n054  1546  02 Mar 80
 
BC-SPEECH-BUSH Undated 2takes
c. 1980 N.Y. Times News Service
    Candidates for the presidential nomination in both major parties
make hundreds of speeches in their campaigns, speeches that vary in
content depending on where they are given and the audience being
addressed.
    But every candidate has a body of material, presented in most of his
speeches, that varies little from audience to audience. This material
represents the heart of his message to the voters as he moves around
the country.
    The following basic speech by George Bush is the third in a series
of texts of such ''stock speeches,'' heard by millions of Americans
but rarely published at length, that have been collected by The New
York Times.
 
    I urge you, first of all, go to the polls and vote. Drag, kicking
and screaming, if you have to, your friends to the polls and vote.
That is No. 1. You know, I get so tired of the cynics, people who
would say nobody can make a difference any more.
    You know; you see the problem. You see the problems of the economy,
tripling and almost quadrupling the rate of inflation. You know what
I'm talking about when I talk about that paycheck just not making it.
Savers, older people wiped out by inflation, and you can make a
difference. We can turn things around. But the way you have to start
doing it is through political action. You can go in there and vote to
make things happen, to change things.
    And so really, look at it in an idealistic way. We don't have to be
cynics about this country. We don't have to feel everything is lousy
and you can't change things. Go in there with some optimism.
    Look at it this way. If you had said to me that you would have won
against Reagan in Iowa, that you would have beaten the field by 60
percent in Puerto Rico, that you would have been neck and neck as
they're counting votes in Minnesota with Reagan and crushing these
other guys, these bigger shots out there by better than 2 to 1, that
you would have been in Maine at this point as they're counting their
caucuses and leading by 60 percent, and that you would have lost to
Reagan in New Hampshire but by beating everyone else in the race by
well over 2 to 1 - would you then accept that?
    Somebody would tell me, I've got a deal with you. All those things
will be happening. Take one on the chin in New Hampshire, but all the
rest of this good stuff happened - would I have settled for that four
months ago when I was an asterisk in the polls? You bet. I'd have
thought it had been fantastic.
    And so the answer is to help you people that have stuck your neck
out to me by doing well in Massachusetts and Vermont; and I believe I
can do that, do well in Massachusetts and Vermont on Tuesday and then
come swinging back down into South Carolina and really perform on
Saturday. We have a chance because I do believe that the optimism,
innate optimism, I feel about our country is shared by young people.
I believe we can send a real message out across this country that's
going to make a political change.
    You know, I was asking my co-chairman - I heard the challenge thrown
down about this jog - it sounds like it's up a gigantic hill, but I
am looking forward to doing that, and you know, what relevance does
this have to running for president?
    Let me tell you it has some relevance. I have been on this battle
for well over a year. And I've seen the pictures of Jimmy Carter -
he's worked hard. I just disagree with him on almost every issue, but
he's a hard-working president, and you see the pictures and they show
a certain strain.
    And so the jogging may be symbolic in some sense, but it's
absolutely essential to my sanity and to the way I feel, because
being in shape is an important thing to me personally, on the
physical side and the mental side. And also I think you've got to
demonstrate that you're up for the 80s - physically up for it, that
you can handle the burdens of that job for eight full years to try to
bring two decades of peace to this country.
    The other thing is, though, I've got to set the pace, and if anybody
gets out in front and thinks I'm going to follow you, you know, to
try to beat you, you're wrong. I'm not going to do that.
    I will be glad to respond to questions, but before I do, let me just
make a couple of observations. A lot of people, seeing the enormous
problems we have in the economy and enormous problems we have in
foreign affairs, really do feel a sense of frustration. And they say
to me, knowing that I had wide experience in life, that frankly I was
successful enough in starting a business and making a payroll, so I
really can choose what I want to do. They say, why do you want to run
for president of the United States. And they say it like, you know,
gee, you better get a butterfly net and put it over this guy, you
know, anybody dumb enough to run for president, given these problems.
    I just want to share with you the reason. In the first place, we
went through a tough period in the 70s. Many of you understand that
better than many who are older. The country was divided. It was
divided by the ugliness of Watergate, it was divided by a war that
was very, very unclear in terms of our purpose, although today it is
somewhat clearer as Vietnam has brutalized the ethnic Chinese who
have taken over Laos and Cambodia. But it divided, our country was
divided, and I think we're going to look at the 70s as an anomaly -
not the norm.
    (MORE)
    
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n055  1553  02 Mar 80
 
BC-SPEECH-BUSH lstadd
NYT UNDATED: the norm.
    So that was one thing, and that raised the level of cynicism. I
happen to believe in the integrity of the process. I happen to
believe in the honor rather than the bad side of things. I happen to
believe we can solve problems, but the thing that really I think as I
answer the question drove me more than anything else was living in a
Communist country, living in China.
    And they have done some remarkable things, and they do have a
wonderfully civil population. And that sweep of history makes a
tremendous impression on you. And they can't wipe out, given the
totalitarian of their system, that individuality that exists in the
individual Chinese. But after we were there, we saw the importance of
trade, met the leaders, understood the dimension of China in our
foreign policy, something else became clear.
    It became clear that our institutions, our free institutions just
don't exist there, the ability to say to a kid, 'I'm going to help
you go to a good institution and get a good education.' That's not
possible, a little more than it used to be, but not possible the way
it is in our country.
    The idea that you're going to worship your God the way you want to -
you can't do it. Disregard the propaganda - you cannot do that in
China. Your own faith cannot be your motivating factor the way it is
in our country. The whole ethnic thing in our country, the pride we
take in where we came from and what we are and neighborhood, all
these kinds of things, is not possible in China. It's all assigned
out by the Government. No freedom of the press, no freedom to
criticize; and indeed if you don't like it there, you can't even get
out without risking your life to swim.
    So I came back to this country and just enhanced my convictions
about freedom, freedom enhanced by what I saw there. And I find this
idea that we can't solve problems, and you see I don't believe. With
your help I know that an individual can make a difference - and
you've got to know that. You've got to feel it, not that I'm going to
be perfect because there's a lot of things I don't know about being
President.
    One of the differences between me and Jimmy Carter is I know what I
don't know, though. And I could get men and women, I can get men and
women of integrity and honor and conviction in there to help solve
these problems. But the fundamental thing that drives my quest for
the presidency is I believe that if we turn things around, we can
make life better for those who have been bypassed in this country.
And, secondly, we can restore the respect we've lost abroad, and we
can do it by enhancing the peace, not risking war; and that's the
kind of president I want to be.
    And that experience in China and my conviction about our
institutions and, very candidly, the enthusiasm I feel here today
make me absolutely convinced that that's why I'm going to be the next
president of the United States.
    Thank you very, very much.
    
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