DOLE-KEMP '96 RALLY - JEFFERSON NATIONAL MEMORIAL ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

REMARKS OF GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE BOB DOLE
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1996

[excerpts]

My friends, this election is about two different visions of America's future. As Jack said, our opponents -- and they are our opponents; they are not our enemies -- offer an old-style liberal vision that puts government first. And Jack Kemp and I offer an optimistic future-oriented vision that puts the American people first. That's the difference! That's the key dividing line in this campaign. They believe in government, and we believe in you. We believe the people. We trust the people of the United States. We trust the people of Missouri!

As General Colin Powell said at the Republican convention, he said we live in an era of slick salesmanship, and it's time for some plain talk to lead America into the next century. It's time for actions that match words. And nowhere is leadership more necessary in the war against drugs, a war we're going to start to help your children, help your grandchildren. And we recently learned that the drug use among Americans has more than doubled in the last four years. In the 1980s, as you recall, Nancy Reagan and others were saying "Just say no," and they were ridiculed. But drug use went down and down and down.

But Bill Clinton doesn't say "Just say no," he says just say nothing, and he's said nothing for four years, and drug use has doubled, marijuana use has gone up 144 percent. He even cut the Office of National Drug Control Policy by 83 percent. So when I am president -- it's not very far away now -- we are going to make a drug war a national priority once again in America to save your children and to save your grandchildren. And that includes being ready to use the capabilities of our armed forces to help stop illegal drugs before they make it across the border anywhere in this country. And I said that yesterday speaking to the National Guard. And it also includes working with governors to involve our National Guard more in keeping our children safe from drugs. The National Guard is willing to accept that mission. They are ready. They have children, they have grandchildren. They know the disaster, the crisis we're in now with drugs which has gotten worse and worse and doubled in just the past four years.

It also includes restoring more leadership on the drug issue with one clear message that echoes across the country from the schoolhouse to the White House: Drug abuse is wrong, and should not be tolerated anywhere in America. That is our message.

And in my administration the judges we will appoint will be tough on crime, and they are going to strictly interpret the Constitution. They need not apply -- if there are liberal judges, they're going to be on the bench, but it's not going to be the courtroom bench. They'll be benched for eight years and then eight years with Jack Kemp.

That's what I'm offering in this campaign: leadership you can count on every day of the week, every hour of the day -- leadership that has unlimited confidence in the wisdom of our people and the future of our country. My opponent says he wants to be a bridge to the future. But, as Jack has said, he's a toll bridge: You pay every inch of the way, every step of the way. You pay and pay and pay. He took a train to Chicago last week -- he dropped -- every time he stopped he dropped a couple of billion dollars. We figure it cost $12 million a mile -- it cost the taxpayers $12 million a mile to make that train trip. And that's what we are afraid of, because he would be a bridge to the future of higher taxes, more teenagers using drugs, a government-run health care system, more liberal judges, America defenseless against incoming ballistic missiles, and an economy producing too few jobs and on and on with more government -- more government in our lives every day and every day and every day.

We are going to be a bridge to lower taxes, to fewer teenagers using drugs, an America that can defend itself. We are going to be proud of the military in a Dole-Kemp administration. And if it ever comes necessary to send troops around the world somewhere to protect our liberty and freedom, I will make that decision, and not Boutros Boutros-Ghali of the United Nations! I will make that decision! And men and women who wear the uniform of the United States will be welcome again in the White House.