Robert Dole photo

Remarks in Atlanta, Georgia

October 31, 1996

With that, I'm a rambling wreck from Georgia Tech right here.

[applause]

I want to thank all my TV friends. They had a Bob Dole mask on. I thought they looked pretty good. And...

[applause]

I want to thank the young people I met with earlier about their great drug program. You've done an outstanding job.

I hope someday I get to see the mural that East Middle Cobb — so I'll be there. I'll be down one of these days right after we get elected. So we'll get that done.

[applause]

And I'm particularly honored that today Judge Bell would stand here before you and express his confidence in me and my leadership. I know earlier today he was with former President Bush and my greatest asset, Elizabeth. They were together at a meeting earlier.

[applause]

And my good friend Howard Baker, who did precede me as majority leader and really moved our party along, and Paul Coverdell and Mack Mattingly and my state chairman, Oscar, over here.

We've had a great time, and this campaign is, you know, the last five days now. I'm excited about what's going to happen.

Today is Halloween, and all the kids are dressing up and doing scary things. But they do that every day in the Clinton White House, so we're sort of used to it.

[applause]

And four years ago, Bill Clinton said he wanted to be president in the worst way [audio gap]...

And I must say, as Judge Bell said it, it is an outrage. I've been talking about it. I've been wondering when the American people would begin to focus. And I think they're are. We see some traction in the polls.

DOLE: I've always had the feeling, and I've watched Democratic and Republican presidents come and go. They all have their strengths, and they all have their weaknesses. They are human beings, like the rest of us. But I know one thing. It's always occurred to me, and I think it has occurred to them. Though there have been some exceptions. Once you take that oath of office, and go back to the White House and walk across the threshold, you are the President of the United States, and you have a higher obligation than any other citizen in America when it comes to the public trust — when it comes to being an example for young people here today.

[applause]

When it comes to duty, honor country — all those things — people say, "Ah, nobody cares about that stuff any more. I don't agree with that. I think the young people here are just as concerned about decency and integrity and honesty, as every body else.

[applause]

And maybe — as the judge indicates — maybe the American people are becoming immune because it happens almost every day. You've got a fellow named John Huang, who was put in a very important position in the Commerce Department. Now, we learn today that he's visited the White House eight-one times in the past year, and even since the story was first printed by the Los Angeles Times. He's a big, big fundraiser for the Democratic committee. Nobody could find him, except Mrs. Clinton wrote him a personal note, which was delivered.

So, you wonder what's going on. You wonder what's going on. And I think it's serious. And there's still time. And that will be my message the next five days. And I made an announcement this morning that I want to share with all of you. In the home stretch of this campaign, I intend to take my message to Americans non-stop. The last time...

[applause]

The last time I fought around the clock for my country was in 1945 in Italy, after I left Fort Benning, Georgia as a brand new second lieutenant. And as of tomorrow...

[applause]

Starting tomorrow noon, we're going around the clock for 96 hours non-stop; 96 hours non-stop — to send our message, to take our message all across America. I'm going to take this message to Republicans, to Democrats and independents and members of the Reform Party. This is a fight for America. This is a fight to elect a president we can trust, and have an economy that will give us hope in America.

So I will give it. I will give it all I've got — 96 hours.

DOLE: From the factories of Ohio and Michigan through the bluegrass of Kentucky, in the towns and neighborhoods of the Midwest and the bustling cities of New Jersey and Pennsylvania and across the Rocky Mountains and through the suburbs.

In fact, we'll even stop in Las Vegas, roll the dice there one time. All right.

[applause]

And on — and on to the suburbs of California. I will not rest my case until I've had an opportunity to talk to every American who will listen — every worker, every family, every voter. And I'm determined to make every hour of this decisive election count.

The stakes, in my view, are that high. So we'll be speaking all across America for the people who believe it's time to restore strong, principled, trustworthy leadership to the White House.

[applause]

You know, there's a lot of change going on. I've been looking at Truman's book, have it on the plane with me. You know, and I've been reading what happened after the election. You know, everybody predicted that, you know, get acquainted with Dewey because he's going to be president.

Well, I never met President Dewey. I met Tom Dewey. Never got to meet President Dewey because he lost that election. And the polls showed that he was way ahead.

And Harry Truman was a plain-spoken man from the Midwest. But he understood America, and he understood the American people. He understood integrity and honor and duty and country.

And when it was all over, the American people said, wait a minute, we're going to stick with Harry Truman. So the most surprised person in America next Wednesday morning will be Bill Clinton — will be Bill Clinton.

[applause]

And I would say there's still time...

CROWD: Dole-Kemp! Dole-Kemp! Dole-Kemp! Dole-Kemp!

DOLE: Thank you.

CROWD: Dole-Kemp! Dole-Kemp! Dole-Kemp! Dole-Kemp!

DOLE: There's still time. There's still time. I've been...

CROWD MEMBER:... Clinton go to jail.

[laughter]

DOLE: I've been saying there's still time for some of the great newspapers in America, which in their endorsement of Bill Clinton spent half of it apologizing for Bill Clinton.

Now, when you've got to apologize for somebody, you shouldn't endorse them, you ought to endorse Bob Dole. That's what they ought to do.

[applause]

I can recall the New York Times in earlier days when we had a Republican in the White House an things weren't going so well. It was called Watergate.

DOLE: But, oh, how they change. They shift gears pretty rapidly when it's a liberal Democrat, they can overlook a lot these — say, well, maybe he'll take — clean up his act in the next four years.

Well, my goodness, this is the United States of America. We have people in America wondering what's going on. Why do we put up with this? Why don't we have change? We cannot afford four more years of weak leadership and broken promises and a new ethical scandal almost every week — every week.

Every week, every week there's something new cropping up at the White House.

[applause]

Vice President Gore goes to Los Angeles, to the Buddhist temple. He said he thought it was an outreach program. Well, he reached way out.

[laughter]

He got $122,000 from all those people who take vows of poverty. He said he didn't understand it.

I predicted, it probably won't happen, but you know I have time to get around him, Mr. Huang is pretty busy. But they'd be raising money in homeless shelters, before election day. They know how to raise it. They've got their own laundromat.

Somebody puts it in and somebody takes it out. This fellow named Gandhi who claimed he's related Mahatma Gandhi, gave the president a plaque and then he scraped and saved all these years and he was able to give $300,000 to the Clinton campaign.

One little problem, he owes $10,000 in back taxes. And where does this money come from? Where is this money come from?

As I've said, foreign aid has finally come to America. I've been waiting for years and years and years and foreign aid is finally coming to America.

[applause]

And tomorrow the president, of course, will look you in the eye, he's going to make a major address on campaign finance reform.

Believe it or not, he's going stand up and look the American people in the eye and say, we're going to clean up this system. This was announced yesterday by the White House press secretary on one floor while the president was upstairs raising $250,000 from ten businessmen.

So, he'll tell you tomorrow, "We're going to clean up this system." Like he tells you everything. He looks you right in the eye and walks right over the facts. He tells the people on Social Security and Medicare that Bob Dole and Republicans are going to wipe you out, push you off Medicare.

Mr. President, you should tell senior citizens the truth. They're very vulnerable, they're entitled to the truth, and the truth is in our plan, Medicare grows seven percent a year.

It was his plan, when he talked about health care that they wanted Medicare at zero growth. Ours is seven percent a year, twice the rate of inflation. We also believe that we ought to have a tax cut for people in Georgia and all across America.

You haven't had a tax cut for ten years.

[applause]

And the truth is, the federal government is too big and it spends too much of your money.

DOLE: And I'll tell you what...

[applause]

I don't know how many of you are taking Economy 101 or whatever it is. You watch the last quarter, it's down to 2.2 percent growth. That's half what it was in the quarter before.

President Bush told me this morning when he left the White House in the last quarter, growth was 5.8 percent. Now it's down to 2.2 percent, and President Clinton, again, will look you in the eye and say we've never had it so good in America.

All time, I had a young man tell me his father was a bankruptcy lawyer, and he was very happy we had President Clinton there because bankruptcy has reached a new high. Over a million personal bankruptcies, a new record.

Credit card debts at an all-time high.

The president said I created 11 million new jobs. I said, yeah, I met a guy the other day that's got three of them. You've got to have about three of them to pay your bills. You've got to work full time and part time.

[applause]

And exports was always a pretty good measure of the economy — 0.6 percent. When he came into office, they were 6 percent — 10 times greater. So Mr. President, don't go around telling people the economy's so good because, in the case of women, wages have actually gone down about 3 percent in four years.

In the case of men, they're just about stagnant. So he inherited a good economy. And now, it's very, very weak. So it's time to end all this talk, this so-called talk about this great, great Clinton recovery.

If this is the recovery, I don't want to be around for a recession. And one way to make certain that doesn't happen is to have a new president. And President — former President Clinton will be eligible for the tax cut if he leaves his forwarding address so we know where to send the check.

We'll make certain he receives it.

[applause]

So let me — in Georgia, someone making $30,000, a family of four, it'd be a tax reduction of $1,261, which is a tax reduction of 86 percent. What do you do with $1,261? Some say well, that's not a lot of money.

Well, this is a main street tax cut. It's not a Wall Street tax cut. This is for working families in America. $1,261 — four or five months of child care, maybe payments on the mortgage. You know, maybe take a vacation with your family. There's nothing wrong with that.

It's better that you take it.

[applause]

We also are going to cut the capital gains rate in half to create more jobs and more opportunities in the private sector.

And that's just phase one. Phase two, we're going to have a fairer, flatter, simpler system, and we're going to end the IRS as we know it. We're going to end the IRS as we know it.

[applause]

Now, the president says, oh, this is a risky scheme. The government can't afford it.

DOLE: Well, I know better. And Paul Coverdell knows better. And everybody else who's involved in Congress knows better. People know better on the outside. President Clinton didn't come down here when he raised taxes in '93 and say "Could you afford a tax increase?" No.

But now he says the government can't afford it. The government can afford it. If you have the will you can do it. And I have the will. And I will do it. And I will work with the Republican Congress and we'll get it done. And you will be the beneficiary.

[applause]

You want to know what is a risky scheme? It's putting Bill Clinton in charge of the drug war. That's what a risky scheme.

[applause]

They just ignored drugs, after the drug use was going down, ages 12 to 17 under Ronald Reagan and George Bush. Now, they've doubled in the last 45 months. Doubled in the last 45 months.

President Clinton, frankly, has been AWOL in the war on drugs. He hasn't been there. He looked the other way. They didn't do anything. They cut the drug czar's office. He had a surgeon general who said maybe we ought to legalize drugs.

That's not the way to talk to young people. You stand there in the White House and send a strong message. We're going to do it every week or every month — whatever it takes — to cut drug in half in the first four years of our Administration

[applause]

And if necessary, we will train and utilize the National Guard to stop drugs from coming in at the borders. We're going to protect our borders. We're going to protect young people in America. Say, well, we have a lot of drug treatment programs. That's true. We probably need some. But what about a prevention program? Then you don't need drug treatment. If you don't ever try it, you don't need the treatment.

[applause]

And I know of George's great reputation. And the many patriotic men and women who serve in our armed forces in the State of Georgia. And I know what defense means to Georgia. And I say again what may be picking on what Judge Bell said. You know, I have great respect for people who wear the uniform. Young men and young women who wear the uniform of the United States of America are first class citizens.

[applause]

And I don't believe that anybody who wears the uniform of the United States should have to be in the food stamp business. Seventeen thousand young men and women who wear the uniform of the United States of America are not paid enough.

They've got to supplement their pay with food stamps. Now, food stamps are necessary in many cases, but it seems to me that if these young people are willing to serve their country, they ought to be paid enough to buy their groceries, to pay the rent, or clothing, or whatever it is. And we're going to change that when I'm the President.

[applause]

And I've said in Georgia before, and I've said every where I've gone: Obviously the Cold War is over.

DOLE: Defense spending came down. Candidate Clinton said he was going to cut defense spending $60 billion. But then he got into office, he cut it $112 billion.

And I'm concerned, as other experts are concerned, about whether or not we have enough, whether we will be able to respond if there was a conflict, a serious conflict. We have a responsibility again, to all the young people and all the other people in this audience.

We never want another conflict and one way to avoid another conflict is to be prepared so that we're respected by our friends and feared by our enemies. And we're not respected by our friends and we're not feared by our enemies.

[applause]

So, if I'm going to make a mistake in defense — we trained with broomsticks in World War II — some of us didn't have any rifles. So, if I'm going to make a mistake, I'm going to error on the side of spending a little much, rather than a little too little, because we spend a little too little, I'm not certain what happens because our liberty and freedom could be at stake.

Let's be prepared. Let's stay on the edge of technology. President Clinton — I remember he said in the debate, or whatever we had, we showed up, that's about it, out in San Diego — why, he said, "I'm going to spend a lot on defense starting in the year 2001, 2002." It doesn't work that way.

You can't have modernization. You can't turn it on and off like a light switch. You've got to be prepared. You can't shut it down and start it up the next day. We've got all these skilled people who to be in the workforce, the workplace. And so I would say to all Americans, and I would reach out to all veterans all across the country and all retired people, and all men and women in uniform — take a look — who do you want to be your commander in chief the next four years? Bill Clinton or Bob Dole?

AUDIENCE: Dole.

DOLE: Now the bottom line is, I want you to cast a vote that you can be proud of. I remember when I first voted for Dwight Eisenhower. You know, he was my hero in many, many ways. He was my hero.

I was proud of that vote then. I'm proud of that vote today. And I want you to vote on November 5. I want you to think about it. This is very serious business. It's about America. It's about your future. I'd say to the students here, it's about your future. It's about whether or not there's going to be a job. With the economy growing at 2.2 percent, job layoffs are right behind. You wait and see. There will be a lot of job layoffs next year.

We need to stimulate the economy. We need to create jobs in the private sector. We've got people coming out of Georgia Tech and other colleges ready to go to work. But if you can't find a job, you can't go to work. So, think about it.

[applause]

And if you have children, think about it. When you go home tonight and you think about your children and your grandchildren, and think about our family tax cut which is a $500 credit for a child under 18. A family tax plan. We have opportunity scholarships for low-income people. You probably know some low income-people.

DOLE: Their children should have the same right to go to the school of their choice as the president's daughter — and I don't say it — I don't criticize, I applaud that — or anybody else.

If you want to get a handle on drugs and crime and teen pregnancy and all the other things, start with an education in kindergarten all the way through high school and all the way through college.

[applause]

These are called opportunity scholarships, part of our economic plan. And it occurred to me, as a recipient of an opportunity scholarship after World War II — and I had a chance to go to college which I would not have had without that assistance from the government — that education is fundamental. It's basic. It's the most important thing we can do for young people.

Look what it did with the GI Bill of Rights. It changed the face of America. It changed the world. And we can do the same with these demonstration programs we'll have in 15 separate states.

We put up X dollars. The state put up X dollars. We give it to the parent. The parent picks out the school of their choice for their child — a better public school, a private school or religious school.

It's time to give the schools back to the teachers and back to the parents — back to the teachers and back to the parents.

[applause]

So if any of you would like to join us in our 96-hour marathon, we'd appreciate it. We believe it's that important. We can sleep after November 5th.

We want to wake up America. We want people to focus: Focus on public ethics, focus on public trust, focus on all these different investigations going on.

Think about what's going to be happening next year if he's re-elected, how many cases are going to be pending out there, what's going to happen. Think about it. Think about it.

This is your country and your vote. And I thank you for being here.

And God bless America.

[applause]

Robert Dole, Remarks in Atlanta, Georgia Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/285501

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