[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book II)]
[November 4, 2002]
[Pages 2019-2025]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks in St. Louis, Missouri
November 4, 2002

    The President. Thanks for coming. And Laura 
and I are sure glad we came. We're wandering our way back to Texas. See, 
tomorrow is election day, and we intend to vote. And we're not 
undecided. [Laughter] And I'm not undecided who ought to be the next 
United States Senator from Missouri, and that ought to be Jim 
Talent.
    It's good to be here in St. Charles County, and to be with a lot of 
our friends from the St. Louis area. We appreciate you taking this 
election seriously. See, that's part of the American spirit. It's the 
spirit which is strong today. It's the spirit that says, no matter what 
the cost, we'll defend our freedoms. It's the spirit that says part of 
being a patriot is to serve something greater than yourself in life. 
It's the spirit that says, if you love freedom, then you have an 
obligation as a citizen of this country to participate in the elections. 
If you believe in freedom, then you have a responsibility to maintain 
that democratic system by doing your duty.
    And so I'm here in the State of Missouri to urge all folks, 
Republicans and Democrats and independents, to go to the polls. And when 
you get in that box, I've got

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a suggestion: For the good of Missouri and for the good of the United 
States of America, Jim Talent is the man for 
Senate. Laura and I are really proud of the 
campaign he has run, and we're really proud of the fact that he and 
Brenda hold family values dear to their heart.
    I'm also proud to be up here with a Senator who's done a fine job on 
behalf of all the citizens of Missouri, a man I'm proud to call friend, 
and that's Senator Kit Bond. I know 
we've got some Members of Congress here: Todd Akin and Jo Ann Emerson and Kenny 
Hulshof. They're fine members of the United 
States congressional delegation. I'm proud to call them friends. I'm 
proud to call them ally.
    See, that's what I'm looking for, some allies, somebody who we can 
count on to do the right thing for America, somebody whose vote we can 
count on to do the right thing to make sure this country is strong and 
safe and a better place.
    I want to thank John Lewis for running for 
the State senate. I wish John all the best. Particularly proud to have 
met Carole Buck, the wife of the great voice of 
the Cardinals, Jack Buck, a fine man and a fine American.
    Thrilled to know that our family friend is here, the man who can 
really sing. I wish I'd have been here to hear him sing. I'm a country 
and western fan, and one of my favorites is Randy Travis. I'm proud that Randy is here, and Elizabeth is here--Randy is here, and Elizabeth, and a 
friend, Jay Shields, is with them. I'm honored 
they're here. I appreciate them coming to support this good man.
    But most of all, I want to thank you all for coming, the grassroots 
activists. I want to thank you for what you have done in the past, but 
more importantly, I want to thank you for what you're going to do today 
and tomorrow, and that is to turn out the vote. This man has been working hard all over this State, putting out a 
positive message, and now he needs your help to gather up Republicans 
and discerning Democrats--[laughter]--like-minded independents and get 
them to the polls. Tell them they have an obligation. They have an 
obligation to vote, and they have the obligation to support the best 
candidate. And that best candidate, without a doubt, for the sake of the 
future of this country, is Jim Talent.
    He's shown on this campaign that he can 
bring dignity to a process that needs dignity, that he's not going to 
fall prey to the same old, tired politics of tearing somebody down to 
get ahead. He's treated his opponent with respect because he believes 
strongly in what he stands for. He stands on solid ground with ideology 
and principle. And therefore, he doesn't need to resort to the old-style 
politics. He is a breath of fresh air, and believe me, we need some 
breaths of fresh air in Washington, DC.
    And he's got a record. He's an 
accomplished man. He served in the Congress, and when he did, he was the 
leader about promoting small business. And we need people up there who 
understand how jobs are created. The role of Government is not to create 
wealth; it's to create an environment in which a small business can grow 
to be a big business, in which the entrepreneurial spirit can flourish. 
And Jim Talent understands that. He understands the importance of 
entrepreneurship in our society.
    And we need that kind of understanding in Washington because we got 
some problems with our economy. It's not strong like it should be. I 
like to say it's just bumping along. And therefore, there are too many 
people looking for a job who can't find work. I need to have allies in 
the United States Senate who understand growth and job creation. And one 
way to help people find work is to let people keep more of their own 
money.
    See, when you've got more of your own money in your pocket, you're 
likely to demand an additional good or a service. And when you demand a 
good or a service, somebody is likely to produce the good or

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a service. And when somebody produces a good or a service, guess what 
happens? Somebody is more likely to find work. The best thing we did to 
help job creation was to cut your taxes. And we need to have a United 
States Senator from Missouri who will join Kit Bond in making the tax cuts permanent.
    Jim's got a record on important 
legislation. He wrote the welfare reform bill, and that's an important 
piece of legislation. It's a great accomplishment because it helped a 
lot of people move from dependency upon Government to independence, 
moved people from being dependent upon the Government check to realizing 
their own worth because they were able to earn their own check. The core 
ingredient to successful welfare that he saw then--and I need his help 
to make sure we continue to see it in Washington--is to help people find 
work, is to train them for work, find work, and encourage them to work. 
And that's the best way to have welfare dependency reduced in America.
    I look forward to working with Jim on 
some--a couple of other keys issues. On education--I have a passion for 
education, and he shares that passion. We've raised the standards in 
America. See, that's what we need to do. We've raised the bar because we 
want to challenge the soft bigotry of low expectations. We believe every 
child can learn in America. We understand that if you have low standards 
and lousy--low standards are going to get lousy results. If you have low 
expectations, that's what you're going to get. And so we passed an 
education reform bill that sets the highest of high standards.
    Inherent in that bill is the great trust in the citizens of 
Missouri. See, we believe in local control of schools. The people who 
care more about the children of Missouri are the citizens of Missouri, 
not bureaucrats in Washington, DC. But what's important in this bill is 
that we're sending a lot of money back home, but we expect results for 
that money. For the first time we started asking the fundamental 
question, can our children read and write and add and subtract--finally 
asking that question. If we believe they can, then it would make sense 
to ask the question.
    And when we find children in schools that are doing well, we're 
going to praise the teachers and the principals and the parents. But we 
need allies in Washington who are not so beholden to special interests 
that when we find children trapped in schools that won't teach and won't 
change, that we do not accept the status quo. No child should be left 
behind in the State of Missouri.
    I look forward to working with Jim Talent and Kit Bond to make sure 
our health care system works better. We've got too many lawsuits, too 
many junk lawsuits that are clogging our courts, so that if you've got a 
legitimate claim, you can't get in front of a judge. But those junk 
lawsuits are also running up the cost of medicine for you, and they're 
driving good docs out of business. We need medical liability reform in 
Washington, DC.
    We need to make sure Medicare works. We made a promise to our 
seniors, and we need to keep that promise. Medicine has changed. It's 
modern. Technologies have changed. There's new discoveries which have 
made medicine more effective. Yet Medicare is stuck in the past. It's 
been used as a political football. We need to get people in the Senate 
with whom I can work to modernize Medicare, which means prescription 
drugs for every senior in the State of Missouri.
    And I'll tell you another big issue and another big difference in 
this campaign, and that has to do with our Federal judiciary. I have a 
responsibility to name good people to the bench. I've named a lot of 
really good people to the bench, but the bunch running the Senate has 
done a lousy job on my nominees. You need to know the facts. The facts 
are, we've got too many vacancies on our Federal bench because they're 
playing politics. And sometimes

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they're distorting the record of these good people I've named. We need 
to get rid of all that stuff, for the sake of our solid judiciary. I've 
been naming good, honorable, honest people, but they don't like the fact 
that the people I named will not use the bench from which to legislate; 
they will use the bench to strictly interpret the United States 
Constitution. And I know I'll be able the count on Senator Jim 
Talent's support for putting up judges that 
you'll be proud of, judges whose philosophy the vast majority of the 
people of this State of Missouri support.
    But the biggest issue we'll be working on together is going to be to 
protect you from further attack. That's the biggest issue we face in 
America. And we face it because we haven't finished bringing the 
terrorists to justice. They're still out there, and they still hate. 
They hate because of what we love. They're motivated by hate. We're 
motivated by the love of freedom. We love our freedoms. We love the fact 
that people can worship freely in America. We love the fact that people 
can speak their mind freely. We love a free press. We love every aspect 
of freedom, and we're not going to change.
    Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
    The President. So long as there's an active enemy out there, we've 
got to be on alert here at home. Listen, we got notified; they put us on 
notice. And so, therefore, there's a lot of good people working on your 
behalf to protect you--people at the Federal level, the State level, 
people at the local level--a lot of really fine, fine American people 
doing everything they can to run down any hint, any piece of evidence 
that somebody is thinking about doing something to America, we're moving 
on it. We're disrupting. We're denying. We're doing everything we can.
    But I went to Congress because I think there's a better way to even 
further our ability to protect the homeland, and that is to set up a 
Department of Homeland Security. I went there because I understand in 
Washington there's over 100 agencies involved with your protection, the 
protection of America. I felt, since this is the number one priority of 
our Government, that they ought to be under one agency to help set 
priority and, if need be, to change culture so people get the message 
that we're still under threat and we have to do everything we can to 
help you.
    The House of Representatives responded quickly with a really good 
piece of legislation, which I can tell you will enable this President 
and future Presidents to better do a job of protecting America. But the 
bill is stuck in the Senate. And I need Senators like Kit Bond and Jim Talent who 
will work with me to have a Department of Homeland Security which will 
meet your expectations.
    The reason the bill is stuck in the Senate is because some of the 
Senators there want to take away power that every President has had for 
the last 40 years, which will allow a President to suspend certain 
collective bargaining rules in any Department of the Federal Government 
when our national security is at stake. In other words, if there are 
work rules that stand in the way of our capacity to deal with an enemy 
which is trying to hit us, then I ought to be able to suspend those work 
rules. I ought to be able to do what is necessary to protect the 
American people. Unfortunately, they--some in the Senate have been 
captured by special interests. The main interest I have in mind is the 
security of the American people. I am not going to accept a lousy bill 
from the United States Senate. And one way to make sure I don't get a 
lousy bill is to send a man up there who understands what I'm talking 
about, and that man is Jim Talent.
    But the best way to protect America, short-term and long-term, is to 
find these killers, no matter where they hide, and bring them to 
justice. And that is what we're doing. And that's what--sometimes you'll 
see, and sometimes you won't. But

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you just got to know that the United States is on the hunt.
    And we're on the hunt after an enemy which is a little different 
from any enemy we've ever faced. See, in the old days, you would get 
their tanks and their airplanes, and you knew you were making progress. 
These folks hide in caves. They hide in kind of the dark corners of 
cities around the world, and then they send youngsters to their suicidal 
deaths. There's a difference of attitude, of course, because in America 
we value every life. We say, ``Everybody is precious. Every life 
counts.'' And the enemy we face, they've hijacked a great religion. And 
they don't care about life. They murder. And they're tough, but they're 
not as tough as the United States of America.
    And I know I'll be able to count on Jim's support, just like I could count on Kit's and the Members' of Congress support, to make 
sure that our military has the best training, the best pay, and the best 
possible equipment. I signed the biggest increase in defense spending 
since Ronald Reagan was the President for that reason. But there's 
another reason why. I wanted to send a message to friend and foe alike 
that we're in this deal for the long haul. There's not a calendar on my 
desk in the Oval Office that says, by such-and-such a date, you've got 
to quit. That's not the way we think in America. It doesn't matter how 
long it takes. When it comes to the defense of our freedoms, we will 
stay the course.
    And we're working with other nations. The doctrine that says, 
``Either you're with us, or you're with the enemy,'' still stands. That 
doctrine still is relevant. And so there's a lot of folks joining in 
this hunt. And we got them on the run, and we're going to keep them on 
the run until we bring them to justice. That's what we owe this 
generation of Americans. That's what we owe future generations of 
Americans.
    But as we're thinking about Al Qaida, we've also got to look at all 
threats. See, the world changed on September 11th this way. It used to 
be oceans could protect us, or at least we thought so--if we saw a 
gathering threat overseas, that we could pick and choose whether or not 
we wanted to deal with that threat because there was two oceans. By 
geography, America was safe, we assumed. The battlefields would be 
elsewhere. Sometimes we decided to deal with the threat to freedom and 
democracy; sometimes we didn't. But we were comfortable.
    It's important, after September 11th, to realize that oceans no 
longer protect us. Therefore, every threat matters. And we've got to 
assess every threat. We've got to be cold-eyed realists about the world. 
We must have people in Congress and in Washington who see the world 
exactly the way it is, not the way we would hope it would be. If we're--
if our number one priority is to protect you, then we've got to take 
every threat seriously.
    And that's why I started the dialog on Saddam Hussein. He's a threat. He's a threat to our country because of 
his--the nature of his regime and the nature of the man, himself. He's a 
man who said he wouldn't have weapons of mass destruction, but he's 
denied and deceived the world for 11 years. A while ago we discovered 
that he was close to having a nuclear weapon. We don't know how close he 
is today, but a Saddam Hussein with a nuclear weapon is a true threat to 
America and our friends and allies.
    He said he wouldn't have chemical 
weapons. He's got them, but even more amazingly, he's used them. And 
he's used them not only on his neighbors, but he's used them on his own 
people. This is a person who is willing to gas his own citizens. This is 
a man who can't stand America and what we believe in. This is a man who 
hates some of our closest allies. This is a man who has had Al Qaida 
connections. I want you to think about a scenario in which he becomes 
the arsenal and the training grounds for shadowy terrorists so that he

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can attack somebody he hates and not leave any fingerprints behind. He 
is a threat. He's also a threat to whether or not an international body 
can perform its duty to keep the peace.
    I went to the United Nations, and I said to the United Nations, ``We 
want you to succeed. It will make it easier to keep the peace when 
nations are bound together. It will make it much easier for us to defend 
freedom if we need to, with the new threats we face in the 21st century. 
But for 16 resolutions, this man has defied 
you. Not one resolution, not five resolutions but resolution after 
resolution after resolution, he has defied you.''
    I said to the United Nations, and I'm saying it today, ``You have a 
choice. You have a choice to show the world whether you have the 
capacity to work together to disarm Saddam Hussein for the sake of peace, whether you'll be an effective 
United Nations, or whether you'll be like one of your forerunners, the 
League of Nations, an empty debating society.'' It's their choice to 
make.
    And Saddam Hussein has a choice to make: 
For the sake of peace, he must disarm like he said he would do. But my 
fellow Americans, just as the Congress spoke the other day about my 
attitude, I want to share it with you: For the sake of our freedoms, for 
the sake of doing our duty to address serious threats in a serious way, 
and for the sake of world peace--and I mean that--for the sake of world 
peace, if the United Nations will not act, and if Saddam Hussein will 
not disarm, the United States will lead a coalition of nations to disarm 
him.
    Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
    The President. I can't imagine what was going through the mind of 
the enemy when they hit us. They must have thought that materialism was 
our national religion, that people were so self-absorbed and selfish in 
America, that after 9/11/2001, we might file a lawsuit or two--
[laughter]--but that's about all we had in us, that's all we--they don't 
understand us. They don't realize what I know, that out of the evil they 
have done to America is going to come some good. Out of the evil done to 
this great country is going to come some good. And one of the good 
things that's going to happen, if we stay the course, if we're strong, 
if we speak clearly, if we're decisive, if we understand that freedom is 
not America's gift to the world but is God's gift to the world--if we 
understand those values, if we stay true to our beliefs and true to our 
responsibilities, we can achieve peace. We can achieve peace not only 
for our country; we can achieve peace for parts of the world that have 
quit on peace. I believe that. I believe that history has given us a 
chance, and this great country is going to seize the moment.
    And here at home, it's important to realize that we have a chance to 
make America a better place, that while we work to make America a safer 
and stronger place, we can work to make America a better place as well.
    And Government can help. We can pass law or we can work to make the 
public school systems work better or the welfare laws work better, make 
sure the health care systems function. But there's a lot of people that 
that's not going to matter to because they're hopeless, they're 
addicted, they're lost. You say ``American Dream,'' they have no idea 
what you're talking about. Amongst our plenty, there are pockets of 
loneliness and despair. And if any of us hurts, we all hurt, as far as 
I'm concerned.
    And the best way to deal with those folks, the best way to help them 
is to remember that Government cannot put hope in people's hearts or a 
sense of purpose in people's lives. The best way to help them is to 
rally the true strength of America, the heart of America, and encourage 
people to put their arm around somebody who hurts and say, ``I love you. 
What can I do to help you? How can I make your life a better life?'' And 
that's part of the

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American spirit that is so strong and alive today, the fact that people 
all across this country understand that serving something greater than 
yourself is part of being an American patriot.
    Today I met Tim Mosier from the USA Freedom 
Corps. He has been a law enforcement guy, been involved in emergency 
management. And he takes time now to volunteer, teaching citizens in 
Pettis County emergency response and preparedness skills. That's one way 
somebody can help, and we can help all kinds of ways. You can mentor a 
child, run a Boy Scout troop or a Girl Scout troop. You can feed the 
hungry. You can find shelter for the homeless. There's all kinds of ways 
to help change America, one heart, one soul, one conscience at a time.
    No, the spirit of America is alive and well in this country. People 
have taken a step back and have assessed their life, and they realize 
that service to a country, service to a cause, service to something 
greater than yourselves is part of that American experience.
    I want the youngsters here to remember the story of Flight 93, one 
of most profound parts of this entire history--of the recent history 
we've been through, profound because it's a story of the American 
spirit. People flying across the country on an airplane, they learned 
that the plane was going to be used as a weapon. They were on the phones 
to their loved ones, said, ``Goodbye. I love you.'' Somebody said a 
prayer. A guy said, ``Let's roll.'' They took the plane into the ground 
to save lives, to serve something greater than themselves.
    No, the enemy hit us. When the enemy hit us, they had no idea--they 
had no idea who they were hitting. Out of the evil done to America is 
going to come a peaceful world. And I will boldly predict to you, out of 
the evil done to America will come a better country for all of us, 
because this is the greatest country, full of the finest people on the 
face of this Earth.
    I'm honored you're here. Thanks for helping Jim. May God bless you, and may God bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 12 p.m. at the Family Arena. In his 
remarks, he referred to senatorial candidate Jim Talent and his wife, 
Brenda; entertainer Randy Travis and his wife, Elizabeth; and President 
Saddam Hussein of Iraq.