    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book II)]
    [November 4, 2002]
    [Pages 2032-2037]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 2032]]

    Remarks in Dallas, Texas
    November 4, 2002

        The President. Thank you all. It's nice to be home. I want to thank
    you all for coming. Laura and I are working our
    way across the country to get back to Texas so we can vote, and I want
    to tell you, we're not undecided. [Laughter] For the sake of Texas and
    for the sake of America, vote John Cornyn for
    the United States Senate. And for the sake of the taxpayers of Texas and
    for the sake of the schoolchildren of Texas, elect Rick Perry as the Governor of Texas.
        No, we're looking forward to getting into that voting booth tomorrow
    morning, and I hope you are as well. I hope all of Texas takes their
    responsibility serious. You see, we live in a land of freedom, and
    therefore, we have an obligation to participate as free citizens. If
    you're eligible to vote, you should vote. I don't care whether you're a
    Democrat or Republican, independent, or could care less about a
    political party, you have an obligation in a free society.
        You know, Laura went to SMU. They didn't have
    a course on how to be a First Lady when she went here. [Laughter] But if
    they had, she'd have gotten an A-plus. I'm really proud of the job she's
    done.
        Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
        The President. I'm proud to be up here with some fine public
    servants; really proud of the job that Senator Kay Hutchison is doing on behalf of all of Texas. She's a strong
    leader in the United States Senate. She's a strong leader. She's doing a
    fabulous job. I'm proud to call her friend, and I'm also----
        Audience member. [Inaudible].
        The President. I'm also here to honor Senator Phil Gramm, who has done a great job on behalf of Texas.
        I appreciate so very much Congressman Henry Bonilla's hard work in the Texas Victory committee. That's the
    committee that is going to turn out the vote. See, that's what we're
    here to talk about. We're here to talk about how to turn out the vote,
    how to get people to the polls.
        I want to thank you all for what you have done. I want to thank you
    for what you're going to do, which is to find good Texans and get them
    to vote, turn them out to vote, and get them to vote for this ticket.
        These are candidates we can be proud of. These are people that you
    can have confidence in. So work hard. And by the way, I'm pretty
    familiar with Texas politics. You know, there's a lot of discerning
    Democrats who are going to support this ticket. Don't be afraid to talk
    to those good Democrats. Don't be afraid to talk to independents. Our
    candidates can reach across party line, because they've got a positive
    vision for the future of this State and for the future of our country.
        I'm proud to be up here with a great statewide ticket. I know them
    all well. I can vouch for their integrity and their talents: the next
    Lieutenant Governor, David Dewhurst; the next
    attorney general, Greg Abbott; a lady who has
    two sons working in my administration, that would be Carole Keeton
    Rylander; Jerry Patterson and Susan Combs and
    Michael Williams--all great candidates, all
    people you can trust.
        I want to appreciate the Members of the United States Congress who
    are here today. We've got a great congressional delegation from the
    State of Texas, Sam Johnson and Pete
    Sessions, Joe Barton
    and Kay Granger. I'm proud to call them friends.
    I appreciate working with them. Anytime there's any doubt about my
    stance on some of these Texas Congressmen, if they're voting with me,
    I'm for them. [Laughter] And they're voting with me. They're solid
    friends. And we need Jeb Hensarling and the
    rest of

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    the people running for the United States Congress in Washington, DC,
    too.
        I want to thank the bands who are here tonight, the Waxahachie High
    School band. Is the courthouse still standing? That's good. Lake
    Highlands High School band, I appreciate you all coming. If you're 18,
    you've got to vote now. If you're 18, you've got to vote.
        The SMU band is here. I appreciate them coming. I know you're 18.
    [Laughter] Eric Orson Band, I appreciate them coming as well. I'm sorry
    we weren't here in time to hear the music. We had to stop in Arkansas on
    the way down. They're fixing to reelect a Governor, and you're fixing to elect a good man to Governor of
    Texas. That man is Rick Perry.
        He knows what he's doing. He knows how to
    manage the budget. He understands public schools. He understands jobs.
    He is the absolute right man for the job of Governor of Texas. And like
    me, he married well. [Laughter] Anita is
    a great first lady for Texas.
        I can't be any stronger for John Cornyn than
    this: It is the right thing to do for America, to put John Cornyn in the
    United States Senate. I know him. I trust him. And we can work together
    on some big issues on behalf of all of Texas and all of America. And
    there are some big hurdles facing this country.
        First of all, this economy isn't doing as good as it should be
    doing. It's bumping along. And therefore, there are some people looking
    for work who can't find work. And anytime somebody is looking for work
    who can't find work, says to me that we've got to figure out how to
    continue to increase the job base of America. But there's a fundamental
    difference of opinion in Washington, DC, as to how to do that. The page
    of the economic textbook that we've read from says that if you let a
    person keep more of their own money, they're more than likely to demand
    an additional good or a service. They're likely to demand a good or a
    service, and when they do that, somebody is likely to produce the good
    or a service. And when somebody produces the good or a service, it's
    more likely somebody is going to be able to find a job.
        And therefore, the tax cuts we pass in Washington came at the exact
    right time in economic history. And I need a Senator who will stand
    strong on this issue. I need a Senator with whom we can work to make the
    tax cuts permanent, and that Senator is John Cornyn.
        I look forward to working with John on a lot
    of issues, on education and on Medicare. Listen, medicine has changed,
    and Medicare hasn't. Medicine has become modern. Technologies have
    changed. There's new discoveries. But Medicare is stuck in the past. I
    need to work with Kay Hutchison and
    John Cornyn and Members of the Congress to modernize Medicare, which
    means prescription drug benefits for our seniors.
        And we've got another problem with health care. There's too many
    lawsuits. There's too many junk lawsuits that are running up the cost of
    medicine. They're filing suits all over this country, which means good,
    honest people who have got a claim can't get to the judges, can't get
    into the courthouse. It means that people aren't going to have
    accessible and affordable health care. Excessive lawsuits run up the
    cost of medicine, and they're driving docs out of the practice of
    medicine. We need a Senate who will join me in passing Federal medical
    liability reform.
        And I need a Senator from Texas with whom I can work to help fulfill
    one of my most serious responsibilities, and that is to put good people
    on the Federal bench. There is a vacancy on our benches. There is
    vacancies all around the country because the bunch that's running the
    Senate right now won't give my nominees a fair hearing. And when they do
    give them a hearing, some of them have their records distorted. I need a
    United States Senator who will stand strong for what most Texans

    [[Page 2034]]

    want, and that is a judiciary full of honest and honorable people who
    will not use their bench from which to legislate but to interpret the
    Constitution of the United States.
        You may remember what happened to one of our finest Texans,
    Priscilla Owen. I picked Priscilla to serve
    on one of our top benches. I did so because she's a brilliant lady.
    She's an honest person. She finished tops in her law school. She was
    ranked by the ABA as one of the top picks. She is backed by Republicans
    and Democrats from the State of Texas. She ran statewide and was
    overwhelmingly elected. I put her up there. Because these people are
    playing politics, petty politics, with the nominees I've picked, her
    record was distorted, and she was denied a seat. She was grossly
    treated. I can assure you that with John Cornyn
    in the Senate, he would be a strong supporter of Priscilla Owen and my
    judges. There's a big difference in this race between the two running
    for the United States Senate. And that Priscilla Owen case is a clear
    example of what I'm talking about.
        There's going to be a lot of issues we'll work on together. The
    biggest issue we've got is to protect America, to protect you from
    further attack, to do everything we can to prevent an enemy from hitting
    this country again. It's still a problem for us because there's an enemy
    lurking out there which hates us, and they hate us because of what we
    love. We love our freedom. We love the fact that people can worship
    freely in America. We love the fact that people can speak their mind in
    this country. We love a free press. We love every aspect of our freedom,
    and we're not going to change.
        So long as we take that stand, they're going to try to hurt us. And
    therefore, we've got to do everything we can to protect you. And there's
    a lot of good people doing that. I mean, listen, we're on notice. We
    remember--we remember, remember what happened. And therefore, there's a
    lot of good people working overtime to run down every hint, any idea,
    any suggestion that somebody is fixing to or thinking about doing
    something to America. We're moving on it. It is our most solemn
    obligation.
        I think we can do a better job of protecting you, and that's why I
    went to the United States Congress, to join me in the creation of a
    Department of Homeland Security. It needs to be a Department that brings
    agencies together to focus their attention, to change culture if need
    be, so that people who are working hard on your behalf get the message
    that this is our number one job and number one priority.
        And the House of Representatives responded. And I want to thank the
    House Members who are here. But the bill got stuck in the Senate. Here
    we are with an enemy lurking out there, and the bill got stuck in the
    Senate because some Senators want to take away power from the
    Presidency. They want to take away what every President since John F.
    Kennedy has had, and that is the capacity to suspend certain collective
    bargaining rules for the sake of national security. In other words, if
    there's some rules that prevent me from putting the right place--people
    at the right place at the right time, to protect you, I ought to be able
    to suspend those rules. But not according to these people. No, the
    special interests have grabbed them up there. They want to micromanage
    the process. I need John Cornyn in the Senate to
    make sure we get us a good homeland security bill.
        But the best way to protect the homeland is to hunt these killers
    down, one at a time, and bring them to justice. That's what we have to
    do. And that is what we're going to do. And that is why I went to the
    Congress and asked for a substantial increase in defense spending, as a
    matter of fact, the largest increase since Ronald Reagan was the
    President. And I want to thank Senator Hutchinson, and I want to thank the Members of Congress for
    backing me on that request.

    [[Page 2035]]

        And there's two messages in that bill that I want to share with you.
    One, anytime this country puts any of our youngsters into harm's way,
    they deserve the best pay, the best training, and the best possible
    equipment.
        And the second message is equally important. And that is, we're in
    this deal for the long haul. See, when it comes to the defense of our
    freedoms, it doesn't matter how long it takes. We're going to do the
    job. We're going to defend freedom. We're going to do a responsibility
    so future generations of Americans will know we answered the call. It
    just doesn't matter how long it takes. There's not a calendar on my desk
    in that wonderful Oval Office that says, on such-and-such a date, haul
    them home. That's not the way I think.
        And we're making progress in this different kind of war. In the old
    days, if you knocked down an airplane or sunk a ship, you could say
    you're making progress. This group we fight now hides in caves or kind
    of slithers around the dark corners of the world, and they send their
    youngsters to their suicidal deaths. We value life in America. We say
    everybody is precious. These folks have hijacked a great religion and
    don't care who they kill. And that's the nature of the enemy. They're
    tough. We're tougher. Slowly but surely, we're dismantling the terrorist
    network.
        It's important for us to be realistic here in America about the
    threats we face. It's essential we see the world the way it is, not the
    way we hope it would be, because the stakes changed dramatically after
    September the 11th, 2001. Prior to that date, we had oceans that we
    thought protected us, that if there was a gathering threat somewhere
    around the world, we could either deal with that threat or ignore it,
    because we were safe at home. Geography kept us safe. After September
    the 11th, 2001, geography doesn't keep us safe. And therefore, in my
    judgment, we've got to be cold-eyed realists about threats as they
    emerge and deal with each one of them according to the level of threat.
        There is a threat to the United States, and our close friends and
    allies, in Iraq. The leader of Iraq is a man
    who for 11 years has deceived the world. He said he wouldn't have
    weapons of mass destruction. He has weapons of mass destruction. At one
    time we know for certain he was close to having a nuclear weapon.
    Imagine Saddam Hussein with a nuclear weapon. Not only has he got
    chemical weapons, but I want you to remember, he's used chemical
    weapons. He's used weapons on people in his neighborhood. He's used
    weapons on people in his own country. This is a man who cannot stand
    America. He cannot stand what we stand for. He can't stand some of our
    closest friends and allies. This is a man who has got connections with
    Al Qaida. Imagine a terrorist network with Iraq as an arsenal and as a
    training ground, so that a Saddam Hussein could use his shadowy group of
    people to attack his enemy and leave no fingerprint behind. He's a
    threat.
        I went to the United Nations to make clear a couple of things: One,
    he's a threat; and secondly, that this august
    body has a chance to keep the peace. And yet for 16 resolutions,
    resolution after resolution after resolution, Saddam Hussein has defied
    the United Nations. It is now time for the United Nations to choose
    whether it's going to be an effective peacekeeping organization or
    whether it's going to be like one of its predecessors, the League of
    Nations, an empty debating society. It is their choice to make.
        It is Saddam Hussein's choice to make.
    He's told the world he would not have weapons of mass destruction, and
    in the name of peace, we expect him to honor that commitment. Should he
    choose not to honor the commitment, the U.N. is incapable of acting, the
    United States in the name of peace, in the name of freedom, will lead a
    coalition and disarm Saddam Hussein.

    [[Page 2036]]

        I say, ``in the name of peace,'' because that's what's going to
    happen, in my judgment. See, out of the evil done to America is going to
    come some good. I don't know what got into the minds of the terrorists
    when they hit us. I guess they assumed our national religion was
    materialism, that we were so selfish, self-absorbed, that after 9/11/
    2001 we might take a step back and file a lawsuit or two. [Laughter]
    They don't understand the nature of this great country. They don't
    understand the depth of our passion for freedom.
        If we stay tough when we need to be tough, stay strong when we need
    to be strong, speak clearly about good and evil, if we remember that
    freedom is not America's gift to the world but God's gift to the world,
    we can achieve peace. We can achieve peace here at home--we can achieve
    peace here at home. We can achieve peace in parts of the world which
    have quit on peace. I believe it. I believe out of the evil done to
    America is going to come good abroad, in the form of peace. And I
    believe it's going to make America a better place.
        I believe I know a lot of our citizens have taken a step back and
    taken an assessment about that which is important in their lives. A lot
    of people have asked that question, ``How can I help?'' Well, I've got
    some ideas for you. First, it's important to remember that in the land
    of plenty, there are people who hurt. There's pockets of despair and
    hopelessness and addiction. People, when you say ``the American Dream,''
    they have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. We've got to
    remember in this country, when some of us hurt, we all hurt. And
    therefore, we've got to try to make a difference to improve the lot of
    everybody's lives. And Government can help. We'll work on Medicare, and
    we'll work on education. And Government can pass out money. But I want
    you to remember, what Government cannot do is to put hope in people's
    hearts or a sense of purpose in people's lives. People's lives change
    when somebody puts their arm around them and says, ``I love you. Can I
    help you? What can I do to make your life a better life?''
        And that's happening all across America. I'm sure there's mentors
    here, people who are saving one child's life at a time. I know there are
    people here who feed the hungry, provide housing for the homeless, or
    run a Boy Scouts troop or a Girl Scouts troop, or Big Brothers and Big
    Sisters. There's all kinds of ways that you can help change America, one
    heart, one conscience, one soul at a time. No, the spirit of America is
    strong. It's alive and well. It's a spirit that says, when it comes to
    the defense of our freedom, it doesn't matter how long it takes; we'll
    defend freedom.
        It also says that a true American is somebody who serves a cause
    greater than themselves. I want the high school students and youngsters
    here to always remember the story of Flight 93. These are people flying
    across the country, what they thought was going to be just an average
    trip. They learned that the airplane they were on was going to be used
    as a weapon. They told their loved ones goodbye. They said a prayer,
    asking for guidance from the Almighty. One guy said, ``Let's roll.''
    They took the plane into the ground to save lives and to serve something
    greater than themselves.
        The enemy hit us--the enemy hit us. They had no earthly idea who
    they were hitting. They didn't have any idea that the spirit of this
    country is strong and alive and vibrant, which allows me to boldly
    predict that out of the evil done to America is going to come a more
    peaceful world, and out of the evil done to America will come a more
    hopeful America, where the great sunshine of hope of this country shines
    its light into every corner of this land. And I can say that with
    confidence, because this is the greatest country, full of the most
    decent and honorable people on the face of the Earth.
        Thanks for coming. May God bless.

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    Note: The President spoke at 6:08 p.m. in Moody Coliseum at Southern
    Methodist University. In his remarks, he referred to senatorial
    candidate John Cornyn; gubernatorial candidate Rick Perry and his wife,
    Anita; Carole Keeton Rylander, candidate for Texas comptroller; Jerry
    Patterson, candidate for Texas land commissioner; Susan Combs, candidate
    for Texas agricultural commissioner; Michael Williams, candidate for
    Texas railroad commissioner; Jeb Hensarling, candidate for Texas' Fifth
    Congressional District; and President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.