[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book II)]
[November 1, 2002]
[Pages 1963-1969]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 1963]]


Remarks in Louisville, Kentucky
November 1, 2002

    The President. Thank you all. Thank you all very much for coming 
tonight. I'm here to talk about the American spirit, and I'm here to 
remind the good folks of this part of the State of Kentucky that if 
you're interested in good Government, if you're interested in sending 
somebody to Congress who will represent all the people of the district, 
if you want somebody who can do the job, send Anne Northup back to the United States Congress.
    I love traveling America because it gives me a chance to see 
firsthand and to feel the fact that the American spirit is alive and 
well. That's the spirit that says, no matter what the cost, we'll defend 
our freedom. It's the spirit--the American spirit says to me that we'll 
serve something greater than ourselves here in this country. The 
American spirit means that we love freedom. And if you love freedom, you 
have a duty to participate in the democratic process.
    I'm here to urge all the people of the great State of Kentucky to 
vote, Republican, Democrat, people who don't care about any kind of 
political party. You need to do your duty. But when you get in that 
poll, I've got a suggestion for you: Anne Northup is the right choice.
    I wasn't Anne's first choice tonight. 
[Laughter] She wanted Laura. I saw on TV that 
Laura was campaigning with Elizabeth Dole. 
She got the long straw; you got the short straw. But she sends her love. 
She sends her best. She's as strong for Anne as I am.
    I want to tell you how proud I am of Laura. 
When I married her, she was a public school librarian. [Applause] I 
didn't realize there were so many public school librarians here in 
Louisville.
    Audience member. [Inaudible]
    The President. That's good. When I said, ``Would you marry me,'' 
her state of mind was this: She didn't like 
politics, and she didn't care for politicians. [Laughter] And now she's 
doing a fabulous job as our First Lady.
    I appreciate Anne's family. I appreciate 
Woody and all of their kids. 
Heck, if they just get the kids to vote, it would be a landslide. 
[Laughter]
    I'm proud to be up here as well with a fine Kentucky couple, 
starting with a United States Senator who has done a fabulous job for 
the people of Kentucky, and that's Mitch McConnell. Like me, he married well--so well I put Elaine in the Cabinet. [Laughter] She's doing a really 
good job on behalf of the American people. I'm proud of Elaine.
    I'm also honored to be up here with another great Senator from 
Kentucky, Jim Bunning. We need to make sure 
Mitch goes back to the Senate. We need him 
there for a lot of reasons. Some of the reasons I'll talk about later, 
but one of the key reasons why Senators McConnell and Bunning are 
important to our future is because they know what I know: We've got a 
problem on our Federal judiciary. There's too many vacancies. And 
there's too many vacancies because the current leadership in the Senate 
has done a lousy job on letting my people have a fair hearing when I 
nominate them. They don't like the kind of judges I nominate. I put 
good, honest, honorable people who understand their job is to interpret 
the Constitution, not use the bench from which to legislate. We don't 
need any more legislators. We need good, honorable judges on the bench.
    I appreciate so very much Ernie Fletcher. 
Congressman Ernie Fletcher is with us today--he's one of the fine 
Members of the United States Congress--and Ron Lewis of the United States Congress, from Kentucky as well. 
These are two solid

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Members, Members with whom I can work for the good of everybody.
    Also on the stage today we've got Geoff Davis, who's a candidate for the United States Congress. And 
if you're living in Geoff's district, give him your vote and give him 
your word. And Mike Sodrel is here. [Applause] 
Sounds like old Mike's got something going. We want both these good men 
in the Congress. We've got a lot to do to work together.
    I'm here to thank the grassroots activists as well. I want to thank 
you for what you have done. I want to thank you for what you're fixing 
to do over the next couple of days. You need to go to your coffee shops 
and your houses of worship and your community centers and tell the 
people they need to go and vote, and tell the people that we've got some 
fine candidates. Tell the people that Anne Northup is as good as it gets in the United States Congress. Urge 
them to vote, and don't be afraid to talk about good, discerning 
Democrats--to talk to good, discerning Democrats and wise independents. 
These people want good Government as well, just like we do. And the best 
person to represent good Government is Anne Northup.
    I know Anne well. I know her well. I 
respect her a lot. I value her advice. I appreciate the way she works 
hard in Washington to change the tone of politics. People who know Anne 
well know what I'm about to say. She's got a big heart. She cares for 
those who suffer. She doesn't need a poll or a focus group to tell her 
what to think. She bases her decisions on a deep-seated philosophy. 
She's decency; she's great. She needs to be back in the Congress. She's 
an effective person. She can get things done.
    She secured funding for the Ohio River 
bridges project. She worked hard to make sure transportation was 
effective in this part of the world. She worked closely with me on 
making sure that we could get a Faith-Based Initiative out of the United 
States Congress. Anne feels passionately about that because, as a 
Congresswoman, she has reached across the community divides to bring 
people together. She knows what I know, that there are people who hurt 
and people who suffer. And one of the ways to heal the broken heart is 
to unleash the great faith and compassion of the American people.
    I've worked closely with Anne on issues 
like adoption. She and Woody 
are adoptive parents, which in my view is one of the greatest 
expressions of love. No, Anne Northup can get things done. She cares 
deeply about the citizens of this district. And she knows that we've got 
some hurdles to cross here in America, and I look forward to having her 
in Congress to work on--working to cross those hurdles.
    One of the biggest problems we've got is our economy. It's just 
bumping along. It's not going like it should. There are too many people 
in America who want to work and cannot find a job. And so long as 
somebody is looking for work, that means we've got a problem. And I need 
people in the United States Congress who will join me in job creation.
    But we understand the role of Government. It is not to create 
wealth; it's to create an environment in which the entrepreneurial 
spirit can flourish. It is to create an environment in which the small 
business can grow to be a big business. Anne 
and I understand that 70 percent of new jobs are created by small-
business owners.
    If you're worried about job creation like we are, then you must put 
forth policy that encourages small-business growth. Most small 
businesses pay taxes at the individual income tax level. Most small 
businesses are sole proprietorships or limited partnerships. So when you 
open up your tax forms and see the individual rates, you've got to think 
of the fact that most small businesses pay those rates. And therefore, 
the tax relief plan that we passed was the best antidote to a slowing 
economy.
    If you're interested in creating jobs, you let small businesses as 
well as consumers

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keep more of their own money. You see, when people have more money in 
their pocket, they're more likely to demand a good or a service. And in 
the marketplace, when they demand a good or a service, somebody is 
likely to produce the good or a service. And when somebody produces the 
good or a service, somebody is more likely to find work. The tax relief 
we plan came at--passed came at the right time, and we need people in 
the United States Congress to make the tax cuts permanent.
    I look forward to working with Anne and 
other Members of the Congress and working with Mitch to see if we can't get us a terrorism insurance bill, 
to get construction programs started, projects started, and get the 
hardhats working. We want our good hardhats in America building those 
buildings and building those projects which are stalled because people 
can't find insurance because of the terrorist attacks. But we'd better 
get us a bill that rewards the hardhats, not the trial lawyers here in 
America.
    And we're going to work together to increase jobs so people can find 
work. I'm optimistic about our future when it comes to the economy. 
We've got--interest rates are low; inflation is low; productivity is 
high. We're the best workers, best farmers, best ranchers, best 
entrepreneurs in the world. There's a lot going right, but we are not 
going to rest until people can find a job.
    And we're not going to rest until every child gets educated in this 
country, either. I worked closely with Anne. 
Anne Northup was a solid backer, strong advocate of the no child should 
be left behind legislation. To give you a sense of her perspective, let 
me tell you what that bill says. It says every child can learn in 
America. Everybody can learn. And therefore, we must set high standards.
    If you have low expectations and low standards, you're going to get 
lousy results. Anne understands that we must 
challenge what I call the soft bigotry of low expectations, must raise 
the bar.
    But at the same time, we've got to trust the people of Kentucky to 
chart the path for excellence for every child in Kentucky. We believe in 
local control of schools. Thanks to Anne's 
hard work and Mitch's and Jim's hard work and other Members of Congress' hard work, the 
great State of Kentucky is going to receive $650 million in Federal 
monies for schools this year. Those monies will be used to help 
disadvantaged children. Those monies will be applied to make sure every 
child can learn.
    But for the first time in our history, we've asked the question, is 
the money being well spent? Show us whether or not the children can read 
and write and add and subtract. If you believe every child can learn, 
then it makes sense to ask that question. Are we teaching our children? 
And if we are, we'll praise the teachers. But if we find children 
trapped in schools which will not teach and will not change, we will 
demand something different, because no child should be left behind in 
the State of Kentucky.
    I look forward to working with Anne to 
make sure our medical system works, to make sure that health care is 
available and affordable. We've got too many lawsuits here in America 
today, too many frivolous and junk lawsuits that are running up the cost 
of medicine and making it harder for our docs to practice medicine. We 
need medical liability reform, once and for all, so that medicine is 
affordable for the American consumers.
    I look forward to working with Anne and 
the other Members of Congress up here to fulfill our promises to our 
seniors. We're going to make sure Social Security system works. And 
we're also going to make sure Medicare fulfills its promise. Medicine 
has changed; Medicare hasn't. Medicine is modern because of technologies 
and innovation. Medicare is stuck in the past. I'm going to work with 
Anne to make sure

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Medicare is modern, and that means prescription drug benefits for our 
seniors.
    No, there's a lot we can do to work together on behalf of all of the 
citizens of Kentucky and all of the citizens of America. But the biggest 
challenge we have, our most important responsibility, is to protect the 
homeland from further attack. That's our biggest job, because there's 
still an enemy out there that lurks, an enemy out there which hates 
America because of what we love. We love freedom. We love the fact that 
people can worship freely in America. We worship the fact that we have 
free elections. We love the fact that we have a free press. We love 
everything about freedom, and we're not going to change.
    And it's our fervent love of freedom, and the fact that we're not 
going to change, which really irritates the enemy. See, they don't like 
us. And there's something else that differentiates us between them, and 
that is, we value life. Everybody counts. Everybody is precious. Every 
life matters. And these people are nothing but a bunch of coldblooded 
killers who have hijacked a great religion and could care less about 
taking innocent life.
    We've been warned. We've been warned. And now our most important job 
is to protect you. And there's a lot of good people doing this. We've 
got people at the Federal level and at the State level and the local 
level doing everything they can to disrupt and deny the enemy. I'm 
telling you, anytime we get any whisper, any hint, any idea that 
somebody is thinking about doing something to America, we're acting. 
We're going to do everything in our power to prevent the enemy from 
hitting us again.
    And that's why I went to the United States Congress and asked them 
to join with me in the creation of a Department of Homeland Security. 
There's over 100 agencies in Washington involved with protecting you. It 
seemed like, to me, it made sense to put them under one Department so 
that we could set clear priority, so that if need be, we could change 
cultures so that our Government was functioning in concert to do 
everything we could to protect the homeland.
    And the House of Representatives passed a good bill, and I'm honored 
that Anne and the other Members of the 
Congress supported that good bill. But it's stuck in the Senate. It 
couldn't get out of the Senate, because the Senate wanted to take powers 
away from the President of the United States.
    Audience members. Boo-o-o!
    The President. And here's what they wanted to do. For 40 years, 
since John Kennedy was the President, Presidents have had the capacity, 
the ability to suspend collective bargaining rules in the name of 
national security. In other words, if there were certain rules which 
prevented the homeland security council department from doing its job, I 
couldn't suspend those rules. If the Senate had its way--not Senator 
McConnell or Senator Bunning but other Senators--if they had their way, I would have 
the capacity, the right to suspend certain rules at the Department of 
Agriculture but not at the Department of Homeland Security. I would have 
the flexibility necessary to do everything I could for the sake of 
national security at Agriculture, but not to protect you through the 
Department of Homeland Security.
    I need the capacity to be able to move the right people at the right 
time to the right place to protect the American people. Mitch 
McConnell understands that, and so does Jim 
Bunning, and so does Anne Northup. They understand that.
    They also understand what I'm about to tell you, that the best way 
to secure America, the best way to protect you, is to chase the killers 
down, one at a time, and bring them to justice. It's not an easy task. 
It's not an easy task, because this is a different kind of army that we 
face, a different kind of enemy. In the old days--I see some guys who 
were probably involved with World War II or the Korean war. In the old 
days, if you knocked out a couple of

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tanks or knocked some airplanes out of the air or sunk a ship, you'd be 
able to determine whether or not you were making progress against the 
enemy. Those were the old days. Today, we're facing coldblooded killers 
who hide in caves and send youngsters to their suicidal deaths, and 
there is no cave deep enough for America.
    Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
    The President. It's important to see the world the way it is, not to 
see the way that we hope it is. It's important to be cold-eyed realists 
about the threats we face.
    And we're making progress on this war against terror. We've hauled 
in over a couple thousand of them, and a couple thousand weren't quite 
as lucky. Slowly but surely, we're protecting the American people and 
defending our freedom by dismantling the terrorist network that came and 
unmercifully murdered American citizens. And so long as I'm the 
President of the United States, we're going to continue to hunt them 
down. We owe that to our children. We owe that to our children's 
children. History has called us into action, and this great Nation is 
going to stay steady and resolute and determined.
    I asked the Congress to pass the largest increase in defense 
spending since Ronald Reagan was President. And they did, and I want to 
thank the Members up here who voted with us on that bill. I did so for 
two reasons, two important reasons. One, anytime we send our troops into 
harm's way, they deserve the best pay, the best training, and the best 
possible equipment. And secondly, we just sent a signal to the world, to 
friend and foe alike, we're in this deal for the long haul. It doesn't 
matter how long it takes. It doesn't matter how long it costs. The 
United States of America will go after those terrorists and bring them 
to justice.
    No, it's important to be open-eyed about the threats we face. After 
all, oceans no longer protect us. See, that's what's important for 
Americans to understand, that after September the 11th, the stakes 
changed. See, prior to September the 11th, we used to think that, if 
there was a conflict or a threat somewhere else in the world, we could 
pick and choose whether or not we wanted to deal with it, because oceans 
protected us. The homeland was secure by geography.
    We learned a tough lesson on September the 11th, which means that, 
as we see threats, we must be prepared to deal with them. And I see a 
significant threat to the security of the United States in Iraq.
    Saddam Hussein is a man who told the 
world he would not have weapons of mass destruction, but he does. He not 
only has them; he's used them. He has used them against his neighbors, 
and incredibly enough, he's used them against his own people. This is a 
man who was close to having a nuclear weapon a decade ago. No telling 
how close he is now.
    I viewed him as a threat, not only to the 
American people, because he could become an arsenal to one of these 
shadow terrorist networks. He could use them as surrogates and not leave 
any fingerprints behind.
    No, he's a threat. He's not only a threat 
to us. He's a threat to our close friends in the Middle East. Saddam 
Hussein is a man who has defied the United Nations not once, not twice, 
not 3 times, but 16 times they passed resolutions. So I went to that 
august body, and I said, ``The time has come for you to show the world 
whether or not you've got the capacity to keep the peace, to defend 
freedom. The time has come for you to show whether or not your 
resolutions mean anything.''
    And I sent the same message to Saddam Hussein. ``You said you would disarm. Disarm. For the sake of 
peace, disarm.''
    I took the debate to the United States Congress and, thanks to the 
Members on this stage and many others, the United States now speaks with 
one voice. And here it is: Either the United Nations will do its job, 
either the United Nations will show

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it is not the League of Nations, but a body with the capacity to keep 
the peace, and Saddam Hussein will disarm, or 
for the sake of peace, for the sake of freedom, the United States will 
lead a mighty coalition to disarm Saddam Hussein.
    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 the national religion 
of the United States was materialism, that we were so selfish, so self-
absorbed, so shallow, that after September the 11th, 2001, we'd take a 
step back and maybe file a lawsuit or two. [Laughter] That's probably 
what they thought. But they found out they are dealing with a different 
bunch, that we love our freedom, that we care deeply about our future, 
that we love peace.
    The evil done to America has given this great nation to show the 
world that out of evil can come great good. I believe this. I believe 
that if we stay the course, if we're strong, if we fight terror, if we 
lead a coalition of freedom-loving countries, we can achieve peace.
    I believe we can achieve peace if we remember that freedom is not 
bestowed on the world by the United States, but freedom is God-given for 
everybody. I believe that if we're strong and resolute, with a clear 
vision, that we see reality the way it is, that we can achieve peace not 
only for America, but because we value all life--everybody is precious--
that we can achieve peace in parts of the world who have quit on peace. 
I believe we can achieve peace in the Middle East. I believe we can 
achieve peace in South Asia.
    No, out of the evil done to America is going to come some incredible 
good, not only abroad but incredible good here at home. See, I believe 
that the evildoers renew the American spirit, that sense of serving 
something greater than yourself in life. Government can help. We'll 
work--Members of Congress will work with the administration to pass laws 
that will help people help themselves and improve lives. But you've got 
to remember that while Government can pass out money, it can't put hope 
in people's hearts. It can't put a sense of purpose in people's lives.
    And at the same time, we've got to remember, amongst all the plenty 
here in America, there are people who hurt. There's loneliness and 
addiction and despair. And so long as any of us hurts, we all hurt. And 
the best way to solve many of the seemingly intractable problems here in 
America is for a fellow American to put their arm around somebody who's 
lonely, and somebody who suffers, and say, ``I love you. What can I do 
to help you?''
    No, the true strength of America lies in the hearts and the souls of 
our fellow citizens. All across this country there are fine and decent 
people who are helping America change, one heart, one conscience, one 
soul at a time. And it's happening.
    They woke the great compassion of America when they attacked us. 
Perhaps the spirit is best reflected in small ways and large ways--small 
ways like Ray Probus, who I met. He was at the 
airport today. He works with the Jefferson County police department's 
Volunteers in Police Service program. That's one way people can help. 
I'm sure there's mentors here. I know there are people who worry about 
feeding the hungry, who worry about the homeless and do something about 
it. I know there's people involved in Boy Scouts and Girl Scout troops 
that are sending values to our children. I know there are people 
involved in schools here to make sure every child can learn. All of us 
can help make America a hopeful place.
    Perhaps the biggest lesson of all of what I'm talking about, that 
great spirit of America, took place on Flight 93 that fateful day. We 
had people flying across the country. They heard the plane they were on 
was going to be used as a weapon to kill Americans. They said goodbye to 
their loved ones. They said a prayer. One guy

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said, ``Let's roll.'' And they took the plane into the ground to serve 
something greater than themselves. To me, that epitomized the greatest 
of the American spirit, which is alive and well in America.
    No, the enemy hit us--the enemy hit us. They didn't know who they 
were hitting. Out of the evil done to America is going to come peace. 
And out of the evil done to America is going to come a more hopeful 
tomorrow. I predict this. I know it's going to happen, because America 
is the greatest nation, full of the finest, most compassionate people on 
the face of the Earth.
    Thank you all for coming. May God bless. May God bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 5:51 p.m. at the Kentucky International 
Convention Center. In his remarks, he referred to Representative Anne 
Northup and her husband, Robert Wood ``Woody'' Northup; senatorial 
candidate Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina; Geoff Davis, candidate for 
Kentucky's Fourth Congressional District; Mike Sodrel, candidate for 
Indiana's Ninth Congressional District; and President Saddam Hussein of 
Iraq.