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Sen. John Kerry Speaks in Tampa, Florida
Aired October 18, 2004 - 14:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to take you now live to Tampa, Florida, where John Kerry now addressing a group of supporters there at another campaign rally.
(BEGIN LIVE NEWS EVENT -- JOINED IN PROGRESS)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... quality of their contributions to this state and country. So, I thank Congressman Jim Davis, Senator Bob Graham, and Senator Bill Nelson and their wives Grace and Adele Graham. Thank you so much, all of you.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, my fellow Americans, we face a fundamental choice in this election, the choice of a lifetime, and a choice that couldn't be more clear, as I heard Bob Graham say.
Now, the time has come, almost 14 days away from America making that choice. I believe that we need a president who defends America and fights for the middle class. We need both -- a president who can do both at the same time.
And for the last four years, that has not been the case. Just today, we learned that the top U.S. commander in Iraq had to plead with the Pentagon for critical supplies in order to counter the growing insurgency there.
Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez argued last winter that without increased supplies -- and these are his words -- "I cannot continue to support sustained combat operations."
The day after General Sanchez wrote his letter, George Bush went out and told the American people our troops were properly equipped.
Despite the president's arrogant boasting that he has done everything right in Iraq and that he's made no mistakes, the truth is beginning to catch up with him.
(APPLAUSE)
And it's a bitter truth, my friends. It's a truth that involves the putting of the lives of young Americans on the line. It's a truth that involves billions of dollars of American taxpayers' money. It's a truth that involves our reputation and standing in the world. Just last week, General Tommy Franks admitted that disbanding the Iraqi army last year was a mistake and created a dangerous security vacuum.
Many of us argued not to do that. Ambassador Paul Bremer now admits that the president didn't have enough troops on the ground in order to secure Iraq and that the White House ignored his warnings. Then when General Shinseki, the Army chief of staff, said to the American people, through the Congress, that we didn't have enough troops in order to get the job done, he was sent packing.
Republican senators, Senator Lugar, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senators Chuck Hagel and McCain, have all complained publicly about the mismanagement and incompetence of the president and his team. And now -- now -- Iraq is a breeding ground for terrorism.
But despite all these facts, despite all of these truths, the president still clings to the idea and tells the American people that we're make progress, that things are getting better in Iraq and that his policy is working.
Mr. President, when it comes to the war in Iraq, it is time to come clean and acknowledge what your military leaders have told you privately.
(APPLAUSE)
Mr. President, you can choose to ignore the facts, but in the end, you can't hide the truth from the American people.
(APPLAUSE)
The bottom line, Mr. President, is that your mismanagement of the war has, in fact, made Iraq and America less safe and less secure than they could have been and that they should have been today. And that's the fact.
(APPLAUSE)
So, let me make it clear to you, let me make it clear, as president -- a lesson I learned a long time ago when I fought in a war, a lesson I learned when I came home and tried to tell America the truth about a war -- I will never, as president, rush to war without a plan to win the peace.
(APPLAUSE)
And I can tell you, having been one of those troops, I will never send our soldiers into harm's way without the best training and equipment in the world.
(APPLAUSE)
And I will never allow our policy to be hijacked by ideologues at the expense of the best advice of our military professional commanders.
Most of all, my fellow Americans, I pledge to you that I will always level with the American people because it's only by leveling and telling the truth that you build the legitimacy and gain the consent of the people who ultimately we are accountable to.
I will level with the American people.
(APPLAUSE)
Our troops deserve the truth, the American people deserve the truth, and we deserve a fresh start and new credibility with the ability to be successful in Iraq.
As president, I will never take my eye off the real enemy: Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda and other terrorists that threaten America and our allies.
(APPLAUSE)
America, I will fight a smarter, more effective, tougher war on terror. We will hunt down and capture and kill the terrorists, no matter where they are. But we will conduct the critical diplomacy that this administration has failed to do. We will bring allies to our side because that's how you make America and the world its strongest.
(APPLAUSE)
And let me make this crystal clear: Just because President Bush couldn't do it, doesn't mean it can't be done. It can be done.
(APPLAUSE)
But, my fellow Americans, as you know better than anybody, a president must be able to do more than one thing at the same time.
(APPLAUSE)
And today, I want to talk to you about one of the great issues that matters to middle-class Americans, to middle-class families and to those struggling to get into the middle class all across America.
Today is the first day that can you vote here in Florida.
(APPLAUSE)
Today, Florida, today, health care is on the ballot.
(APPLAUSE)
In a message that was sent to Congress nearly 60 years ago, President Harry Truman said, and I quote, "We should resolve now that the health of this nation is a national concern, that financial barriers in the way of health shall be removed, that the health of all citizens deserves the help of all the nation." That was Harry Truman setting the goal, 1948. And 60 years later for millions of middle-class families, struggling to keep up with their medical bills just the way you heard Julianne (ph) speaking about it a moment ago, that's a story repeated all across America.
Their concern has never been greater. The barriers have never been higher and the need for a solution to the crisis of rising health care costs is a defining issue for America today.
Today, I'm here to tell you that this solution is finally within our reach. We can achieve this. We can and we will get the cost of health care under control. We can and we will cover all children in America.
(APPLAUSE)
We can and we will give families access to the same private health insurance that members of Congress give themselves.
(APPLAUSE)
We can and we will put medical decision in the hands of doctors and patients, not insurance company bureaucrats.
(APPLAUSE)
My fellow Americans, we can have a fresh start on health care in America. And when I am president, we will.
(APPLAUSE)
When I am president, within hours of raising my hand and assuming those responsibilities, my health care proposal will be the very first proposal that will go to the United States Congress.
(APPLAUSE)
I will work with Republicans and Democrats across the aisle, openly, not with an ideologically driven, fixed, rigid, concept, but much like Franklin Roosevelt said, I don't care whether a good idea is a Republican idea or a Democrat idea, I just care whether or not it's going to work for Americans and help make our country stronger.
(APPLAUSE)
And we will pass -- we will pass this bill. I'll tell you a little bit about it in a minute. And I'll tell you why we'll pass it: Because it's different from anything we've ever done before, despite what the Republicans want to try to tell you.
But first we have to understand how critical this is, how much it means to Julianne (ph) and to so many other people across country. You know, it's time to help families that are sitting around the kitchen table worrying, "How we going to pay that hospital bill?"
What do we do? Cut into the college fund? Sell the house? Get rid of the IRA? Totally devastate our retirement concept?"
"How did our premiums go up again?" people are asking all across our country.
"Do we have to drop our coverage and just hope and pray that nothing happens to us?"
And what about the kids? What about the children? What about parents all across America who go to sleep at night -- if they're lucky enough to sleep -- in a cold sweat of worry, will wake up in the middle of the night, "What happens if my kid gets sick? What if I get sick? What if I get cancer," like Julianne's (ph) mother?"
These worries are real; they're not made up. These stories aren't something that's part of a Democrat plan or a Republican plan.
These are American stories. These are the stories of American citizens. And it's not just individual citizens who are feeling the pressure of health care costs. It's businesses across America. It's CEOs all across America. This is an American problem.
In Erie, Pennsylvania, I met a man named Albert Barker who wonders how he's going to pay thousands of dollars in medical bills. He suffered a heart attack, and he had surgery. His employer stopped health care coverage. Why? Because it was too expensive. Now, that's great health care coverage: Get sick and need it, and they cut you off it. That's the problem.
Now, his wife said -- his wife came to a public meeting like this, and she stood up and just she said she hopes and prays that nothing else happens.
Well, that's wrong, my friends. We shouldn't be just hoping and praying. We need leadership that acts and responds and leads and makes things happen.
(APPLAUSE)
In Council Bluffs, Iowa, I met a wonderful woman named Myrtle Walker (ph), who was about 82 years old, if I remember correctly. And she still goes down with the school to work with the kids and to help the kids be able to learn from her experience. But she told me she doesn't know what she's going to do if the price of her medicine rises any higher.
As it is, she pays a huge chunk of Social Security check every month straight over to the prescription drugs she has to take to keep on living safely. and it covers the cost, barely, of her two prescription drugs that she takes daily.
I've met people who are taking eight or nine. I have met people who have one drug alone that costs 1200 bucks alone a month -- different costs.
Well, that's wrong. We had a chance to change it in the Congress of the United States. They chose otherwise. And I'll talk about that in a minute.
Right here in Florida, in Jacksonville, I met Rene Harris (ph). And Rene Harris owns -- owned, I should say, in the past tense, a school that -- it was a bus company that she and her family had had over 50 years. But recently she was forced to sell it, because she could no longer afford to insure herself or her workers. That's wrong. And we have to change it.
Millions of middle-class families like these are working hard and trying to get ahead, but they just can't keep up with the health care costs. They're out of control.
I remember walking into a diner in Derry, New Hampshire, and met a couple there about 35 years old and asked them about health insurance. And they said they'd never had it, ever.
They're just going along on a wing and a prayer hoping they don't have a terrible accident or get really sick and if they do, they know the hospital will take care of them and everybody else in this uneven way will pay for it.
Employers all across America are being forced to cut benefits.
Folks, I'm not just talking about a health care proposal. I'm talking about an economic plan, a plan that helps lower the costs of doing business in America so American businesses can be more competitive and so there will be less pressure on them to decide to go overseas.
One of the ways you keep jobs here in America, jobs that pay good money, is to lower the cost of health care, Mr. President. And we should have done it four years ago.
(APPLAUSE)
Now, you know how some of the folks on the other side love to go out and talk to America about values, family values and different values? I said in the debate the other night with the president that I'm tired of people who just talk about family values but don't value families.
(APPLAUSE)
But there's another measure -- there's another measure of values. And a study due out tomorrow will show that significant numbers of uninsured veterans don't have access to health care. Now, you talk to me about the values of telling folks who go out and put the uniform on to defend our country and some of them in the Guard or Reserve don't have it and some of the vets aren't getting it because they cut a whole category out.
The secretary of the VA actually asked for $1.2 billion more to help take care of our veterans, and this president said no because it was more important to him to give a tax cut to the wealthiest people in the country.
When I'm president, we will take care of our veterans, and we'll make sure the VA budget defines the patriotism of America.
(APPLAUSE)
So just think about the last four years, because that's what we're measuring in this election. I sometimes see people, you know, when you go by they say, "Four more years, four more years."
Health care costs have gone up 64 percent. Prescription drug co- pays are up 50 percent. Medicare is up 56 percent. Average family premiums are up over $3,500 a year. Five million more Americans have no health care at all. Three million have lost their health care over the course of the last four years. Forty-five million Americans have no health care at all. And three million of them live right here in Florida - three million-plus.
You've lost 700,000 people, on their health care, right there in Florida under the four years of George Bush.
And what does the president of the United States have to say about these out-of-control health care costs that are killing job creation and hurting middle-class families and hurting the families that are playing by the rules, struggling to get into the middle- class?
Well, in the debate the other night, in response to my listing some of these things, you know what he said? He called these things a litany of complaints.
(LAUGHTER)
There you have it, folks. George Bush's answer to our health care problems is to tell the American people: Stop whining.
(LAUGHTER)
That's George Bush, isn't it?
(APPLAUSE)
Lower wages for American workers and a higher share of the tax burden for the middle-class: Stop whining, everything's fine.
Forty-five million Americans with no health care at all: Stop whining, everything's fine.
Tens of millions of American families who can barely hold on to their health insurance and who face higher co-pays and deductibles every single year: Stop whining, everything's fine. I don't want to hear your litany of complaints.
Mr. President, the struggles facing middle-class families are not complaints to be dismissed. They are realities to be dealt with, they are problems to be solved. And we're going to solve those problems for this country.
(APPLAUSE) Now, I suppose it wouldn't really be fair to say that George Bush has done nothing at all about the high cost of health care. He's actually made it worse.
(LAUGHTER)
And if given the chance, he's going to make it much worse. And that's because the president has made choices, ladies and gentlemen. These aren't things that I'm saying to you. These are a reflection of real choices made by the president. The president is out of touch with middle-class American struggles, and he's in touch with the big drug companies and the insurance industry and the HMOs.
(APPLAUSE)
Now, so you understand the full measure of what I just said, it's wrong for the president to promise he's going to do something about the cost of prescription drugs only to force through a Medicare bill, four years later, that gives a windfall profit of $139 billion to the drug companies, raises the cost medicine for seniors, pushes seniors off of Medicare into HMOs, and makes it a definite that at least three million or more seniors are going lose the current company benefits that they get as a result of retirement. It's wrong to make it illegal to import less expensive drugs from Canada. And that's what they did.
(APPLAUSE)
But not satisfied to hold onto the drug company's profit there, they went further. Medicare belongs to you. Medicare is paid by the taxpayer. Medicare is a taxpayer-funded program to keep seniors out of poverty. And we want to lower the cost to seniors, right? It's common sense.
But when given the opportunity to do that, this president made it illegal for Medicare to do what the VA does, which is go out and bulk purchase drugs so we could lower the taxpayers' bill and low are the cost to seniors. It is wrong to make it illegal to lower the cost of tax and lower the cost to seniors.
(APPLAUSE)
And it's wrong to tie up $1 billion in funding for children's health care and deny coverage to 750,000 children. It's wrong to offer a phony health care plan, the Bush plan, that actually raises the premiums on four out of five every small business.
My friends, when it comes to health care, it is clear, George Bush is not in touch with the concerns of the American people. He either just doesn't get it or he gets it and he doesn't care. Either way, we need a change on November 2nd to push this country forward.
(APPLAUSE)
Now, if you had any doubts at all about anything that I've just said to you, anybody who's listening can go to johnkerry.com or you can go to other independent sources and you can track down the truth of what I've just said. But if you had any doubts about it at all, his response to the shortage of the flu vaccine ought to put them all to rest.
(LAUGHTER)
I said earlier today that if Halliburton made vaccines, you'd have more vaccines here in Florida than you would oranges.
(APPLAUSE)
With senior citizens standing in line for hours, mothers frantic about how to protect their children, this president gave the public his solution: Don't get a flu shot.
(LAUGHTER)
And just today we learned that a town in New Jersey is being forced to use a lottery system to decide who's going to get a flu shot. So now George Bush is telling us, you got to get lucky to get health care in America.
(LAUGHTER)
So ladies and gentlemen, if you had doubts about it at all, here's the Bush health care plan: Don't get a flu shot. Don't import less expensive drugs from Canada. Don't negotiate for lower prices on prescription drugs. And don't get sick. Just pray, stand up and hope, wait -- whatever. We are all left wondering and hoping. That's it.
(APPLAUSE)
So there's only one way to avoid another four years of hearing "don't" from this president when it comes to health care, and here it is: Don't vote for George W. Bush on November 2nd.
(APPLAUSE)
Now, it isn't that he's just out of touch with middle class Americans, it's that he's more in touch with those big drug companies, the insurance companies and the HMOs.
And we're paying the price for that, ladies and gentlemen.
So now it's time to choose. You want four more years of a president who stands for the HMOs and the drug companies and tells the struggling middle class everything is fine?
AUDIENCE: No!
Or do you want a president who's going to honor middle class- values and those struggling to get into the middle class and help them get the health care they need and deserve?
(APPLAUSE) I believe so deeply -- and as I go around, Bob and Bill and I were talking about this coming over here from other places -- that the hope that we're seeing in the eyes of our fellow Americans, folks like you who have come here today who know what's at stake in this race -- this isn't about Democrat and Republican or ideology. This is about solving problems, real problems that make our country strong and help build community and take care of other human beings.
I believe we need a fresh start on health care in America. I believe we need a president who's going to fight for the great middle class and those who really are struggling, even below minimum wage now. And they won't even raise it. With your help, ladies and gentlemen, I intend to be that kind of president who stands up and fights for the people who need the help.
(APPLAUSE)
Now, let me tell you exactly what we're going to do to make health care affordable for all Americans, the steps that I will take and how I will pay for them.
America deserves to know this, and I want you to know it, because I'm excited about this plan.
I was there in 1993 and '94 when President Clinton tried to make it happen. I saw the reaction to it. I saw the mistakes that were made. I learned from them.
And this is anything but that kind of approach -- a totally new approach. None of you are forced to do anything. You choose. Choose your doctor. Choose your plan. If you like what you have today, you like high premiums, you like high co-pays, with deductibles and low benefit, keep it.
But I think I got a better offer for America. And first thing we're going to do is we're going to bring down the costs. We're going to do it...
(APPLAUSE)
We're going to do it not by one thing, because there's no one Band-Aid for the whole health care system, you got to do comprehensive reform.
We're going to cut prescription drug prices, to start with, by allowing people to buy safe drugs, FDA approved, from Canada. And there's no reason in the world that can't happen quickly.
(APPLAUSE)
We will allow Medicare to do what is smart, which is to negotiate so that we can actually reduce the costs to seniors and the taxpayers and lower the costs of those programs.
(APPLAUSE) We're also going to have an attorney general who enforces the law with respect to patent abuse and helps get generics into the marketplace more rapidly.
(APPLAUSE)
We'll be tough on fraud, and there is fraud, and we have to go after it. And as an ex-prosecutor, I know how to do that, and I'll make certain we have a Justice Department that does it.
We'll cut waste in the health care system, and we'll cut the cost of health insurance for families.
And we'll cut the costs for small business by providing those small businesses and the self-employed with a 50 percent tax credit. So not only will they get the 50 percent tax credit, which makes them more competitive, but they'll have the lower premiums because we're going to help businesses in order to reduce those premiums in the first place.
And that results in making business more competitive and puts up to $1,000 back in the pockets of the premium-payers today. That's a tax cut worth fighting for.
(APPLAUSE)
Second, we're going to make sure that everybody has available to them the opportunity to get more affordable health insurance.
We're going to do that by giving families and small businesses access to the same health care plan that senators and congressmen give themselves.
You know, we give ourselves the best health care in the world and we give you the bill. Well, I happen to believe that your health care is just as important as any politician in Washington, D.C. And we're going to give that you opportunity.
(APPLAUSE)
Now George Bush is trying to scare America. And he's running around telling everybody -- I saw this ad the other night. I said, "What is that about? That's not my plan. That may be some 20 years ago they pulled out of the old thing."
But here's what they do, they are trying to tell you that there is some big government deal. Ladies and gentlemen, we choose. I happen to choose Blue Cross/Blue Shield. I could choose Kaiser. I could choose Pilgrim. I could choose Phelan. I could choose any number of different choices. That's what we get. And we look through all the different choices and make our choice.
You ought to have that same choice. The government doesn't tell what you to do. The government doesn't run it. It gives you the choice.
And we're going to make sure that Americans with disabilities have access to health care that is affordable and fits their needs.
(APPLAUSE)
We're going to protect the programs that they count on, and we'll ensure that these Americans can make choices about the kind of care that they receive and where they will receive it.
Third, we're going to cover automatically every child in America by signing them up for healthcare when they go to school, when they go to child care, when they go to day care. They're automatically signed up for healthcare in America. Every child in America will be covered by health care.
PHILLIPS: Well, you've heard from both candidates so far today: President Bush in Marlton, New Jersey; now Senator John Kerry speaking at a campaign rally there to supporters in Tampa, Florida. Once again, blasting the president's plan, talking about mismanagement of the war plan, rushing to war without a plan to win the peace.
Also talking about healthcare, blasting the president's plan on healthcare saying that the president is also distorting his. Once again, emphasizing the fact if he were to become president, cutting healthcare insurance costs would be number one on his agenda.
Also, another interesting discussion, once again, the flu vaccine. It came up. It came up in both speeches today. Elizabeth Cohen, our medical correspondent, has been monitoring that issue for us. Didn't think this was going become a political issue, but now it has.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Who would have thought, right, that a shortage of flu vaccine all of a sudden would start showing up in candidates' speeches? It's an interesting turn of events.
The major charge that he makes here -- that Senator Kerry made here is he said that the Bush administration was warned three years ago that a shortage like this might be looming and didn't respond to it. Now, the Bush administration would say in response to that statement that, over the past three years, they have increased funding for flu related activities by 720 percent. So, they would say they have actually been doing something.
Now, it's interesting -- Senator Kerry came up with a plan for what he would do so that this kind of shortage wouldn't happen again. And the shortage, if you missed it, half of the nation's supply of flu shots -- nearly half will not be available this year because of manufacturing problems at one of the manufacturers.
When you looked at the Kerry plan to help avoid a shortage, it's very interesting. It's very similar really to what the Bush administration says they're planning on doing, and very similar to what experts say needs to be done.
There are three basic pillars to what Senator Kerry says he wants to have happen, and the first would be working with manufacturers to get a larger supply -- only two companies make flu shots now. He says there really needs to be more.
And also, get a stockpile of vaccines. And also get better technology -- the process of making vaccines now is long. You can get contamination like what happened this year. And he says let's get a new way of doing that. Bush administration also says we need a new way of making vaccines.
PHILLIPS: Laying out both plans for us. Thank you so much. Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen listening to both Senator John Kerry and President Bush today, both stumping for votes as we are just 15 days away from Election Day.
We're going to take a quick look at the numbers on Wall Street. That does it for us here on LIVE FROM. We'll see you back here tomorrow. "JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS" live from Colorado right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired October 18, 2004 - 14:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to take you now live to Tampa, Florida, where John Kerry now addressing a group of supporters there at another campaign rally.
(BEGIN LIVE NEWS EVENT -- JOINED IN PROGRESS)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... quality of their contributions to this state and country. So, I thank Congressman Jim Davis, Senator Bob Graham, and Senator Bill Nelson and their wives Grace and Adele Graham. Thank you so much, all of you.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, my fellow Americans, we face a fundamental choice in this election, the choice of a lifetime, and a choice that couldn't be more clear, as I heard Bob Graham say.
Now, the time has come, almost 14 days away from America making that choice. I believe that we need a president who defends America and fights for the middle class. We need both -- a president who can do both at the same time.
And for the last four years, that has not been the case. Just today, we learned that the top U.S. commander in Iraq had to plead with the Pentagon for critical supplies in order to counter the growing insurgency there.
Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez argued last winter that without increased supplies -- and these are his words -- "I cannot continue to support sustained combat operations."
The day after General Sanchez wrote his letter, George Bush went out and told the American people our troops were properly equipped.
Despite the president's arrogant boasting that he has done everything right in Iraq and that he's made no mistakes, the truth is beginning to catch up with him.
(APPLAUSE)
And it's a bitter truth, my friends. It's a truth that involves the putting of the lives of young Americans on the line. It's a truth that involves billions of dollars of American taxpayers' money. It's a truth that involves our reputation and standing in the world. Just last week, General Tommy Franks admitted that disbanding the Iraqi army last year was a mistake and created a dangerous security vacuum.
Many of us argued not to do that. Ambassador Paul Bremer now admits that the president didn't have enough troops on the ground in order to secure Iraq and that the White House ignored his warnings. Then when General Shinseki, the Army chief of staff, said to the American people, through the Congress, that we didn't have enough troops in order to get the job done, he was sent packing.
Republican senators, Senator Lugar, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senators Chuck Hagel and McCain, have all complained publicly about the mismanagement and incompetence of the president and his team. And now -- now -- Iraq is a breeding ground for terrorism.
But despite all these facts, despite all of these truths, the president still clings to the idea and tells the American people that we're make progress, that things are getting better in Iraq and that his policy is working.
Mr. President, when it comes to the war in Iraq, it is time to come clean and acknowledge what your military leaders have told you privately.
(APPLAUSE)
Mr. President, you can choose to ignore the facts, but in the end, you can't hide the truth from the American people.
(APPLAUSE)
The bottom line, Mr. President, is that your mismanagement of the war has, in fact, made Iraq and America less safe and less secure than they could have been and that they should have been today. And that's the fact.
(APPLAUSE)
So, let me make it clear to you, let me make it clear, as president -- a lesson I learned a long time ago when I fought in a war, a lesson I learned when I came home and tried to tell America the truth about a war -- I will never, as president, rush to war without a plan to win the peace.
(APPLAUSE)
And I can tell you, having been one of those troops, I will never send our soldiers into harm's way without the best training and equipment in the world.
(APPLAUSE)
And I will never allow our policy to be hijacked by ideologues at the expense of the best advice of our military professional commanders.
Most of all, my fellow Americans, I pledge to you that I will always level with the American people because it's only by leveling and telling the truth that you build the legitimacy and gain the consent of the people who ultimately we are accountable to.
I will level with the American people.
(APPLAUSE)
Our troops deserve the truth, the American people deserve the truth, and we deserve a fresh start and new credibility with the ability to be successful in Iraq.
As president, I will never take my eye off the real enemy: Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda and other terrorists that threaten America and our allies.
(APPLAUSE)
America, I will fight a smarter, more effective, tougher war on terror. We will hunt down and capture and kill the terrorists, no matter where they are. But we will conduct the critical diplomacy that this administration has failed to do. We will bring allies to our side because that's how you make America and the world its strongest.
(APPLAUSE)
And let me make this crystal clear: Just because President Bush couldn't do it, doesn't mean it can't be done. It can be done.
(APPLAUSE)
But, my fellow Americans, as you know better than anybody, a president must be able to do more than one thing at the same time.
(APPLAUSE)
And today, I want to talk to you about one of the great issues that matters to middle-class Americans, to middle-class families and to those struggling to get into the middle class all across America.
Today is the first day that can you vote here in Florida.
(APPLAUSE)
Today, Florida, today, health care is on the ballot.
(APPLAUSE)
In a message that was sent to Congress nearly 60 years ago, President Harry Truman said, and I quote, "We should resolve now that the health of this nation is a national concern, that financial barriers in the way of health shall be removed, that the health of all citizens deserves the help of all the nation." That was Harry Truman setting the goal, 1948. And 60 years later for millions of middle-class families, struggling to keep up with their medical bills just the way you heard Julianne (ph) speaking about it a moment ago, that's a story repeated all across America.
Their concern has never been greater. The barriers have never been higher and the need for a solution to the crisis of rising health care costs is a defining issue for America today.
Today, I'm here to tell you that this solution is finally within our reach. We can achieve this. We can and we will get the cost of health care under control. We can and we will cover all children in America.
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We can and we will give families access to the same private health insurance that members of Congress give themselves.
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We can and we will put medical decision in the hands of doctors and patients, not insurance company bureaucrats.
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My fellow Americans, we can have a fresh start on health care in America. And when I am president, we will.
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When I am president, within hours of raising my hand and assuming those responsibilities, my health care proposal will be the very first proposal that will go to the United States Congress.
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I will work with Republicans and Democrats across the aisle, openly, not with an ideologically driven, fixed, rigid, concept, but much like Franklin Roosevelt said, I don't care whether a good idea is a Republican idea or a Democrat idea, I just care whether or not it's going to work for Americans and help make our country stronger.
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And we will pass -- we will pass this bill. I'll tell you a little bit about it in a minute. And I'll tell you why we'll pass it: Because it's different from anything we've ever done before, despite what the Republicans want to try to tell you.
But first we have to understand how critical this is, how much it means to Julianne (ph) and to so many other people across country. You know, it's time to help families that are sitting around the kitchen table worrying, "How we going to pay that hospital bill?"
What do we do? Cut into the college fund? Sell the house? Get rid of the IRA? Totally devastate our retirement concept?"
"How did our premiums go up again?" people are asking all across our country.
"Do we have to drop our coverage and just hope and pray that nothing happens to us?"
And what about the kids? What about the children? What about parents all across America who go to sleep at night -- if they're lucky enough to sleep -- in a cold sweat of worry, will wake up in the middle of the night, "What happens if my kid gets sick? What if I get sick? What if I get cancer," like Julianne's (ph) mother?"
These worries are real; they're not made up. These stories aren't something that's part of a Democrat plan or a Republican plan.
These are American stories. These are the stories of American citizens. And it's not just individual citizens who are feeling the pressure of health care costs. It's businesses across America. It's CEOs all across America. This is an American problem.
In Erie, Pennsylvania, I met a man named Albert Barker who wonders how he's going to pay thousands of dollars in medical bills. He suffered a heart attack, and he had surgery. His employer stopped health care coverage. Why? Because it was too expensive. Now, that's great health care coverage: Get sick and need it, and they cut you off it. That's the problem.
Now, his wife said -- his wife came to a public meeting like this, and she stood up and just she said she hopes and prays that nothing else happens.
Well, that's wrong, my friends. We shouldn't be just hoping and praying. We need leadership that acts and responds and leads and makes things happen.
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In Council Bluffs, Iowa, I met a wonderful woman named Myrtle Walker (ph), who was about 82 years old, if I remember correctly. And she still goes down with the school to work with the kids and to help the kids be able to learn from her experience. But she told me she doesn't know what she's going to do if the price of her medicine rises any higher.
As it is, she pays a huge chunk of Social Security check every month straight over to the prescription drugs she has to take to keep on living safely. and it covers the cost, barely, of her two prescription drugs that she takes daily.
I've met people who are taking eight or nine. I have met people who have one drug alone that costs 1200 bucks alone a month -- different costs.
Well, that's wrong. We had a chance to change it in the Congress of the United States. They chose otherwise. And I'll talk about that in a minute.
Right here in Florida, in Jacksonville, I met Rene Harris (ph). And Rene Harris owns -- owned, I should say, in the past tense, a school that -- it was a bus company that she and her family had had over 50 years. But recently she was forced to sell it, because she could no longer afford to insure herself or her workers. That's wrong. And we have to change it.
Millions of middle-class families like these are working hard and trying to get ahead, but they just can't keep up with the health care costs. They're out of control.
I remember walking into a diner in Derry, New Hampshire, and met a couple there about 35 years old and asked them about health insurance. And they said they'd never had it, ever.
They're just going along on a wing and a prayer hoping they don't have a terrible accident or get really sick and if they do, they know the hospital will take care of them and everybody else in this uneven way will pay for it.
Employers all across America are being forced to cut benefits.
Folks, I'm not just talking about a health care proposal. I'm talking about an economic plan, a plan that helps lower the costs of doing business in America so American businesses can be more competitive and so there will be less pressure on them to decide to go overseas.
One of the ways you keep jobs here in America, jobs that pay good money, is to lower the cost of health care, Mr. President. And we should have done it four years ago.
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Now, you know how some of the folks on the other side love to go out and talk to America about values, family values and different values? I said in the debate the other night with the president that I'm tired of people who just talk about family values but don't value families.
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But there's another measure -- there's another measure of values. And a study due out tomorrow will show that significant numbers of uninsured veterans don't have access to health care. Now, you talk to me about the values of telling folks who go out and put the uniform on to defend our country and some of them in the Guard or Reserve don't have it and some of the vets aren't getting it because they cut a whole category out.
The secretary of the VA actually asked for $1.2 billion more to help take care of our veterans, and this president said no because it was more important to him to give a tax cut to the wealthiest people in the country.
When I'm president, we will take care of our veterans, and we'll make sure the VA budget defines the patriotism of America.
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So just think about the last four years, because that's what we're measuring in this election. I sometimes see people, you know, when you go by they say, "Four more years, four more years."
Health care costs have gone up 64 percent. Prescription drug co- pays are up 50 percent. Medicare is up 56 percent. Average family premiums are up over $3,500 a year. Five million more Americans have no health care at all. Three million have lost their health care over the course of the last four years. Forty-five million Americans have no health care at all. And three million of them live right here in Florida - three million-plus.
You've lost 700,000 people, on their health care, right there in Florida under the four years of George Bush.
And what does the president of the United States have to say about these out-of-control health care costs that are killing job creation and hurting middle-class families and hurting the families that are playing by the rules, struggling to get into the middle- class?
Well, in the debate the other night, in response to my listing some of these things, you know what he said? He called these things a litany of complaints.
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There you have it, folks. George Bush's answer to our health care problems is to tell the American people: Stop whining.
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That's George Bush, isn't it?
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Lower wages for American workers and a higher share of the tax burden for the middle-class: Stop whining, everything's fine.
Forty-five million Americans with no health care at all: Stop whining, everything's fine.
Tens of millions of American families who can barely hold on to their health insurance and who face higher co-pays and deductibles every single year: Stop whining, everything's fine. I don't want to hear your litany of complaints.
Mr. President, the struggles facing middle-class families are not complaints to be dismissed. They are realities to be dealt with, they are problems to be solved. And we're going to solve those problems for this country.
(APPLAUSE) Now, I suppose it wouldn't really be fair to say that George Bush has done nothing at all about the high cost of health care. He's actually made it worse.
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And if given the chance, he's going to make it much worse. And that's because the president has made choices, ladies and gentlemen. These aren't things that I'm saying to you. These are a reflection of real choices made by the president. The president is out of touch with middle-class American struggles, and he's in touch with the big drug companies and the insurance industry and the HMOs.
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Now, so you understand the full measure of what I just said, it's wrong for the president to promise he's going to do something about the cost of prescription drugs only to force through a Medicare bill, four years later, that gives a windfall profit of $139 billion to the drug companies, raises the cost medicine for seniors, pushes seniors off of Medicare into HMOs, and makes it a definite that at least three million or more seniors are going lose the current company benefits that they get as a result of retirement. It's wrong to make it illegal to import less expensive drugs from Canada. And that's what they did.
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But not satisfied to hold onto the drug company's profit there, they went further. Medicare belongs to you. Medicare is paid by the taxpayer. Medicare is a taxpayer-funded program to keep seniors out of poverty. And we want to lower the cost to seniors, right? It's common sense.
But when given the opportunity to do that, this president made it illegal for Medicare to do what the VA does, which is go out and bulk purchase drugs so we could lower the taxpayers' bill and low are the cost to seniors. It is wrong to make it illegal to lower the cost of tax and lower the cost to seniors.
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And it's wrong to tie up $1 billion in funding for children's health care and deny coverage to 750,000 children. It's wrong to offer a phony health care plan, the Bush plan, that actually raises the premiums on four out of five every small business.
My friends, when it comes to health care, it is clear, George Bush is not in touch with the concerns of the American people. He either just doesn't get it or he gets it and he doesn't care. Either way, we need a change on November 2nd to push this country forward.
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Now, if you had any doubts at all about anything that I've just said to you, anybody who's listening can go to johnkerry.com or you can go to other independent sources and you can track down the truth of what I've just said. But if you had any doubts about it at all, his response to the shortage of the flu vaccine ought to put them all to rest.
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I said earlier today that if Halliburton made vaccines, you'd have more vaccines here in Florida than you would oranges.
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With senior citizens standing in line for hours, mothers frantic about how to protect their children, this president gave the public his solution: Don't get a flu shot.
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And just today we learned that a town in New Jersey is being forced to use a lottery system to decide who's going to get a flu shot. So now George Bush is telling us, you got to get lucky to get health care in America.
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So ladies and gentlemen, if you had doubts about it at all, here's the Bush health care plan: Don't get a flu shot. Don't import less expensive drugs from Canada. Don't negotiate for lower prices on prescription drugs. And don't get sick. Just pray, stand up and hope, wait -- whatever. We are all left wondering and hoping. That's it.
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So there's only one way to avoid another four years of hearing "don't" from this president when it comes to health care, and here it is: Don't vote for George W. Bush on November 2nd.
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Now, it isn't that he's just out of touch with middle class Americans, it's that he's more in touch with those big drug companies, the insurance companies and the HMOs.
And we're paying the price for that, ladies and gentlemen.
So now it's time to choose. You want four more years of a president who stands for the HMOs and the drug companies and tells the struggling middle class everything is fine?
AUDIENCE: No!
Or do you want a president who's going to honor middle class- values and those struggling to get into the middle class and help them get the health care they need and deserve?
(APPLAUSE) I believe so deeply -- and as I go around, Bob and Bill and I were talking about this coming over here from other places -- that the hope that we're seeing in the eyes of our fellow Americans, folks like you who have come here today who know what's at stake in this race -- this isn't about Democrat and Republican or ideology. This is about solving problems, real problems that make our country strong and help build community and take care of other human beings.
I believe we need a fresh start on health care in America. I believe we need a president who's going to fight for the great middle class and those who really are struggling, even below minimum wage now. And they won't even raise it. With your help, ladies and gentlemen, I intend to be that kind of president who stands up and fights for the people who need the help.
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Now, let me tell you exactly what we're going to do to make health care affordable for all Americans, the steps that I will take and how I will pay for them.
America deserves to know this, and I want you to know it, because I'm excited about this plan.
I was there in 1993 and '94 when President Clinton tried to make it happen. I saw the reaction to it. I saw the mistakes that were made. I learned from them.
And this is anything but that kind of approach -- a totally new approach. None of you are forced to do anything. You choose. Choose your doctor. Choose your plan. If you like what you have today, you like high premiums, you like high co-pays, with deductibles and low benefit, keep it.
But I think I got a better offer for America. And first thing we're going to do is we're going to bring down the costs. We're going to do it...
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We're going to do it not by one thing, because there's no one Band-Aid for the whole health care system, you got to do comprehensive reform.
We're going to cut prescription drug prices, to start with, by allowing people to buy safe drugs, FDA approved, from Canada. And there's no reason in the world that can't happen quickly.
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We will allow Medicare to do what is smart, which is to negotiate so that we can actually reduce the costs to seniors and the taxpayers and lower the costs of those programs.
(APPLAUSE) We're also going to have an attorney general who enforces the law with respect to patent abuse and helps get generics into the marketplace more rapidly.
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We'll be tough on fraud, and there is fraud, and we have to go after it. And as an ex-prosecutor, I know how to do that, and I'll make certain we have a Justice Department that does it.
We'll cut waste in the health care system, and we'll cut the cost of health insurance for families.
And we'll cut the costs for small business by providing those small businesses and the self-employed with a 50 percent tax credit. So not only will they get the 50 percent tax credit, which makes them more competitive, but they'll have the lower premiums because we're going to help businesses in order to reduce those premiums in the first place.
And that results in making business more competitive and puts up to $1,000 back in the pockets of the premium-payers today. That's a tax cut worth fighting for.
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Second, we're going to make sure that everybody has available to them the opportunity to get more affordable health insurance.
We're going to do that by giving families and small businesses access to the same health care plan that senators and congressmen give themselves.
You know, we give ourselves the best health care in the world and we give you the bill. Well, I happen to believe that your health care is just as important as any politician in Washington, D.C. And we're going to give that you opportunity.
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Now George Bush is trying to scare America. And he's running around telling everybody -- I saw this ad the other night. I said, "What is that about? That's not my plan. That may be some 20 years ago they pulled out of the old thing."
But here's what they do, they are trying to tell you that there is some big government deal. Ladies and gentlemen, we choose. I happen to choose Blue Cross/Blue Shield. I could choose Kaiser. I could choose Pilgrim. I could choose Phelan. I could choose any number of different choices. That's what we get. And we look through all the different choices and make our choice.
You ought to have that same choice. The government doesn't tell what you to do. The government doesn't run it. It gives you the choice.
And we're going to make sure that Americans with disabilities have access to health care that is affordable and fits their needs.
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We're going to protect the programs that they count on, and we'll ensure that these Americans can make choices about the kind of care that they receive and where they will receive it.
Third, we're going to cover automatically every child in America by signing them up for healthcare when they go to school, when they go to child care, when they go to day care. They're automatically signed up for healthcare in America. Every child in America will be covered by health care.
PHILLIPS: Well, you've heard from both candidates so far today: President Bush in Marlton, New Jersey; now Senator John Kerry speaking at a campaign rally there to supporters in Tampa, Florida. Once again, blasting the president's plan, talking about mismanagement of the war plan, rushing to war without a plan to win the peace.
Also talking about healthcare, blasting the president's plan on healthcare saying that the president is also distorting his. Once again, emphasizing the fact if he were to become president, cutting healthcare insurance costs would be number one on his agenda.
Also, another interesting discussion, once again, the flu vaccine. It came up. It came up in both speeches today. Elizabeth Cohen, our medical correspondent, has been monitoring that issue for us. Didn't think this was going become a political issue, but now it has.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Who would have thought, right, that a shortage of flu vaccine all of a sudden would start showing up in candidates' speeches? It's an interesting turn of events.
The major charge that he makes here -- that Senator Kerry made here is he said that the Bush administration was warned three years ago that a shortage like this might be looming and didn't respond to it. Now, the Bush administration would say in response to that statement that, over the past three years, they have increased funding for flu related activities by 720 percent. So, they would say they have actually been doing something.
Now, it's interesting -- Senator Kerry came up with a plan for what he would do so that this kind of shortage wouldn't happen again. And the shortage, if you missed it, half of the nation's supply of flu shots -- nearly half will not be available this year because of manufacturing problems at one of the manufacturers.
When you looked at the Kerry plan to help avoid a shortage, it's very interesting. It's very similar really to what the Bush administration says they're planning on doing, and very similar to what experts say needs to be done.
There are three basic pillars to what Senator Kerry says he wants to have happen, and the first would be working with manufacturers to get a larger supply -- only two companies make flu shots now. He says there really needs to be more.
And also, get a stockpile of vaccines. And also get better technology -- the process of making vaccines now is long. You can get contamination like what happened this year. And he says let's get a new way of doing that. Bush administration also says we need a new way of making vaccines.
PHILLIPS: Laying out both plans for us. Thank you so much. Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen listening to both Senator John Kerry and President Bush today, both stumping for votes as we are just 15 days away from Election Day.
We're going to take a quick look at the numbers on Wall Street. That does it for us here on LIVE FROM. We'll see you back here tomorrow. "JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS" live from Colorado right after this.
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