[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book I)]
[June 27, 2003]
[Pages 703-707]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks at a Bush-Cheney Luncheon in San Francisco, California
June 27, 2003
Thank you all very much. Thanks for the warm welcome. Thanks for
coming. It's great to be back in the bay area. Bradley, if that is a
short introduction, I hate to see a long one. [Laughter] But I
appreciate your friendship, and I appreciate your leadership. I want to
thank you all very much for supporting our efforts. I want to thank you
for coming and giving of your hard-earned dollars. You are laying the
foundation for a nationwide victory next year.
I'm getting ready. I'm loosening up. [Laughter] And I'm going to
need your help. I'll need your help not only financially but also to
pass our positive, inclusive message around the bay area. I want you to
remind your citizens, fellow citizens, that our vision is one that is
hopeful and optimistic.
Listen, there's going to be plenty of time for politics. The
political season will come in its own time. Right now, I'm focused on
the people's business in Washington, DC. And we have a lot on the
agenda. And what I want to tell you is that I will continue to earn the
confidence of all Americans, regardless of their political
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party, by keeping this Nation secure and strong and prosperous and free.
I've just come from Washington to here, obviously. I'm going down to
LA. I wish I came with my wife. I wish she were
with me. She has done a fabulous job. I will see her tonight in
Crawford, Texas. Well, she'll be the lump in the bed next to me, since I
get in at 1:30 in the morning. [Laughter] But you drew the short straw.
Had she come and spoken, you would have had the long straw. She is a--
she's a remarkable person. She has been calm and steady in the face of
significant crisis. She can smile; she can listen. She is a fabulous
First Lady for the United States of America.
I do want to thank Brad and Gerry
Parsky and the people that put on this dinner
and worked hard to raise the money. I'm so honored that--for your help.
I also appreciate Dennis Miller. Obviously,
after your one-liners, Brad, he doesn't have anything to fear for his
job. [Laughter]
We've been through some remarkable times in America during the last
2\1/2\ years. This Nation has acted decisively to confront great
challenges. I came to office to solve problems, not to pass them on to
future Presidents and future generations. I came to seize opportunities
instead of letting them slip away. We are meeting the tests of our time.
Terrorists declared war on the United States, and war is what they
got. We have captured or killed many of the leaders of Al Qaida. And the
rest of them know we're hot on their trail. In Afghanistan and Iraq, we
gave ultimatums to terror regimes. Those regimes chose defiance, and
those regimes are no more. Fifty million people in those two countries
once lived under tyranny, and now they live in freedom.
Two-and-a-half years ago, our military was not receiving the
resources it needed, and morale was beginning to suffer. We increased
the defense budget to prepare for the threats of a new era. And today,
no one in the world can question the skill, the strength, and the spirit
of the United States military.
Two-and-a-half years ago, we inherited an economy in recession. Then
the attacks on our country and scandals in corporate America and war
affected the confidence of the people. But we acted. We passed tough new
laws to hold corporate criminals to account. And to get the economy
going again, we have twice led the Congress to historic tax relief for
the American people.
Here is what we believe and what we know. When Americans have more
take-home pay to spend, to save, or to invest, the whole economy grows,
and someone is more likely to find a job. We understand as well whose
money we spend in Washington, DC. The money we spend in Washington is
not the Government's money. It is the people's money. And we're
returning more money to the people to help them raise their families,
and we're reducing taxes on dividends and capital gains to encourage
investment. We're giving small businesses incentives to expand and hire
new people. With all those actions, we are laying the foundation for
greater prosperity and more jobs across America, so that every single
person in this country has a chance to realize the American Dream.
Two-and-a-half years later--2\1/2\ years ago, there was a lot of
talk about education reform, but there wasn't much action. So I called
for and Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act. With a solid
bipartisan majority, we delivered the most dramatic education reforms in
a generation. We're bringing high standards and strong accountability
measures to every public school in America. We believe that every child
can learn the basics of reading and math, and we expect every school in
America to teach those basics. This administration is challenging the
soft bigotry of low expectations. The days of excuse-making are over. We
expect results in every classroom all across America so that not one
single child is left behind.
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We reorganized our Government and created the Department of Homeland
Security to safeguard our borders and ports and to protect the American
people. We passed trade promotion authority to open up new markets for
our entrepreneurs and farmers and ranchers. We passed a budget agreement
to help maintain spending discipline in Washington, DC. On issue after
issue, this administration has acted on principle, has kept its word,
and is making progress on behalf of the American people.
The United States Congress shares in these great achievements, and I
appreciate the hard work of the Members of Congress. We will continue to
work together to change the tone in Washington, DC, by focusing on the
people's business and by focusing on results. And that's the nature of
the men and women I asked to serve our country in my administration. I
have put together a really good team of people. And the reason, they
understand, is our jobs are to represent something greater than
ourselves, and that is the great country called America.
And I'm proud of our Vice President. Dick Cheney is the best Vice President this Nation has ever had,
although my mother may not agree. [Laughter] In
2\1/2\ years, we have come far. We've come far in 2\1/2\ years. We've
accomplished a lot. But our work is only beginning. We have great goals
worthy of this great Nation.
First, America is committed to expanding the realm of freedom and
peace, for our own security and for the benefit of the world. And
second, in our own country, we must work for a society of prosperity and
compassion so that every citizen has a chance to work and succeed and
realize the great promise of this country.
It is clear that the future of freedom and peace depend on the
actions of America. This Nation is freedom's home and freedom's
defender. We welcome this charge of history, and we are keeping it. Our
war on terror continues. The enemies of freedom are not idle, and
neither are we. This country will not rest; we will not tire; and we
will not stop until this threat to civilization is removed.
Yet our national interest involves more than eliminating aggressive
threats to our safety. Our greatest security comes from the advance of
human liberty, because free nations do not support terror, free nations
do not attack their neighbors, free nations do not threaten the world
with weapons of mass terror. Americans believe that freedom is the
deepest need and hope of every human heart. And we believe that freedom
is the right of every person and the future of every nation.
America also understands that unprecedented influence brings
tremendous responsibilities. We have duties in the world. And when we
see disease and starvation and hopelessness, we will not turn away. On
the continent of Africa, a continent I'll be visiting in 10 days,
America is now committed to bringing the healing power of medicine to
millions of men and women and children now suffering with AIDS. This
great land is leading the world in this incredibly important work of
human rescue.
We face challenges at home as well, and our actions will be equal to
those challenges. I will continue to work on economic prosperity until
anybody who wants to work and is not working today can find a job.
And we have a duty to keep our commitment to America's seniors by
strengthening and modernizing Medicare. Last night--or actually, this
morning--or last night here; this morning in Washington--[laughter]--the
Congress took historic action to improve the lives of older Americans.
For the first time since the creation of Medicare, the House and Senate
have passed reforms to increase the choices of seniors and provide
coverage for prescription drugs. The next step is for both Houses to
come together, iron out some details, and get the bill to my desk. The
sooner the job is done, the sooner Americans will get the health care
they deserve.
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And for the sake of our health care system, we need to cut down on
frivolous lawsuits which increase the cost of medicine. People who have
been harmed by a bad doctor deserve their day in court. Yet the system
should not reward lawyers who are simply fishing for a rich settlement.
Because frivolous lawsuits drive up the cost of health care, at the
Federal level, the medical liability issue is a Federal problem that
requires a Federal solution. No one has ever been healed by a frivolous
lawsuit. [Laughter] We need Federal medical liability reform now.
I also have a responsibility as President to make sure the judicial
system runs well. And I have met that duty. I've nominated superb men
and women for the Federal courts, people who will interpret the law, not
legislate from the bench. Some Members of the United States Senate are
trying to keep my nominees off the bench by blocking up-or-down votes.
Every judicial nominee deserves a fair hearing and an up-or-down vote on
the Senate floor. It is time for Members of the United States Senate to
stop playing politics with American justice.
This Nation needs a comprehensive energy plan. We need more natural
gas for California's electric plants. We need to promote new
technologies. We need to promote new conservation techniques. We need to
explore in environmentally friendly ways. For the sake of our national
security and for the sake of our economic security, we need to become
less dependent on foreign sources of energy.
Our strong and compassionate Nation must also be a prosperous and,
at the same time, compassionate place for all. I will continue to
advance our agenda of compassionate conservatism, applying the best and
most innovative ideas to the task of helping our fellow citizens in
need. There are still millions of men and women who want to end their
dependence on Government and become independent through work. We must
build on the success of welfare reform to bring work and dignity into
the lives of more of our fellow citizens.
Congress should complete the ``Citizen Service Act'' so that more
Americans can serve their communities and their country. And both Houses
should reach agreement on my Faith-Based Initiative to support the
armies of compassion that are mentoring children, that are caring for
the homeless, that are offering hope to the addicted.
A compassionate society must promote opportunity for all, including
the independence and dignity that come from ownership. My administration
will constantly strive to promote an ownership society in America. We
want more of our citizens owning their own home. We want people to own
and manage their own health care plan, their own retirement plan. We
want more people owning their own small business. We understand that
when a person owns something, he or she has a vital stake into the
future of this country.
In a compassionate society, people respect one another and take
responsibility for the decisions they make. We're changing the culture
of America from one that has said, ``If it feels good, just go ahead and
do it,'' and ``If you've got a problem, blame somebody else,'' to one in
which each of us understands we are responsible for the decisions we
make in life.
If you are fortunate enough to be a mother or a father, you are
responsible for loving your child with all your heart and all your soul.
If you are a--concerned about the quality of the education in the
community in which you live, you're responsible for doing something
about it. If you're a CEO in corporate America, you're responsible for
telling the truth to your shareholders and your employees. And in the
new responsibility society, each of us is responsible for loving a
neighbor just like we'd like to be loved ourselves.
We can see the culture of service and responsibility growing around
us. I started what we call the USA Freedom Corps to
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encourage Americans to extend a compassionate hand to neighbors in need,
and the response has been strong. And our faith-based charities are
strong and vibrant all across America. Policemen and firemen and people
who wear our Nation's uniform are reminding us what it means to
sacrifice for something greater than yourself. Once again, the children
of America believe in heroes because they see them every day.
In these challenging times, the world has seen the resolve and the
courage of America. And I've been privileged to see the compassion and
the character of the American people. All the tests of the last 2\1/2\
years have come to the right Nation. We're a strong country, and we use
that strength to defend the peace. We're an optimistic country,
confident in ourselves and in ideals bigger than ourselves.
Abroad, we seek to lift whole nations by spreading freedom. At home,
we seek to lift up lives by spreading opportunity to every corner in
America. This is the work that history has set before us. We welcome it,
and we know that for our country and for our cause, better days lie
ahead.
May God continue to bless America. Thank you very much.
Note: The President spoke at 12:05 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom at the San
Francisco Airport Marriott. In his remarks, he referred to Brad Freeman,
California State finance chairman, Bush-Cheney '04, Inc.; Gerald L.
Parsky, chairman, Team California, California Republican Party Board of
Directors; and comedian Dennis Miller.