Bush Decries Democrats' 'Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations'
Chuck Noe
Friday, Jan. 9, 2004
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – President Bush, in a searing speech Thursday night touting his administration’s accomplishments and laying out the challenges ahead, fired some of his heaviest ammunition at the Democrat and education establishments: “We are challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations.”
In noting the gains achieved by the No Child Left Behind law, the president took indirect but unmistakable aim at complainers such as Sen. Teddy Kennedy, the nine White House wannabes and the teachers’ unions who oppose the successes of school choice and are one of the Democrats’ biggest special-interest sources of money. “All children can learn,” the president reminded 800 cheering supporters at a fund-raiser.
Under his education reform, “we’re insisting on results,” and Florida is leading the way, he said in a salute to his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, who introduced him and who has made this state a pioneer in school choice.
During a visit earlier Thursday to Knoxville, Tenn., he discussed his plan to spend an additional $2 billion on impoverished and handicapped pupils, the Associated Press reported.
"We're here because you've been successful. And the results show it," he said at West View Elementary School, where more than 90 percent of the children come from poor families.
"This school had been measured during the measurement process. The early measurement process had been a school that wasn't performing the way that you wanted it, or any citizen of Knoxville, Tennessee, would want. In other words, it was below standards.
"And now it's exemplary in math, above standards in reading. You're accomplishing that which we all want," the president said.
Big Law Beware
In Florida, the crowd at the $1 million fund-raiser gave the president one of its biggest roars of approval when he singled out another obstructionistic target: trial lawyers who are devastating America’s health care system with frivolous suits.
To increase access to health care we need to cut down on the lawsuit abuse, Bush said. Again he praised his brother for making Florida a leader in tort reform as well, with new laws passed in the overwhelmingly Republican state Legislature.
Another popular target: Senate Democrats, including the two from Florida, who refuse to allow a vote on judicial nominees and who must “stop playing politics with American justice.” The nation needs “people who interpret the law, not legislate from the bench,” he said.
Notable among those in the president’s entourage: former federal housing secretary Mel Martinez of Orlando, the White House’s not-so-secret choice to replace lame-duck Sen. Bob Graham.
'Great National Victory'
Before the speech, Bush-Cheney Deputy Press Secretary Scott Stanzel told reporters that the campaign expected this year’s race to be very close, perhaps even as close as in 2000. The president reiterated this theme as he urged supporters to get out the vote, but he also expressed his trademark optimism about again winning Florida.
“We carried it once, and we’re going to carry it again,” he said.
“I appreciate you laying the foundation for what is going to be a great national victory in November,” he told the governor. “I’m getting ready, and I’m loose.”
It was Bush’s first presidential appearance in Democrat-dominated Palm Beach County, the object of nationwide ridicule after the 2000 election when thousands of hard-core Dems tried to throw the election to Al Gore by claiming to be too inept to use the Democrat-designed ballot.
‘War Is What They Got’
The president, saying he was busy dealing with "the people's business," did not discuss these embittered foes, but he did focus on America’s enemies abroad. “Terrorists declared war on the United States of America, and war is what they got,” he said.
“In Afghanistan and Iraq, we gave ultimatums to terrorist regimes. Those regimes chose to fight us. Those regimes are no more.” Fifty million people who lived in tyranny now live in freedom because of America, he said.
“The enemies of freedom are not idle, and neither are we,” he said in noting the challenges ahead.
“The United States will never be intimidated by a bunch of thugs and assassins,” he said. “We defeated them in Iraq so we do not have to face them in America.”
Bush Doctrine Forces Libya to Its Knees
Noting that Libya is giving up its weapons of mass destruction after pressure from his administration and Great Britain, he said that leaders around the world were learning that WMDs brought not prestige but consequences.
“Americans believe that freedom is the deepest hope of every human heart,” he said, and moved the crowd with the observation that freedom is not America’s gift to the world but the gift of Almighty God to all.
Other issues addressed by the president:
Energy: He urged Congress to deliver what he had been seeking for three years: an energy plan to reduce America’s dependency on foreign oil, one that includes conservation, technological advances and alternative forms of energy.
Housing: He noted the benefits of home ownership and touted his program to close the gap minorities have in ownership.
Faith: He called for passage of his faith-based initiative and said the government must not fear the religious faith that strengthens the country.
Cultural changes: Indirectly referring to the Clinton administration, he said the nation’s mores had advanced from “If it feels good, do it” and “If you’ve got a problem, blame it on someone else” to an attitude of taking responsibility.
“All the tests of the last three years have come to the right nation,” the president said in closing.
“Know that for our country, the best days lie ahead.” |
