[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
[April 22, 2006]
[Pages 777-779]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks at a Republican National Committee Reception in Indian Wells,
California
April 22, 2006
Please be seated. Thanks for coming. The lesson of the 1994
fundraiser is I should have had a better chairman. [Laughter] I want to
thank you all for coming. I really appreciate your support for the
Republican Party. We're the party that is the party of ideas, a party of
optimism, and a party of people who know how to solve problems, which is
exactly what we're doing.
I, first, wish Laura were here; she's not, of
course. About four people go through the photo-op line indicated that
they kind of would rather have Laura here than me. [Laughter] Yes,
well--I can understand why. She is really a fine person, and she sends
her best to all her friends here.
I thank my friend Brad. You know,
one of the great things about our life is that we've had friends before
I got into politics, and they're going to be our friends after we're in
politics. And Brad Freeman is such a person, and I value his friendship.
I want to thank him for organizing this event.
I want to thank all the folks who helped make this a very successful
event. One reason why we are successful as a party is because we've got
a great party chairman who understands that our message is one that
should reach into every neighborhood; ours is one that is inclusive;
ours is one that is hopeful--and that's Ken Mehlman. I want to thank you for coming, Ken.
I appreciate Duf Sundheim, party chairman
here in California. I saw Duf yesterday at Cisco Systems, saw him here
in the desert. What are you doing tomorrow, Duf? [Laughter] But thank
you for your service; appreciate it very much.
I'm confident that Arnold Schwarzenegger will be reelected to Governor of this important State.
I am always a better person after I've been in the presence of Mary
Bono. She is the Congresswoman from this district;
she is smart; she's capable; she's doing an excellent job for the
constituents here. I don't know if you realize this, but today is Earth
Day, and Mary has led the way to make sure that some of the most
valuable territory, some of the most valuable country in this part of
the world are preserved for generations to come, and I want to thank you
for your leadership. I also want to thank you for your strong stand in
the war on terror. You're doing a fine job.
Connie Mack, from the great State of
Florida, is with us. Congressman, good to see you; thank you for coming.
Proud you're here. Good friend of the brothers, and mine too.
Bruce McPherson, the secretary of State
is with us. Bruce, thank you for coming. Appreciate you being here, sir.
I call him Senator; now we call you Secretary. It's good to see
Mary as well.
Chuck Poochigian is with us. Chuck is
running for the State attorney general. Chuck, good luck to you. Thank
you. My old buddy, proud to see you. Thanks for coming. Thanks for
bringing Debbie with you as well.
Steve Poizner is with us, running for the
insurance commissioner. Steve--there he is. Good luck to you.
I just said hello to Congressman Brian Bilbray. Where are you, Brian? Thanks for
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coming. Good luck on your race. We're pulling for you. Finally, Ben
Stein is with us. Appreciate you coming, Ben. I
think he's with us. Maybe he's not with us.
I'd like to make a couple of points, and then we'll sit down for a
second, and then visit some more with you. Today we had an important day
in the war on terror. The elected leaders of Iraq came together and
formed a unity government for the sake of people--[applause]. The
formation of a unity government is a blow for the terrorists who have
tried to divide Iraq and prevent Iraq democracy from emerging forward.
And the United States of America will continue to stand with the
brave citizens of Iraq as this democracy grows. It is in our interests
that democracy succeed in Iraq. We must defeat the terrorists by denying
them safe haven, and we will defeat the terrorists with an ideology that
is hopeful and optimistic and positive, and that's an ideology based
upon liberty.
I've also had a wonderful time traveling your beautiful State.
Yesterday I talked about a really important initiative for our country,
and that is the Competitiveness Initiative. And the reason it's--I
started talking about it in my State of the Union is because it is very
important for the United States of America to feel confident about our
future, and not to fear it.
There are some in our country that feel like we should isolate
ourselves from the world. There are some who fear trade with other
countries and, therefore, want to throw up walls and protective
barriers--not me. I believe the United States, in order to make sure our
people have got a standard of living that improves, must be a leader in
the world, must not fear competition, must be willing to continue to put
policies in place that will mean that other generations of Americans
coming up can realize a great quality of life. And it starts with making
sure that the United States of America is the leader of research and
technology.
And so yesterday at Cisco Systems, I talked about our desire to
double Federal funding for the basic sciences so as to continue to make
sure we're technologically advanced. I also talked about making sure the
research and development tax credit is a permanent part of the Tax Code
to encourage private investment when it comes to research.
But I spent a lot of time yesterday talking about education. I
proudly signed the No Child Left Behind Act, which changed the way
people should view education, from one in which it was okay just to move
kids through to one that said we're going to measure, and we're going to
hold people to account. We're going to set high standards, and we're
going to measure to determine whether our children are learning to read
and write and add and subtract. And if we find out they're not able to
read and write, we'll correct problems early, before it's too late. I
want to extend that same rigor that we've applied in reading to math and
science so that our children have got the skills necessary to fill the
jobs of the 21st century.
And today I had the honor of being in West Sacramento, after my bike
ride, by the way, in Napa Valley, which--good place to ride, by the way.
I talked about an issue that I know is on people's minds here in
California, and that is high energy prices. And I reminded our folks
that we live in a global world, and when China's demand for energy goes
up, it affects the gasoline prices here. When India's demand for energy
goes up, it affects the gasoline prices here, which says to me, we've
got to be smart about using energy--using investment technology to get
away from use of oil.
And I talked about plug-in hybrid vehicles, the research going into
that, so that one day you'll be driving your first 40 miles on
electricity, electric batteries. And I talked about ethanol. But I also
talked about hydrogen fuel cells, which I believe
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will be the wave of the future for how we drive our cars.
What I'm telling you is, ours is a party that has got a vision and a
plan to make sure the United States of America is the leader in the
world. Our message to the American people is, don't fear the future
because we intend to shape the future.
Thanks for coming. I'll answer a few questions in a little bit.
Thank you for being here.
Note: The President spoke at 6:05 p.m. at the Toscana Country Club. In
his remarks, he referred to Bradford M. Freeman, California State
finance chairman, Bush-Cheney '04, Inc.; Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of
California; California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson, and his wife,
Mary; Charles S. Poochigian, candidate for California State attorney
general, and his wife, Debbie; Brian Bilbray, candidate for Congress in
California's 50th Congressional District; and entertainer Ben Stein.