    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
    [March 27, 2006]
    [Pages 576-580]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Reception for Senatorial Candidate Conrad Burns
    March 27, 2006

        Senator, thank you. I kind of like being on the same platform as
    Senator Burns because he makes me sound like Shakespeare. [Laughter] I
    like a plain-talking fellow. The good thing about Conrad Burns is you
    know where he stands. That's why the people of Montana respect him and
    they like him. And I'm here to urge the good people

    [[Page 577]]

    of the State of Montana to send him back to the United States Senate.
        I appreciate Phyllis. Phyllis, it's great
    to see you. Conrad married well. [Laughter] So did I. And Laura sends her love to both you all. It was neat to meet
    daughter Keely and son Garrett, daughter-in-law Kate. But
    right before we came on, the Senator wanted me to make sure I understood
    how brilliant and beautiful his granddaughter Ella is. That says something about the man. He's got his
    priorities straight. He cares deeply about his family. He understands
    the importance of family in our society, and I appreciate your
    priorities, Senator.
        By the way, he also loves Montana. Every time I see him, he says,
    ``I want you to remember the great State of Montana.'' He cares deeply
    about the people there, and he knows the State about as well as anybody
    could possibly know it. He's traveled the State. He tells people what's
    on his mind. He is--he's a down-to-earth guy. And the people of Montana
    have got to understand he can get some things done here in Washington,
    DC. No, there's a lot of eloquent folks in this town, but it's sometimes
    short of doers and people who can accomplish some things. I'm here
    because Senator Burns can get some things done for the good of the
    people of Montana and the people of the United States of America.
        I thank Congressman Denny Rehberg for
    being here as well. He's a good, down-to-earth guy too. And he's serving
    the great State of Montana with class and dignity. He is the--he's the
    leader of the Montana congressional delegation. [Laughter]
        I appreciate Senator Kit Bond. Senator Bond from Missouri is here tonight. It's nice
    of him to come by. It's good of you to honor your old buddy, and I'm
    proud to--I recently said hello to former Senator Don Nickles from Oklahoma. Don, thank you for coming here as
    well. Montana has elected some fine people--no finer person than Marc
    Racicot, who I've gotten to know really well,
    and I appreciate you being here, Governor. Thanks for coming.
        Karl Ohs, who is the chairman of the Republican
    Party, and Sherri, is with us--Republican Party
    of Montana, that is. I appreciate you being here, Mr. Chairman. Thanks
    for coming. I want to thank John Green, who is
    the finance chair. Thank you all for listening to John's admonition to
    support this good man. Long word--he's trying to show off here for the
    folks of Montana. [Laughter]
        I particularly want to thank the International Union of Painters and
    Allied Trades for endorsing Conrad Burns tonight. The Painters' general
    president, Jimmy Williams, is here. Jimmy,
    thank you for supporting this good man. I'm proud you're here. There's
    Jimmy over there.
        We've got a lot to do in this country. We're in--we're going through
    historic times, and it's important to have people in the United States
    Senate who understand the stakes, understand the world in which we live.
    It's important to have clear-eyed realists working with the
    administration to lay the foundation for peace. It's really easy to be
    out there talking about the world the way you'd like it to be, but we
    can't afford that luxury because we're in a war against some terrorists
    who would like to harm America again.
        Our--over my time--my remaining time here and the time that Senator
    Burns will have here after he's reelected, we'll be working on making
    sure that we accomplish our most important objective, and that is to
    protect the American people from further harm. I know some probably
    think that, well, this war on terror is isolated to a few angry
    individuals that got lucky on September the 11th. That's not how I look
    at the world, and that's not how Conrad Burns looks at the world. After
    that attack, I vowed that I'd use everything in our national--everything
    we could, all our national assets to do our most important

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    job, and that is defend the American people, which means we better have
    some people in the United States Senate who understand the best way to
    defend the American people is to stay on the offense against an enemy
    who would do us harm, to defeat an enemy overseas so we do not have to
    face them here at home.
        I appreciate people standing up and supporting the President when he
    enforces doctrine. I said to the world, ``If you harbor a terrorist,
    you're equally as guilty as the terrorist.'' And the Taliban didn't take
    us seriously. So for our own national security and for liberating
    others, we sent a mighty coalition into Afghanistan to free the people
    of that country and, at the same time, secure our own. And Conrad Burns
    stood strong when it came to the liberation of Afghanistan, and I want
    to thank you for your support.
        I want to thank you for your support in Iraq. Iraq is the central
    front in the war on terror. And one of the lessons of September the 11th
    is that when this Nation sees a threat, we must take the threat
    seriously, before it materializes.
        And I saw a threat in Saddam Hussein. But
    it wasn't just me who saw the threat. Members of the United States
    Senate from both political parties saw the same threat. My predecessor
    saw the threat. Members of the House of Representatives from both
    political parties saw the threat. Fifteen members of the United Nations
    Security Council saw the threat. And the United Nations Security Council
    said to Saddam Hussein, ``Disclose, disarm, or face serious
    consequences.'' It was his choice to make. He chose war. And the world
    is better off without Saddam Hussein in power.
        And we need people in the United States Senate who understand the
    stakes in this theater of the war on terror. The enemy cannot defeat us.
    They cannot defeat us militarily. The only thing they can do is to use
    their terror tactics to shake our will. And I'm enjoying working with a
    United States Senator like Conrad Burns whose will cannot be shaken
    because of the actions of thugs and assassins. The United States of
    America will accomplish our mission. There will be a democratic Iraq
    that is able to defend itself, sustain itself, and become an ally in the
    war on terror.
        In order to achieve that objective, we must have Senators who
    support our men and women in combat, and Conrad Burns does. And we must
    have Senators who will not--who will not--lose their nerve in the face
    of these terrorist attacks. Conrad Burns is such a man.
        I believe liberty and freedom are universal. So does Senator Burns.
    We believe that there is an Almighty, and the Almighty's gift to each
    man and woman on the face of this Earth is freedom. The United States of
    America was formed on the natural rights of men and women. And it should
    not surprise us when 11 million Iraqis went to the polls in defiance of
    terrorists and car bombers and assassins and says, ``We want to be
    free.'' A free Iraq--a free Iraq will help lay the foundation of peace
    for generations to come.
        I like to remind people about this interesting fact of history. My
    dad--18-year-old kid--raised his arm and
    said, ``I want to volunteer to defend the United States of America
    against the Japanese.'' What I find interesting is that some 60 years
    later, his son, the current President, sits down with the Prime Minister
    of Japan talking about keeping the peace.
    We talk about North Korea; we talk about how proud I am that the
    Japanese have committed forces to help bring security to the people of
    Iraq so their democracy can develop. Japan is an ally. Japan is a friend
    in peace.
        And what happened between then 18-year-old George H.W. and 59-year-old W.--[laughter]--standing here? What
    happened was, the Japanese adopted a Japanese-style democracy. History
    has proven people want to be free and democracies yield the peace. And I
    believe 30 or 40 years from now, an American President will

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    be up here talking--will be talking to people, and they'll be looking
    back at this moment in history and say, thank God that people like
    Senator Conrad Burns and Chairman John Warner
    of the United States Senate and Senator Kit Bond were wise enough to understand about the power of
    liberty to transform nations into allies. And they'll be keeping the
    peace with democratically elected leaders in the broader Middle East,
    starting with Iraq.
        These are the stakes. We're laying the foundation of peace, and it's
    important to have Members of the United States Senate who can look
    beyond the short term, who have got a strategic view of the world in
    which we live. And Conrad Burns has that view. Proud to stand with you
    in laying that foundation.
        Here at home, we've been through a lot together. We've had a
    recession; we've had a stock market correction; we've had corporate
    scandals; we had an attack on our Nation; we went to war to defend
    ourselves; we had major natural disasters; we had rising energy prices.
    But we acted. We put progrowth economic policies in place. We believe
    that when people have more money in their pockets to save or to spend or
    to invest, the economy benefits. And so we cut the taxes on the hard-
    working people of America, and our economy is strong, and it's getting
    stronger.
        People say here in Washington, ``Oh, well, these tax cuts didn't
    make a difference.'' I can remember all the dire predictions when the
    debates went on about the ability for taxes to help revitalize our
    economy and overcome the obstacles we went through. Not Conrad Burns, he
    understood the basic principle of trusting people with their own money.
    Today, our economy has grown to 3.5 percent. We have 4.8 percent
    unemployment nationwide. We've added over 5 million jobs in the last
    2\1/2\ years. Productivity is up; homeownership is at an alltime high;
    small businesses are flourishing. The tax cuts we passed are working.
        And now the people of Montana are going to be facing a decision as
    to whether or not they want their taxes to go up or stay low. You see,
    the Democrat Party showed its true colors during the tax debate. Time in
    and time out, they voted against cutting the taxes on the American
    people. And now you hear them talking about, ``Well, we need to raise
    taxes to balance the budget.'' Conrad and I know better. We've been in
    Washington long enough to understand how Washington works. Yes, they'll
    raise your taxes, but they will figure out new ways to spend your money.
    To keep this economy strong, we must make the tax relief permanent. And
    I'm proud to have Conrad Burns on the side--[applause].
        There are a lot of things we need to do during my--the rest of my
    time here and for Conrad's time as a reelected Senator, starting with
    making sure we get off foreign oil. In order to make sure this country
    is competitive over the next 30 to 50 years, in order to make sure we
    remain the economic leader of the world, we have got to be wise about
    our energy policy.
        Conrad reminded me, walking in here, that we've got plenty of coal
    in the great State of Montana. And that's why I'm such a strong
    supporter of clean coal technologies to make sure we can use that coal
    in environmentally friendly ways and get us off Middle Eastern oil.
        But that's just the start. We got to change how we fuel our
    automobiles. I want it to be said that when there's a good soy crop out
    of Montana, we got more biodiesel available for people to use in their
    automobiles. I want it to be said, when we have a technological
    breakthrough, which we're close to getting to, that we can use saw grass
    grown in the State of Montana to help grow--to help produce ethanol so
    we become less dependent on Middle Eastern oil. I want it to be said
    that this country is imaginative in our use of technology to make us
    less dependent,

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    for economic security as well as national security.
        And Conrad Burns understands that. The people of Montana need to put
    him back in the United States Senate to join us in making sure we have
    energy independence.
        One of the things that's important for the people of Montana to
    understand is, you better have somebody here in Washington who's
    effective when it comes to representing the farmers and ranchers. You
    know, a lot of times you get the big talkers running for office, but
    they get here to Washington, and they're unable to deliver. I'd suggest
    the voters of Montana pay careful attention to the record of this United
    States Senator when it comes to representing the basic industries and
    the small-business owners and the hard-working people of the State of
    Montana.
        I remember when I went to Billings, and we sat around and talked to
    those farmers and ranchers about the threats to their industry and about
    the opportunities. Conrad was there. He was talking their language. They
    didn't need a dictionary or a Roget's Thesaurus to figure out what he
    was saying. [Laughter]
        He's the kind of person the people of Montana need here. They need
    somebody who's steadfast when it comes to defending the country; who's
    wise about how we spend your money; who understands that the money we
    spend is your money, not the Government's money; who understands good
    tax policy can keep this economy growing; who knows we've got to have a
    good, wise energy policy; and who can speak the language of the farmers
    and the ranchers, right here in Washington, DC.
        I'm proud to stand by this man. I strongly urge the people of
    Montana to reelect Conrad Burns to the United States Senate.

    Note: The President spoke at 6:07 p.m. at the Madison Hotel. In his
    remarks, he referred to Phyllis Burns, wife of Senator Burns; former
    Gov. Marc Racicot of Montana; Sherri Ohs, wife of Montana Republican
    Party chairman Karl Ohs; John Green, national finance committee
    chairman, Senator Burns's reelection campaign; and Prime Minister
    Junichiro Koizumi of Japan.