[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.

[[Page 432]]

    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

[[Page 433]]

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

[[Page 434]]

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.

[[Page 435]]

    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

[[Page 436]]

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

[[Page 437]]

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

[[Page 438]]

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.