[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
[May 19, 2006]
[Pages 970-976]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at a Reception for Congressional Candidate Geoffrey C. 
Davis in Florence, Kentucky
May 19, 2006

    The President. Thank you all very much. Geoff, thanks very much for 
your kind introduction; thanks for your service. I'm here because 
there's no doubt in my mind, Geoff Davis is the right candidate for the 
Fourth Congressional District.
    I've gotten to know him. I got to know the kind of person he is. And 
you know, when you find somebody who is full of integrity, somebody who 
prioritizes his faith and his family above all else is somebody you need 
to send back to Washington, DC.

[[Page 971]]

He came and campaigned hard here, and he told you what he was going to 
do, and he has done what he said he's going to do. Geoff Davis needs to 
be reelected to the United States Congress for the good of this district 
and for the good of the United States of America.
    You know, one of the interesting things about Washington is we've 
got plenty of lawyers up there. [Laughter] I'm not one. [Laughter]
    Congressman Davis. Me, neither.
    The President. Neither is the Congressman. [Laughter] Seems like 
when you've got somebody who has got the kind of experience we need in 
Washington--I'm talking about experience outside of politics--that you 
ought to keep him up there. See, he's a fellow who's a small-business 
owner. This is a really vibrant part of our country, right here in 
northern Kentucky. It's a part of the world where the entrepreneurial 
spirit is strong. And it makes sense to have somebody in the United 
States Congress who has lived the life that many of our entrepreneurs 
have lived.
    And we're a nation that is at war. And I need allies in the United 
States Congress, people who understand what the military is all about. 
This man wore the uniform of the United States of America. Send him back 
to the United States Congress.
    Davis really wanted--he really wanted Laura. 
He said, ``You stay at home, Mr. President.'' [Laughter]
    Audience member. Next time.
    The President. Yes, next time. Unfortunately, she was tied up. But she's a believer. She wants me to tell 
you all, thanks very much for supporting this good fellow. I bring a 
message from her, and I bring a message from myself: Any time when you 
find somebody who is willing to run, that's making a sacrifice, it means 
a lot to have the support of the people. And so thank you all for coming 
today. Thanks for contributing to this man's campaign.
    And I want to remind you that money is one thing, but he's also 
going to need people out working those coffee shops, working the 
neighborhoods. And so I'm going to thank you not only for what you have 
done; I want to thank you for what you're going to do, which is turn out 
the vote to make sure he gets back to Washington, DC.
    Anyway, Laura sends her best. And old Geoff 
is like me; he married well. [Laughter] All you've got to do is--if 
your six kids were 21, it would be a landslide. 
[Laughter]
    But we flew down on Air Force One together. We talked about two 
things, I think, that will interest you. You can get to know a person 
pretty well when you're with them for a while and nobody else is around 
listening and there's not any--not any cameras and not any agenda 
papers. And so guess what he wanted to talk about? First, he wanted to 
talk about his 
children. I 
thought that was 
interesting. He could have talked about anything. He could have said 
bridges, or how about----
    Congressman Davis. We did talk about--[laughter].
    The President. How about this, Mr. President? Or why don't you tell 
them this, Mr. President? Presidents get a lot of advice. Some of it is 
solicited, and some of it is unsolicited. [Laughter] He wanted to talk 
about his family, how proud he was of his family. He wanted me to make 
sure I understood that he had six children and that one of them is going to NKU and one of them is 6. 
[Laughter] He wanted me to know how much he loved his wife and how much he respects her. I think that says something 
about the nature of the man. And I think the voters of this district 
ought to pay attention to the values of the candidates who are running 
for office. This is a man who's got strong values, the kind of values we 
need in the public arena.
    Then he wanted to talk about the military. He wanted to share some 
thoughts. See, he went to West Point.
    Audience member. Hey!

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    The President. Yes.
    Congressman Davis. His son went to West Point.
    The President. I'm glad somebody appreciates it. [Laughter] He 
wanted to share his experience with me as an officer, a West Point grad 
who--he's got friends out in the trenches still fighting for America. I 
think it's interesting to have a Congressman who feels comfortable 
enough to talk to the President about the command structure, the 
decisions we make that influence the troops in the field. See, we need 
people in Congress who understand that once you commit somebody into 
harm's way, they deserve all the support of the Federal Government. They 
not only deserve monetary support, they need strong moral support of our 
Government.
    I'm proud also that Jim Bunning is 
with us today. He's a fine United States Senator, good man. That big 
right-hander is big enough to be able to see all way in the back. And 
his wife, Mary, is with him as well. Thank 
you, Mary. Thank you all for coming.
    I want to thank State Senator Dan Kelly, the 
senate majority floor leader, for being here. Senator, thanks for 
coming. You make sure you turn out to help this guy turn out the vote.
    You know, one of the interesting things about--one of the things I 
learned in Texas politics is the importance of the--we call them 
``county judges;'' you call them ``country judge executives''--``county 
judge-dash-executive.'' [Laughter] I remember campaigning for my 
dad in 1964. He was running against--yes, 
he's a good old boy. [Laughter] And he said, ``Your job is to go tell 
them you'll pass out the literature in the courthouse.'' Then I got in 
the courthouse, and of course, it was completely empty. [Laughter] The 
courthouses were dominated in those days by the Democrat Party.
    Good politics starts at the courthouse. You can tell whether a 
person is going to do well politically if he can get the courthouse 
crowd going for him, because that's--local politics always is the base 
of support. So I'm honored to welcome today Gary Moore, Ralph Drees, and Steve 
Pendery. These are the county judge executives 
of Boone County, Kenton County, and Campbell County. And we're glad 
you're here. Thanks for coming.
    I want to thank the grassroots activists who are here. Somebody who 
is a grassroots activist is somebody who gets on the telephone at the 
right time and says, ``I know Geoff Davis, and it's in our interest, our 
mutual interest, for you to go vote for him.'' A grassroots activist is 
somebody who does the tedious tasks of stuffing envelopes full of 
mailers that say, here's a good man with a good record. A grassroots 
activist is somebody who goes to their place of worship and says, ``Oh, 
by the way, we have a duty to vote, and we've got a good man running 
here; don't let him down.'' That's what a grassroots activist is. And 
for those of you who are grassroots activists, thanks very much for 
being involved in campaigns; thank you for turning out the vote.
    Let me talk about a couple of issues that are important. You win 
elections based not only on your values but what you believe and what 
you do. See, there's an interesting debate in Washington right now. 
There's a lot of anger in Washington. But anger is not a philosophy. 
Anger is not a set of principles. Anger is--you can't win elections by 
being angry. You win elections by being optimistic and hopeful and 
leading. That's how you win elections.
    And we're in the lead. And I want to thank Geoff for joining this 
Nation as we lead the world toward peace. Our biggest challenge in 
Washington is to protect the American people. That's the biggest calling 
we have. It's the most important responsibility. When somebody says, 
``Name your most important responsibility, Mr. President,'' it's easily, 
``To protect you.'' I learned that lesson on September the 11th, 2001. 
It's a lesson I'll never forget as your President, that my most solemn 
duty is to

[[Page 973]]

protect the American people. And therefore, it's important to have 
allies like Geoff Davis who are willing to stand strong in observing and 
honoring that duty.
    I learned some lessons on September the 11th, and one of them is we 
face an enemy that is full of hate, that adheres to an ideology that is 
backwards, an ideology that's the opposite of freedom. An ideology, 
nevertheless, is one that can bind people together. I learned that these 
are folks you can't negotiate with; you can't hope for the best. You, 
kind of, can't sit back and say, well, maybe they'll change their mind. 
The only way to protect the American people and do our duty is to stay 
on the offense and bring them to justice. And it's important to have 
people in the United States Congress who understand that. And Geoff 
understands that.
    Another lesson I learned is that it's really important to make sure 
this enemy can't find safe haven, can't hide in places so they can plot 
and plan in order to attack us. See, they have stated their objectives 
clearly. They want to spread their ideology, and they want us to retreat 
from the world. They think we will. They think it's just a matter of 
time for the United States to lose our nerve and to be--and to withdraw.
    But they don't understand me, and they don't understand people in 
the United States Congress, like Geoff Davis. We understand our duty. I 
said, ``If you harbor a terrorist, you're equally as guilty as the 
terrorist.'' Just as an aside, when the President says something, he 
better mean what he says. When a member of Congress says something, they 
better mean what they say, as well. I meant what I said, and the Taliban 
no longer is in power, and now 25 million people are free.
    One of the interesting lessons of September the 11th, in this world 
in which we live, is that the United States cannot be complacent when we 
see a threat. If we see a threat, we must deal with that threat before 
it comes home to hit us. It used to be, we could see a threat, and we'd 
say, wait a minute, we're okay; we've got oceans protecting us--you 
know, we're fine, because we're pretty well insulated from those kind of 
threats.
    That changed on September the 11th. And I saw a threat. Matter of 
fact, people in both political parties saw the same threat I saw. 
Countries from around the world saw the same threat I saw. And the 
threat was a dictator who had killed millions of his people--killed 
hundreds of thousands of his people, used weapons of mass destruction, 
had invaded his neighborhood, declared the United States an enemy, 
harbored terrorists.
    The President must use diplomacy before he ever commits troops into 
harm's way. We--worked as hard as I could to solve the issue of Iraq 
peacefully. When we couldn't do so, Saddam Hussein had a choice to make: disclose and disarm, or face 
serious consequences. He made the choice. The world is better off 
without Saddam Hussein in power.
    And we have a plan for victory in Iraq. And a victory in Iraq is a 
country that can sustain itself, govern itself, and defend itself, an 
ally in the war on terror, and someone who will deny that which the 
enemy has declared they want, which is a safe haven from which to launch 
further attacks. And we're on our way. And it's really important to have 
Members in the United States Congress who understand the power of 
freedom to transform societies, the ability of our fighting forces--if 
given the proper equipment--to be able to achieve an objective, and not 
cut and run before the mission is complete.
    These are difficult times for the American people. War is tough, 
particularly when you face an enemy that is able to put bloodshed on our 
TV screens on a regular basis. See, these people have no conscience; 
they have no sense of justice; they will take innocent lives in order to 
drive us out. That's what they're trying to do. And I need allies in 
Congress who are willing to understand the stakes, who know

[[Page 974]]

that there is no option other than victory; that we're not going to 
retreat; that we're not going to allow the enemy to be able to have a 
safe haven in Iraq. And we will not abandon the 12 million people who 
defied car bombers and terrorists and said to the world, we want to be 
free.
    We're going to succeed. We're going to succeed. You know, there are 
some interesting lessons in history--Geoff and I were talking about them 
as well. It's important for those of us in Washington to study history 
and to learn from history. One of the interesting lessons of history is 
the power of liberty to transform societies. It's happened. It's 
happened in recent times. World War I was a terrible war; World War II, 
also a terrible war. Both of them took place on the continent of Europe. 
And yet there are no wars on Europe today. Europe is free and whole, at 
peace because democracies don't war with each other. That's one of the 
lessons of history.
    One of my better buddies in the world is Prime Minister 
Koizumi of Japan. That's probably not much 
of interest, until you realize my dad--or think about the fact that my 
dad fought the Japanese. One of the really 
interesting things that I think about when I visit with Prime Minister 
Koizumi--and, by the way, when I'm visiting with him, we're talking 
about the peace; we're talking about how to help democracy in Iraq; 
we're talking about what to do about the man in North Korea; we're talking about how to work together as strong allies 
to lay the foundation of peace. I find it interesting, and I think the 
American people ought to listen carefully to that lesson of history, 
that because Japan adopted a Japanese-style democracy, an enemy, a sworn 
enemy of the United States is today an ally in keeping the peace.
    The same thing is going to happen in the broader Middle East. As 
democracy takes hold in the broader Middle East, we will have an 
ideology that defeats the ideology of terror in place, and someday an 
American President is going to be sitting down with a duly elected 
leader of Iraq saying, how do we keep the peace? We're laying the 
foundation for peace, and I need allies like Geoff Davis who understand 
the stakes.
    Government doesn't create wealth; government creates the environment 
in which people are willing to take risk to realize their dreams. And 
there is a fundamental difference in Washington, DC, on how to run this 
economy. We believe that the best way to run the economy is to let the 
people run the economy by keeping more of their own money.
    This economy of ours is strong: 3.5 percent GDP growth last year; 
4.7 percent unemployment rate across the Nation; 5.2 million new jobs in 
2\1/2\ years. Productivity is on the rise; small businesses are 
flourishing; more people own a home today than ever before in our 
Nation's history. More minorities own a home today than ever before in 
our Nation's history. And the reason it's strong is because of the tax 
cuts we passed.
    And I know what's going to happen if the other party runs the United 
States Congress; they're going to run up your taxes. Make no mistake 
about it; their view on how to grow this economy is to take more money 
out of your pocket. Our view on how to grow the economy is to let you 
keep more money. The tax cuts need to be made permanent.
    Oh, you hear a lot of talk about the deficit in Washington, and the 
other side will say, well, here's how you solve the deficit--raise your 
taxes. See, it becomes a convenient excuse. That's not how it works in 
Washington. And Geoff understands that--that it doesn't work that way, 
to raise your taxes and balance the budget. No, what happens is, they're 
going to raise your taxes, and they're going to figure out new ways to 
spend your money. That's how Washington works.
    The best way to balance the budget is to keep progrowth economic 
policies in place which generate more revenue for the

[[Page 975]]

Federal Treasury and hold down Federal spending. And that's why I need 
allies like Geoff Davis who are fiscally responsible with the people's 
money. We're on our way to cutting that deficit in half by 2009.
    And by the way, if the United States Congress sees that supplemental 
I sent up there--that supplemental, by the way, aimed to make sure our 
troops have the combat equipment necessary to win this war on terror and 
to help the people down in Katrina--if they bust a 92.2 barrier I put on 
it, I'm going to veto the bill.
    In order to make sure that we're a competitive--I just--by the way, 
I had a fantastic experience at NKU. I really enjoyed myself there. And 
it's a wonderful institute here. And I was talking about how to keep 
America competitive. That's one of the things we need. We need forward-
thinking people in Washington, DC, who don't fear the future, because we 
intend to shape the future. We intend to make sure that we put policies 
in place that keep us the most competitive nation in the world.
    And one thing we need to do in order to be the most competitive 
nation in the world is to get off our addiction to oil. In order to make 
sure America has the economic security for the future and the national 
security that we need, is we've got to do something about oil, and we've 
got to diversify away from it.
    Here's some ideas: one, clean coal technology. We're going to spend 
research and development money to make sure we can use the coal--250 
years worth of coal and burn it in an environmentally friendly way. We 
can do that. We'll be able to do that.
    Secondly, we need to use coal to help get liquid fuels, see. And one 
of the things about Davis, he understands that. And he put, in the 
defense bill, $5 million to help us make sure we can extract liquids 
from coal. In other words, it's a different way to make us less 
dependent on foreign sources of oil.
    We need to change how we drive our cars. I want Kentucky farmers 
growing the fuel for the future. I'm a big believer in ethanol. We've 
got battery technology going on that would mean that you can drive your 
first 40 miles on electricity and your thing doesn't have to look like a 
golf cart. [Laughter]
    We're working on new solar technologies. We're working on wind 
technologies. We're investing in hydrogen so the little fellow here will 
be driving his car, not driven by gasoline but powered by hydrogen. I 
need----
    Audience member. Good----
    The President. I was about to say, this man is a nuclear power guy, 
and so am I. [Laughter] The best way to protect the environment and to 
have renewable sources of energy is through nuclear power.
    And so I need allies in the United States Congress who understand 
that we have got to diversify away from oil. It's in our national 
interest and our economic interest that we develop a broad-based energy 
strategy that will get the job done.
    Finally, I do want to talk about the importance of people in 
Congress who understand that values are important. One of the areas 
where we're making progress is promoting the culture of life. I think 
it's really important for our society to be a welcoming society, a 
society that recognizes everybody has worth, born and unborn.
    Geoff Davis is an ally in promoting a culture of life. He's an 
ally--look, he didn't get to vote on these deals. He's in the House. But 
I can assure you, he supports my nominees for the Supreme Court and for 
the circuit court. These are people who will not legislate from the 
bench, people who are solid constructionists, strict constructionists.
    It's really important to have people in Washington who understand 
that government can hand out money, but government can't put hope in a 
person's heart. That's done when a loving soul says, ``I love you, 
brother. What can I do to help you?'' Some of the most intractable 
problems in our country cannot be solved by money.

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    One of the things that we've initiated in Washington is the Faith-
Based and Community-Based Initiative, which says to people of faith, you 
can apply for Federal grant money so that you can help heal broken 
hearts, and you don't have to lose the core of your mission. And we 
ought to have people in the United States Congress who understand that 
in order to solve problems, problems of the heart, that requires a 
higher power than the United States Government sometimes to do so. Geoff 
Davis understands that.
    You know, de Tocqueville came to America in the 1830s. He came to 
America and observed that America was such a unique place because of the 
voluntary associations all across our country, where people would show 
up to help a neighbor in need. That spirit is still alive in America 
today, by the way. We've got people doing millions of acts of kindness 
on a daily basis, and there hasn't been one law that says you've got to 
do it, except for a higher calling. And the power of government must not 
stand in the way of those trying to practice their faith to heal open 
hearts, but to stand side by side with them, and Geoff Davis understands 
that.
    So I've come to northern Kentucky to support this good man and to 
ask you to continue to support him. He's making a difference in the 
United States Congress. He understands the challenges of the world in 
which we face, and he shares the same sense of optimism that I share, 
that this great country of ours can solve any problem when we put our 
mind to it. Send him back to the United States Congress and you'll be 
better off for it.
     Thank you, and God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 5:34 p.m. at the Hilton Greater Cincinnati 
Airport. In his remarks, he referred to Pat Davis, wife of 
Representative Davis; former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq; Prime 
Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan; and Chairman Kim Jong Il of North 
Korea.