Remarks in Lancaster, Ohio

I want to welcome you all to this Bill Clinton retirement party right here in Canfield County.

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I'd like to thank all those people in the grandstands over those drives. Thank you for coming. We appreciate it very much.

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And all of you who have sort of braved this — it's not really a rain — it's only a sprinkle. And I want to say just four or five things and then I know you've been out here a while. I don't want you to get wet. I want you to be healthy so you will be able to vote on November 5. So, I don't want to keep you too long.

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Bill Clinton has been talking a lot about a bridge to the future. What we really need in America is a bridge to the truth, Mr. President.

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A bridge to the truth.

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And make no mistake about it, this election is between stealth liberals and common sense conservatives, the kind we have in his county. And we're going to make it work.

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And Jack Kemp and I are voices of common sense conservatism, as Clarence Miller has been, and as Dave Hobson is now, in the Congress of the United States.

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DOLE: And I believe with the debates — I think we've done all right in the debates so far. We showed up and said we can — what we want to do. We trust the people. They trust the government. That's the difference between the Republican and Democratic candidates.

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Our message is very simple. And I know President Clinton says it can't be done, but there's not much he could do anyway, so...

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We want to lower your taxes. Do you know what the truth is? It is your money — like that sign — it's your money. It's your money. It's your money.

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It's not my money or it's not Bill Clinton's money. It's your money. And we ought to apologize for taking so much of it and you shouldn't apologize for wanting to keep the money you earn.

You work hard for it and we ought to take as little as possible. And we're going to give you some back. That's a difference again between the Republican and the Democratic Party.

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First of all, 15 percent across the board. Then for every child under 18 — I see a couple right here — that's $500 a piece child credits.

Two children, that's $1000. Four, it's $2000. Ten, you're probably too busy to file your taxes, but it'll be $5000.

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This is a family tax cut. It's not a Wall Street tax cut. It's a working family, main street America tax cut for the American people. And we're going to get it done and we're going to balance the budget at the same time. And we're going — I have the word and we're going to get it done.

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And we're going to cut the capital gains rate in half so you can create more jobs and more opportunities. Instead of 28 percent, it's going to be 14 percent.

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And we're going to eliminate the capital gains tax on America's homeowners so you can sell your house or sell your home and not have to pay it in taxes.

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And we're going to give you tax relief. You work hard all your life. Your family works. Your kids work. The husband and wife work. You get a little money, somebody passes on, you got to sell half the property to pay the estate tax. That should not happen in America and we're going to start giving you estate tax relief.

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And I would say to the senior citizens here — I haven't seen any yet — if any show up.

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You know, Bill Clinton is trying to scare everybody in America about Medicare and Medicaid. But don't forget, in that big, big tax increase in 1993, he raised Social Security taxes on eight million senior citizens, and some are in this audience. And we're going to repeal that Clinton tax increase on senior citizens.

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And here in Ohio, just as in the rest of the parts of the country, people care about the quality of our schools. And that's why we're talking as part of our economic package, we're talking about something called opportunities scholarships. I like teachers. I like public schools. But we're looking at low income American families and low middle income families. A lot of them live in the inner cities and we're going to say to them, we're going to give you an opportunity scholarship because we want to stop drugs and crime and everything else that tempts teenagers. We're going to start with an education, starting in kindergarten, all the way through high school. And we're going to have opportunity scholarships.

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And I don't fault President Clinton or Vice President Gore for sending their children to private schools instead of public schools — the public schools are right there — because they want the best education possible for their children. But why shouldn't it be available to every other American, rich or poor, in America?

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And Governor Voinovich is leading the way with opportunity scholarships right now, a demonstration program in Cleveland, Ohio.

Also, Mr. Clinton says he's for targeted tax cuts. Well that's what he told you in 1992. Anybody get them yet? No.

The trouble is, he never hits the target. Nobody ever gets the target. He's going to promise you — in fact he's in Ohio today, or was in Ohio today — and he's going to tell you that if you have the right behavior and if you do what the government says, then you'll get a tax cut.

We believe everybody ought to get the tax cut. You spend the money, not the government of the United States.

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Now the president says, he said in the debate last week, the government can't afford to give you back any of your money. Did anybody come out and ask you in 1993, when they raised your taxes, if you could afford it? No.

CROWD: No.

DOLE: It's time the government started pinching pennies instead of the American taxpayers. It's time the government started pinching pennies.

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So, in the state of Ohio, a family of four, the tax cut would be about $1,261 — not a lot of money you say. But maybe four or five months of day care, three or four payments on the mortgage, maybe a summer, couple of weeks vacation with your family — what's wrong with that, $1,261? Why should the government take every cent you have. Forty percent of your money is paid in taxes and we're going to change it.

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That would be an 86 percent cut in taxes for a family making $30,000.

DOLE: The other night when I said we ought to have tax cuts, the president, and I said they're going to be available to former presidents, you know, if he leaves his change of address, of course. But he said he could use a tax cut. Well if he can use it making $200,000, what about everyone in this audience making much, much less?

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So I want to say in conclusion here that we're going to win this race. Make no mistake about it, we're going to win this race.

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And we are going to carry the great state of Ohio.

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And as the governor knows, I've discovered...

CROWD: Dole-Kemp, Dole-Kemp, Dole-Kemp, Dole-Kemp, Dole-Kemp.

DOLE: Thank you.

CROWD: Dole-Kemp, Dole-Kemp, Dole-Kemp.

DOLE: I've discovered — I know a lot of people are born in Ohio and raised in Ohio — I discovered, well I didn't. I knew it for a long time. My grandfather came from Montpelier, Ohio, so this is one of my home states. I was in Montpelier about a month ago and visited the grave of my great-great grandfather, Michael Dole, and met with some of my third cousins thrice removed, whatever that means. It means we're not very close. But in any event, we had a great time.

And I want to just say one thing, one final thing. The rain has stopped. It's clearing up. Things are looking up all over. I've only here 20 minutes, so...

[laughter]

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The bottom line is trust. Who do you trust? Who do you trust? Who do you trust?

CROWD: Dole.

DOLE: Who do you trust?

CROWD: Dole.

DOLE: Who do you trust?

CROWD: Dole.

DOLE: Who do you trust?

CROWD: Dole-Kemp.

Dole-Kemp, Dole-Kemp, Dole-Kemp.

DOLE: And I listened to Vice President Gore last night. He sounded like a clerk somewhere listing all these government programs, all the things he had done for you. Where does he think they got the money? They took it away from you. They took it away from you, that's where they got their money.

And when they talk, they talk about fear. They want to frighten veterans and senior citizens and students and teachers and everybody else in America. According to Al Gore and Bill Clinton, Bob Dole is against everything. We're not for anybody. We are for somebody. We're for the American taxpayers, the workers, the family, the children and the teachers, whoever it may be.

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So thank you very much for coming.

I want to ask for your help. I want to ask you to reach out and touch someone, to call someone. Take your neighbor to the polls, of course unless they're for somebody else, then take them somewhere else. But take them to the poll. We are going to win this election, right Tom Johnson ? All right, Tom Johnson, we're going to win this election.

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Thank you very much and God bless America, the greatest country on the face of the earth. Thank you.

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