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American Morning

Hurricane Frances Heads Toward Florida; Russia Hostage Situation Update; Bush Speaks in Pennsylvania.

Aired September 03, 2004 - 09:32   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning again from Florida. We are along the space coast, central part of the east coast of Florida, right near Melbourne, Florida, where we're all waiting for Frances and trying to figure out with what Frances is going to do once Frances makes up her mind.
Overnight, the storm weakened -- still a strong storm -- from a Category 4 down to a Category 3. Winds still sustained at about 120 miles an hour. It will be fierce once Frances makes up her mind. But at this point, it's very unpredictable. We're all waiting here. And many Floridians, especially on the eastern half of the state, have taken the warnings and they've moved north.

I'm Bill Hemmer live here. Kelly Wallace is back in New York City -- helping us out today back there where there is significant news, too, out of Russia today. And Kelly, good morning again to you back there.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill. Good morning, everyone.

As we have been saying, a very, very busy news morning here on AMERICAN MORNING. We're going back to the developing story in southern Russia. There are reports now that as many as 100 bodies have been found inside the school where armed terrorists took control Wednesday. That's according to a cameraman on the scene.

Ryan Chilcote has been following the story all morning from just outside the building. He joins us live now. Ryan, what can you tell us about these reports?

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure.

Well, we understand that that cameraman was not allowed to take any pictures. He got inside the school. That's when he saw all these bodies. And some of the forces inside -- not really official forces, but just locals here who have taken up arms and are taking part in the fight inside of the school -- turned them away. They were very angry, and they did not allow him to take any pictures of them. But he did see these bodies.

Now, I just got back from the school myself. I'll describe it as I can to you. The first thing you see is the gymnasium. It's about a five-minute walk from here. You see the gymnasium. The roof of the gymnasium has collapsed. And there is still smoke coming out of the gymnasium. That's because there was a large fire there. That is also where Russian officials said that the hostages were being held. Now, the rest of the building, that's where very heavy fighting is still underway.

Basically Russian forces trying to clear that building room by room. But they're encountering very serious resistance with both small arms and grenade launchers and sniper fire from the hostage takers that are still inside the building. Now, just outside of the building, directly in front of the gymnasium, there are dozens of civilians on standby with stretchers.

And what happens is, as the Russian forces are able to clear a room, they then take the wounded hostages from out of that room, call over the people with the stretchers, and they bring them up, bring them over, run them over to a line of ambulances that are standing by. And there's a stream of -- a steady stream of ambulances that continue to leave that school.

It is really not a very pretty picture. How all this started, we have learned that four Russian officials who were not armed, rescue officials, were in front of the school to collect approximately 20 bodies. These are people that were killed when the school was seized and in the sporadic fighting since then, over the last two days. They had recovered two of the bodies. They were doing this under a cease- fire agreement with the hostage-takers when there was a loud explosion from the other side of the school.

That is when a group of the hostages inside the gymnasium -- and this is from eyewitness reports from Russian officials who were standing right in front of the school -- that's when a group of the hostages decided to make a run for it. They ran out of the gymnasium. The hostage-takers opened fire on them. That was a violation of the cease-fire, and the Russians returned fire. One of the four Russians who had gone up to collect the bodies was immediately killed, another wounded. I spoke with them. That is how they described it. That's how this all began.

WALLACE: Ryan, give us a sense of the situation around there. You've been talking about civilians, family members, relatives on the scene. It is obviously a devastating situation for them. Are still family members around? And what has been their reaction so far?

CHILCOTE: Well, many of them are at the hospital. Even if they weren't wounded in the fighting, you remember that these people were basically without food and water, mainly children between the ages of seven and 17, for more than 50 hours. So, they're very weak.

They've been taken to the local hospitals. We have reports that at least 158 children have been hospitalized. But of course, as I said, they're still clearing the building, so those reports are far from complete. So, there aren't too many people hanging out on the outside of the school area right now.

WALLACE: Ryan, thanks for your great reporting. We'll be following all your developments throughout the day. Ryan Chilcote reporting from Russia. Right now, we want to take you to Moosic, Pennsylvania -- that is near Scranton. And that is where President Bush is on hand with First Lady Laura Bush. This is his first speech, his first appearance since his acceptance speech last night at the Republican National Convention here in New York City.

Let's listen in to the president.

GEORGE W. BUSH (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Thank you for coming. I appreciate so many people getting up so early. Laura and I are here to ask for the vote. We are here to let you know that I understand there's more to do to make this country a safer place, a stronger place, and a better place for every American.

So, we're pleased to be in Lackawanna County in this beautiful setting. Thanks for having us.

And before I begin, I do know you'll join me in offering our prayers and best wishes to those in the path of the Hurricane Frances. There's been some devastation in the state of Florida. There's likely to be more devastation. And so, I've ordered federal teams to be in position to help the good people of that state. But the best thing we can do here is to offer our prayers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't hear you!

BUSH: Maybe it's because I talked too much last night, you know. I enjoyed giving that speech last night. And I am so proud that your state made my nomination official. And with your help, your State of Pennsylvania will be a significant reason we are reelected for four more years.

CROWD: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more four years!

BUSH: Laura set the bar pretty high when she gave her speech at the convention. She is -- what a great first lady, a wonderful mom, a terrific wife. Listen, I'm going to give you some reasons why I think you ought to put me back in, but perhaps the most important one of all is so that Laura is first lady for four more years.

I'm proud of my running mate, Dick Cheney. Look, he doesn't have the longest and prettiest hair in the race. I didn't pick him for his hair. I picked him for his judgment, experience and because he can get the job done.

I appreciate the fact that Senator Arlen Specter is with us today. Put him back in for six more years in the Senate. Look who's next to him. Rick Santorum, United States Senator. Congressman Don Sherwood is here, as well. Appreciate you being here, Congressman. Good man. Mayor Lou Barletta is here with us from Hazelton, Pennsylvania. Hey, Lou. Fill the potholes.

I appreciate David Wenzel, the former mayor of Scranton who is with us here today. David, thank you for coming. My friend Bill Scranton is with us here. I appreciate him coming. I want to thank all the candidates who are here. I want to thank my friend Mark Chestnutt. He's great, isn't he? "Bubba Shot the Jukebox." He's from Beaumont, Texas. And I appreciate him lending his talents to come. I hope you enjoy him as much as I love his music.

Most of all, I want to thank the grassroots activists who are here, the people who put up the signs and make the phone calls and encourage people to register to vote. See, I think we have a duty in this country to vote. In a free land, we have a duty to vote.

And I'm asking you to register your friends and neighbors to vote. Register Republicans, register independents, register discerning Democrats, like Zell Miller of Georgia. He's a discerning Democrat. And get them to the polls. And when you get them there, remind them that George Bush and Dick Cheney are ready to lead this country for four more years.

Now, we're coming down the stretch in this race. We've got less than two months to go. And this is a historic national election. It's a time for choosing. It's going to come down to the records we've built, the convictions we hold, and the vision that guides us forward.

Over the next two months, I'm looking forward to traveling our country, telling people where I intend to lead our country and telling people what I believe. I believe every child can learn in America. And that I believe every school must teach. That's why we passed important education reform that challenges the soft bigotry of low expectations, that says we must measure to determine whether a child can read, and if not, correct problems early before they're too late, that says the local folks ought to be in charge of the schools. It's a plan. We're making good progress across this country, and we're not turning back.

I believe we have a moral responsibility to our seniors. That's why I've worked with Republicans and Democrats to strengthen Medicare. Our seniors now get help buying medicine. And soon, every senior will be able to have coverage for prescription drugs. It doesn't make any sense to pay $100,000 for heart surgery and not pay for the medicine to prevent the heart surgery from happening in the first place. We're making progress and honoring our commitment to our seniors, and we're not turning back.

I believe the role of government is not to try to create wealth, but an environment in which the entrepreneur, the small business, the farmer and the rancher can survive. I believe in the spirit and innovative power of the American worker. And that is why we unleashed the energy of our economy with the largest tax relief in decades. Because we acted, our economy is growing again. Because we acted, we've overcome recession, scandal, stock market decline, and a terrorist attack.

This morning, we received jobs report for August, and it shows that our economy is strong and getting stronger. We added 144,000 new jobs, plus revisions of about 60,000 for the previous month, which means we've increased jobs over the last two months by over 200,000 jobs. Overall we've added about 1.7 million new jobs since August of '03.

The unemployment rate is now down to 5.4 percent. That's nearly a full point below the rate last summer and below the average of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. The unemployment rate in Pennsylvania is 5.3 percent. Our growing economy is spreading prosperity and opportunity, and nothing will hold us back. I will continue to travel our country telling people what I believe.

And I believe the most solemn duty of the president is to protect the American people. If America, if America shows uncertainty and weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This will not happen on my watch.

CROWD: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

BUSH: I am running for president with a clear and positive plan: to build a safer world, and a more hopeful America. I'm running with a compassionate conservative philosophy that says government should help people improve their lives, not try to run their lives.

As I tour this country, I know that this nation wants steady, consistent principled leadership, and that is why, with your help, we're going to win four more years.

CROWD: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

BUSH: Last night, I spent time talking about how the world in which we live is changing. Women now work outside the home, as well as work inside the home. Many people changed jobs. This is a changing world. And the role of government is to take the side of our workers and families in a time of change.

Most of the fundamental systems of today, the tax code and health coverage and pension plans and worker training, were created for the world of yesterday, not tomorrow. I'm running for four more years to change those fundamental systems so more Americans can realize the great promise of our country.

My plan begins -- any good plan begins with making sure our economy continues to grow. The global market is expanding and creating new markets and new competition. My view is to create more jobs here in America. This has got to be the best place in the world to do business. That's why we will expand trade in a fair way. Look, we opened up our markets, and it's good for you that we do.

See, if you have more choices, you're likely to get a product you want at a better price and higher quality. What I'm saying when it comes to trade to other countries is you treat us the way we treat you. We can compete with anybody, anywhere, anytime, so long as the playing field is level.

We've got to get rid of the junk lawsuits that threaten our small business owners. We've got to trim back needless regulations that make it hard for people to employ people. In order to make sure this economy expands, we've got to be wise about how we spend your money. And we've got to keep your taxes low. We have a difference in this campaign on low taxes. I'm running against a fellow who's promised over $2 trillion of new spending so far. And we're just coming down the stretch.

By the way, $2 trillion is a lot of money to promise, even for a senator from Massachusetts. And now they asked them how are you going to pay for it. And he said, well, I'll pay for it all by taxing the rich. Two things wrong with that.

One is, you can't raise enough money by so-called taxing the rich to pay for his promises, which means somebody else is going to get stuck with the bill. But the other thing is, you've heard that rhetoric before, haven't you? Yes. Tax the rich? You know what that means. They dodge, you pay. But we're not going to let him, because we're going to win in November!

A drag on our economy is the federal tax code, which is a complicated mess. You know, it is filled with special interest loopholes. Our people spend six billion hours of paperwork and headache every year. The American people deserve and our economic future depends on a simpler, fairer, pro-growth tax code. In a second term, in a second term, I will lead a bipartisan effort to reform and simplify the federal taxes.

I'll tell you what else we need to do, we need to help our workers train for the new jobs of the 21st century. In a changing world, the jobs change, and oftentimes there's a skills gap. And so, we're going to make sure our community college system works better for our workers. We're going to provide more money to help workers gain the skills necessary to fill the jobs of the 21st century.

Most new jobs are filled by people with at least two years of college. And yet only about one in four of our students gets there. And so, at our high schools we'll fund early intervention programs to help students at risk. We'll place a new focus on math and science.

Over time, we will require exit exams from high school, because we want the high school diplomas to mean something. By raising performance in the high schools, and by expanding Pell grants for low and middle income families, we will help more Americans start their career with a college diploma.

There's more to do to make sure quality health care is available and affordable. More than one-half of the uninsured in America are small business employees, and their families. In order to make sure small businesses can afford health care, we must allow small firms to join together to purchase insurance at the discounts available to big companies. We will help small businesses and low-income Americans set up and purchase health savings accounts.

In a new term, I will ensure that every poor county in America has got community health centers, to make sure that people get preventive and primary care, not in the emergency rooms of America, but in these clinics for low-income Americans. In all we do, we'll make sure that the health decisions are made by doctors and patients, not by bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. I want to talk about a national issue that is of concern to millions here in Pennsylvania. Too many good doctors, too many really fine healers are being forced out of practice because of the high cost of junk lawsuits. You cannot be pro-doctor and pro-patient and pro- plaintiff attorney at the same time. You have to choose. My opponent made the choice, and he put him on the ticket. I made my choice. I'm standing with the docs and patients. We want medical liability reform now.

Let me give you a quick story about what I'm talking about. I'm telling you, this is a national problem that requires a national solution. And there's a clear difference in this campaign on this issue. Today I met with Dr. Neal Davis from Carbondale. He told all his patients to come. And Mary Core, one of his patients -- I want you to hear this story, because it's happening all across America.

Last November, after 15 years of practice in Pennsylvania, Dr. Davis learned that his insurance company would no longer insure physicians in this state because of the junk lawsuits. Because the law system here in terms of medicine is like a lottery. That's what it's like. And it's unfair to patients. And it's unfair to doctors. It's unfair to taxpayers.

He found a new policy. But it said you had to give up delivering babies as a part of the coverage. That's what's happening to OB/GYNs all across the country. That forced Mary, four months pregnant, to start driving 50 miles each way to see different doctors, a different doctor.

When Mary's daughter arrived this summer, she was delivered by a doctor Mary had never met. She said, "I started to cry when he told me he was going to have to stop delivering. This is happening, because the legal system has gone awry. We need medical liability reform now."

WALLACE: President Bush in Pennsylvania -- his first speech since accepting the nomination -- presidential nomination, last night in New York City. That is all for me today. My colleague, Bill Hemmer in Florida. Bill, great to be with on this very, very busy news morning.

HEMMER: Hey. Excellent job, too, Kelly. And thanks for helping us out today. Really great to have you as part of our program today.

WALLACE: Thank you.

HEMMER: Enjoy the weekend, all right?

WALLACE: You do the same. I hope you get some rest.

HEMMER: Thank you. So do I.

We're going to continue to watch Frances and take you into the next hour. For that, Daryn Kagan is watching that at the CNN Center. I'll be with Daryn again as we go to the next hour, 10:00 a.m. Eastern hour. And Daryn, happy Friday. Good morning to you there.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: To you, too. And that rest that Kelly was suggesting? Not going to happen anytime soon for you.

HEMMER: Ain't going to be one.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired September 3, 2004 - 09:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning again from Florida. We are along the space coast, central part of the east coast of Florida, right near Melbourne, Florida, where we're all waiting for Frances and trying to figure out with what Frances is going to do once Frances makes up her mind.
Overnight, the storm weakened -- still a strong storm -- from a Category 4 down to a Category 3. Winds still sustained at about 120 miles an hour. It will be fierce once Frances makes up her mind. But at this point, it's very unpredictable. We're all waiting here. And many Floridians, especially on the eastern half of the state, have taken the warnings and they've moved north.

I'm Bill Hemmer live here. Kelly Wallace is back in New York City -- helping us out today back there where there is significant news, too, out of Russia today. And Kelly, good morning again to you back there.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill. Good morning, everyone.

As we have been saying, a very, very busy news morning here on AMERICAN MORNING. We're going back to the developing story in southern Russia. There are reports now that as many as 100 bodies have been found inside the school where armed terrorists took control Wednesday. That's according to a cameraman on the scene.

Ryan Chilcote has been following the story all morning from just outside the building. He joins us live now. Ryan, what can you tell us about these reports?

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure.

Well, we understand that that cameraman was not allowed to take any pictures. He got inside the school. That's when he saw all these bodies. And some of the forces inside -- not really official forces, but just locals here who have taken up arms and are taking part in the fight inside of the school -- turned them away. They were very angry, and they did not allow him to take any pictures of them. But he did see these bodies.

Now, I just got back from the school myself. I'll describe it as I can to you. The first thing you see is the gymnasium. It's about a five-minute walk from here. You see the gymnasium. The roof of the gymnasium has collapsed. And there is still smoke coming out of the gymnasium. That's because there was a large fire there. That is also where Russian officials said that the hostages were being held. Now, the rest of the building, that's where very heavy fighting is still underway.

Basically Russian forces trying to clear that building room by room. But they're encountering very serious resistance with both small arms and grenade launchers and sniper fire from the hostage takers that are still inside the building. Now, just outside of the building, directly in front of the gymnasium, there are dozens of civilians on standby with stretchers.

And what happens is, as the Russian forces are able to clear a room, they then take the wounded hostages from out of that room, call over the people with the stretchers, and they bring them up, bring them over, run them over to a line of ambulances that are standing by. And there's a stream of -- a steady stream of ambulances that continue to leave that school.

It is really not a very pretty picture. How all this started, we have learned that four Russian officials who were not armed, rescue officials, were in front of the school to collect approximately 20 bodies. These are people that were killed when the school was seized and in the sporadic fighting since then, over the last two days. They had recovered two of the bodies. They were doing this under a cease- fire agreement with the hostage-takers when there was a loud explosion from the other side of the school.

That is when a group of the hostages inside the gymnasium -- and this is from eyewitness reports from Russian officials who were standing right in front of the school -- that's when a group of the hostages decided to make a run for it. They ran out of the gymnasium. The hostage-takers opened fire on them. That was a violation of the cease-fire, and the Russians returned fire. One of the four Russians who had gone up to collect the bodies was immediately killed, another wounded. I spoke with them. That is how they described it. That's how this all began.

WALLACE: Ryan, give us a sense of the situation around there. You've been talking about civilians, family members, relatives on the scene. It is obviously a devastating situation for them. Are still family members around? And what has been their reaction so far?

CHILCOTE: Well, many of them are at the hospital. Even if they weren't wounded in the fighting, you remember that these people were basically without food and water, mainly children between the ages of seven and 17, for more than 50 hours. So, they're very weak.

They've been taken to the local hospitals. We have reports that at least 158 children have been hospitalized. But of course, as I said, they're still clearing the building, so those reports are far from complete. So, there aren't too many people hanging out on the outside of the school area right now.

WALLACE: Ryan, thanks for your great reporting. We'll be following all your developments throughout the day. Ryan Chilcote reporting from Russia. Right now, we want to take you to Moosic, Pennsylvania -- that is near Scranton. And that is where President Bush is on hand with First Lady Laura Bush. This is his first speech, his first appearance since his acceptance speech last night at the Republican National Convention here in New York City.

Let's listen in to the president.

GEORGE W. BUSH (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Thank you for coming. I appreciate so many people getting up so early. Laura and I are here to ask for the vote. We are here to let you know that I understand there's more to do to make this country a safer place, a stronger place, and a better place for every American.

So, we're pleased to be in Lackawanna County in this beautiful setting. Thanks for having us.

And before I begin, I do know you'll join me in offering our prayers and best wishes to those in the path of the Hurricane Frances. There's been some devastation in the state of Florida. There's likely to be more devastation. And so, I've ordered federal teams to be in position to help the good people of that state. But the best thing we can do here is to offer our prayers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't hear you!

BUSH: Maybe it's because I talked too much last night, you know. I enjoyed giving that speech last night. And I am so proud that your state made my nomination official. And with your help, your State of Pennsylvania will be a significant reason we are reelected for four more years.

CROWD: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more four years!

BUSH: Laura set the bar pretty high when she gave her speech at the convention. She is -- what a great first lady, a wonderful mom, a terrific wife. Listen, I'm going to give you some reasons why I think you ought to put me back in, but perhaps the most important one of all is so that Laura is first lady for four more years.

I'm proud of my running mate, Dick Cheney. Look, he doesn't have the longest and prettiest hair in the race. I didn't pick him for his hair. I picked him for his judgment, experience and because he can get the job done.

I appreciate the fact that Senator Arlen Specter is with us today. Put him back in for six more years in the Senate. Look who's next to him. Rick Santorum, United States Senator. Congressman Don Sherwood is here, as well. Appreciate you being here, Congressman. Good man. Mayor Lou Barletta is here with us from Hazelton, Pennsylvania. Hey, Lou. Fill the potholes.

I appreciate David Wenzel, the former mayor of Scranton who is with us here today. David, thank you for coming. My friend Bill Scranton is with us here. I appreciate him coming. I want to thank all the candidates who are here. I want to thank my friend Mark Chestnutt. He's great, isn't he? "Bubba Shot the Jukebox." He's from Beaumont, Texas. And I appreciate him lending his talents to come. I hope you enjoy him as much as I love his music.

Most of all, I want to thank the grassroots activists who are here, the people who put up the signs and make the phone calls and encourage people to register to vote. See, I think we have a duty in this country to vote. In a free land, we have a duty to vote.

And I'm asking you to register your friends and neighbors to vote. Register Republicans, register independents, register discerning Democrats, like Zell Miller of Georgia. He's a discerning Democrat. And get them to the polls. And when you get them there, remind them that George Bush and Dick Cheney are ready to lead this country for four more years.

Now, we're coming down the stretch in this race. We've got less than two months to go. And this is a historic national election. It's a time for choosing. It's going to come down to the records we've built, the convictions we hold, and the vision that guides us forward.

Over the next two months, I'm looking forward to traveling our country, telling people where I intend to lead our country and telling people what I believe. I believe every child can learn in America. And that I believe every school must teach. That's why we passed important education reform that challenges the soft bigotry of low expectations, that says we must measure to determine whether a child can read, and if not, correct problems early before they're too late, that says the local folks ought to be in charge of the schools. It's a plan. We're making good progress across this country, and we're not turning back.

I believe we have a moral responsibility to our seniors. That's why I've worked with Republicans and Democrats to strengthen Medicare. Our seniors now get help buying medicine. And soon, every senior will be able to have coverage for prescription drugs. It doesn't make any sense to pay $100,000 for heart surgery and not pay for the medicine to prevent the heart surgery from happening in the first place. We're making progress and honoring our commitment to our seniors, and we're not turning back.

I believe the role of government is not to try to create wealth, but an environment in which the entrepreneur, the small business, the farmer and the rancher can survive. I believe in the spirit and innovative power of the American worker. And that is why we unleashed the energy of our economy with the largest tax relief in decades. Because we acted, our economy is growing again. Because we acted, we've overcome recession, scandal, stock market decline, and a terrorist attack.

This morning, we received jobs report for August, and it shows that our economy is strong and getting stronger. We added 144,000 new jobs, plus revisions of about 60,000 for the previous month, which means we've increased jobs over the last two months by over 200,000 jobs. Overall we've added about 1.7 million new jobs since August of '03.

The unemployment rate is now down to 5.4 percent. That's nearly a full point below the rate last summer and below the average of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. The unemployment rate in Pennsylvania is 5.3 percent. Our growing economy is spreading prosperity and opportunity, and nothing will hold us back. I will continue to travel our country telling people what I believe.

And I believe the most solemn duty of the president is to protect the American people. If America, if America shows uncertainty and weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This will not happen on my watch.

CROWD: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

BUSH: I am running for president with a clear and positive plan: to build a safer world, and a more hopeful America. I'm running with a compassionate conservative philosophy that says government should help people improve their lives, not try to run their lives.

As I tour this country, I know that this nation wants steady, consistent principled leadership, and that is why, with your help, we're going to win four more years.

CROWD: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

BUSH: Last night, I spent time talking about how the world in which we live is changing. Women now work outside the home, as well as work inside the home. Many people changed jobs. This is a changing world. And the role of government is to take the side of our workers and families in a time of change.

Most of the fundamental systems of today, the tax code and health coverage and pension plans and worker training, were created for the world of yesterday, not tomorrow. I'm running for four more years to change those fundamental systems so more Americans can realize the great promise of our country.

My plan begins -- any good plan begins with making sure our economy continues to grow. The global market is expanding and creating new markets and new competition. My view is to create more jobs here in America. This has got to be the best place in the world to do business. That's why we will expand trade in a fair way. Look, we opened up our markets, and it's good for you that we do.

See, if you have more choices, you're likely to get a product you want at a better price and higher quality. What I'm saying when it comes to trade to other countries is you treat us the way we treat you. We can compete with anybody, anywhere, anytime, so long as the playing field is level.

We've got to get rid of the junk lawsuits that threaten our small business owners. We've got to trim back needless regulations that make it hard for people to employ people. In order to make sure this economy expands, we've got to be wise about how we spend your money. And we've got to keep your taxes low. We have a difference in this campaign on low taxes. I'm running against a fellow who's promised over $2 trillion of new spending so far. And we're just coming down the stretch.

By the way, $2 trillion is a lot of money to promise, even for a senator from Massachusetts. And now they asked them how are you going to pay for it. And he said, well, I'll pay for it all by taxing the rich. Two things wrong with that.

One is, you can't raise enough money by so-called taxing the rich to pay for his promises, which means somebody else is going to get stuck with the bill. But the other thing is, you've heard that rhetoric before, haven't you? Yes. Tax the rich? You know what that means. They dodge, you pay. But we're not going to let him, because we're going to win in November!

A drag on our economy is the federal tax code, which is a complicated mess. You know, it is filled with special interest loopholes. Our people spend six billion hours of paperwork and headache every year. The American people deserve and our economic future depends on a simpler, fairer, pro-growth tax code. In a second term, in a second term, I will lead a bipartisan effort to reform and simplify the federal taxes.

I'll tell you what else we need to do, we need to help our workers train for the new jobs of the 21st century. In a changing world, the jobs change, and oftentimes there's a skills gap. And so, we're going to make sure our community college system works better for our workers. We're going to provide more money to help workers gain the skills necessary to fill the jobs of the 21st century.

Most new jobs are filled by people with at least two years of college. And yet only about one in four of our students gets there. And so, at our high schools we'll fund early intervention programs to help students at risk. We'll place a new focus on math and science.

Over time, we will require exit exams from high school, because we want the high school diplomas to mean something. By raising performance in the high schools, and by expanding Pell grants for low and middle income families, we will help more Americans start their career with a college diploma.

There's more to do to make sure quality health care is available and affordable. More than one-half of the uninsured in America are small business employees, and their families. In order to make sure small businesses can afford health care, we must allow small firms to join together to purchase insurance at the discounts available to big companies. We will help small businesses and low-income Americans set up and purchase health savings accounts.

In a new term, I will ensure that every poor county in America has got community health centers, to make sure that people get preventive and primary care, not in the emergency rooms of America, but in these clinics for low-income Americans. In all we do, we'll make sure that the health decisions are made by doctors and patients, not by bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. I want to talk about a national issue that is of concern to millions here in Pennsylvania. Too many good doctors, too many really fine healers are being forced out of practice because of the high cost of junk lawsuits. You cannot be pro-doctor and pro-patient and pro- plaintiff attorney at the same time. You have to choose. My opponent made the choice, and he put him on the ticket. I made my choice. I'm standing with the docs and patients. We want medical liability reform now.

Let me give you a quick story about what I'm talking about. I'm telling you, this is a national problem that requires a national solution. And there's a clear difference in this campaign on this issue. Today I met with Dr. Neal Davis from Carbondale. He told all his patients to come. And Mary Core, one of his patients -- I want you to hear this story, because it's happening all across America.

Last November, after 15 years of practice in Pennsylvania, Dr. Davis learned that his insurance company would no longer insure physicians in this state because of the junk lawsuits. Because the law system here in terms of medicine is like a lottery. That's what it's like. And it's unfair to patients. And it's unfair to doctors. It's unfair to taxpayers.

He found a new policy. But it said you had to give up delivering babies as a part of the coverage. That's what's happening to OB/GYNs all across the country. That forced Mary, four months pregnant, to start driving 50 miles each way to see different doctors, a different doctor.

When Mary's daughter arrived this summer, she was delivered by a doctor Mary had never met. She said, "I started to cry when he told me he was going to have to stop delivering. This is happening, because the legal system has gone awry. We need medical liability reform now."

WALLACE: President Bush in Pennsylvania -- his first speech since accepting the nomination -- presidential nomination, last night in New York City. That is all for me today. My colleague, Bill Hemmer in Florida. Bill, great to be with on this very, very busy news morning.

HEMMER: Hey. Excellent job, too, Kelly. And thanks for helping us out today. Really great to have you as part of our program today.

WALLACE: Thank you.

HEMMER: Enjoy the weekend, all right?

WALLACE: You do the same. I hope you get some rest.

HEMMER: Thank you. So do I.

We're going to continue to watch Frances and take you into the next hour. For that, Daryn Kagan is watching that at the CNN Center. I'll be with Daryn again as we go to the next hour, 10:00 a.m. Eastern hour. And Daryn, happy Friday. Good morning to you there.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: To you, too. And that rest that Kelly was suggesting? Not going to happen anytime soon for you.

HEMMER: Ain't going to be one.

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