[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book I)]
[March 8, 2002]
[Pages 370-373]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at a Republican Party of Florida Reception in St. Petersburg
March 8, 2002

    The President. Thank you all. Well, thank you all for coming out to 
say hello to me and my little brother. [Laughter] I 
sure hope you work hard to get him back in. He has done a fabulous job. 
You know, when you've got somebody who brings honor and integrity and 
works hard and loves the people and does in office what he said he's 
going to do, you need to send him back in. So thank you for getting 
ready to work. Thank you for getting ready to work. Grassroots politics 
means a lot.
    Audience member. We love you both. [Laughter]
    The President. Thank you. Sounds like you've been talking to our 
mother. [Laughter] I think she still loves us. I know she's telling us 
what to do all the time. [Laughter] Jeb listens 
about half the time. I listen all the time, of course. [Laughter]
    It's great to be in Pinellas County. You know, I was flying down 
today with Chairman Young. He said, ``It's 
about time you came to Pinellas.'' I said, ``Well, it's about time you 
invited me, Mr. Chairman.'' [Laughter] But I'm proud of Bill Young. I 
hope you're proud of Bill Young. He's doing a fabulous job. He's a good 
man. He's a good man in the right position.
    And Mr. Mayor, thank you for coming, too. The 
mayor of St. Petersburg is here. I'm honored you're here, Mr. Mayor. I 
don't know if any of the other Congressmen that came down with us are 
here.
    Audience member. [Inaudible]
    The President. There he is. Miller, 
Bilirakis--of course he's here. What am I 
thinking? What am I thinking? Where's Red? There he is. Adam 
Putnam, he's here. Miller, Dan Miller is 
here.
    Listen, there are some fine Members of the United States Congress 
from Florida. You need to get them back in, too. Miller is not running again, I'm sorry to say, but nevertheless, 
we've got to make sure his seat stays Republican, and these other three 
need to come back, along with the chairman.
    Listen, we're making a big difference up there. And one of the 
reasons why is, we've got a Republican Speaker, and we want to make sure we have a Republican Speaker 
after the off-year elections.
    I told Jeb, I'll do anything he wants me to do 
to get him elected. If he wants me down here, I'm coming back. It's 
important for the State of Florida. Jeb said, ``Well, it'll help me.'' 
Nuh-uh, it's going to help the people of Florida. You see, you've got a 
man here who cares deeply about making sure the school system works and 
that no child in Florida is left behind. It is essential that you have a 
Governor who knows how to lead on education. It is by far the most 
important issue that a Governor can deal with, is educating the 
children. And Jeb, as a result of his program and as a result of the 
help you're giving his program, is making a huge difference in the very 
future of the State of Florida.
    Florida has got her challenges, and it's good to have a good, steady 
man at the helm, a person, by the way, who makes his mind up not based 
upon polls or what some focus group might say, but a person who makes up 
his mind based upon principles. Jeb is a principled 
man. And he's not going to blink in the face of tough times, and neither 
am I.
    And we've got some tough times ahead of us in America. We've got 
some tough times. We're fighting for freedom. We're defending the very 
values that we hold dear.
    We got attacked by some murderers, people--and I like to remind 
people, they must have not known who they were attacking. They thought 
we were soft. They thought we were self-absorbed. They thought we were 
so materialistic that we

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would maybe try to sue them--[laughter]--that we wouldn't deal with 
them. But they made a big mistake.
    I told the world that either you're with us, or you're against us, 
and there's no in-between. And most of the world is with us. And I'm 
proud to say our coalition is strong, because people understand the 
value of freedom, the freedom to worship the way you like to worship, 
the freedom to vote, the freedom to express your opinion without fear of 
reprisal, the freedom to risk capital and realize your entrepreneurial 
dream. Well, listen, we hold freedom dear, and we will defend it at all 
costs.
    I also said that if you harbor a terrorist, if you feed one, if you 
think they can hide in your land, you're just as guilty as the 
terrorist, and the Taliban found out exactly what we meant. They are no 
longer in power, thank goodness. And the people who appreciate that fact 
the most are women and children in Afghanistan.
    We seek justice, not revenge, and we're liberators, not conquerors. 
Our mighty military, along with other coalition forces, routed out the 
Taliban and liberated people from the clutches of one of the most 
barbaric regimes in the history of mankind. I cannot tell you how proud 
I am of the will of the American people and the strength of the United 
States military.
    I have said from the beginning of this war that this is going to be 
a long, difficult struggle. And it is. Today Jeb 
and I had the honor of meeting a mom and dad whose son was recently 
killed in the battle that rages in Afghanistan. It broke my heart to see 
her sadness. I was touched by her grief. But I assured her, like I 
assure you, that this cause is noble; this cause is just. And our 
country will not relent; we will not tire; we will not falter until we 
have routed out terror from its very roots and held people accountable 
for those who would want to hurt America.
    History has called us into action. History has called this great 
land to lead, and we will lead. And the good news is, the world sees how 
strong the American people are and how united we are and how convinced 
we are of the rightness of our cause.
    I have submitted a budget that is the largest defense spending 
increase in 20 years. I did so because of my conviction, a conviction 
supported by Chairman Young, that our 
military deserves the best equipment, the best training, a pay increase. 
If we send the men and women in uniform into harm's way, our Government 
must stand strongly with them in the fight for freedom. Thank goodness 
the man from Pinellas County is in charge of the appropriations process, 
because he knows what I know. The price of freedom is high, but the 
price of freedom is never too high, as far as we're concerned.
    And by the way, the war against terror is bigger than any single 
individual. Oh, I know there are some always talking about this bin 
Laden fellow. But remember, he's the kind of 
fellow who--he asks youngsters to go commit suicide, and he tries to 
bury inside a cave. We haven't heard from him in a long time. He's been 
kind of quiet for months. I don't know if he's alive; I don't know if 
he's dead. But I know this: If he is alive, there is no cave deep enough 
for the United States. We're going to find him.
    It doesn't matter whether he was brought 
to justice a month ago or years from now. What matters is the resolve of 
the American people to rout out terror. And what matters is, as well, is 
we're not going to let nations develop the worst kinds of weapons and 
hook up with terrorist organizations so that future generations of 
Americans will be held hostage to people who resent our country and 
resent our way of freedom. The world's most dangerous weapons will not--
the world's most dangerous nations will not be allowed to develop, to 
keep the world's most dangerous weapons.
    We're doing everything we can to secure the homeland. My most 
important job is to protect the American people. Every

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morning I walk into the glorious Oval Office. I'm an early morning guy, 
so I get out there about--get over there about 6:50, 7 o'clock in the 
morning. In comes Spot, the dog, with me. [Laughter] Spot was born at 
the White House when Mother and Dad were there, so she's kind of used to 
the surroundings. [Laughter] When I told them that, somebody said, 
``What about Barney, the Scottish terrier?'' I said, ``Well, we just 
bought a new rug.'' [Laughter] He's a little young for the Oval Office.
    And I read about the threats that face our country. The enemy is 
still out there. And I want you to know we're doing everything in our 
power. We're chasing down every lead. We're working with law enforcement 
officials. We're focused on hunting them down. Anybody who thinks they 
can come to our country to hunt them--to hurt us, we're going to be 
after them. And we're on alert. And I'm proud of the American law 
enforcement officials, and I'm proud of our citizens.
    But I want to remind my fellow citizens, the best way to secure the 
homeland is to rout out terror wherever it exists and get them and bring 
them to justice. And so long as I'm the President, that's exactly what 
we're going to do.
    I want to thank you all, too, for standing strong on taxes. Now, as 
you know, our economy got roughed up as a result of 9/11, that we got 
hit pretty hard. You're going to hear the statisticians, the number 
crunchers, the bean counters, as we call them in Texas, say, ``Well, 
this might have been a recession; this might not have been a 
recession''--this, that, and the other. Look, so long as somebody lost a 
job, I'm worried about it. That's enough to get my attention.
    And we need to make sure we focus on how to create jobs in our 
economy, and one way to do that is to let people keep their own money. 
One way to make sure that there's economic vitality is to let people 
keep their own money so that increases demand, which increases supply, 
which then helps people keep jobs. We cut the taxes last year, last 
June. We signed the tax bill. It was the absolute right thing to do at 
the right time in order to make sure our economy did not suffer 
economically.
    And as Jeb mentioned, sometimes people in the 
political process read the wrong economics textbook. When times are 
slow, they want to raise your taxes. Or when times are slow, they don't 
want tax relief to continue on. Well, when they do that, they get 
crossways with the Bush boys. [Laughter] We understand--we understand 
that the money is not the Government's money; it's the people's money.
    And finally, let me share with you my optimism about our country. 
This is such a fabulous nation. And people say, you know, they say, 
``How do you fight terror?'' And I say--you remind them that one way to 
stand in the face of evil is to do some good, and that's what's 
happening all across the country.
    We're a compassionate nation. We're a kind nation. We're a nation of 
faith, a nation of family. We're a nation where somebody walks across 
the street and says to a neighbor who's shut in, ``What can I do to make 
your day brighter? How can I help you?'' That's the America I know. As a 
result of the millions of acts of kindness and decency that take place 
on a regular day, America stands strong in the face of evil. Our 
collective front is formed by the compassion that Americans do to 
neighbors in need.
    And so my call to my fellow Americans is, love a neighbor just like 
you'd like to be loved yourself. Mentor a child. Help somebody who needs 
help. Love somebody. Donate some money to a worthy cause. Go to your 
church or your synagogue or your mosque and start a faith-based program 
that will help somebody defeat addiction. Remember, there are still 
people that hurt in our society, and we can help--and we can help.
    There is the gathering momentum of millions of acts of kindness in 
America. And

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as a result of this evil, we're assessing ourselves. We're taking a good 
look at values that matter. America is on the verge of ushering in a new 
culture, one that says, ``I'm responsible for the decisions I make in 
life,'' a culture that recognizes there's something--a culture that 
recognizes serving something greater than yourself is a noble culture.
    Flight 93 helped define what I'm talking about. Young men and a lady 
on an airplane knew they were in danger. They were on their cell phones. 
They told their wives they loved them. They said a prayer, and they 
sacrificed for something greater than themselves. That's the America the 
world is beginning to see. That's the America I have the honor of 
leading. It is such a privilege to be your President. It is such a 
privilege to be the President of the greatest nation on the face of the 
Earth.
    May God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 1:34 p.m. in the King Charles Ballroom at 
the Don CeSar Beach Resort and Spa. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. 
Jeb Bush of Florida; Mayor Rick Baker of St. Petersburg; and Usama bin 
Laden, leader of the Al Qaida terrorist organization.