Excerpts From Bush’s Speech on Clinton’s Record
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Following are excerpts from an address by President Bush in Springfield, Mo.: Civil Rights Let me begin with an issue of concern to every American, every fair-minded American, civil rights. Governor Clinton says, and I quote, “Everybody knows I have the best civil rights record” — his words. His modesty overwhelms me. But how does his record stand? Some of you may know that in 1968 when I was a Congressman from Texas I supported the Fair Housing Act, and it wasn’t popular with some of my constituents. And times have changed, of course. And nowadays 41 states have laws banning housing discrimination — 41. But Arkansas is not one of them, and even though my opponent has been Governor for 12 years. Forty-six states have human relations agencies that safeguard citizens against discrimination. But not Arkansas under his leadership. Forty-eight states have basic civil rights laws that ban discrimination and guarantee equal opportunity, but not Arkansas. And that’s right. Arkansas is only one of two states in America without a civil rights statute. Candidate Clinton likes to talk about my 1990 veto of the Democratic Congress’s quota bill. And I did veto that bill, and I’ll veto any other quota bill that the liberals cook up. I am for civil rights, and I am against quotas. And that is not a contradiction. And so last year, after tough negotiations with Congress and beating back two attempts to ram down my throat and the people’s throat a quota bill, I did sign, proudly sign, a major civil rights bill without resorting to quotas. And in addition, I fought for the Americans With Disabilities Act, the most sweeping civil rights legislation in 30 years that brings those with disabilities into the mainstream and gives them a shot at the American dream. And I’m proud of it. And what about Governor Clinton? Even though his party enjoys overwhelming control of the Arkansas Legislature, Governor Clinton has still not brought a civil rights bill to the people of Arkansas. And so when you hear the Candidate Clinton’s rhetoric all across this country about civil rights, Governor Clinton’s record just does not stand up. Taxes Now, consider another issue — economic fairness. You know, Candidate Clinton is playing the old games that liberals love to play, class warfare, divide Americans rich from poor, one group from another. He’s good at it. Candidate Clinton is very good at that, using the same tired, twisted partisan statistics to explain how the poor can only get richer if the rich get poorer. According to Candidate Clinton, the last 10 years have been a nightmare. Well, I’ve got news for him: it is not true. The Urban Institute back in Washington is not usually sympathetic to me. But listen to what they had to say about the 1980’s. “When one follows individuals, rather than statistical groups defined by income, one finds that on average, the rich got a little richer, and the poor got much richer.” Now that’s the truth. Our policies of cutting taxes have spurred growth for all Americans. Yes, we’ve got tough times now, but it’s fair to look at the whole record. And Candidate Clinton doesn’t think this is a fair result. He doesn’t think it’s fair, and it’s maybe because Governor Clinton doesn’t have much experience with tax fairness in his own state. Governor Clinton has more than doubled — you want a horror story, listen to this — he has more than doubled Arkansas state spending since 1983, and he has paid for it by raising the taxes that hurt poor and working families the most. My opponent has raised and extended his sales tax repeatedly, and he has opposed removing that tax from groceries. More : query.nytimes.co |