    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
    [March 9, 2006]
    [Pages 431-438]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the Georgia Republican Party's President's Day Dinner in
    College Park, Georgia
    March 9, 2006

        Thank you all. I appreciate you coming. Please be seated. Thanks for
    being here. I appreciate the warm reception. Thanks for letting me come
    back to Georgia. I'm proud to be here to help support the Republican
    Party of Georgia, which is changing this State for the better.
        And I'm proud to be introduced by Sonny Perdue, who is doing a heck of a good job as the Governor of
    this State. So here's the thing I like about Sonny: One, he married
    well. [Laughter] Where's Mary? Oh, there she is.
    Hi, Mary, good to see you. Thanks for being here. Secondly, he said his
    favorite title in life is not ``Governor'' but ``Big Buddy.'' [Laughter]
    You know who calls him ``Big Buddy''? His grandkids. Sonny has got his
    priorities straight. I'm proud to call him friend, and I know you're
    proud to call him Governor.
        By the way, Mary, Laura sends her very best and her love. Laura is a remarkable
    person. She is patient, especially to be married to me. [Laughter] One
    of the things that I love about being the President is, well, I've got a
    45-second commute--[laughter]--and when I get home, there's a person
    there who is a wonderful partner in serving our country. She understands
    what I know: It's a huge honor to be the First Couple of the United
    States. And she is making an enormous difference in the lives of people
    in west Texas-type ways. And so she sends her love and sends her best.
        I want to thank the--first of all, let me say something about your
    two United States
    Senators. They had votes, and that's good that they stayed there to do
    the job that you send them to do. I was incredibly proud to watch them
    help shepherd through two
    Supreme Court Justices I named. When I
    campaigned in Georgia, I said, ``If you elect me to be President, I will
    name people to the bench who will strictly interpret the Constitution
    and not try to write laws from the bench.'' I did so with Chief Justice
    Roberts, Judge Alito. And Senator Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson
    were strong supporters for those nominees.
        I want to thank the Members of the United States Congress who have
    joined us here today: Nathan Deal from north
    Georgia; John Linder; Phil Gingrey; Lynn Westmoreland; and
    Tom Price. Thank you all for joining us. We spent
    some quality time on Air Force One flying down here. These are smart
    people. They never pass up a free flight when they're offered one.
    [Laughter] But I enjoy them. They're good folks--good, down-to-earth,
    decent folks serving the State of the Georgia in the United States
    Congress, and I'm proud to call them friends.
        I want to thank Glenn Richardson, who
    is the speaker of the house. I want to thank Eric Johnson, the president pro tem of the State senate. I want to
    thank all those who are serving in the statehouse. It's a--it is an
    important job.
        You know things are changing in Georgia when you say welcome to
    the speaker--[laughter]--and welcome to the
    leader of the senate. The Republican Party here
    has done a good job of establishing a grassroots political base that is
    not only helping people like me, but it's changing the statehouse for
    the better in the State of Georgia.

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        I want to thank Alec Poitevint, the
    mighty chairman and national committeeman of the great State of Georgia.
    Alec, good to see you, and Doreen is here.
    Alec has got his priorities straight. I've known him for a long period
    of time. We're quite familiar with each other. He said, ``How many
    turkeys you got on your ranch?'' I said, ``I haven't been counting them
    lately.'' He says, ``Well, I've been counting them on mine.'' The man's
    got his priorities straight. [Laughter]
        I want to thank people who are running for office. I appreciate you
    willing to put your name on the line. I want to thank you for your
    willingness to get out and shake hands and tell people what you believe
    and speak from the heart. Two candidates running for the Lieutenant
    Governor with us, Casey Cagle and Ralph
    Reed, and I appreciate them both being here
    tonight.
        Finally, I want to say something about two Mac--well, one Mac, one
    Max. [Laughter] One of the reasons I've come down here is to thank you
    for supporting two good folks who are running for the United States
    Congress, Mac Collins and Max
    Burns. I know them well. I know Mac's wife,
    Julie, and I know Max's wife, Lora. I've served with them before. I have seen what kind of
    people they are up close. They're principled gentlemen. They understand
    the risks to the world in which we live. They're smart with the people's
    money. I urge the people of Georgia to send Mac Collins and Max Burns
    back to the United States Congress. [Applause] I knew they were there
    somewhere.
        And finally, I want to say something about Sonny. I think the people of this State need to judge your
    Governor based upon performance. He is a fellow who has performed. He's
    delivered results. He said he was going to do some things when he ran
    for the Governor of your State, and he did. I don't know if you
    remember, but when he took office, Georgia wasn't doing that well in the
    economy. Matter of fact, you were losing jobs. I don't know if people
    remember in this great State, but when Sonny first came into office, he
    had a State deficit of $620 million. Today, Georgia's economy is on the
    march. You're increasing jobs; people are working; and you've got a
    surplus in the State treasury.
        Now, Sonny knows how to get things done.
    And one of the main reasons I have come down here is to thank the good
    people of your State for electing such a good man to be the Governor of
    an important State. Sonny Perdue deserves to be reelected as the
    Governor of the State of Georgia.
        We're living in historic times. We are a country still at war. I
    wish I could report--give you a different report. My job is to see the
    world the way it really is, not to see the world the way some would hope
    it would be. My job is--my thinking is, really--was defined on September
    the 11th--you've just got to know that.
        Some of my buddies from Texas come over there to the White House,
    and they say, ``What's it like to be the President?'' First of all, I'm
    a person who is so honored to be sustained by the prayers of millions of
    people. It is--one of the truly great blessings of the Presidency is to
    be uplifted in prayer by people I never get to thank personally.
        Secondly, I make a lot of decisions. It's a decisionmaking
    experience. Sonny will tell you, as the
    Governor of a State, you make decisions. That's what a chief executive
    officer does. In order to make decisions, you've got to make decisions
    based upon principle. And if not exactly sure what information you need,
    you've got to rely upon good people to give you information so you can
    make good decisions. A lot of my decisionmaking has come about as a
    result of the attack on our country. See, after that day, I vowed that I
    would do everything in my power to protect the United States of America
    from further attack.
        That's why I'm proud to stand with Members of the United States
    Congress

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    and candidates for Congress who understand our biggest job, our most
    important responsibility in Washington, is to protect the American
    people and never forget the lessons of September the 11th, 2001. I knew
    one of the challenges for our country would be, the farther we got away
    from that date, that day, that people would want to forget the trauma of
    the day and might be willing to forget the lessons learned on that day.
    I can assure you, these Members of Congress won't forget the lessons of
    that day, and neither will I.
        And today I had the honor in the White House of signing an extension
    of the PATRIOT Act. We've asked brave souls to be on the frontline of
    fighting terrorists. They deserve every possible tool, while we
    safeguard the civil liberties of the United States of America. Thank you
    all for supporting the PATRIOT Act. We did the right thing in
    Washington.
        After the attacks on the country, I did what you would expect me to
    do, and asked people who are on the frontlines of defending you whether
    or not there was--there's more we could be doing. What can we do more to
    protect the American people? I vowed on September the 11th I would do
    everything I can to protect the American people. I would rally the
    assets and resources and brain power of our country to protect you.
        And so I called people in, and I said, ``Is there anything else we
    could have done to prevent the attacks from September the 11th?'' And a
    general named Mike Hayden said, ``I
    believe there is, Mr. President. I believe we can design a system that
    will enable us to listen to a call from outside the country in, from a
    known Al Qaida affiliate or a suspected Al Qaida affiliate.'' I said,
    that makes sense, doesn't it? If the people inside the country that
    planned the attacks on the United States were making phone calls out,
    we'd want to know that prior to any attack.
        And so I said, ``Mike, show me how the
    system would work.'' I then called in lawyers--and we've got a lot of
    them in Washington. [Laughter] By the way, two of my favorite lawyers
    are here today, Dan Coats and Connie
    Mack, former United States Senators who
    have been close to the White House on a variety of matters. So I'm not
    denigrating you two guys; I like lawyers. [Laughter] But we've got a lot
    of them--[laughter]--and some smart ones.
        And I said, ``Is the program that the NSA is recommending legal?''
    That's what you'd expect the President to do. You'd expect the President
    to ask, is there more we could do, and if the suggestion--if someone
    made a suggestion, the first question is, is it legal to do so? And they
    came back and said, ``Mr. President, you have the authority to do this
    program''--in other words, it's legal.
        Before I implemented the program, a program, by the way, which is
    limited in nature--phone calls coming from inside the country out and
    outside in, with one of the numbers being known Al Qaida, suspected Al
    Qaida, and affiliates--I then recognized that the United States Congress
    would be interested in this subject. So we briefed leaders from both
    parties, both chambers, on a program to protect the American people.
    We've kept them abreast more than one time, in a series of briefings,
    about a program that is necessary to protect the American people. As my
    buddy in Texas said, ``If you're trying to do something illegal, why did
    you brief the Congress?'' [Laughter]
        What we're doing is the right thing. My thinking process, my
    decisionmaking, is based upon my understanding of the job of the
    President and the Federal Government--is to protect our people so we
    never have to go through what we went again. It is right; it is
    necessary to listen to Al Qaida. If Al Qaida is making a phone call into
    the United States of America or vice versa, we want to know why, in
    order to protect this country.
        In order to protect this country, we must remember the lessons of
    September the

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    11th. And lesson number one is, we have got to stay on the offense
    against the terrorist network that would like to do harm to the United
    States of America, and we are. We are on the hunt. We've got some
    fantastic men and women who wear our Nation's uniform doing everything
    they can to find the terrorists before they can hurt us again. It's hard
    to plan and plot and destroy America if you're on the run. And we're
    bringing a lot of the killers to justice. And I will continue to insist
    that we pursue the killers to keep America safe.
        The second lesson, since this is a different kind of war, is that if
    you harbor a terrorist, you're equally as guilty as the terrorist. We're
    dealing with a shadowy network. We're not fighting nation-states. We're
    fighting a group of coldblooded killers who adopted an ideology that's
    the exact opposite of America, that tries to find safe haven. And
    therefore, part of the strategy is to deny the enemy safe haven. And
    when the President says something, he better mean what he says, and I
    meant what I said when I said to the Taliban, ``Give up Al Qaida.'' And
    when they refused, the United States of America removed a barbaric
    regime for our own security, and in so doing, however, we liberated 25
    million people from the clutches of these barbaric people.
        Another lesson of September the 11th is that we must deal with
    threats before they come to hurt us. You see, prior to September the
    11th, 2001, a lot of folks assumed that we were safe in America. In
    other words, we could see a threat somewhere overseas, but we were fine.
    Oceans protected us; perhaps our might protected us. But that all
    changed for me on September the 11th, 2001. Whenever we see a threat,
    the United States of America must take them seriously. We cannot take
    threats for granted. I saw a threat; the world saw a threat; people in
    the United Nations Security Council saw a threat; Republicans on Capitol
    Hill saw a threat; Democrats on Capitol Hill saw a threat in Saddam
    Hussein.
        And the reason they saw a threat--this is a man who at least had the capacity to manufacture weapons;
    he had used weapons of mass destruction; he was on the terrorist list of
    the United States of America; he killed thousands of his own citizens;
    he was firing at U.S. jets; and he invaded his neighbor. He was a
    threat, and getting rid of Saddam Hussein has made America safer and the
    world a better place.
        And I'm proud to be on stage with people who understood the stakes
    and stand strong, particularly when we put men and women in harm's way.
    I'm proud to have people up here who understand that any time we put an
    American volunteer into harm's way, he or she deserves the best pay, the
    best training, and the best possible equipment.
        We've got a strategy for victory in Iraq. Now, you got to
    understand, we're facing an enemy that can't beat us militarily, and
    they certainly can't beat us ideologically. And they've got one weapon,
    and their weapon is the willingness to kill innocent people and to have
    the horror on the TV screens, understanding full well that the American
    people are decent and compassionate people. That's the only weapon they
    have.
        Their goal, their stated goal, is to drive the United States of
    America and allies out of the Middle East so they can spread their
    totalitarian vision. That's what they've said, and when the enemy says
    something, we got to take them seriously. They believe we're weak. They
    believe their tactics will cause us to run. The United States of America
    will not run in the face of thugs and assassins, and we're going to
    stand strong in support of people who expressed themselves last year at
    the ballot box in the face of incredible threats. Eleven million Iraqis
    said loud and clear to the world, ``We reject civil war. We want our
    freedom, and we want our democracy.'' And America is proud to stand with
    them.

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        We have a political strategy, and that is to encourage the votes
    which took place last year under--and they ratified a Constitution,
    which is a modern constitution. A government should be a unified
    government that recognizes minority rights so that the people--when the
    people speak, government responds.
        And secondly, we have a security strategy that says loud and clear
    that we want the Iraqis to take the fight to the enemy. As the Iraqis
    stand up, our troops will stand down. But I want to assure you, what I
    said in the State of the Union is what I mean. Troop levels in Iraq will
    be decided not by Washington, DC, politics but by the commanders on the
    ground. I will be making the military decisions necessary to win this
    war not based upon focus groups or opinion polls but based upon the
    solid, sound advice of a group of really fine military commanders.
        Our objective is a country that can defend itself and sustain
    itself, a country that will not be a safe haven for Al Qaida and its
    terrorist network, a country which will be a ally in the war on terror,
    and a country will--which will serve as a powerful example for others in
    a part of the world that is desperate for freedom.
        And so the ultimate way to achieve our objectives, which is to lay
    the foundation of peace for generations to come, is to help people live
    in liberty and help spread democracy. The people of the Middle East must
    understand that when I say democracy, I don't mean American-style
    democracy. I mean a democracy which reflects the values and the history
    and the tradition of the country in which democracy is spreading.
        But I do believe in the universality of liberty. I personally
    believe there is an Almighty God, and I believe a gift from the Almighty
    God to every man and woman on the face of the Earth is freedom. Our
    country was formed based upon the natural rights of men and women, and
    we believe those natural rights extend to men and women all across the
    globe. The United States of America believes people desire to be free.
    And by freeing people, we are laying the foundation of peace for
    generations to come.
        I've trotted this story out a lot, or my beliefs out a lot, about
    the effects of freedom. But let me try to explain for--particularly the
    youngsters here--about what I mean for laying the foundation for peace
    to come.
        One of my best buddies in the international arena is Prime Minister
    Koizumi of Japan. What's interesting about
    that is 60 years ago, my dad, as an 18-
    year-old fighter pilot, Navy fighter pilot--and I'm sure many relatives
    of folks here fought the Japanese, because they were the sworn enemy.
    And this is one of the bloodiest of all wars. A lot of people lost their
    lives on both sides of this conflict. And yet today, the American
    President can speak to an audience in Atlanta, Georgia, and say, ``I sit
    down at the table with Prime Minister Koizumi to keep the peace, to deal
    with some of the tough issues around the world. He's a partner in
    peace.''
        And so what happened? Something had to have happened between 18-
    year-old fighter pilot George H.W. Bush and
    George W. standing here as the President. And what happened was, Japan
    adopted a Japanese-style democracy. You see, democracies yield the
    peace, and someday, someday, if we do not lose our nerve and our will,
    an American President will be talking to a duly elected leader from
    Iraq, working together to keep the peace, and our children and
    grandchildren will be better off.
        Now that you're stuck here, I'm going to tell you something else.
    [Laughter] Our economy has been through a lot in a relatively quick
    period of time. We've been through a recession; we've been through
    corporate scandals; we've been through a devastating attack on our
    country; we have dealt with war; we have dealt with high energy prices;
    and we have dealt with natural disasters, large natural disasters. Last

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    year, our economy grew at 3.5 percent. The national unemployment rate is
    4.7 percent. That's lower than the average rate of the 1970s, 1980s, and
    1990s. We added 4.7 million new jobs over 2\1/2\ years. After-tax real
    income is up 8 percent. Productivity is at an alltime high. More people
    own a home than ever before in our Nation's history; more minority
    families own a home than ever before in our Nation's history. We're
    doing something right in Washington, DC, and you know what it is? We've
    unleashed the entrepreneurial spirit of the United States because of
    real, meaningful tax cuts. Republicans believe that the more money you
    have in the pocket, the more you save, invest, and spend, the better off
    this economy is.
        The tax relief we passed and these Members voted for, these
    candidates voted for, is set to expire. And if it does, the American
    people are going to get a tax increase they don't expect and they don't
    want. In order to make sure this economy continues to grow, in order to
    make sure the entrepreneurial spirit continues to remain strong, in
    order to make sure the small-business sector of our economy is as strong
    as it is today, we need to make the tax relief permanent.
        Now, I know what they're going to say. They're going to say, ``How
    can you balance the budget if you cut the taxes?'' People will say,
    ``Well, we need to raise your taxes in order to balance the budget.''
    That's not the way Washington works. What will happen is they will raise
    your taxes and figure out new ways to spend your money. The best way to
    balance the budget is to keep progrowth economic policies in place and
    be wise about how we spend your money. We're on our way to cutting that
    deficit in half by 2009, and I want to thank the Members up here for
    making the tough choices when it comes to our budget.
        We got a choice to make in this country: Do we become a
    protectionist, isolated nation, or do we continue to lead? I made my
    choice. I believe America is better off when America takes a leadership
    role in this world. I believe we should not fear our economic future,
    because we should shape it. Part of shaping the future is to keep taxes
    low. Part of shaping our future is to get rid of these junk and
    frivolous lawsuits that are running good capital out of America.
        Part of shaping our future is to make sure we're not hooked on oil.
    I know that sounds odd for a Texan to say. [Laughter] But if you see the
    world from my perspective, I think you would agree with me. Being
    addicted to oil is a problem. When demand for hydrocarbons or fossil
    fuels goes up in developing parts of the world, it causes the price of
    gasoline to go up here at home. When parts of the world that don't like
    the United States of America threaten to withhold supplies of oil from
    the market, it creates a national security problem. And so I'm looking
    forward to working with Congress to diversify away from oil, to spend
    money on research and development so we can have plug-in hybrid
    automobiles that can drive the first 40 miles on electricity, to spend
    money to make sure that our technologies are able to help us develop
    ethanol. Look, we want our farmers in Georgia growing crops that can run
    our automobiles. We need to become less dependent on foreign sources of
    oil in order to be a competitive nation.
        We need nuclear power and solar power and wind power. In order for
    this country to be competitive in the out years, in order for us to be
    confident about our national security, we have got to be less addicted
    to Middle Eastern oil, and I intend to lead that country this direction.
        I want to talk to you about a couple of other things, about a
    competitiveness agenda. How do you stay competitive in a global economy?
    The key to making sure that America remains the leader in the world is
    to make sure our children are educated. You see, if our kids don't have
    the skills for the jobs of the 21st century, they're going to go
    somewhere else. That's

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    just a fact of life. And so therefore, I told the United States Congress
    we need to work together to make sure that we're not only the leader in
    research and development, in technological development, but to make sure
    our children have got math and science skills so that we are educating
    the engineers of the future and the physicists of the future and the
    chemists of the future.
        I want to congratulate Sonny Perdue for
    implementing the No Child Left Behind Act. I've heard all the debates
    about it; I'm sure you have as well: ``How dare the Government
    measure?'' Look, my attitude is, we're spending money. The taxpayer
    wants to know whether the money is well-spent. If you're spending money
    to teach a child to read and write, doesn't it make sense to measure, to
    determine whether or not the child is reading or writing? Doesn't it
    make sense to believe every child can read and demand that the school
    system teach every child to read? And how do you know? You measure. And
    if you find a child not reading early, I think it makes sense to provide
    additional help, additional money for each child, like we're doing
    through No Child Left Behind Act, so no child is left behind. No,
    Republicans should stand for high standards and the belief that every
    child can learn, and we ought to demand change where we find children
    trapped in schools that will not teach and will not change.
        And we're getting results. We're getting results nationwide. There's
    an achievement gap in America that's not right. We've got too many of
    our African American kids and young Latino kids who can't read at grade
    level. But that's changing. See, we're measuring, we're correcting
    problems early, before it's too late. And that achievement gap is
    narrowing, and America is better off for it.
        And we've got a problem when it comes to math. See, our fourth
    graders are testing fine in math but then falling off in the eighth
    grade. So what I want to do is apply the same rigor we've done for
    reading in the early grades to math in the middle grades to make sure
    that America is competitive, to make sure that our children have the
    skills necessary to fill the jobs of the 21st century. This country of
    ours should not fear the future. We ought to welcome the future and
    shape the future. And the United States of America must put policies in
    place to make sure that we're the leading economy in the world, for the
    sake of our people and the sake of people who want to find work. And
    that's exactly what I intend to do for this country.
        And finally--you'll probably be happy to hear the word,
    ``finally''--I'm going to continue to work with people on this stage to
    promote a culture of life in the United States of America. We believe
    every person matters, every person counts. We believe that--we believe
    in medicine and sound science, but we don't believe in taking life to
    promote science. We believe in upholding values that are important. We
    believe in the faith-based initiatives. We understand there are people
    in this part of the world and people all over our country who hurt.
        We also understand the limitation of government. Government can hand
    out money, but it cannot put hope in a person's heart or a sense of
    purpose in a person's life. That's done when a loving individual finds a
    stranger in need or a child who needs to learn to read or a person
    addicted, says, ``I love you, brother,'' or, ``I love you, sister. What
    can I do to help you?'' The greatest strength of the United States of
    America is not our military, and it's not the size of our wallet. The
    greatest strength of the United States of America lies in the hearts and
    souls of millions of our citizens who've heard the universal call to
    love a neighbor just like you'd like to be loved themselves and are
    doing that on a daily basis.
        We've got millions of our citizens who are helping change America
    one heart, one soul, and one conscience at a time. And

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    it's important for the Federal Government and the State government not
    to fear the armies of compassion but to support the armies of compassion
    as they help make this country a hopeful, optimistic place for every
    citizen who is honored to call themselves an American.
        Listen, I love being your President. I love being back in Georgia.
    Thanks for giving me a chance to come back. Thanks for joining this
    great festival that celebrates the Republican Party of the great State
    of Georgia. And God bless.

    Note: The President spoke at 6:22 p.m. at the Georgia International
    Convention Center. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Sonny Perdue of
    Georgia, and his wife, Mary; and Alec Poitevint, State chairman and
    national committeeman, Georgia Republican Party, and his wife, Doreen.