[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book II)]
[November 2, 2002]
[Pages 1969-1975]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks in Blountville, Tennessee
November 2, 2002

    Thank you all. Thanks for coming. I'm honored to be here in East 
Tennessee. I've got a fond spot in my heart for Tennessee, if you know 
what I mean. I've got a good feeling about the people in this State, and 
I want to thank you for coming this morning. I'm--your Congressman, Bill 
Jenkins, is doing a fine job, by the way. 
He said, ``You know, it's time to quit sermonizing, and it's time to 
pass the plate.'' [Laughter] I think what he meant was, it's close to 
voting time, and it's time for you all to go out and vote for the next 
Governor of Tennessee, Van Hilleary.
    See, we have a duty in this country to support our freedoms. And one 
of the ways we support freedom is to vote. We have an obligation as 
American citizens to vote. So as we're approaching election day, I'm 
traveling the country, reminding Republicans and Democrats and people 
who don't give a hoot about politics to do their duty and go to the 
polls. But I've got some suggestions once they get in the box. 
[Laughter]
    For the good of Tennessee, for the good of the taxpayers of 
Tennessee, for the good of the schoolchildren in Tennessee, vote Van 
Hilleary as your Governor. And for the sake of 
making sure the United States Senate and its important seat stays in the 
hands of a good, honest, capable Senator, vote for Lamar 
Alexander.
    I appreciate Meredith Hilleary working 
so hard with her husband. She's going to be a 
great first lady on behalf of the people of Tennessee. I'm pretty good 
about understanding great First Ladies. The American people are 
beginning to see why I asked Laura to marry me. 
She's calm and steady under fire. She's got great, great vision about 
making sure every child gets educated. She's got a wonderful heart. A 
lot of people are wondering why she said yes. [Laughter] But she sends 
her best to the Hillearys and the 
Alexanders and the good people of Tennessee. 
She's doing a fabulous job as our First Lady, and I'm really proud of 
her.
    I'm proud to be up here with two fine United States Senators. First, 
we're going to miss Fred Thompson. He's been a 
good friend, solid Senator. But we're not going to miss him nearly half 
enough when--half

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as much when Lamar Alexander takes his 
place. I know you join me in sending our best to Fred and expressing our 
deep appreciation for his great service to the country.
    And you sent another good one up there, too, and that's 
Frist. He's a good man, a good, solid citizen. 
Both of these men are allies. Both of them are doing a great job for all 
the people of Tennessee. Bill Jenkins is 
doing a great job for this congressional district, too. He's a reliable 
voice who cares deeply about the people of East Tennessee. You ought to 
be proud of his service to you as well.
    I want to thank all the grassroots activists who are here. I want to 
thank you for what you have done, and I want to thank you for what 
you're going to do, what you're going to do for candidates such as 
Janice Bowling, who's going to get elected in 
the congressional district right next door to here. I appreciate Janice. 
She's a strong voice. She's a solid soul. She'll make a great 
Congresswoman.
    I also want to thank my friend Darrell Waltrip. There he is. [Laughter] I've known him for quite a 
while. He's looking younger, and I'm looking older. [Laughter] He's 
asking me whether or not he can drive the Presidential limousine. 
[Laughter] No. [Laughter] He's a good, solid man. One of the reasons 
Hilleary is going to win is because he's going 
to win the NASCAR vote.
    I also appreciate Law and Grace and the Singing Sheriffs group for 
being here. I'm sorry I didn't get here in time to hear you. Just leave 
your CD at the door. [Laughter]
    But I really want to thank you all and remind you that not only do 
you have a duty to vote, but if you care about the quality of government 
in Nashville and in Washington, turn out to vote. Go to your houses of 
worship. Go to your coffee shops. When you get there Monday morning, 
instead of sitting around worrying about the weather, worry about who 
the next Governor is going to be. Worry about who the next Senator is 
going to be. Talk it up with people who may not pay attention to the 
politics as much as we do. And don't be afraid to talk up the story of 
Lamar and Van to 
Democrats. There's some discerning Democrats out there. They want good 
government, just like we do. They don't want higher taxes, just like we 
do. Find those independents that are open-minded and convince them that 
when you've got good ones, like Van and Lamar, we have a duty in America 
to support these good people.
    We're going to win this election, come Tuesday, because of good, 
hard-working folks such as yourself, and I'm here to thank you for what 
you're going to do.
    No, there's some reasons--you know, old Van, he's not what we call a show horse; he's a work horse. He 
can get the job done. He's a plain-spoken fellow. The good thing about 
him is, he doesn't need a poll or a focus group to tell him what to 
think. He's well grounded in East Tennessee. He has those values of 
faith and family, the kind of man you can count on. He's not going to be 
swayed by the special interests. He's going to do what he thinks is 
right for all the people of Tennessee. And that's important.
    We share a vision about the children of Tennessee too. It says that 
every child can learn. You've got to have you a Governor who believes 
every child can learn, somebody who's willing to set high standards and 
high expectations, somebody who is willing to challenge the soft bigotry 
of low expectations. See, when you have you a Governor who believes in 
not setting high standards, you're going to get lousy results. Van 
Hilleary worked with me and Members of the 
United States Congress to make sure that the Federal bill we passed did 
two things--provided plenty of money for Tennessee. There's $760 million 
in Federal education money coming your way, thanks to the hard work of 
your Senators and Van Hilleary.

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    But that bill that he worked on said two 
other things: One, we trust the people of Tennessee to chart the path 
for excellence for every child. We believe in local control of schools, 
and that's the way he'll be as your Governor. And secondly, in return 
for the money spent, we expect results, don't we. You see, we believe 
every child can learn. Therefore, we expect every child to learn. And 
therefore, we're going to use accountability to make sure your money is 
being spent wisely. We use accountability to praise those schools that 
are meeting expectations, so we can thank our teachers. We will use 
accountability, though, to make sure that no child, not one single 
child, gets trapped in a school which will not teach and will not 
change. Van Hilleary will work with us to make sure no child is left 
behind in the State of Tennessee.
    Our economy is bumping along. It's not doing as well as it should. 
After all, we're coming out of a recession; then the enemy hit us. That 
created a problem which we're overcoming. Then we had another problem: 
Some of our citizens thought they could fudge the numbers, thought it's 
okay, if they're in positions of responsibility, to not tell the truth. 
I want to thank the Senators; I want to thank Van Hilleary; I want to thank Bill Jenkins for 
joining me to pass the most comprehensive corporate reform law since 
Franklin Roosevelt was the President. See, our message today--my message 
today is: Those who aren't responsible to shareholder and employee--no 
easy money in America, just hard time.
    I want to thank these Members for understanding that confidence in 
our economy depends upon us holding people to account if they're not 
honest with the people. That's the kind of leadership you need in 
Nashville, and that's the kind of leadership you've got in Washington.
    But we need to do more work on our economy. We need to understand, 
if somebody is looking for work and they can't find a job, we've got a 
problem. Anybody is looking for work and wants to put food on the table, 
and they can't find work, we need to make sure we've got people in the 
Federal office and the State office who understand job creation. The 
role of Government is not to create wealth. The role of Government is to 
create an environment in which the small-business person can grow to be 
a big-business person.
    That's why it's important you have somebody in Nashville who 
understands the role of the small-business owner. Seventy percent of new 
jobs in America are created by small businesses, the entrepreneurs. And 
you better get you somebody as the Governor who understands that, who 
understands policy ought to be to encourage the growth of small 
business. And one way to do that is to let small-business owners and 
taxpayers keep more of your own money.
    That tax relief bill we passed is going to give Tennessee people $27 
billion over the next 10 years. That's your money to begin with, by the 
way. That's not the Government's money. It's your money. And when you've 
got it in your pocket, you're going to demand a good or a service. If 
you demand a good or a service, somebody is going to produce that good 
or a service. And when somebody produces that good or a service, 
somebody is more likely to find work.
    You see, if you listen to that other bunch, they're going to say we 
need to revisit the tax relief. That's Washington, DC, code for, ``We're 
going to get back in your pocket.'' [Laughter] Tax relief was good for 
our economy. It's going to be good for our economy. It's going to be 
good for the working people, and we need to make tax relief permanent.
    No, I look forward to working with Van to 
do a lot of things to help Tennessee--make sure that welfare system 
works. Part of the welfare reform that worked and something that needs 
to go forward is to have a Governor work with the Congress to help 
people find work. See, when you work, you find dignity. If you want to 
help people get off welfare, if you want to help

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them help themselves, you help them have the skills necessary to work. 
Work needs to be the central core of any good welfare policy.
    And Van Hilleary understands that. No, when 
you put Van Hilleary in office, you're going to be putting a good man in 
office, a man who's going to work hard to represent all the people of 
Tennessee, a man who will make you proud as Governor, a man with whom I 
can work, and a man who will represent that office, that high office, 
with class and dignity. I'm here to urge the good people of East 
Tennessee to turn out to vote next Tuesday and put Van Hilleary in as 
Governor of the great State.
    And I need Lamar up there in Washington 
too, and so do you. He's got a great record for Tennessee. People know 
that he is what we call a class act. When given the responsibilities, he 
handled his business well. More importantly, he cares deeply about the 
all the citizens of this State. Lamar is going to make a great United 
States Senator. And there's a lot of things we can work together on, 
whether it be education--of course, he's an expert on that subject--or 
whether it would be making sure our economy grows. I know we'll have a 
strong ally, and the people will have a strong ally in Lamar Alexander.
    Oh, there's some things we need to work on, like making sure the 
health care system works. We need his vote up there to make sure that 
you've got affordable and accessible health care. We need his vote up 
there to make sure the Medicare system works. There are too many 
lawsuits these days which are driving up the cost of medicine and 
driving doctors out of the practice of medicine. We want the system to 
work. We want our people to have access to the courts, of course, but 
these frivolous and junk lawsuits are running these docs out of 
business, running up your price of medicine. We need to have medical 
liability reform at the Federal level, and Lamar Alexander will vote that way.
    And we've got to make sure Medicare works. Medicine is becoming 
modern. Technology is changing medicine. New discoveries have changed 
medicine. But Medicare isn't modern. It's stuck in the past. Just ask 
our seniors. We need Lamar Alexander in the 
United States Senate to work to modernize Medicare, which means 
prescription drug benefits for our senior citizens.
    And I need him up there, along with 
Senator Frist, to make sure that our judiciary works properly. We can't 
get our judges through the United States Senate. There is a vacancy 
problem in our Federal courts. Too many of our benches have got 
vacancies, which means you can't get access to the courts. They're 
playing politics with the judges in Washington, DC. They don't like the 
fact that I'm naming good, honorable, decent people who will not use the 
bench from which to legislate but from which to interpret the United 
States Constitution.
    No, there's a lot of issues we can work on to make America better 
for everybody. The biggest issue we'll work together on is to secure our 
homeland, prevent the American people from coming under attack again by 
a bunch of coldblooded killers. These people hate us because of what we 
love. And we love freedom, and we're not going to change.
    I asked Congress to join me in a creation of a Department of 
Homeland Security. I did so because I want all the agencies involved 
with protecting you to be under--to have as their priority protection of 
the American people, and if need be, change cultures so people get it in 
their head that there's still an enemy out there which lurks around, so 
we can coordinate better. The House of Representatives, thanks to 
Van and Jenkins, 
supported me on a good bill. The bill is stuck in the Senate. This bill 
is stuck in the Senate, in spite of the good efforts of Fred 
Thompson and Bill Frist. And the reason it is was because the Senate wants me to 
give up a power that Presidents since John Kennedy has had, which

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is the capacity to suspend certain work rules, certain collective 
bargaining rules, in the name of national security.
    I won't accept a lousy bill out of the Senate. I need a bill to put 
the right people at the right place at the right time to protect the 
American people. Under some Senators' vision, I would have the capacity 
to make national security decisions in Agriculture Department but not in 
the Department of Homeland Security. That don't make any sense to me, 
and I know it doesn't make any sense to you. We need Lamar 
Alexander, and we need to change the United 
States Senate.
    But the best way to secure the homeland is to chase the killers 
down, one at a time, and bring them to justice, what America is going to 
do. We've got them on the run, and we're going to keep them on the run. 
And one of the reasons we've got them on the run is, we've got a 
fantastic military.
    I signed a good defense bill, thanks to the Senators and thanks to 
Van and Bill Jenkins, a good defense bill that pays our people, equips our 
people, and trains our people the way you want them. We've got to get 
them the best pay, the best training, and the best possible equipment. 
We owe that to the loved ones. We owe that to our troops. But we're also 
sending a clear signal to friend and foe that we're in this deal for the 
long haul. We love freedom. It doesn't matter how long it takes to 
defend America and to protect our freedoms; we're going after them, one 
at a time.
    And we're making progress. Sometimes you'll read about it, and 
sometimes you won't. Sometimes you'll see the fact that somebody got 
hauled in, and sometimes it's just not going to make it on to your radar 
screen. But make no mistake about it, there's no cave deep enough, no 
corner of the world dark enough to prevent the long arm of justice from 
the United States to reach them around the world.
    And the reason I feel so strong about it is that I recognize we're 
living in a different world today than we were last--prior to September 
the 11th. It's a different world because no longer can we be content 
with the fact that two oceans protect us from danger. It used to be that 
we don't have to worry about some potential threat overseas because 
oceans protected us. It used to be we could pick or choose whether or 
not we wanted to be involved. But at home we were confident we were okay 
because of oceans, because of our geography. And that changed on that 
fateful day. Therefore, it's very important for you to elect people to 
office who are clear-eyed realists, people who see the world the way it 
is, not the way we would hope it to be.
    And that's the reason why I started the debate in our Congress and 
amongst the American people, in fact, in the world community, about the 
threat to America and threat to our friends and allies from Mr. Saddam 
Hussein. He's a dangerous man. He told the 
world he wouldn't have weapons of mass destruction--11 years ago he said 
that. He's got them. We found out a while ago that he was close to 
having a nuclear weapon. We dismantled that when he used to let 
inspectors in. We don't know where he stands today, but we know what's 
in his mind. We know the implications of him having a nuclear weapon.
    We know that this is a man who has 
chemical weapons, and we know he's used them. See, he's used them. He 
hasn't stockpiled them. He's used them in his neighborhood, and he's 
used them on his own people. We know he can't stand America. We know he 
can't stand some of our closest friends. We know that he has had 
contacts with terrorist networks like Al Qaida. And we know, clearly, 
that one of the dangers we face is him serving as a training ground and 
an arsenal for one of these shadowy terrorist networks, which could come 
home, could come home here. And so he's a danger.
    I went to the United Nations because I want that body to be 
effective to help us keep the peace. I said to the United

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Nations, ``This man has defied you 16 times. 
How long is it going to take for you to show some backbone so we can 
work together to keep the peace? You have a choice to be the United 
Nations, which is an effective body to keep the peace, or the League of 
Nations. That's your choice to make.''
    And Saddam Hussein has a choice. He can 
disarm like he said. He can get rid of his weapons of mass destruction. 
But if the United Nations won't act and if Saddam Hussein won't disarm, 
this country, in the name of peace and in the name of freedom, will lead 
a coalition to disarm Saddam Hussein.
    I say that as a man who longs for peace. I say that as a man who 
knows the stakes. I say that as a man who's not going to forget 
September the 11th, 2001, or the attack on a French vessel recently or 
the attack in Bali, Indonesia. I say this as a man who is briefed on a 
daily basis about the threats we face in America. I say this as a man 
who is absolutely confident that out of the evil done to America can 
come some good, because I understand the nature of this country. I 
believe if we remain the course and stay strong and diligent and focused 
and remember that freedom is not America's gift to the world, it is 
God's gift to the world, that we can achieve peace, that we can have a 
peaceful world.
    I believe out of the evil done to America, we can achieve peace if 
we're strong and diligent and focused, not only here at home but--
because we value each life; everybody counts--in parts of the world 
which have quit on peace. I believe peace is possible if we're tough and 
strong in the Middle East. I believe peace is possible in South Asia. 
And I know at home, out of the evil done to America can come a more 
compassionate and better country.
    See, Government can help, and we will. We'll all work on laws to 
make things better. But what Government cannot do is put love in 
people's hearts or a sense of purpose in people's lives. And amongst our 
plenty we've got to remember there are some who hurt, some who are 
lonely, some who are addicted, some who are wondering whether the 
American Dream is meant for them. I'm optimistic that out of the evil 
done to this country can come a better day where everybody understands 
the great promise of this country, because I know the strength of 
America, and the strength of America is in the hearts and souls of our 
fellow citizens. If you want to fight evil, if you want to be a patriot, 
love a neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourselves.
    Today I met Kathy Henderson. She's an 
active volunteer at Central Heights Elementary School. She decided she 
wanted to be part of the army of compassion; she wanted to make a 
difference in somebody's life. So she's helping young children learn to 
read. There's all kinds of ways where we can change America for the 
better, whether it be Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts or Boys and Girls Clubs 
or mentoring like Kathy. She asked me to say she needs volunteers, by 
the way, on the Read Along With Me program. You can do it by just 
telling somebody you love them, a shut-in, that you love them. You can 
help feed the hungry; you can house the homeless. There's all kinds of 
ways we can help.
    No, the enemy had no idea who they were hitting. Oh, they probably 
thought we'd file a lawsuit or two. [Laughter] They didn't realize 
America like we know. The spirit of America is alive and well. It's the 
spirit which says, when it comes to the defense of our country, we'll be 
plenty tough. But the spirit also says that a patriot is somebody who is 
willing to serve something greater than themselves. A patriot is willing 
to help somebody who hurts.
    No, I boldly predict to you 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 become a more hopeful America, because this is the greatest 
country, full of the finest people on the face of the Earth.

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    Thank you for coming today. May God bless, and God bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 9:50 a.m. at the Tri-Cities Regional TN/VA 
Airport. In his remarks, he referred to gubernatorial candidate Van 
Hilleary and his wife, Meredith; senatorial candidate Lamar Alexander 
and his wife, Honey; Janice Bowling, candidate for Tennessee's Fourth 
Congressional District; NASCAR driver Darrell Waltrip; and President 
Saddam Hussein of Iraq.