    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
    [June 28, 2006]
    [Pages 1225-1230]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Dinner for Senatorial Candidate James M. Talent in St. Louis
    June 28, 2006

        The President. Thanks for coming. Thanks a lot. Thanks for the warm
    welcome.
        Audience Member. Four more years! [Laughter]
        The President. No more wife. [Laughter]
        Thanks for supporting Jim Talent. He is a decent, honorable, can-do
    man who deserves to be reelected to the United States Senate.
        Laura and I are very fond of Jim and
    Brenda. Jim is very fond of Laura, to the
    point where he was hoping she would be the keynote speaker. [Laughter]
    But the Senator and I both married very well. You know, you cannot
    succeed in this line of work unless you've got a supportive family. It's
    really important. And the Talents have the right priorities: their faith
    and their family and their country. And that's another reason why he's a
    great United States Senator. So not only do I want to thank Jim for his
    service, I do want to thank Brenda for being such a fabulous partner to
    Jim. And I also want to welcome Michael and
    Chrissy, the Talent children. Thanks for
    coming.
        Laura sends her best. She not only sends her
    best to the Talents, she sends her best to Uncle Bucky and Aunt Patty.
    She sends her best to all our friends here in St. Louis. She is a
    fabulous First Lady, and I am proud to call her--proud she's my wife.
        I want to thank your Governor for joining us, Matt Blunt, and Melanie. Thank
    you for serving. Governors can make a big difference in the States--the
    State in which they live, and you are doing just that.
        Where's Branch? Yes. He was afraid
    he couldn't make it through the speech. [Laughter] It's good to see old
    Branch. I think I remember getting to know Branch kind of before Branch
    became Branch--[laughter]--during the 2004 campaign. But thank you all
    for coming, and thanks for your service. I'll tell your old man you're doing all right. [Laughter]
        I thank the Lieutenant Governor, Peter Kinder, for being here. Governor, it's good to see you again.
    Thanks for your service. I thank all the statehouse folks who are here.
    Thanks for serving. It's not an easy job to serve the communities in
    which you live, but it's important jobs. And so thanks for setting a
    good example.
        I appreciate so very much my friend Jack Oliver, who happens to be the finance chairman for this effort.
    And Rachel--thanks for coming, Rachel. It's a
    pretty big sacrifice for you to be here tonight. Is there a doctor in
    the house? [Laughter]
        I want to thank you all for--for those of you who organized this
    event. This is

    [[Page 1226]]

    a big, successful event, and it takes a lot of hard work. So for all of
    those who have helped organize this event, thanks a lot. It's important.
    You can't win without friends. And the Talent for Senate race is a vital
    race for the United States of America, and you're helping him.
        I want to thank the grassroots activists who are here. You're the
    folks who make the phone calls and put up the signs and turn out the
    vote. I want to thank you in advance for what you're going to do when
    we're coming down the stretch, which is to make sure that Jim Talent is
    not only backed financially but backed with your hard work and labor. He
    deserves your support. He has got a record to run on. He has made the
    people of Missouri proud, and he needs to be sent back to Washington,
    DC, for 6 more years.
        These are historic times in which we live, and it is essential that
    we have people in the United States Senate who are clear-eyed realists
    who see the world the way it is, not the way we would hope it would be.
    And the reason why it's important to have clear-eyed realists is because
    it's essential we do not forget the lessons of September the 11th, 2001.
    And one lesson is, is that in order to secure the homeland, we must
    defeat the enemy overseas so they do not hurt us here at home. And
    therefore, we must have a United States Senate who understands that we
    must stay on the offense in order to protect America.
        The second lesson is that when you see a threat, you must deal with
    that threat before it fully materializes. What that means is, is that
    oceans can no longer protect us, and if there's an enemy out there
    that's willing to do us harm, we must have United States Senators who
    are willing to take action to protect the homeland. And Jim Talent
    understands the world in which we live.
        Oh, I know some of them in Washington are trying to rewrite history.
    But we all saw a threat in Saddam Hussein.
    See, he had threatened his neighbors; he invaded his neighbors. He was a
    sworn enemy of the United States of America. He harbored terrorists. He
    had used weapons of mass destruction. He was hoping the world would look
    the other way so he could manufacture weapons of mass destruction, at
    the very least. He defied U.N. resolution after U.N. resolution.
    Republicans and Democrats looked at the same intelligence and saw a
    threat. And when he defied the U.N., we removed Saddam Hussein, and
    America and the world are better off for it.
        Iraq is a central front in the war on terror; it's not the only
    front. Today I went to the VFW hall and was able to thank in person men
    and women who have served in both Afghanistan and Iraq, two crucial
    fronts in the war on terror. But Iraq is now the central front, and
    we've got a plan to succeed, a plan for victory, a plan that will enable
    a new ally in the war on terror to govern itself, sustain itself, and
    defend itself as a free nation. The stakes are vital, and it is
    important that Missouri send a United States Senator who understands
    that retreat is not an option for the United States of America.
        One thing about old Jim Talent, he understands what I understand, is
    that when you put a man or woman in uniform and ask them to go into
    harm's way, they deserve the full support of the United States
    Government. We will complete the mission, and I will make my judgments
    as to the troop levels necessary to achieve victory not based upon
    political polls or focus groups but based upon the measured judgment of
    our commanders on the ground.
        Make no mistake about it: There's a group in the opposition party
    who are willing to retreat before the mission is done. They're willing
    to wave the white flag of surrender. And if they succeed, the United
    States will be worse off, and the world will be worse off. These are
    historic times. We will defeat the enemy by, one, bringing them to
    justice before they hurt us again,

    [[Page 1227]]

    and we will defeat the enemy--we will defeat their hateful ideology by
    spreading liberty.
        There's an interesting debate in the world today; it's an
    interesting debate as to whether or not liberty is universal or not. Jim
    Talent and I understand there's an Almighty; we understand a great gift
    of the Almighty is freedom for every man, woman, and child on this
    Earth. I'm not talking about just for Methodists or Texans. [Laughter]
    I'm talking about the universality of freedom. Everybody wants to be
    free, and everybody is desirous to be free. And freedom yields the peace
    we're looking for. The way to win this war on terror is not only to
    defeat the enemy abroad, but it's also to defeat them by spreading a
    hopeful ideology, an ideology which has worked in the past.
        You see, tomorrow I'm going to have an interesting day; every day is
    interesting when you're the President. [Laughter] I'm going to welcome
    Prime Minister Koizumi from Japan. And so
    we'll have the deal tomorrow, which is going to be a lot of fun, there
    on the South Lawn. And then we'll meet and have the press conference and
    a nice dinner. And then on Friday--Friday, we're going to Graceland.
    [Laughter] The Prime Minister, my dear friend, loves Elvis. [Laughter]
    So what better place to go.
        Isn't it interesting, though, when you think about this moment in
    history compared to what life was like 60 years ago. You see, I
    guarantee you there's some folks here whose relatives were in combat
    against the Japanese, the sworn enemy of the United States, a nation
    which had launched an attack on our country, killing--by the way, we
    lost more on September the 11th than we did on Pearl Harbor. But,
    nevertheless, it was an attack on the Nation, and our Nation responded
    with force. President Roosevelt understood when you're going after an
    enemy, you use all your assets. That's what I understand too. If you're
    going to commit your military, you commit it, so we can achieve victory.
    That's what he understood.
        And yet 60 years later, I'm meeting with the Prime Minister of the former enemy. I find that to be really
    interesting. One reason why I'm able to is because a fellow from
    Missouri named Harry S. Truman had faith in the universality of liberty.
    He understood that people desire to be free. And the reason I'm able to
    call Prime Minister Koizumi friend and ally is because Japan became a
    democracy in her own image, a democracy that recognizes the traditions
    and history of the Japanese people. Democracies don't fight each other.
    Democracies work together to yield the peace. Liberty has the capacity
    to change an enemy into a friend.
        And what you're seeing today in the Middle East is the spread of
    liberty. And it's hard work. It's hard work to replace tyranny with
    democracy, but it's necessary work. We're laying the foundations for
    peace. Someday, an Iraqi leader will be coming to America to sit down
    and to help keep the peace, and generations of America will be safer for
    it. And Jim Talent understands the stakes.
        I also appreciate the fact that he understands the nature of the
    enemy, and he understands we've got to be smart about how we defend the
    homeland. I've sworn to uphold the Constitution, and I will. I'm also
    expected to defend the United States of America. And when we think
    somebody from Al Qaida is calling in to somebody in the United States
    from out of the country, we want to know why. We want to know why
    somebody is talking to Al Qaida, in order to protect the United States
    of America.
        I told the American people we would defend ourselves. I remember all
    the kind of recommendations that we were getting, by the way, after 9/
    11. The 9/11 Commission took a look and said, ``You need to do more on
    cutting off the money of the terrorist organizations.'' Newspapers
    editorialized: Make sure you do what you need

    [[Page 1228]]

    to do to cut off their funding. One way to win the war on terror is to
    starve the enemy of money. I thought that made a lot of sense.
        And so the Treasury Department launched a program to track the flow
    of terrorist money. See, we wanted to watch the money that the
    terrorists were moving around. It's one way to help protect the American
    people. It's one way for us to do the job that you've expected us to do.
    The program we put in place is legal. We got a lot of lawyers in
    Washington who scrutinize that which we do. It's legal. It has been
    briefed to the United States Congress. Like the terrorist surveillance
    program, this program of chasing terrorist financing was briefed to
    Members of Congress. We want them to understand what we're doing. We
    have an obligation in the executive branch to work with the legislative
    branch.
        This program has been a vital tool in the war on terror. Last week,
    the details of this program appeared in the press. There can be no
    excuse for anyone entrusted with vital intelligence to leak it, and no
    excuse for any newspaper to print it.
        The American people expect the Government to protect them. That's
    what you expect. It's our most important job. Jim Talent understands,
    our most important job is to protect the American people. And they want
    our people to have the tools necessary to achieve victory in the war on
    terror and to do our job. The disclosure of this valuable program makes
    it harder for us to identify terrorist cells and their activities. It
    makes it harder for us to build international cooperation. It makes it
    harder to protect the American people. It's tough enough to fight the
    terrorists; we shouldn't have to worry about news organizations
    revealing important information that makes it more important--makes it
    more difficult to protect our country.
        We'll uphold our values; we'll follow the law; and I will do
    everything in my power to protect the American people. And it's
    important to have a United States Senator like Jim Talent who
    understands the stakes.
        One of the issues in this campaign is going to be who best to spend
    your money, you or the Federal Government. [Laughter] That's right. You
    know, it's amazing, I would hope people, when they go to the polls,
    would take a look at the economic record that we've achieved, a record
    that is really pretty remarkable when you think about what the economy
    has been through. We've been through a recession, a stock market
    correction, corporate scandals, an attack on the United States of
    America, two major theaters in the war on terror to defend ourselves,
    natural disasters, and high energy prices. And yet the economic growth
    of the United States is the envy of the industrialized world. The
    national unemployment rate is 4.6 percent. We've created millions of new
    jobs in the last couple of years. The entrepreneurial spirit is high.
    Small businesses are flourishing. More people own a home than ever
    before in our Nation's history. Productivity is high.
        This economy is strong, and we intend to keep it that way. And one
    reason it's strong is because we cut the taxes on the American people.
    We didn't cut just some taxes; we cut taxes for everybody who pays
    taxes. Talent and I don't believe we use the Tax Code to play political
    favorites. We said, ``If you're paying taxes, you deserve tax relief.''
    And guess who benefits? People with children; investors, because we've
    reduced the dividend--the taxes on dividends and capital gains; small
    businesses--most small businesses pay tax at the individual income tax
    rate because they're sole proprietorships or subchapter S's. When you
    hear them talking about, ``Oh, we're just going to tax the rich,'' what
    Talent's opponent is really saying is, ``We're going to tax small
    businesses,'' and that's bad for job creation in Missouri. Jim and I
    believe we need to get rid of the death tax once and for all.
        You know, it's amazing when you listen to the debate up there in
    Washington about

    [[Page 1229]]

    the budget. We've got a plan to cut the budget in half by--the deficit
    in half by 2009, and we're on our way to doing that. You know what's
    amazing is, when you cut the taxes, it causes the economy to grow. And
    when the economy grows, it yields more tax revenues than you
    anticipated. That's what's happening. That's what progrowth economic
    policies do for your budget.
        The problem in Washington is, is that sometimes they take those
    revenues and don't apply it to the deficit; they apply it to additional
    programs, see. And so one of the reasons I like Talent so much is, he
    understands that to get the deficit cut in half, you got to be wise
    about spending your money. And we're doing a fine job on it.
        Now, I recognize that the budgets have gone up, but for this reason:
    So long as we have a troops in harm's way, we're going to spend what is
    ever necessary to get he or she the equipment, the training, and the pay
    to win the war on terror. That's what we owe the folks. That's what we
    owe their families.
        But we have cut nonsecurity discretionary spending, last year, and
    we intend to do it again this year. And that's hard to do because every
    program sounds good. But if you listen to the debate about--the other
    side, how they want to balance the budget, they say, ``Let's just raise
    some taxes to balance the budget.'' That's not the way Washington works.
    If the other side gets in power, they will raise your taxes, and I
    promise you, they will figure out new ways to spend your money. The best
    way to balance the budget is to keep the taxes low and to set priorities
    with the people's money and to be wise and fiscally sound, just like Jim
    Talent is.
        And I need this tool to be able to do my job: the line-item veto.
    And Jim Talent is one of the Senate sponsors and leaders on the line-
    item veto.
        Health care is an issue. And so we took a look at the Medicare
    program. My attitude is this, and I know Jim agrees with me: If you're
    going to provide health care for our seniors, let's make sure it's
    modern. Makes sense for the taxpayers and certainly makes sense for the
    seniors. And the Medicare system--which was signed by Lyndon Baines
    Johnson, by the way--had become stale and old. I will give you an
    example. Our system would pay for a ulcer surgery--20, $15,000, whatever
    it costs--but not a dime for the medicine that would prevent the ulcer
    surgery from being needed in the first place. In other words, medicine
    was changing, but Medicare didn't.
        And so we got together and said, ``How can we improve this for the
    seniors? How can we make it work?'' And we also added another feature to
    a new and improved Medicare. We said, ``If you're poor, you shouldn't
    have to choose between medicine and food.'' We said, ``If you're a poor
    senior, you shouldn't have to make that difficult choice of the medicine
    necessary to keep you going or the food necessary to keep you going.''
        And so we modernized Medicare. We improved the system. We delivered
    on behalf of the seniors. And Jim Talent gets a lot of credit for
    modernizing Medicare. And he's running against a person who said she
    would have voted against the bill, this bill that is positive for
    seniors, was necessary for our seniors. And I am proud to have signed
    it, and I am proud to have worked with Jim Talent to make the Medicare
    work better.
        We have got a national security and economic security problem when
    it comes to energy. We've got to do something about our addiction to
    oil. I know it sounds odd for some to think--a Texan to say, but that's
    the way I feel. [Laughter] I understand the consequences of living in a
    global economy. When the demand for hydrocarbons goes up in China and
    India, it affects the price of gasoline here in St. Louis, Missouri.
    That's the way it works. I'm worried about a situation where sometimes
    we get our hydrocarbons from people that

    [[Page 1230]]

    don't like us, and that creates a national security problem.
        I'm proud to be standing side by side with Jim Talent and his
    efforts to promote alternative sources of energy like ethanol. He led
    the renewable fuel standard in the Halls of the United States Senate. He
    is more than a talker; he's a doer. He's getting stuff done for Missouri
    and the American people.
        I appreciate his work on methamphetamine eradication. He's a leader
    in the United States Senate. You've got a problem in Missouri, and we've
    got a problem around the country in methamphetamines. Jim Talent is
    working hard to deliver positive legislation and decent appropriations
    to fight methamphetamines. And I want to thank you for your fight and
    thank you for your struggle.
        He gets things done. There's a lot of noise in Washington. But, you
    know, when you find somebody who is a positive person, who is able to
    accomplish things, you've got to send him back to Washington, DC. Talent
    can deliver for the people of Missouri and for the people of the United
    States. He's got a proven track record. He deserves to be reelected. I
    love his values.
        I love the fact that he understands the judiciary needs to be filled
    with people who aren't going to legislate from the bench but will
    strictly interpret the Constitution of the United States. I'm proud that
    he stood up strong for Judge Roberts
    and Judge Alito, two really fine
    members of the Supreme Court. It's another issue in this campaign. Who
    do you want in the Senate to be able to confirm and battle for what kind
    of judges? You want judges that are--that understand the limitation of
    the judiciary. We got plenty of legislators in Washington. That's not
    the role of a judge. The judge is to interpret the Constitution of the
    United States. Jim Talent understands this. Most Missouri citizens
    understand the proper role of the judiciary. He's in tune with Missouri.
        He's in tune with Missouri when it comes to taxes. He understands
    the farm issue. He understands small businesses. He is in tune with the
    elders and seniors of Missouri. He's a good man who's delivered a lot
    for the people of this State. He stands on solid moral ground. You don't
    have to worry about his honesty. You never have to worry about his
    integrity. He's a decent, honorable person that deserves reelection to
    the United States Senate. Thanks for coming, and God bless.

    Note: The President spoke at 5:24 p.m. at the Ritz-Carlton. In his
    remarks, he referred to Melanie Anderson Blunt, wife of Gov. Matt Blunt
    of Missouri, and their son, William Branch Blunt; Rachel Oliver, wife of
    John L. Oliver III, finance chair, Jim Talent for U.S. Senate; former
    President Saddam Hussein of Iraq; and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
    of Japan.