SPEECHES
FROM THE 2004 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
John Kerry
Labor Day Remarks:
Campaign Rally in West Virginia
September 6, 2004 • Racine, West Virginia
Hello West Virginia! It’s great
to be here in Racine - where coal was born and where four-wheeling
was perfected. Thank you for what you do; your work is
important to our important to our country. Today, America
celebrates Labor Day, and we celebrate what you do, just
like we’ve done for more than a hundred years. As
Harry Truman once said, “Whenever labor does well … the
whole country does well.” And we’re here today
to talk about how our country’s doing.
Over the last few years, I’ve thought a lot about
why America is heading in the wrong direction. Lost jobs,
health care costs through the roof, the surplus gone, our
alliances shredded, and our influence challenged. And then
the other day, we were driving along the road in our campaign
bus, and I saw a sign with a lone “W” leaning
up against a post. At first, I was a little confused. But
then, it all made sense.
As the president likes to say, there’s nothing complicated
about it. It does all come down to one letter -- W. George
W. Bush. What do you think that W stands for? That W stands
for wrong. Wrong choices, wrong direction for America.
And this election all comes down to one decision: Do we
want four more years of wrong choices, or do we want to
move America in a new direction?
The choice in this election couldn’t be more clear.
Do we want four more years of lost jobs and falling wages … four
more years of rising health care costs … four more
years of raiding Social Security to give tax cuts to the
wealthy … four more years of schools being shortchanged,
leaving millions of children behind … four more
years of shipping jobs overseas and replacing them with
jobs that pay you less …four more years of a go-it-alone
foreign policy. If you do, then you should vote for George
W. Bush.
But if you want health care for all Americans. If you
want schools that work. If you want jobs that pay you more
money. If you want Social Security that’s there for
the future. Then we need to move America in a new direction
and that’s the choice in this election.
Of all George Bush’s wrong choices, the most catastrophic
one is the mess in Iraq. It’s not that I would have
done one thing differently in Iraq, I would have done everything
differently. It was wrong to rush to war without a plan
to win the peace. It was wrong not to build a strong international
coalition of our allies. And it was wrong to put our young
men and women into harm’s way without the equipment
and body armor protect themselves and get the job done.
It was wrong for America to go it alone. And now every
American is paying the price. Almost all the casualties
are the sons and daughters of America. And nearly 90 percent
of the cost is coming out of your pocket. The price-tag
so far: $200 billion and rising every day. That’s
$200 billion we’re not investing in health care and
education That’s $200 billion we’re not investing
to make sure no child is left behind. That’s $200
billion we’re not investing in new and better jobs.
That’s $200 billion we’re not investing in
homeland security, to protect our airports, our subways,
our bridges and tunnels. That’s W and that’s
wrong. Wrong choices, wrong direction. In fact, there’s
nothing right about it.
At that convention in New York last week, the Bush Administration
actually said that outsourcing jobs is good for this nation.
That shouldn‘t be a surprise because that’s
what they’ve done for four years, and that’s
what they want to do for four more years. That’s
W and that’s Wrong. Wrong choices, wrong direction.
It’s time for a president who will lead America in
a new direction.
We’re going to set a new direction – we’re
going to close the tax loopholes that reward companies
for shipping jobs overseas, and we’re going to reward
companies that believe that American workers do the best
job in the world.
At that convention in New York last week, George Bush
actually promised the American people that after four years
of failure, he now had a plan to get health care costs
under control. Well, if you weren’t suspicious of
a plan announced just two months before an election, you
got a quick dose of reality the next day. George Bush socked
seniors with a 17 percent increase in Medicare. What’s
right about that? That’s the biggest increase in
Medicare premiums in the history of the program. Raising
Medicare costs -- that’s W and that’s wrong.
Wrong choices, wrong direction.
It’s time for a president who will lead America
in a new direction.
We’re going to set a new direction for America.
We’re going to get health care costs under control.
And America will stop being the only advanced nation in
the world which fails to understand that health care is
not a privilege for the wealthy, the connected, and the
elected, it is a right for all Americans.
At that convention in New York last week, George Bush
said that he actually had a new idea. And you know what
it was? The bad, old idea of privatizing social security
-- and cutting your benefits. That’s W and that’s
wrong. Wrong choices, wrong direction. It’s time
for a president who will lead America in a new direction.
As President, I will not privatize Social Security. I
will not cut benefits. I will not raise the retirement
age. Because when you’ve worked for a lifetime, America
owes you what you’ve earned.
At that convention in New York last week, after four years
of catering to the big oil companies and the Saudis, George
Bush suddenly said that he wanted America to be energy
independent.
But he’s the one who invited energy company executives
to secret meetings in the White House and let them write
our energy policies. In 2000, he came right here to West
Virginia, and promised $2 billion for clean coal technology.
But you know what? He broke that promise, too. There’s
an old saying -- fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice,
shame on me. Well, we’re not going to be fooled twice.
That energy policy -- that’s W and that’s
wrong. Wrong choices, wrong direction. It’s time
for a president who will lead America in a new direction.
We’re going to set a new direction for America.
We’re going to invest in new technologies, like clean
coal, and tough health and safety standards to protect
miners. We’ll invest in the vehicles of the future,
so that no young American will ever be held hostage to
our dependence on oil from the Middle East. I want an America
that relies on its own ingenuity and innovation, not the
Saudi Royal Family.
On every issue, from Iraq to health care, from jobs to
education, W stands for wrong. Wrong choices. Wrong direction.
It’s time for a president who will lead America in
a new direction.
This is Labor Day – a day specifically set aside
to honor work in America. So I’m want to say something
else about jobs -- because there’s no place where
George W Bush is more wrong than on jobs.
In the last three years, West Virginia lost 11,000 manufacturing
jobs. But just today, a report came out that shows we’ve
replaced those good jobs with low wage jobs – ones
that pay an average of $9,000 less. A lot of them are part-time
or temporary and don’t provide any health care or
benefits. That is wrong. That’s George W. Bush and
that’s why we need a new direction for America.
But if you think it’s tough to get by on $9,000
less, you haven’t heard the half of it. Health care
costs are up, tuition is up, child care costs are up, gas
prices are up, and family income has fallen. So people
are working two jobs, three jobs, working nights and weekends,
just to make ends meet.
Four years ago, George W. Bush told us he wanted to create
an economy where there was “high-paying, high-quality
work” for everyone. He now says prosperity has returned
and we’ve turned the corner. Well, that’s just
plain wrong. Most Americans I’ve met feel like they’ve
been put in a corner. Prosperity hasn’t returned.
We’ve lost jobs. Wages are down. Benefits are down.
And George Bush is the first president since Herbert Hoover
and the Great Depression to actually lose jobs. That’s
George W. Bush. Wrong choices, wrong direction. It’s
time for a president who will America in a new direction.
Amazingly, his own Labor Secretary says that what’s
happening to America is “something to celebrate.” What
are they celebrating? 1.6 million lost jobs? Well, I don’t
know about you, but the America I believe in doesn’t
celebrate when people aren’t earning enough to pay
their bills…when they don’t have any health
care or benefits…when they’re working so hard
that they can’t even have dinner with their families,
or tuck their kids into bed at night. This isn’t
that complicated. You don’t celebrate when you lose
good jobs. You celebrate when you create them.
It’s time to set a new direction for America’s
economy. Under my economic plan, when you put in a good
day’s work, you’ll get a good day’s pay.
Under my plan, we’ll create jobs that don’t
just let you survive, but let you get ahead. And we’re
going to restore the American dream where hard work and
playing by the rules gets rewarded.
John Edwards and I are going to bring those jobs back
to America. We’ll fight for overtime protections,
cut energy costs, and make health care affordable for American
families and American employers. And we’ll cut the
deficit in half in four years by making government live
by the rule that every family has to follow: pay as you
go – you don’t spend what you don’t have.
So this election comes down to a fundamental choice: if
you believe that this country is heading in the right direction,
you should support George Bush. But if you believe a vote
for W is a vote for wrong choices and the wrong direction,
then join with us. If you believe we need good jobs, health
care for all, energy independence, and a smarter plan for
Iraq, then stand with us to move America in a new direction.
Together, we can build an America that’s stronger
at home and respected in the world.
Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.
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