampshire primar
Mr. Scowcroft said. "He seemed
convention as a delegate from New
group of businessmen in recent private
Once Samuel K. Skinner was ir
more lighthearted."
York. "They've shackled him.
meetings, he said he was tired of Re-
as chief of staff, Mr. Bush reject
They've locked the trunk. They've
publicans "peeling off," and that this
early bad reviews on Mr. Ski
Back Where He Started
wrapped eight chains around the
was a time to "stick," not "cut and
performance because he could I
run."
lieve he would have to get out
And yet, when Mr. Bush came into
trunk and you think they have him in
'When I was down in the water, the
again so soon. Just so, he has reft
the White House senior staff meeting
there for good. But he'll get out."
Despite Mr. Bush's odd passivity so
wing man was there to protect me, not
give in to conservative demand
on Thursday morning to make the
far this year, his friends cling to their
to do something else," he chastised the
he remove Treasury Secretary
announcement that Mr. Baker would
faith that Mr. Bush is at his most
Republican lawmakers.
las F. Brady and his budget czar
again be his political. alter ego, he
The last year has represented a re-
ard G. Darman - even thou
dangerous at just such moments, when
looked more somber than excited.
confidants say he feel that he er
he is trapped and starts fighting with
jection that is very painful for a man
The 68-year-old politician who
following their counsel on taxes
the ferocity of the timid schoolboy cor-
who never took criticism easily and
economy.
nates handlers had stumbled so badly
nered by the class bully.
who, despite all his protestations that
"He gets weighted down by I
that he had to give himself up to
"George Bush has an internal gyro-
he pays no attention to polls, loved his
nel problems," Mr. Scowcroft S
handlers for another major resynthe-
scope system that has never failed
high poll numbers.
there's anything he hates, it's wl
sizing job. He has to put up again with
him, at every point when he was under-
Six months ago, he began telling
been doing recently. It just tea
headlines that proclaim "Baker to
estimated by somebody," said Senator
friends that the race would be ugly and
apart to have people he likes I
Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming, a Bush
painful, and that he was not looking
the rescue." George Bush is, in many
with each other, and to have sta
confidant. "I would hate to be in the
forward to it.
feels he has to change.
ways, right back where he was four
fourth quarter of any contest, in the
"He knew what was coming; rsaid,
"Roosevelt said that a Presic
years ago.
last hours of the day, if he were behind
'I'll be ready,' Senator Simpson re-
to be something of a butcher,"
must give the speech of his life
with a chance to prevail because be
called "I said 'You're going to have to
"That that
NEW YORK TIMES
August 16, 1992
Battling With His Health
should have done in three and a half
one day last week comparing news
On top of everything else, those close
years," said one top adviser.
magazine coverage of Mr. Bush and
to the President believe that he has had
The President's son and political ad-
the Democrats and complaining: "The
mood changes as his doctor, Burton
viser, George W. Bush, said that he and
incredible thing is after four years the
Lee, has tried to adjust the dosage on
his father believe that Mr. Clinton has
media is not willing to give the Presi-
his medication for a thyroid problem.
too little stature and too much baggage
dent credit for anything. It's just like it
In the last year, since doctors discov-
to prevail in the end. "Clinton came out
was four years ago."
ered the thyroid problem, he has com-
of the gate at 100 miles an hour but he's
But Mr. Bush is not panicking about
plained from time to time that he is
gòt a long way to go and he's out of
his re-election, those close to him
tired, which he never did before. And
breath," said the Texas businessman,
agree. Even through a dark period of
friends and aides have noticed that on
who has backed his father's stubborn
calls for abdication from some in his
occasion he does not have as much
insistence on waiting until the conven-
own party, a demoralized staff and
energy and that his eyes lose their
tion to begin fighting back or explain-
chilling poll numbers, the President
shine.
ing his agenda for the country.
has remained confident that Ameri-
Although there has been much spec-
Echoing his parents' view, the
cans are "fair," as he puts it, and that
ulation that the President was sick or
younger Bush complains that Mr. Clin-
they will eventually come back around
sulking, given his sluggish reaction to
ton is being "coddled" by reporters.
to his view: That he has been a good
months of Democratic and Republican
Senator Simpson agreed, saying that
President who deserves a second term.
broadsides, those who know him well
baby boomer reporters are giving the
"He has taken all this with relative
are not surprised that he only recently
baby boomer ticket a free ride. "Bill
equanimity in this sense: When the
seemed to come alive in the race. Mr.
polls were up at 65 and 70 percent he
Bush firmly believes that no one tunes
told everybody else and kept telling
in to a campaign until the fall.
himself that it isn't going to last," Mr.
The late John G. Tower, the Texas
Scowcroft said. "When it didn't, I think
lawmaker who watched Mr. Bush from
Fighting health
he was not so crestfallen as he might
the beginning of his political career,
otherwise have been. But the long hon-
used to explain his friend this way:
"George Bush is only good if he can go
problems, staff
eymoon he got also gave him the feel-
ing that fundamentally the American
into the fourth quarter with two min-
problems and
people responded to him and liked him,
utes left and kick the winning field goal
therefore his troubles were recover-
or catch the final pass."
political problems.
able."
Repairing a 'Hideous Mosaic'
Senior Bush advisers say that they
need to completely reconstruct the
President's image and the Reagan co-
Clinton and Al Gore speak in a kind of
alition during next week's convention
code that appeals to people their age,
and the fall campaign so that it is no
stuff about Elvis and the kind of music
longer, as one Bush associate calls it,
they play," he said. "The code is de-.
"a hideous mosaic that leaves all con-
signed to throw off some of the old
stituencies dissatisfied."
goats."
"We literally have to do in three and
And Marlin Fitzwater, the Presi-
half months what the White House
dent's press secretary, sat at his desk
Political Memo
Weary and Feeling the Presidency's Weight,
Bush Submits to New Handlers
President Bush working on his acceptance speech Friday at Camp David, Md.
Associated Press
EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDE
20-Aug-1992 10:18am
TO:
Jennifer A. Grossman
FROM:
Edward J. Walters
Office of Communications
SUBJECT: How's this?
This election is about change which suits me fine. Change is
what Ronald Reagan and I have been fighting for as President.
And not just change for its own sake, but change for the better.
In 1980, inflation was over twenty percent and growing; today
it's just over three percent and falling. That is change, and we
must never go back.
When you first elected Ronald Reagan and me, America was lagging
behind in a nuclear arms race and bullied by terrorists. Today,
there is no question that we are the strongest nation on Earth.
We are safe again, and that peace is priceless. That is change,
and we must never go back.
Ronald Reagan and I have fought to make government smaller and
put it back in the hands of the people. We have stopped the
Congress from taking more of your government from you. That is
change, and America will never go back.
But our change is not complete, and we must ensure that change is
guided by the principles that never change -- the fixed stars
that I once called a thousand points of light.
Contrary to what all the news media has been reporting, the final
outcome of a Presidential election is not decided at the
convention. The way I see it, and the way the country sees it,
over the next three months, America will be interviewing me for
the job of President of the United States.
Each and every one of you has interviewed for a job, or
interviewed someone for a job. You know that in an interview,
you talk about your past work experience and how it improved the
company. You also emphasize how you think your experience could
make the place where you're interviewing more productive and
efficient.
Everyone knows: The last thing you'd want to do in an interview
is say, "Your company's best days are over
furthermore, your
company is the laughing stock of the industry
and your
employees -- why, they can't do anything on their own
initiative
they need constant supervision!
Well, my friends, that's what my opponent has been doing in his
job interview with the people of America. Bill Clinton says we
are the laughing stock of the world. He says our country's best
days are behind us. He calls for the largest tax increase in
history and the smallest spending cut in history. He wants the
government to tell you when you can see a doctor and who that
doctor will be. He wants the government to tell you that you
will send your children wherever the government tells you for day
care. He wants the government to run your lives. He wants you
to think you can't do anything without the government.
I've got news for you, Mr. Clinton. There is no finer bunch than
the American people. We are the world's most productive work
force, we have the largest most robust economy, and we have the
freedom and spirit that countries around the world are learning
and sharing. If you think for one moment that the American
people are going to let you do to America what you've done for
Arkansas, guess again.
[[Go on to say why GB is the best candidate for the job
]]
TEXAS/VALUES:
MC GROARTY
AUG. 5, 1992
For Barbara and me, this night has special meaning.
This is our last time around the track. It's good to come home
to Texas -- come home, to where it all began.
Now I know, some people say I was born to privilege. I've
never understood that. I never said I was born a Texan. //
I remember travelling to towns like Wink and Kermit and
Crane. Towns where parents worried and watched when a kid
crossed the street
towns that sent their kids halfway around
the world to fight in [Korea] and Da Nang and Desert Storm. //
Barbara and I settled in to the rythyms of West Texas.
Friday night football
...
Saturday picnics
and the Sunday
sermon. We raised a family
built a business
made
friends. We shared the small triumphs -- we shared the grief
that never goes away. Lived life -- as the author says -- its
own self. //
We worked hard -- Texans always work hard. We always
managed -- as Texans always do -- to find a minute or two under a
shade tree. Not to rest, just to plan.
And when the work was done, we sat around the table late at
night
and we talked. We talked about report cards and
schoolyard fights. About small things
about big dreams. //
The lessons I learned here
are the ones I live by now.
No, I wasn't born here in Texas. But in Texas
I came of
age.
et 5d S INV 26
DEFENSE/FOREIGN POLICY:
DRAFT LANGUAGE ON S.D.I.
MC GROARTY
AUG. 5, 1992
Let the other side put their faith in a 20-year old
treaty that technology has passed by -- with a country that no
longer exists.
Let the other side explain to the American people why
shooting a bullet with a bullet is provocative / why defense is
dangerous -- why we're safer when we're utterly defenseless
against a renegade ruler armed with a single ballistic missile.
Let the other side explain why they've cast vote after vote
to deny this Nation the technology -- defensive technology --
that will give us security against nuclear attack.
When they say: "we're better off defenseless," I say:
Remember the lessons of Desert Storm. When the Scuds came
raining down, thank God our troops didn't have to rely on some
abstract theory of deterrence. Thank God we had the technology
to shoot those Scuds out of the sky.
Tonight, I make this pledge: If we wish to make good on all
we've done these first four years to reduce the threat of nuclear
war -- we must use the next four years to build a defense against
the weapons that remain. For the sake of ourselves and our
children, we will deploy S.D.I. //
# # #
92 AUG 5 P5: 43
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
August 6, 1992
MEMORANDUM FOR STEVE PROVOST
RAYMOND PRICE
JENNIFER GROSSMAN
FROM:
ED WALTERS
SUBJECT:
NOMINATION SPEECH
I have attached my musings about the nomination speech and some
language I like. Good luck with your work, and I hope the
President knocks this speech out of the park.
In 1980, this great nation could not have been more miserable.
Inflation was high, confidence was low. Americans were being held
abroad in Iran. The same tired government programs had failed, and
American bureaucracy was at an all-time high. Even Jimmy Carter
realized the nation was in a malaise. Americans wanted a change.
When Ronald Reagan and I came into office, Americans faced a
suffocating fear of nuclear confrontation with the Soviet Union.
We had limped through four years of a pacifist commander in chief
who was not up to the task of challenging communism -- even a small
nation in the Middle East was kicking us around.
The Berlin Wall stood as a physical monument to the tension between
two ideologies, and the dark clouds of communism hung over the
world like Damocles sword. In Afghanistan, in Nicaragua, in
Angola, in Asia, capitalism and democracy were on the way out;
freedom was at its lowest ebb.
Americans were unsure about the future; the people mandated change.
Democrats and Republicans alike elected Ronald Reagan, and they
elected me to make that change. What a difference 12 years can
make. Ronald Reagan began the revolution that I continue today
-- we changed the world. Instead of cowering when challenged by
dictators, we faced them down, and we won. Hostages came home
worldwide as we showed that there was a new sheriff in the town.
We stood toe-to-toe with imperial communism in the once Soviet
in
Union. Eyeball to eyeball for nine years, the other guy blinked.
In 1991, he fell. The arms race cost us, and we had to go into
in
substantial debt to win, but the investment is worth the dividend,
fell.
and the peace is priceless -- the world is safer now than it has
ever been since World War II.
v
While we have won almost every battle of the revolution, the
victory is soured because partisanship has blocked the triumph at
home. The people spoke in a broad mandate for change right here
in America, and they are understandably frustrated, because they
did not get it. But they will. Because I finish what I start. I
began this revolution 12 years ago, and I will finish it if you
give me four more years.
Since 1980, I have stood for this change, and you know which party
stood in the way. I fought for low taxes, low interest rates,
decreases in wasteful federal spending, curbs on pork, smaller
bureaucracy, less regulation, and a balanced budget amendment.
That's what the Revolution was about. I put these programs and
others before Congress, but they didn't even have the courage to
bring most of them to a vote.
the
Democrats in Congress blocked the kind of bold initiatives I have
Mox
asked for: they didn't fund my Education reform package,
preferring full stop to Head Start; they blocked my growth agenda,
preferring gridlock to growth; they lit up my urban aid package for
riot-torn Los Angeles and other cities like a Christmas tree,
decorating it with pork instead of progress.
Congress has been a dragging anchor on this ship of state for 34
years. But this year, we're throwing out the deadwood in Congress.
It's time to hoist anchor. In this race, you either lead, follow,
or get out of the way. Congress, tonight I ask you to step aside.
Americans have told me that they want the same kind of force and
determination on the domestic front that I mobilized as commander-
in-chief in kicking Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. They voted for
that kind of action in 1980, in 1984, and in 1988.
Tonight, they will get it.
Because tonight I proclaim the beginning of a new domestic order,
the final stage of the Reagan Revolution. Beginning tomorrow, I
will prudently use the powers of the Presidency, in accordance with
the Constitution, to renew America.
Every day, for the next two weeks, I will issue an executive order
to bring about the change -- if Congress wants to stay behind, we
will let them, because we don't need them. When Americans need
help, far be it from the President to let Congress stand in the
way.
Withdrawal/Redaction Sheet
(George Bush Library)
Document No.
Subject/Title of Document
Date
Restriction
Class.
and Type
01. Memo
RE: Executive orders. (1 pp.)
n.d.
P-5
Collection:
Record Group:
Bush Presidential Records
Open on Expiration of PRA
Office:
Speechwriting, White House Office of
(Document Follows)
Series:
Speech File, Backup
By SN (NLGB) on 4/5/2005
Subseries:
WHORM Cat.:
File Location:
[Republican National Convention] Acceptance Speech 8/20/92 [1]
Date Closed:
12/2/2004
OA/ID Number:
07578
FOIA/SYS Case #:
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2004-2265-S
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agency [(b)(2) of the FOIA]
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(b)(3) Release would violate a Federal statute [(b)(3) of the FOIA]
financial information [(a)(4) of the PRA]
(b)(4) Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential or financial
P-5 Release would disclose confidential advise between the President
information [(b)(4) of the FOIA]
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purposes [(b)(7) of the FOIA]
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(b)(9) Release would disclose geological or geophysical information
This executive order idea has been floating in White House circles
for a while, and was most recently suggested by Rich Bond at
breakfast a week ago. I'm sure OMB could find 14 great programs
they've been wanting to do, but have never been able to assert the
power -- for them, it would be like the 14 days of Christmas.
Further, this is truly revolutionary -- it's never been done. It
appeals to conservatives (provided we don't do anything
Constitutionally suspect), and it will top the news every day. It
also lends itself to some great signing events across the country.
This would set the stage for the rest of the campaign, it will
excite the American people, interest the press, and piss off Bill
Clinton. Here's a few ideas of what I have in mind (although OMB
I'm sure can be infinitely more creative):
Day 1: Indexing capital gains tax
Day 2: Mobilize U.S. military forces to help rebuild L.A.
Day 3: Target money and assets from drug lords to fighting crime
Day 4: More budget recisions (i.e. prickly pear research, COW
flatulation grants, etc.)
Day 5: End federal prison furloughs
Day 6: Kill some needless health care regulation
Day 7: Open enterprize zones
etc.
(Perhaps if we're feeling particularly gutsy, on Day 14, we could
assert that the President under the Constitution has the line-item
veto, and start to use it.)
FROM A BOOK CALLED REPRESENTING AMERICA.
DIFFERENT CHAPTERS FROM DIFFERENT USUN
AMBASSADORS
ission was one of the great
GEORGE BUSH Permanent Representative and Chief of the U.S.
orget my French colleague,
Mission to the United Nations, 1971-72.
had drafted the Universal
towering intellect, and when
During my early days in politics, I was highly critical of the UN. I felt
ends because I speak French
it was falling short of its promise from the late '40s. I saw it become
France]. He sat on what is
increasingly unable to be useful in its peacekeeping roles. After I served
You did come across some
there, my view changed. I felt that the UN was particularly helpful in
ot of ordinary people. It was
the economic and social areas [ECOSOC]. I favored certain of the
all. But I did come away at
multilateral efforts in the health field, food field, population field, etc.
arted optimistically. I came
Sometimes it is much better to use multilateral diplomacy and I saw
ibout the possibilities of the
that clearly after being at the UN.
; peace and understanding.
A former oil-industry executive and Texas Republican congressman, George
Herbert Walker Bush was named U.S. representative to the United Nations by
President Nixon in 1971. Bush cofounded and developed the Zapata Offshore
Company (1956-64), and later advanced to chairman (1964-66). Convinced
that businessmen "ought to take an interest in politics," Bush was active in Re-
publican politics in the Houston area. From 1967 to 1970 he served in the U.S.
House of Representatives. After losing a Senate race in 1970, Bush was appointed
to the UN post. His informal, energetic style, amiable personality, and access to
President Nixon won him the respect of fellow delegates. In 1971 Bush advocated
the Nixon administration's two-China policy-a compromise under which the
United States would support the admission of Communist China while calling
for the continued membership of Taiwan. Although Bush tried to win sufficient
support for the compromise, the assembly voted to expel Taiwan.
In 1972 he left the United Nations to become chairman of the Republican
National Committee; in 1974 President Ford named him head of the U.S.
Liaison Office in China. Two years later, he became director of the Central
Intelligence Agency, where he instituted structural and procedural reforms.
Considered a potential running mate for Nixon and later for Ford, Bush decided
to wage his own presidential campaign for 1980. He then became Ronald Reagan's
vice-presidential nominee on the Republicans' successful ticket against Carter
and Mondale. AND THEN
I felt [after serving there] that the UN was an extremely useful place
at which to conduct bilateral diplomacy. It's a fantastic place for
meeting future world leaders-getting to know them on a friendship
you that can again.
basis. As vice president, I continually run into people from all over
the world with whom I served at the United Nations.
It also found the UN to be frustrating in some ways-the attacks
on the United States, and so on. The UN passed a lot of irrelevant
169
170 / Representing America
resolutions, and I think that diminished its effectiveness. There's
the war between India and
an awful lot of rhetorical overkill at the UN. In the General Assem-
macy on that one was cond
bly, the debates were often not real debates, [with] no real give
I believe strongly in pe
and take, as in giving a speech and [having] someone exercising a
or multilateral diplomacy
right to reply, for example. But it still was a worthwhile forum in
above going to the smaller
which to vent one's frustrations or one's desires or one's goals.
from smaller countries, WC
In securing support of U.S. policies, our home mission worked
countries' representatives
the diplomatic circuit very, very hard. We had excellent political
their positions, and if you
officers, we contacted everyone-no mission was too small. I, as
can get the benefit of the d
ambassador, would not hesitate to go to a small African country's
of course, and it's certainl
representative. The UN job is much more than making speeches and
work, and in addition, it
posturing. To be really effective in terms of securing votes, you
United States is seen throu
have to get out and work at it. I liked that part of the job; I liked
tries. I am not naive enou
the politics of the UN.
change their fundamental
In terms of cooperation or disagreement with the Western allies,
For the permanent rep
generally speaking, we had very close relations and stayed together
It's the perception more
on most of the important questions. There were of course exceptions.
ship between the U.S. per
As for the Soviet Union, we had many differences, and they're on
is an important compone
the record. I got along with Ambassador Malik of the Soviet Union
General U Thant and Sec
and made it a point to work with him. But our differences were pro-
ships do matter a great de
nounced on most political issues.
friction or if there is ind
As to the Group of 77, I became frustrated at group positions
secretary of state are of c
that I knew individual members did not support. But again, we had
his instructions through
to work on various questions to get the support of different mem-
shall decree. And thus bo
bers in the group.
tions with the secretary 0
As to the tenor of the times, the biggest questions in the political
sometimes conflicting sign
field were the India/Pakistan War, the Taiwan question-entry of
rep to the UN does a balar
China into the United Nations-and certain events in the Middle East.
The UN's greatest stre
The principal challenge did relate to the Chinese-representation ques-
tives, and its greatest we
tion. Ours was not a two-China proposal in the technicalities of the
peace to troubled situati
proposal. There was a dual-representation proposal which was termed
are involved.
"two Chinas" by some. There is a distinction, given the fact that
both Taiwan and Peking consider that there is one China. Given the
new U.S. opening to China at the time of the UN debate, it was
extraordinarily difficult to keep out votes-votes that had been com-
mitted to the dual-representation position. The issue was extraor-
dinarily emotional, but when it was over, the United States properly
shifted gears and, in the UN context, dealt with the realities at hand.
In terms of tilting toward Pakistan, the U.S. position is on the
record there at the UN. We used our best efforts to try to help stop
The Nixon-Ford Years, 1969-76 / 171
its effectiveness. There'
the war between India and Pakistan. But most of the bilateral diplo-
UN. In the General Assem
macy on that one was conducted by Dr. Kissinger in Washington.
ebates, [with] no real give
I believe strongly in personal relationships in bilateral diplomacy.
.ving] someone exercising
or multilateral diplomacy. I think the United States should not be
was a worthwhile forum in
above going to the smaller embassies, meeting with the ambassadors
desires or one's goals.
from smaller countries, working with the regional groups, etc. Some
our home mission worked
countries' representatives at the UN have considerable flexibility in
We had excellent political
their positions, and if you have a personal relationship, you find you
ission was too small. I, as
can get the benefit of the doubt on certain issues. It's not always true,
to a small African country
of course, and it's certainly not true with the big powers. But it does
re than making speeches and
work, and in addition, it is important that the human side of the
rms of securing votes, you
United States is seen through the eyes of diplomats from other coun-
that part of the job; I liked
tries. I am not naive enough, however, to believe that people would
change their fundamental convictions based on personal relationships.
nent with the Western allies
For the permanent rep, access to the White House is important.
elations and stayed together
It's the perception more than the reality, in my view. The relation-
re were of course exceptions
ship between the U.S. perm rep and the secretary general of the UN
differences, and they're on
is an important component. I had many meetings with Secretary
T Malik of the Soviet Union
General U Thant and Secretary General Waldheim. These relation-
But our differences were pro-
ships do matter a great deal. Word spreads through the UN if there is
friction or if there is indeed compatibility. The relations with the
frustrated at group positions
secretary of state are of course important. The UN ambassador gets
t support. But again, we had
his instructions through the secretary of state, or as the president
e support of different mem-
shall decree. And thus both the access to the White House and rela-
tions with the secretary of state are important. It's not always easy-
gest questions in the political
sometimes conflicting signals come forth, and it is then that the perm
e Taiwan question-entry of
rep to the UN does a balancing act.
ain events in the Middle East
The UN's greatest strength lies in the economic and social objec-
; Chinese-representation ques
tives, and its greatest weakness lies in its inability to bring instant
al in the technicalities of the
peace to troubled situations-particularly when the larger powers
n proposal which was termed
are involved.
stinction, given the fact that
there is one China. Given the
ne of the UN debate, it was
tes-votes that had been com-
ition. The issue was extraor
er, the United States properly
ealt with the realities at hand
n, the U.S. position is on the
est efforts to try to help stop
in
ela
in
uld
hat
jon
for
Public-employee unions have
hat
brought a great American city to its knees.
! of
Could it happen where you live?
and
1. I
in
How Unions Stole
nds
It. I
re-
the
Apple
my
sa's
By RACHEL FLICK
'n I
$ by
HEN PRINCIPAL Perry
York public-school principal.
:ed.
W
Sandler of New York
The custodians' work rules-
$ is
City's Intermediate
thanks to Local 891 of the Inter-
ber-
School 145 learned that custo-
national Union of Operating En-
s as
dian Al DeCiantis would be as-
gineers-require DeCiantis to
ild's
signed to his school, he called
sweep only every other day and
the
DeCiantis's former school. The
to mop only three times a year.
JOW
other principal could not have
Cafeteria floors must be mopped
we
been happier that the man was
just once a week, even though the
hers,
leaving. DeCiantis, Sandler
cafeteria at I.S. 145 handles five
hing
would find out, "goes by the con-
lunch shifts a day and serves as a
the
tract"-the four words that strike
classroom after that. In those
gels.
dread in the heart of every New
classes, says Sandler, "the kids
ILLUSTRATION TERRY WIDENER
39
READER'S DIGEST
January
1992
HOW UNIONS STOLE THE BIG APPLE
pretty much learn around filth." In
per capita than other large cities to
employees get a total of 5I days off.
the rest of the school, squads of
do the same work.
Yet giving every employee just
forcement agents writing phantom
tickets while they loitered in restau-
students and teachers pick up trash
Ten years ago, for example,
one day off costs taxpayers $4.2
the custodian won't.
three men rode on New York
million.
stores. rants or browsed through luxury
For work like this, New York's
City's garbage trucks. Two could
New York City teachers have
How could city employees have
school custodians average $57,000
do the job, and eliminating the
even more generous schedules.
per year. With part-time contracts
And because the school day is short,
ignored their duties so brazenly?
third would save $30 million a year.
at other public schools, some boost
But the Uniformed Sanitation-
an estimated 40 percent have sec-
For one thing, those in charge of
their salaries as high as $80,000 and
men's Association was opposed. To
ond jobs.
watching the traffic agents are
members of the same union. Not
pad them with taxpayer-subsidized
bring the union around, New York
Alexander Levy began teaching
surprisingly, investigators found
equipment-from weed-cutters to
made a deal that plagues it to this
English in New York City's public
that the traffic agents' supervisors
Jeeps-that after five years is theirs
day.
schools in 1963. His salary when he
made "infrequent and ineffectual
to keep.
The city promised to kick back
retired this year was $52,750. For
field visits." What's more, even to
Custodians are not the only New
25 percent of the savings from two-
this he worked 180 days a year, six
York City employees whose union-
man trucks to the remaining work-
hours and 20 minutes per day,
reprimand a worker, an agency
must serve him with written
negotiated contracts beggar and in-
ers. Today, those bonuses cost
including lunch and preparatory
charges. The employee is entitled to
furiate taxpayers. By 1990, there
taxpayers $16.5 million per year.
periods. This schedule left him
were 353,000 people, from police
time for second jobs in the after-
a hearing, to representation by his
And New York promised that it
union or a lawyer and to call wit-
officers to teachers, on the city pay-
would not reduce the number of
noons and summers.
nesses in his behalf.
roll. Their collectively bargained
garbage trucks it sent out each day
In 1978 Levy took a year's sab-
labor contracts cost the city $13.3
unless the union agreed.
batical to work on his doctorate. In
4. Protecting their turf. Union-
1983 he took a second sabbatical to
ized city employees don't just ob-
billion a year. That's bigger than
In i986, New York added recy-
the budgets of 47 states.
cling trucks to its sanitation force.
travel the country developing a pri-
ject to private competition-they
fight it. Last June the Astoria
By May 1990, a $3.5-billion
Because the union would not agree
vate student-counseling business
budget deficit threatened the city
that he ran while still teaching.
Pool, a public swimming pool in
to the number of regular trucks
with bankruptcy. Yet even in this
being cut back, many sanitation
Through both sabbaticals, the city
the borough of Queens, was get-
routes became substantially lighter
ting a badly needed coat of paint
emergency, public-employee unions
continued to pay Levy 60 to 70
from the mayor's City Volunteer
resisted efficiencies, refusing-in
and briefer. Today many $40,000-a-
percent of his salary.
Corps. The CVC organizes teen-
the words of Teamster leader
year sanitation workers finish their
Levy took a retirement incentive
Barry Feinstein-"to be cowed by
work in as little as four hours and
that gave him pension credit for
agers, many of them school drop-
the fiscal crisis." The bottom line
spend the rest of their salaried day
three more years of work than he
outs, to work on city projects for
as one city manager sees it: "The
lifting weights and relaxing.
had put in. As a retiree, he is thus
carfare, lunch money and work
experience.
unions have a stranglehold on
2. Maximum time off. The aver-
entitled to $40,800 a year. For life.
But before the CVC could finish
New York."
age New York City employee
He is 55.
the pool, Al Carrozza, president of
How have public-employee
works considerably less time than
3. Resisting discipline. In 1989,
Local 1969 of the Civil Service
unions brought one of America's
his private-sector counterpart. An
the United Parcel Service com-
Painters' Union, appeared on the
great cities to its knees?
entry-level worker gets three weeks
plained to New York City's De-
scene and told the youths that the
1. Contracts that guarantee bloat.
of paid vacation his first year on the
partment of Investigation (DOI)
According to the independent Citi-
job. That's on top of 12 days' sick
that its trucks were getting billed
work they were doing was danger-
ous and illegal. The volunteers
zens Budget Commission, in i989
leave and I2 holidays. Most private-
for parking tickets they never
"stopped right away," says John
New York was forced to employ
sector workers get only seven to
received. In an undercover investiga-
Ciaffone, assistant commissioner of
nearly 40 percent more workers
nine holidays. After 15 years, city
tion, the DOI observed traffic-en-
the Parks Department. The job
40
41
READER'S DIGEST
January
1992
then had to be finished by union-
HOW UNIONS STOLE THE BIG APPLE
teachers' contract was due to ex-
ized employees.
pire. The mayor, already fearing a
columnist A. M. Rosenthal warned
Unions do not shy from strong-
recession, had pledged no wage
that if extorted further, the affluent
competitors, and public-employee
unions know that-and business
arm tactics. Last August, the New
increases above 1.5 percent. But
would flee New York, taking their
and individual taxpayers are stuck
York City Transit Authority was
United Federation of Teachers
taxable dollars with them. "Expect-
with the tab.
ordered to pay $1 million in dam-
president Sandra Feldman threat-
ing them to go on paying ever
ages because its unionized mem-
ened to strike. Again Dinkins
more to live in a smelly, danger-
No American city is as tightly
controlled by its unionized work
bers had harassed a private van
yielded, granting the 85,000 UFT
ous city that gives them ever less is
employees a 5.5-percent pay hike.
not boosterism," he wrote. "It's
force as New York. But as employee
service that competed with public
arrogance."
unions gain strength in other cities,
transportation. The service's
Soon Dinkins found it impossible
their members' political clout will
"crime": vans that offered bath-
to deny to other unions what he had
New York taxpayers may finally
grow with them, putting those cit-
rooms, TVs and phones, carrying
given the teachers. Last January
have reached their limit. "Put suc-
ies at risk of the tragic financial
800 commuters a day for a lower
Dinkins granted the Teamsters and
cinctly," says Allen J. Proctor, exec-
decisions New York has made.
fare than city buses.
District Council 37 a wage and
utive director of the State Financial
benefit hike of five percent over 15
Control Board, "New York's econ-
That's why many forward-looking
5. Illegal strikes. Walkouts by
localities are moving to transfer a
public employees are unlawful, but
months.
omy cannot generate enough tax
broad range of public services to
they happen and are so disruptive
Those agreements were reached
revenues to pay for its current mix
private contractors.
that the mere threat of one can
with unions that helped elect and
of city services."
A survey of 82 cities in 34 states
frighten city officials into costly
can certainly help defeat the mayor.
"Mr. Mayor, Labor Put You In" a
TWENTY-SIX STATES, the District of
found that each city had privatized
concessions.
Columbia and thousands of local-
something. Ninety-seven percent
On August 13, 1990, members of
union protester's sign warned
ities have passed collective-bargain-
were happy they had done so; 100
the Corrections Officers Benevo-
Dinkins outside City Hall last June.
percent had saved money-an aver-
lent Association went on strike and
"Labor Can Put You Out."
ing laws enabling their employees
When the city and its unions
to organize. As labor's influence in
age of about 25 percent; and 45
blockaded the bridge leading to the
city's nine-jail complex on Rikers
strike such deals, the taxpayer is
the private sector has eroded, it has
percent said the work done by con-
tractors was better.
Island. The union blockade snarled
forced to pick up the bill. Last year,
thrown its money and manpower
Phoenix privatized trash collec-
traffic for miles and trapped health
New Yorkers experienced the
into recruiting public employees.
tion as early as 1978. Its own Sani-
and corrections officers on duty
highest single-year tax hike in city
By 1990, 36.5 percent of public-
tation Department bid for the
inside the jails. On its second day,
history. Even New York Governor
sector workers carried union cards,
work alongside the independents.
inmates and guards clashed, and
Mario Cuomo, a longtime union
compared with just 12 percent in
At first, the department lost the
blood was shed.
friend, is growing impatient. Writ-
the private sector. Since 1983,
right to collect trash in fully half
Mayor Dinkins was furious at
ing in the New York Times, Cuomo
membership in public-employee
the city. But by 1987 it had beaten
what "sure in blazes" looked like a
protested that wage hikes planned
unions has climbed more than 13
the contractors at the efficiency
violation of the law against strikes.
for public employees would come
percent, to nearly 6.5 million.
out of the hides of "poor and work-
Many American cities, New
game. By then, the city had saved
Nevertheless, he swiftly compro-
$16.2 million.
mised with the union, and the
ing-class people."
York among them, have learned
Union leaders say they want to
the basic difference between union-
In 1989 Chicago privatized the
walkout and blockade ended. Po-
towing of abandoned cars. As a
lice were never called, and the no-
pay for wage hikes by raising taxes
izing a public versus a private work
result, says Mayor Richard M. Da-
strike law was never invoked.
on "the rich." But the wealthiest
force. If a private-sector manager
Other unions observed this out-
seven percent already pay 50 per-
negotiates too generous a contract
ley, "a service that cost Chicago
cent of the city's personal income
with his employees, a more efficient
millions has netted more than $1.2
come with interest. Just under two
taxes. In July, New York Times
competitor will put him out of
million over the last year." In 1990
months later, on October I, the
business. The government has no
Daley privatized parking-ticket
42
collections and gained taxpayers
43
READER'S DIGEST
$12 million. Chicago has also success-
Federation of State, County and
fully privatized some drug-abuse
Municipal Employees promptly at-
La
treatment and janitorial services.
tacked the idea, but the battle has
Last July Mayor Dinkins sug-
been joined. If real reform emerges
gested for the first time that some
from the fray, the city's economic
privatization might make sense for
crisis may have provided a valuable
New York City. The American
lesson to all America.
Reprints of this article are available. See page 196.
we
WC
a
Kinship
tal
ONE AUTUMN I walked with Alex
keeper finds a way to stretch the
go
Haley, the author of Roots, across a
creamed corn and ham and biscuits
on
narrow mountain hollow outside of
for the 30 people who have gathered
wi:
Knoxville, Tenn. Five or six thousand
outside on the lawn where dinner is
api
people had gathered at the Museum of
served. I sit with a young black family
bac
Appalachia to hear bluegrass music
from Nashville. The woman is a news
soo
and shop at booths displaying country
anchor on a TV station there; her
crafts. Every four or five steps across
husband, a telephone-company execu-
the meadow, someone would come up
tive. While their six-year-old son says
I
to greet him, touch him, ask to have a
grace, they bow their heads-and so
ure
picture taken with him. The people
do I. There is a young writer whom
hit
were predominantly white, rural folk,
Alex has invited to meet an editor
city
yet they seemed to see in Haley not
from New York. There are people
col.
celebrity, but kinship; someone rooted
from a Washington public-relations
me
in the same river bottoms and rocky
firm and some local folks, including a
Wa
ridges as they. He is family.
hill-country actor, whom Alex
Haley clearly likes people. In his
met just that afternoon at the fair,
soft, lilting voice he asks a little girl
who is regionally famous for play-
age
what she wants to be when she grows
ing an affable, tipsy moonshiner.
Lev
up. He gets two college students to tell
All these strangers eat together
in
him about their studies. An ancient
under a low, misty moon on one long,
be
man with a battered violin puts his
wooden table.
8:4
arm around Alex and they talk about
After dinner we walk to a gravel pit
fiddle music. It takes us 30 minutes to
near the lake, where one of the farm-
walk 5° yards from his car to the
hands has started a bonfire of railroad
barn-sided bandstand, from which a
ties. Before long someone asks where
rush of music-guitars, gut buckets,
Alex is. His secretary mentions that he
nan
and mountain dulcimers-spills like
left a little while ago to go to his office
the
bright water out of a rock.
in town to write.
had
Haley: literally collects a crowd.
Now that he has brought us togeth-
that
Those he spontaneously takes a liking
er, he allows the night, the chill air
to S
to he invites to dinner at his farm that
and crackling fire to make us family.
on
night. His relaxed and flexible house-
-Gary Allen Sledge
ask
44
Perhaps it's a weakness, but I think that Saturday Night Live is
one of the best barometers of pop culture:
NOT!
da Bears. da Bulls. Ditka.
Dana Carvey as George Bush (Not gonna do it. Wouldn't be
prudent.)
Commercials:
"Sumetimes d dream that me his
Like Mike, try to be like Mike. (Gatorade)
/ try to be like
Who is the world's greatest athlete? Dan. Dave.
Larry Johnson's Gran-mama
Mike
What's in:
like Mike
Frozen yogurt (fro-yo)
u wann
Retro anything (from classic rock to classic bubble gum) be
lily
Diners
1/
the Dream Team
Mike
nines (.9 caliber pistols - new weapon of choice on the street)
People:
Claudia Schiffer
Clint Eastwood
Annette Benning and Mr. Benning
Demi Moore (again)
Madonna
Arnold Scwarzenegger (still)
Kris-Kross
I hate to say it, but Arsenio, Dennis Miller, and Jay Leno
Mike Meyers and Dana Carvey
Jim Courrier
Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe (again)
Andre Agassi
Summer Sanders
Dan O'Brien and Dave Johnson
No way way
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
AUGUST 3, 1992
Three Choices for President Bush
Define the Second Administration
By ROBERT L. BARTLEY
nation. But with political action commit-
getic member of my administration, Secre-
With the Republican convention two
tees contributing almost solely to incum-
tary Jack Kemp. And I'm asking Rep. Vin
weeks away, President Bush is no doubt
bents, bloated franking privileges and ger-
Weber to head the Office of Management
working on his acceptance speech. "Four
rymandering across the nation, perhaps
and Budget. These appointments not only
more years" is probably not the theme.
the voters will not be able to change the
make the direction of our economic policies
He seems to be toying with "trust,"
Congress. In that case, I vow tonight, my
unmistakably clear, but signal everyone in
reminiscent of, "This election is not about
policy will be not to compromise with the
Washington that resistance in Congress
ideology. It's about competence." Our con-
Congress but to confront it.
will be met with a fight.
tributing editor Mark Helprin suggests a
As a token of my seriousness, I an-
The economy is also threatened by
stylish diversion into French, apres moi, le
nounce tonight that I am vetoing the
overregulation. My record testifies that I
deluge.
legislative appropriation. If the congres-
support the goals of the Clean Air Act and
"Does Bush really want to win?" my
sional leaders want money to spend on
the Americans With Disabilities Act, but to
15-year-old daughter asked at the dinner
their own perks, they will have to negotiate
protect the economy these measures must
table the other night, a question based on
with me about the kind of powers and
be administered with the greatest possible
an understanding not of politics but of body
attention to weighing costs and benefits.
language. The Bush passiveness in the
The president, in short,
To administer the ADA I will ask Ricky
inter-convention period repeats the Du-
Silberman, a longtime member of the
kakis mistake of four years ago. Bill Clin-
ton defined himself with a Middle Ameri-
is on the floor. To recover,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commis-
sion, to assume its chairmanship. And I am
can bus tour, then bid to define his oppo-
he has to use his conven-
asking James C. Miller III, the former head
nent on a visit to the New Orleans Super-
of OMB and the Federal Trade Commis-
dome. The news stories on the Republican
tion, and his power as presi-
sion, to be administrator of the Environ-
side have been "dump Quayle?" followed
inevitably by "dump Bush?" The presi-
dent, to define himself, to
mental Protection Agency.
As the country gets a chance to know
dent, in short, is on the floor. To recover,
show that he stands for
these people as Washington knows them, I
he has to use his convention, and his power
as president, to define himself, to show
something.
am confident that they will provide a clear
guide to the direction of a second Bush
that he stands for something.
administration. I have in mind many sim-
cooperation I need to accomplish what the
ilar names, of tough-minded and clear-
I hear you, his acceptance speech ought
people are asking me to do. If we are to
minded members of a new Republican
to declare. You are tired of business as
build a government that works, we need to
generation. I will be seeking to advance a
usual in Washington, and frankly, so am I.
bring to a head and settle many issues of
new generation, not reward an old one.
While the American people have been
authority and responsibility.
I must add a word about Vice President
working harder than ever, and American
In making this promise tonight, I know
Quayle, who of course remains on the
businesses have been taking a lot of pain-
that I have not been able to fulfill all of the
ticket. It is clear to me that the attempts to
ful steps to get more efficient, our gov-
promises I've made in the past. I'm sure I
remove him from the ticket were really not
ernment just lumbers along. It never
share this regret with many other people
motivated by the shortcomings he shares
admits a mistake, never corrects a wrong
faced with heavy and conflicting responsi-
with all of us. The motives of the attacks,
direction,
never
bilities. The worst choice I had to face was
rather, lie in his virtues and accomplish-
ends a failing pro-
between permitting a tax increase or clos-
ments. His critics object to his work at the
gram. It only gets
ing down the government on the eve of
Competitiveness Council, his willingness
bigger and bigger,
war. But in pledging bolder leadership and
to raise the issue of family values, his
demanding more
a clear sense of direction over the next four
proposals to curb tort law parasites. I
and more of your
years, I do not ask you merely to take my
would like his critics to know that if he had
hard-earned money
word. Tonight I am going to show you what
removed himself from the ticket, it was my
while many of our
my second term will be like.
intention to allow him to proceed with this
public services dete-
I want to start by thanking all of the
agenda as attorney general.
riorate.
appointees who have served me so loyally
*
I hear you, too,
in my first term. I appreciate their efforts
If this does not sound much like the
when you say I have
and do not wish to fault any of them;
George Bush we've known the past four
been part of the
whatever mistakes we have made should
problem. I under-
years, that is precisely the point. The
be my own responsibility. I look forward to
voters were willing to chase the Perot
stand that I have
George Bush
continuing associations with all of them,
mirage. Now they are dazzled by the thin
been too willing to
and to using their talents in new capaci-
veneer Bill Clinton has masterfully applied
compromise, that the American people are
ties. But since the voters have made it so
to the party of George Mitchell, Tom Foley,
demanding bolder leadership. I only ask
clear they want leadership for change, I
Jim Wright, Michael Dukakis, Jimmy Car-
that the people understand that the task
am going to offer a new team.
they assigned me four years ago is a
ter and George McGovern. Clearly voters
I am going to draft Vice President
are looking for something different.
frustrating one. The president carries a
Quayle's chief of staff, for example, as my
The irony is that George Bush still
heavy load of responsibility but has only
own chief of staff. William Kristol will be
limited authority. Since the voters gave me
commands the best resources to give them
my bridge to a new generation of Republi-
a Congress run by my opponents, I as-
the kind of change that, at least to judge by
can political thinkers. He's won wide-
sumed that they expected compromise,
the past three presidential outings, they
spread admiration from his colleagues and
wanted me to compromise.
looking for. If there is anything stopping
even from the same press corps that has
Now we are all tired of deadlock and
him from making the speech sketched
been heaping scorn on his boss.
above, it must be purely internal. The
drift in Washington. I hope that the voters
Obviously the most difficult assignment
will not only re-elect me, but this time give
question, apparent even to 15-year-olds, is
of the next term will be to get our economy
whether he really wants to win.
me a Congress that agrees with the direc-
moving forward vigorously. So as Trea-
tion in which I have been trying to take the
sury secretary I'm naming the most ener-
Mr. Bartley is editor of the Journal.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
AUGUST 2, 1992
Chicago Tribune
FOUNDED June 10, 1847
JOHN W. MADIGAN, President and Publisher
JACK FULLER, Editor
N. DON WYCLIFF. Editorial Page Editor F. RICHARD CICCONE, Managing Editor
HOWARD A. TYNER, Associate Editor
ELLEN SOETEBER, Deputy Editorial Page Editor
ANN MARIE LIPINSKI, Deputy Managing Editor
2
Section 4
Sunday, August 2, 1992
MANEY
ChicagoTribane.
LOYALTY, SHMOYALTY!
NO WAY, GUYS,
HE'S A DRAG ON THE
GEORGE BUSH
IS STILL MY
TICKET, AND IT'S TIME
RUNNING MATE.
TO DITCH HIM.
00
'92-08-15 21:53 DOUG GAMBLE
P.1
DOUG GAMBLE
8/16/92
424 . . 36th Place
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
(310) 546-6409
TO: BOB TEETER
COPY: RAY PRICE
STEVE PROVOST
MORE ACCEPTANCE SPEECH
I DON'T WANT TO BE RUDE AND TALK WHILE OTHERS ARE TALKING. DID THE DEMOCRATIC
NOMINEE FINISH HIS ACCEPTANCE SPEECH YET?
SENSE
I WANT YOU TO KNOW OUR SOME OF HUMOR IS STILL VERY MUCH INTACT AROUND THE WHITE
HOUSE. EVERY DAY, BARBARA TAKES MILLIE & RANGER OUT FOR A WALK, AND TO DO THOSE
THINGS THAT DOGS NEED TO DO EACH MORNING. AS SHE WAS HEADING OUT THE DOOR THE
OTHER DAY, I ASKED IF SHE KNEW WHAT TIME IT WAS. SHE LOOKED DOWN AT MILLIE &
RANGER AND SAID, "IT'S TIME FOR THEM TO GO."
(Take that, Al Gore!)
MORE
'92-08-15 21:53 DOUG GAMBLE
P.2
- 2 -
DOUG GAMBLE
TO: BOB TEETER - - RAY PRICE - STEVE PROVOST (CONT'D)
I LIKE WHAT I'VE SEEN HERE THIS WEEK. WITH ALL RESPECT TO BILLY RAY CYRUS,
THERE ARE NO "ACHY BREAKY HEARTS" IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
(Biggest country & western hit of the year.)
I WANT TO THANK THE HOUSTON ASTROS FOR LETTING US USE THEIR HOME. BECAUSE
WE'RE MEETING HERE, WE'VE CAUSED THE ASTROS TO TAKE A LONG ROAD TRIP IN
AUGUST, AND BECAUSE OF THE PATH WE'RE EMBARKING ON HERE, WE'LL CAUSE A
CERTAIN GOVERNOR TO HIT THE ROAD BACK TO ARKANSAS IN NOVEMBER.
PEOPLE HAVE KEPT ASKING ME, "WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO START CAMPAIGNING?" WELL,
I'VE SAID THAT I'VE WANTED TO CAMPAIGN IN THE WORST WAY, AND SO FAR I HAVE.
BUT ALL THAT CHANGES TONIGHT.
AFTER THE NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY, MY DEMOCRATIC OPPONENT STYLED HIMSELF AS
"THE COMEBACK KID." WHEN ONE OF MY GRANDCHILDREN HEARD ABOUT THIS HE CAME
IN TO SEE ME AND SAID, "DON'T WORRY -- AFTER YOU WIN THE ELECTION YOU'LL BE
KNOWN AS "THE COMEBACK GRANDPA."
YES, MY OPPONENT CALLS HIMSELF "THE COMEBACK KID," AND IF YOU LOOK AT HIS ECONOMIC
POLICY YOU'LL SEE THAT'S TRUE. IT CRIES OUT LOUD AND CLEAR, "COME BACK INFLATION,
COME BACK HIGH INTEREST RATES, COME BACK INCREASED SPENDING, COME BACK HIGHER
TAXES, COME BACK RECESSION, COME BACK BIG GOVERNMENT, COME BACK CARTER ERA."
IT'S JUST TOO BAD THE DEMOCRATS CAN'T COME BACK TO THEIR SENSES.
MORE
'92-08-15 21:54 DOUG GAMBLE
P.3
- 3 -
DOUG GAMBLE
TO: BOB TEETER - RAY PRICE : - STEVE PROVOST
MY OPPONENT SAYS HE'S GOING TO INCREASE SPENDING BY 200-BILLION DOLLARS, PAY
FOR IT WITH TAX INCREASES OF 150-BILLION -- BUT ONLY ON UPPER INCOME EARNERS
AND CORPORATIONS, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME CUTTING TAXES FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS
AND SIMULTANEOUSLY REDUCING THE DEFICIT. WELL THIS IS WHAT I CALL "BROCCOLI
ECONOMICS." HE MAKES IT SOUND GOOD, BUT I FIND IT. AWFULLY HARD TO SWALLOW.
NOW LOOK, I DON'T MIND THAT OUR OPPONENTS ARE so CONFIDENT OF VICTORY THEY'RE
ALREADY PLANNING THEIR CABINET, BUT IT'S A.LITTLE DISCONCERTING WHEN I LOOK
UP FROM MY DESK IN THE OVAL OFFICE TO FIND THEM MEASURING THE DRAPES. THE
VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE WANTS TO MAKE SURE THE FABRIC IS ENVIRONMENTALLY
SAFE, AND THE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE HAS A 27-POINT PROGRAM TO MAKE SURE THEY
HANG STRAIGHTER.
THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE GAVE A LENGHTY FOREIGN POLICY SPEECH RECENTLY IN WHICH
HE REGALED HIS AUDIENCE WITH THOUSANDS OF WORDS. I DON'T KNOW WHY HE TOOK so
LONG WHEN HIS FOREIGN POLICY AND NATIONAL SECURITY EXPERIENCE CAN BE SUMMED UP
IN THREE WORDS: ARKANSAS NATIONAL GUARD. AND BY THE WAY, HE DEPLOYED IT, HE
DIDN'T SERVE IN IT.
MY OPPONENT HAS TRIED TO BE ALL THINGS TO ALL VOTERS. HIS PHILOSOPHY SEEMS TO
BE, "I HAVE PRINCIPLES - -- AND IF YOU DON'T LIKE THOSE, I HAVE OTHERS."
INK
IT'S FINE TO PLAY THE SAXOPHONE, BUT DON'T PLAY WITH THE HOPES AND DREAMS
OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.