    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book II)]
    [August 29, 2002]
    [Pages 1509-1515]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Dinner for Senator Tim Hutchinson in Little Rock
    August 29, 2002

        The President. Well, thank you all. Thank you all very much. I
    appreciate your warm welcome. Thank you. Thank you all. Well, thank you
    very much for coming out tonight. I'm proud to come back to Arkansas.
    I'm surprised you let a Texan come here this many times. [Laughter] I
    came here today to talk about educational excellence. I went to Parkview
    Magnet School to talk about setting high standards and making sure no
    child gets left behind. And tonight I'm here to urge the good people of
    this State to send Tim Hutchinson back to the United States Senate.
        He's a hard worker. He cares deeply about the people of Arkansas.
    He's doing a fine job as the United States Senator. I'm proud to call
    him friend. I appreciate his advice, and I appreciate you all working
    hard to send him back up to Washington, DC.
        I'm so grateful that Randi Hutchinson,
    his wife, is campaigning with him and standing by his side during this
    campaign for reelection. I appreciate meeting Randi. And it's an honor
    to have you here, Randi. Thank you. And speaking about wives, I'm sorry
    mine is not here.
        Audience members. Me, too.
        The President. Yes; I know you are. [Laughter] You drew the short
    straw. [Laughter] She's doing great. I'm really
    proud of Laura. She's down in Crawford. It's where I'm heading after
    tonight, for a couple more days. She--you know, when I married her, she
    was a public school librarian. She didn't care for politics and didn't
    particularly like politicians. [Laughter] Now she's stuck with one. And
    she's doing a fabulous job as First Lady.
        I want to thank John Boozman, who's a
    Member of the United States Congress, for being with us today. John,
    thank you for coming down for the fundraiser. I had the honor of being
    with your Governor earlier today. He's off
    working. You need to send Mike Huckabee back to the Governor's office
    here in Arkansas. He's a fine fellow. And so is your Lieutenant
    Governor, who is with us tonight, Win Rockefeller. Thanks for coming.
        I want to thank members--two guys who are running for the United
    States Congress. Former Member Jay Dickey is with
    us today. Jay, thank you very much. And the man they call ``TR,'' Tommy
    Robinson, is with us as well. I appreciate my
    family friend John Paul Hammerschmidt
    for being

    [[Page 1510]]

    here tonight and for being the national committeeman from the State of
    Arkansas. Thank you, John Paul. I want to thank your chairman, Marty
    Ryall, for his leadership here in the State of
    Arkansas.
        And I appreciate all the grassroots activists who are here. I
    appreciate you for what you have done and what you're going to do. See,
    over the next couple of months, you need to go to your coffee shops and
    your churches and your synagogues and your community centers and turn
    out the vote. You need to tell the people, when you find a good one like
    Tim Hutchinson, ``We need to send him back to office.''
        And there are some good reasons why, starting with the fact that he
    has a good vision for education. We passed a good piece of legislation
    out of Washington for education. It's one that Tim had a lot to do with.
    He worked hard on that legislation. And let me describe the principles
    and why it's so important to have this type of person in Washington. It
    first starts--the bill says, and he and I both believe, that every child
    can learn. That sounds simple, but too often in our society, we've
    lowered the standards. We don't believe every child can learn.
    Therefore, we have low standards. It's what I call the soft bigotry of
    low expectations. If you lower the bar, you're going to get lousy
    results. So this bill believes that if you set high standards and
    believe every child can learn, you start with the right frame of mind.
        Secondly, it says, we trust the people of Arkansas, the people of
    this good State, the people of Little Rock and Jonesboro and all the
    cities, to chart the path for excellence for every child in their
    community. We believe in local control of schools.
        And finally, at the core of the bill is this principle: It says, we
    want to know whether or not our children are learning. You see, if you
    believe every child can learn, the next question is, are they? And the
    only way to know is to measure, is to hold people to account, is to let
    the children take a test to see whether or not they can read and write
    and add and subtract. If you believe every child can learn, then you
    want to know.
        And you see, when you find out children aren't learning, it gives
    you the tools necessary to do something about it. If you believe every
    child can learn, they ought to show us whether or not every child is
    learning. And if they're not, we need to correct problems early, before
    it's too late. You see, there are no second-class children in the State
    of Arkansas, and no child should be left behind.
        I appreciate Tim's stand on education policy, and I appreciate his
    stand on tax policy. When I took office, I knew things were kind of
    slow, but I didn't realize that we were in the beginning of a recession.
    The first three quarters of my Presidency were negative growth; that
    means recession. Thankfully, people like Tim Hutchinson supported my
    call for tax relief. See, we read from the same textbook. It's a little
    different from some of the other ones in Washington. It says, if you let
    a person keep their own money, they will demand a good or a service if
    they have more money. And when they demand a good or a service, somebody
    is likely to produce the good or a service. And when somebody produces
    the good and service, somebody is more likely to find jobs in the midst
    of a recession. It is important to let the people have their own money.
        Tim was the original author of the $500-per-child tax credit in the
    House. And he supported the doubling of that tax credit in the new tax
    relief plan. Not only does the tax relief plan lower all rates, which,
    by the way, stimulates small-business growth--see, most of the new jobs
    in Arkansas and around the country are created by small businesses.
    Seventy percent of new jobs in America are created by the entrepreneurs
    who start their own business. Yet most of those small businesses are
    sole proprietors or limited partnerships, which means they pay taxes at
    the individual rate. When you lower the individual rates, you

    [[Page 1511]]

    stimulate the growth of our economy by stimulating the entrepreneurial
    spirit in America.
        This tax relief plan did more than that. It mitigated the ill
    effects of a marriage penalty. The Tax Code ought to promote family, not
    discourage family. And finally, the tax relief plan put the death tax on
    its way to extinction. I know there's a lot of farmers and ranchers in
    this State and some in this audience. The death tax is bad for our
    ranching families. It's bad for our farming families, and it's bad for
    the entrepreneurial families of Arkansas.
        And Tim was right by my side on this tax relief plan. But what's
    interesting--not interesting, kind of a quirk in the law, is that all
    this, all the tax relief that we passed goes away after 10 years from
    the sign of passage--from the time of passage. That's the quirk in the
    Senate rules. It's hard to explain, I understand. You ought to try that
    in the Crawford coffee shop. [Laughter] On the one hand, we giveth; on
    the other hand, we taketh away. For the sake of planning, for the sake
    of economic vitality, for the sake of job growth, you need to have a
    United States Senator who will join me in making this tax relief
    permanent.
        I appreciate Tim's concern about health care, health care not just
    for Republicans but health care for everybody who lives in Arkansas.
    He's on the leading edge of those in the Senate who want to bring a
    reasonable reform to Medicare. See, Medicare is an incredibly important
    program, but medicine has changed, and the program hasn't. Medicine has
    changed, and yet the bureaucracy still strangles the capacity for our
    seniors to get the care they need. We need to reform Medicare and make
    sure our seniors have got prescription drugs.
        I appreciate Tim's support for the farm bill. See, he and I
    understand that good economic policy at home means that you've got to
    have a strong agricultural sector. It's a luxury for this President to
    be able to say we feed ourselves. Imagine if we were around the world
    asking for food. We've got a great farm economy, and the farm bill we
    passed recognizes that. And Tim was one of the leaders that helped get
    that farm bill out of the Senate and to my desk. I was proud to sign the
    farm bill. It was good for Arkansas farmers.
        And finally, I appreciate his leadership on sending a clear message
    to people who have got positions of responsibility in America. Our
    economy was hurt by a recession, and then it got shocked by the attacks
    of September the 11th. And then, of course, we found out that bubbling
    up through the years was this business about people trying to cook the
    books, some of our corporate leaders deciding that the best way to get
    ahead was not to tell the truth, was not to uphold their
    responsibilities to employee and shareholder alike.
        I signed the most comprehensive corporate reform legislation since
    Franklin Roosevelt was the President. And Tim Hutchinson was a strong
    supporter. It says this: If we catch you cheating, if you're not a
    responsible citizen, if you think you can cook the books, you're wrong.
    We're going to find you, and we'll prosecute you, and no more easy
    money, just hard time.
        Finally, I support--I appreciate Tim's support on our war against
    terror and our need to protect the homeland. My most important job is to
    protect the homeland, is to protect innocent people. After September the
    11th, the stakes obviously changed. The enemy brought war to us, and
    they're still out there. They just are. By the way, they're nothing but
    a bunch of coldblooded killers. They hate us because we love freedom.
    They can't stand the thought of a society which values free speech,
    which says you can worship the Almighty any way you see fit. They hate
    the idea of people being able to come to our country and succeed. The
    more we love freedom, the more they hate us. But you know what, we're
    never going to stop loving freedom. This great country loves freedom

    [[Page 1512]]

    and will do anything it takes to protect that freedom.
        You need to know there's a lot of good folks working a lot of hours
    to protect you. Anytime we get a hint or any piece of evidence that
    somebody might be plotting against America, we're moving--we're moving.
    There's a lot of good folks who are gathering intelligence and now
    sharing it like it's never been shared before. Obviously, everything we
    hear we take seriously, and we're trying to do everything we can to
    disrupt and deny.
        In order to make sure that I can look you in the eye and say,
    ``We're doing everything to secure the homeland,'' I have asked the
    Congress to join me in setting up a Department of Homeland Security. I
    did so because in order to change a culture and in order to set homeland
    security as a number one priority, I felt like we needed to gather up
    agencies involved with the homeland security and put them under one
    umbrella organization. You see, there's over 100 of them, scattered all
    over Washington, which means it's kind of hard to set a tone and a
    culture. It's hard to set a priority.
        And so I asked Congress, I said, ``Let's get together and come up
    with an American idea''--it's not a Republican idea; it's not a
    Democrat; it's an American idea--``to do everything we can to give us
    the tools''--not only me, but future Presidents--``the tools necessary
    to guard our homeland.'' And I'll give you an example. We need to know
    who's coming in America, what they're bringing into America, and if
    they're leaving when they say they're going to leave America. And yet,
    on our borders, we've got your Customs and INS and Border Patrol, three
    different agencies, three different cultures, three different uniforms.
    I need the capacity to be able to move people to the right place at the
    right time to protect the homeland.
        The House of Representatives got the message. They provided
    flexibility so that this President and future Presidents can do what it
    takes to move people in the right place. The Senate, unfortunately,
    doesn't see it that way. Fortunately, Senator Hutchinson does. But see,
    there are some Senators out there who would rather listen to special
    interests in Washington, DC, than listen to the voice of the people.
    There are Senators who would rather give us a rule book this thick about
    how we have to behave and what we must do to protect the homeland, than
    to trust any administration for protecting America. I refuse to accept a
    bill which ties my hands or the hands of future Presidents.
        And I want to appreciate Senator Hutchinson's understanding of that.
    And I'm proud to call him supporter on helping craft a Homeland Security
    Department which will stand the test of time and will do the job on
    behalf of the American people. But the best way to protect the homeland,
    the surest way to secure our freedom, the best way to leave a peaceful
    legacy for our children is to hunt the killers down, one person at a
    time, and bring them to justice. And that's what the United States of
    America is going to do.
        And it's going to take a while. It's a different kind of war. People
    during World War II were used to measuring progress based upon
    infantries marching across the plain or squadrons of aircraft flying
    here or ships sailing across the sea, getting this island or that
    island. That's how they used to judge progress. This is a different type
    of war, but it's war. And the stakes are just as high.
        See, this is the kind of war where you have their commanders hide in
    caves. They find the deepest and darkest cave they can, and then they
    send their soldiers, their youngsters, to their suicidal death. That's
    who we're fighting. See, these people have no regard for human life.
    Innocence doesn't matter to them. They've hijacked a great religion in
    order to provide cover for their hatred. But there's no cave deep enough
    for America, as far as I'm concerned.

    [[Page 1513]]

        See, we've got a fantastic coalition of nations which understand
    what's at stake, and we've got the finest United States--we've got the
    finest military in the world. Our soldiers are performing brilliantly
    under tough, tough conditions. And that's why--the fact that they're in
    the field is why I submitted the largest increase in defense spending
    since Ronald Reagan was the President. I did so for two reasons: One,
    anytime our soldiers are in harm's way, they deserve the best pay, the
    best training, and the best possible equipment. We owe that to them, and
    we owe it to their loved ones. And for those of you who have got a
    relative in the military, I want to tell you how proud that their
    Commander in Chief is. I'm really proud. They're fine, fine people who
    are sacrificing on behalf of our Nation.
        And the second reason I submitted this request, as big as it is, is
    I wanted to send a message to our friends and foes alike that we're in
    this deal for the long haul. They understand this war isn't going to end
    tomorrow, that when it comes to our freedom, it doesn't matter how long
    it takes. The United States of America will fight terror and fight its
    sponsors and will uphold doctrine. One doctrine says, ``Either you're
    with us, or you're with them.'' And the other doctrine says, ``If you
    harbor a terrorist, if you feed a terrorist, you're just as guilty as
    the terrorist who committed the murders on September the 11th.''
        And we're making progress. Sometimes you'll see the progress on your
    TVs, and sometimes you won't. It's a different kind of war; it's a hard
    war to measure. But, slowly but surely, we're rounding them up, one way
    or the other. We estimate there's over a couple of thousand of them who
    have now been captured by our friends and ourselves, hauled off, no
    longer a part of the army. And another like number just weren't as
    lucky. They met their fate.
        But we've got a lot of work to do; we really do. We--our strategy is
    pretty clear. First was to rout out the Taliban. And you need to tell
    your kids this about America: One, we do what we say; and two, when we
    went into that country, we went in as liberators, not as conquerors. We
    freed people from the clutches of one of the most barbaric regimes in
    the history of mankind. Young girls, many young girls, go to school for
    the first time in their lives, thanks to the United States of America
    and our allies and friends.
        And we're not leaving. We're not leaving for two reasons: One,
    there's still Al Qaida, and we're after them. Slowly but surely, we're
    getting them. And secondly, we want democracy to flourish in
    Afghanistan. We believe in the values here at home--ought to be applied
    elsewhere, not American values but God-given values that each life
    matters, that every voice ought to be heard.
        We're getting them on the run, getting them moving around, and then
    making sure that we deny sanctuary to these killers. The other day--a
    while ago, you may remember the Philippines. They asked for our help. I
    said loud and clear to them, ``If you want help, we'll provide you help.
    If you can't do it yourself, give us a call.'' And the Philippines, as a
    result of Gloria Arroyo's fine
    leadership--and frankly, some of our training--put a force together and
    did in the head of what they call Abu Sayyaf. This is the group of Al
    Qaida-sponsored terrorists who kidnaped two Americans as well as others,
    and brought people to their death. They don't care about life. But we
    got the leader; we got the leader because our coalition remains firm.
        No, our job is to get them on the run, deny them sanctuary, and
    slowly but surely get them and bring them to justice, which is exactly
    what this country is going to do. We owe it to our children. We owe it
    to our grandchildren to make sure that the world's worst leaders do not
    develop and deploy the world's worst weapons. We owe it to future
    generations of America to make our stand for freedom.
        Oh, I know there's a lot of speculation in the press, and you've
    just got to know

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    something about me--I'm a patient man. And we've got a lot of tools at
    our disposal. We've got a lot of pressures we can bring to bear. We've
    got friends in the world. But for the sake of our children, we're going
    to deal with the problems now presented. For the sake of freedom, we
    will not allow these tyrants to hold the United States or our friends
    and allies blackmail with weapons of mass destruction.
        I appreciate Tim's understanding, and I appreciate his support on
    this war against terror. I believe that out of the evil done to this
    country is going to come incredible good. I believed that shortly after
    the attacks, and I still believe it. See, I believe that the stronger
    this country is on our quest for freedom and our willingness to battle
    terror, the more likely it is we'll achieve peace. And I don't mean
    peace just for Americans; I mean peace around the world.
        The tougher we are against terror, the more willing we are to speak
    clearly as a nation, the more likely it is we can achieve peace in parts
    of the world where people have quit on peace. Peace is possible in the
    Middle East. Peace is possible in South Asia.
        I want you to assure your children, when they hear their President
    talk about fighting the enemy or bringing them to justice: I have peace
    in my mind. That's my vision. I want there to be a peaceful world for
    all people. See, this country values all life, not just American life;
    every child counts. When I say no child is left behind--that's obviously
    a slogan for education here in America--I mean it for everywhere else
    too. Children ought to grow up in a peaceful world, and the United
    States of America can affect that peace. It's not going to be easy.
    There's going to be some steep hills to climb. But if any nation can do
    it, it is this strong and--this Nation that's based upon values.
        And here at home, we can achieve some incredible good too. I don't
    know what went through the mind of the enemy. They probably thought that
    we were so self-absorbed and so materialistic, so selfish in our ways,
    that after 9/11 all we might do was file a lawsuit. [Laughter] See, they
    didn't understand our country. They didn't know that, when it comes to
    something we value, we're plenty tough. Nor did they realize that when
    they hit us, a new culture would begin to evolve, a culture of serving
    something greater than yourself in life.
        The thing I love about our country is that we're a compassionate
    nation. I hope you understand that in the midst of plenty, there are
    pockets of despair in America, hopelessness and addiction, people
    wondering whether or not the American Dream is meant for them. And I
    believe we have a chance now, as we take a step back and look at our
    inner souls, to help solve those problems.
        Government can hand out money; I realize that. As I like to say, we
    do a pretty good job of it. But what Government cannot do is put a sense
    of purpose in people's lives. It can't put hope in people's hearts. That
    is done when our fellow Americans put their arm around somebody who
    hurts and says, ``I love you.'' People say, ``What can I do in the war
    against terror? How can I fight evil?'' My answer is, love a neighbor
    just like you'd like to be loved yourself.
        And it's happening in this country; it sure enough is. People
    realize that a patriot is more than somebody who puts their hand over
    their heart and says, ``one Nation under God.'' They understand that a
    patriot is somebody who is willing to serve something greater than
    themselves, and that can be in all kinds of ways. It can be leading a
    Boy Scout or Girl Scout troop. It can be coming out of your church and
    feeding the hungry or coming out of your synagogue and helping somebody
    who doesn't have housing find housing. You see, it's the millions of
    acts, millions of acts of kindness and decency that take place on a
    daily basis which defines the true character and true hope and true
    decency of this country.

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        No, the enemy hit us, but they've awakened a great spirit of
    personal responsibility. One of the reasons I decided to run for
    Governor of Texas is, I wanted to be a small part of a cultural change
    in America. I wanted to help encourage this country to reject the
    culture which said, ``If it feels good, just go ahead and do it,'' and
    ``If you've got a problem, blame somebody else.'' My dream was to help
    usher in a period of personal responsibility, when each of us understood
    we're responsible for decisions we make in life. If you're fortunate
    enough to be a mom or a dad, your most important job and important
    responsibility is to love your child with all your heart and all your
    soul. If you're a citizen of Little Rock, Arkansas, you have a
    responsibility to help heal those who hurt. That is a responsibility for
    being an American, and that period of responsibility is coming.
        The enemy hit us. They're evil. But out of that evil is going to
    come incredible good. Perhaps the most vivid example is that of Flight
    93. Deena Burnett is here today with us. Her
    husband was on that flight. She knows about which I'm about to speak.
    She heard it firsthand. These were great Americans who were flying
    across the country and learned that their airplane was going to be used
    as a weapon. Who knows what it was targeted for, the White House or the
    Capitol, but it was going to be used as a weapon. Their loved ones said
    goodbye on the telephone. Their last words were, ``I love you,'' to
    their loved ones. They said a prayer. A guy said, ``Let's roll,'' and
    they took the plane in the ground. There is a new spirit in America of
    serving something greater than yourself in life.
        No, the enemy hit us. They didn't know they were hitting--they hit a
    great nation. I promise you, out of the evil done to America is going to
    come incredible good, because we're the finest nation on the face of the
    Earth, full of the finest people.
        Thank you all for coming. May God bless you all, and may God bless
    America.

    Note: The President spoke at 6:30 p.m. in Governor's Halls II and III in
    the Statehouse Convention Center. In his remarks, he referred to Tommy
    Robinson, candidate for Arkansas' First Congressional District; Jay
    Dickey, candidate for Arkansas' Fourth Congressional District; John Paul
    Hammerschmidt, national committeeman, and Marty Ryall, chairman,
    Republican Party of Arkansas; and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of
    the Philippines.