    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book II)]
    [November 28, 2005]
    [Pages 1771-1774]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Dinner for Senator Jon Kyl in
    Phoenix, Arizona
    November 28, 2005

        Thanks for the warm welcome. It's really good to be here. I'm here
    because I strongly believe Jon Kyl needs to be reelected to the United
    States Senate.
        I'm here because I believe that when you find somebody who's got the
    utmost of integrity and is willing to work hard, that you ought to
    support him. Jon Kyl is highly respected. Jon Kyl is a leader. Jon Kyl
    has got the experience necessary to represent the people of Arizona. The
    people of this good State need to send Jon Kyl back to the United States
    Senate.
        And I appreciate you supporting him. I particularly want to thank
    the organizers of this event. It's a big event, by the way. [Laughter]
    Thanks for working over Thanksgiving to make this such a successful show
    of support for Jon Kyl, but it wouldn't be successful if it wasn't for
    the nature of the man that you're supporting. You've seen him. You know
    him. You know he loves the people of Arizona.
        McCain was kind of teasing him about the
    water issue, but it's a serious business to get it done, and it took
    somebody who knows his way around Washington, DC, to get the job done.
    That's what you want in a Senator; you want somebody who can go to
    Washington and represent the people of Arizona, from this State. You
    want somebody who doesn't fumble around and kind of preen for the
    cameras, but somebody who is effective. Jon Kyl is an effective United
    States Senator, and the people of this State need to send him back to
    Washington, DC.
        He also married well. [Laughter] And so did I. Laura sends her love to Jon and Caryll. Plus, I had the privilege of driving in the limousine
    with Arlene Kyl, Mom. And I want you to know that
    Jon Kyl, United States Senator from Arizona, still listens to his
    mother. [Laughter] That's a pretty good sign, isn't it?
        I want to thank Senator John McCain for his
    strong leadership in the United States Senate as well. He's a good man,
    a man of strong character and--[applause]. I appreciate the United
    States Congressmen who have joined us here today, Congressmen
    Hayworth and Shadegg and Flake. I'm--and Trent
    Franks. I enjoy working with these gentlemen.
    They care a lot about our Nation, and they care a lot about the State of
    Arizona, and they're doing a fine job in the House of Representatives.
    We're proud you all are here, and thanks for coming.
        Most of all, I want to thank you all for joining to help Jon. You
    know, you can't win unless you got a base of support. You can't--listen,
    I, fortunately, had my full of campaigns, but there's nothing like
    being--walking into a room full of enthusiastic supporters to give you
    that spirit, to kind of put that wind behind your back. And that's what
    you're doing for Jon Kyl.
        It's not easy to be in the United States Senate in this day and age.
    It's not easy to represent an important State like Arizona when you have
    to travel as far as you have to do to get here. And yet, this guy does a
    lot. He comes back and forth because he cares deeply. And I want to
    thank you all for standing squarely with him. There's nothing better
    than somebody who's seeking election than to be able to walk into a
    ballroom this full of enthusiastic people saying to Jon Kyl loud and
    clear, ``We're not only going to give of our money; we're going to give
    of our time to get you reelected to the United States Senate.''
        Look, I don't know how many U.S. Senators there are that like
    NASCAR. [Laughter] I view that as a pretty good sign, to have a United
    States Senator who follows NASCAR. It means he's down to earth. He
    doesn't walk around Washington with a lot of airs like some of them do.
    He's

    [[Page 1772]]

    a commonsense man who understands the values of the people. And that's
    why I'm proud that he invited me to come, and by the way, it took me no
    time to say yes.
        These are serious times in which we live, and it requires serious,
    experienced people to deal with the problems that we're confronted with.
    And the biggest problem we got is, we're still at war. I wish I could
    report to you we weren't at war, but there's an enemy that still lurks
    that wants to do harm to the United States of America. And they want to
    do us harm because we stand squarely for freedom and democracy, and
    we're not going to change. You see, they can't stand the fact that we
    allow people to worship freely, or to speak their mind in the public
    square, or to print articles the way they want to print them in America.
    They have a different view of the world. They've got this vision of
    darkness that stifles dissent and stifles the freedoms that many of us
    take for granted.
        They have declared their ambitions loud and clear.
    Zawahiri, the number-two man in the Al
    Qaida operation, has made it abundantly clear that they must drive
    America out of the Middle East, must drive us into an isolated state so
    that they can expand their totalitarian vision ``from Spain to
    Indonesia''--his words, not mine.
        They not only talk war, they declared war by attacking us on
    September the 11th, 2001, and this country must never forget the
    lessons. We cannot take our security for granted, and we must stay on
    the offensive against these killers and bring them to justice before
    they hurt the American people again. And that's what Senator Jon Kyl
    clearly understands, and that's another reason why the people of Arizona
    need to put him back in the United States Senate.
        The enemy has made Iraq a central front in this war on terror, so we
    must take it seriously. We're going to succeed in Iraq. We're going to
    succeed in Iraq because our vision and the vision of those in Iraq who
    believe in democracy is positive and hopeful, as opposed to the vision
    of the suiciders and killers of the innocent. We're going to succeed in
    Iraq because we've got a plan that will help the Iraqis not only develop
    a democracy but a security force.
        Listen, the Iraqis want to defend themselves. They want to be
    capable of fighting off an enemy, and our job is to make sure they are
    capable. We will stay until the job is done, not a day longer. We will
    get the job done in Iraq.
        And Jon Kyl understands that in this war on terror, it's important
    to have Members of the United States Senate who understand mixed
    messages and who understand that when we've got a kid in harm's way,
    that soldier deserves all the very best that the Federal Government can
    give him in terms of equipment and training and support.
        Jon Kyl has been a stalwart in this war on terror, and so has John
    McCain. And so have members of the United States
    congressional district. And I'm proud to fight this war side by side
    with them.
        Jon Kyl also understands what history has taught us, that
    democracies bring the peace we all want; that democracies don't fight
    with their neighbors; that democracies lay this foundation for a better
    future. He understands the lessons of history that I understand.
        You know, I just recently came off a trip to the Far East. By the
    way, representing the United States of America around the world is one
    of the great experiences of the Presidency. And it struck me that I was
    in a region of the world where there--where wars had started. You know,
    my dad and Senator McCain's relatives, I'm sure many of your relatives, fought the
    Japanese. They were our sworn enemy. And yet, there I was in Kyoto,
    Japan, sitting with my friend Prime Minister Koizumi talking about the peace, talking about what we can
    do in the Far East to work together to keep the peace, and what we can
    do in the Middle East to help rid that region of resentment and hatred,
    to help change

    [[Page 1773]]

    the breeding grounds for the recruitment of suiciders into a hopeful
    place. Isn't that amazing? Think about that. Who would have thought 50
    years ago or 60 years ago, a President of the United States could have
    stood here in Phoenix, Arizona, and said he sat down at the table with
    the Prime Minister of Japan talking about the peace. Nobody would have
    thought that way then.
        So what happened? Democracy prevailed. Japanese-style democracy came
    into being, and it yielded an ally. And what we're doing today in Iraq
    and elsewhere in the broader Middle East is laying that same foundation
    for peace. Someday, an American President is going to look back and say,
    ``Fifty years ago, fortunately we had leaders in the United States
    Senate like Jon Kyl who understood that by spreading democracy in the
    broader Middle East, they were laying the foundations of peace for
    generations to come.'' Jon Kyl needs to go back to the United States
    Senate.
        I want to talk about three other things right quick. One, you might
    remember that right after I came into office, this Nation had to deal
    with tough economic times. And I proposed and many in the United States
    Congress supported the idea of making sure we got out of the recession
    as quickly as possible by letting people keep more of their own money.
    We believe strongly that if a small-business person has more money to
    invest, it means more jobs are likely to be created. We believe strongly
    that if there's reduction in capital gains and dividend taxes, people
    are more likely to make investments. We believe the death tax is a bad
    tax. Jon Kyl supported the tax cuts, and he, like me, believes for the
    sake of economic vitality, we need to make the tax cuts permanent.
        And at the same time, he understands we can't waste your money.
    There's no tougher watchdog for the people's money than Jon Kyl. If
    people of Arizona want to make sure that the Federal Government doesn't
    waste your taxpayers' money, you need to send him back to the United
    States Senate. He's doing a great job when it comes to fiscal sanity in
    the Halls of the United States Senate.
        As Senator McCain mentioned today, the
    congressional delegation and myself went down to Tucson to talk about
    immigration. Jon Kyl understands the issue. He understands that we need
    to secure the border of the United States and is willing to work with
    the administration to do that. He's been a leader in increasing the
    number of Border Patrol agents, particularly those here in the State of
    Arizona. He understands the program of catch-and-release doesn't work,
    and so he is willing to help fund additional beds to detain non-Mexican
    illegal immigrants. He understands that we need to have strong worksite
    enforcement in the United States if we're going to have an immigration
    plan work.
        He understands that border security also means a rational--a
    temporary-worker plan, so our Border Patrol agents aren't chasing people
    coming to work; they're chasing criminals and drug lords. Jon Kyl
    understands clearly that the role of the Federal Government is to
    enforce the border of the United States of America, which is precisely
    what we're going to do.
        Finally, I want to talk about judges. I remember campaigning here in
    Arizona--I remember debating here in Arizona--and I remember saying a
    lot of times in 2000 and 2004, ``If you put me in office, I will
    nominate people for the bench who will strictly interpret the
    Constitution and not try to become a part of the legislative branch of
    Government.'' And those are the kind of judges I put up. And I can't
    thank Jon Kyl enough for making sure the judges I nominate get a fair
    hearing and an up-or-down vote on the floor of the United States Senate.
        Judge Roberts is going to make a
    great Chief of the Supreme Court, and Sam Alito is going to make a really fine replacement for Arizonan
    Sandra Day O'Connor. And Jon Kyl is
    going to be one of the leaders

    [[Page 1774]]

    in making sure that Sam Alito gets confirmed in the United States
    Senate. And if the people of this State want to make sure that we've got
    judges on the bench who strictly interpret the Constitution and not
    legislate from the bench, they need to return Jon Kyl to the United
    States Senate.
        I think you're getting the picture about where my position is on
    Kyl. I can't thank you enough for letting me come by to put my two cents
    in for Jon. He is--he's a classy guy. He is really the kind of person
    that you would hope would be serving you. You don't have to worry about
    him not telling the truth or doing something that would make you
    ashamed. He's not that kind of fellow. He's as--his integrity is as
    strong as it gets. And it seems like to me that when you've got an
    experienced hand, somebody who knows what he's doing in Washington, DC,
    somebody who can get the job done for people, somebody who brings
    integrity and decency to the office, that there's only one logical
    conclusion. For the sake of the State and for the sake of the country,
    Jon Kyl needs to be reelected to the United States Senate.
        Thanks for coming tonight. May God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 5:23 p.m. at the Arizona Biltmore Resort
    and Spa. In his remarks, he referred to Caryll Kyl, wife of Jon Kyl;
    Ayman Al-Zawahiri, founder of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and senior Al
    Qaida associate; and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan.