    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book II)]
    [November 5, 2006]
    [Pages 2027-2034]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Kansas Victory 2006 Rally in Topeka, Kansas
    November 5, 2006

        The President. Thank you all very much. It's an honor to be here.
    Thanks for coming out tonight. So Jim Ryun says,
    ``Do you want a race?'' I said, ``No, but I want you reelected to the
    United States Congress.'' I appreciate you coming. I'm proud to be here
    with Jim Ryun. He's a decent, honorable man who works hard on behalf of
    the people from Kansas. He deserves to be reelected Congressman.
        He is a compassionate conservative. He has run
    his own business. By the way, we've got plenty of lawyers in Washington.
    [Laughter] Send somebody up there who has made a payroll. He started
    Sounds of Success, that helped children with hearing difficulties
    realize their full potential. He doesn't need a poll or a focus group to
    tell him what to believe.
        I thank you for being here, and I'm asking you to send this good
    man back to the United States Congress. I'm not the
    only one in my family who feels this way; Laura
    feels this way. Some guy just yelled, ``Happy anniversary.'' That's what
    I was supposed to say today. You know, no better way to spend your
    anniversary--your 29th anniversary--with somebody you love, than being
    here asking for the vote for Jim Ryun. She sends her very best to Jim
    and Anne.
        I'm proud to be here, as well, with Senator Sam Brownback of the great State of Kansas. More importantly, his
    wife, Mary, is here. Proud to be here with
    Congressman Todd Tiahrt, who you just heard
    from, and his wife, Vicki; Jim
    Barnett, running for Governor, and he needs your
    vote; Susan Wagle, running for Lieutenant
    Governor, she could use your vote as well.
        I appreciate very much that Chuck Ahner is
    with us. He's running for the Third Congressional District here in the
    State of Kansas. We've got your attorney general
    for the great State of Kansas here, who's asking for the vote. Secretary
    of State Ron Thornburgh is with us today.
        Most importantly, I want to say thanks to the grassroots activists
    who are here. You're the folks who put up the signs, make the phone
    calls, and get your fellow citizens to the polls. I want to thank you
    for what you have done, and I want to thank you for what you're going to
    do over the next 48 hours.
        We're heading to the finish line, and we're asking for your help.
    Whatever you do, don't pay attention to the prognosticators, the
    pundits. See, a bunch of them have already decided that the verdict's
    in, but they forgot that the folks of Kansas hadn't got to the polls
    yet. But this isn't the first time this has happened. You might remember
    in 2004--some of the folks in Washington were listening to the
    prognosticators, and then they starting picking out their offices in the
    West Wing. [Laughter] And then the people actually voted; the movers
    weren't needed.
        When you turn out the vote and vote yourself and put Jim Ryun back in the United States Congress, we're going to
    control the House, and we'll control the United States Senate as well.
    And there's a reason why we're going to win: One, we got you behind us,
    but also we're going

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    to win because we share the values and the priorities of the American
    people.
        And we've got a record to run on. We've delivered results. One of
    the things that Jim and I talk about is the need to
    make sure our farm economy is strong. See, we believe if the ag sector
    is doing well, the entire U.S. economy does well.
        We also understand that if you become dependent--if you stay
    dependent on foreign oil, it creates a national security risk. And so
    therefore, Jim Ryun has worked to make sure that we
    encourage renewable fuel standards. In other words, we're going to use
    Kansas products to power our automobiles so we become less dependent on
    oil. If you're somebody who makes a living because of agriculture, it is
    in your economic interest to send Jim Ryun back to the United States
    Congress.
        Jim Ryun is a strong, strong supporter of
    programs to make sure our veterans' health care benefits work. See, he
    believes in supporting our veterans just like he believes in supporting
    those who wear the uniform today. If you're involved with defense here
    in this congressional district, I strongly urge you to support Jim Ryun.
        I also want to talk about Jim's belief in
    family values. He lives them. He not only believes in family values, he
    practices family values. And he is working to prevent the institution of
    marriage being redefined by activist judges.
        I want to talk about two issues that divide Republicans from
    Democrats. One of them is taxes, and the other one is the defense of
    this homeland. Let me start with taxes. We believe that you can spend
    your money better than the Federal Government can. I don't care what
    they're telling you here at home; Democrats believe they can spend your
    money better than you can.
        Audience members. Boo!
        The President. We also believe that if you have more money in your
    pocket, more of your own money in your pocket to save, spend, or invest,
    the economy benefits. That is our philosophy, but you don't expect us to
    be in Washington philosophizing. You expect us to be doing something
    about it. That is why I signed the largest tax cuts since Ronald Reagan
    was the President.
        We cut the taxes on everybody who pays income taxes. We doubled the
    child tax credit. We reduced the marriage penalty. We cut taxes on small
    businesses. We cut taxes on capital gains and dividends to encourage
    investment. And for the sake of our family businesses and for the sake
    of our farmers and for the sake of our ranchers, we put the death tax on
    the road to extinction.
        We had a spirited debate in Washington over these tax cuts. You
    might remember some of the Democrats' predictions. They said if we had
    tax cuts it wouldn't create jobs; if we had tax cuts, it would not
    increase wages; if we had tax cuts, it would cause the Federal deficit
    to explode. Well, the facts are in. The tax cuts have led to a strong
    and growing economy. Last Friday we got more good news about the
    economy. The national unemployment rate is down to 4.4 percent. In the
    last 3 months, we've added 470,000 new jobs. Real wages rose 2.4 percent
    over the past year, and we cut the deficit in half, 3 years ahead of
    schedule. If the Democrats' election predictions are as good as their
    economic predictions, we're going to have a good day on November the
    7th.
        If you live in this congressional district or in any other district
    around the country, you must understand that if you vote Democrat,
    you're voting for a tax increase.
        Audience members. Boo!
        The President. Now understand that in a campaign like this, that the
    Democrats don't want you to know their plans. Listen to the words of the
    leading Democrat in the House of Representatives, a woman who thinks she's going to be the Speaker, but
    she's not. She said--when they asked about tax cuts, she said, ``We love
    tax cuts.'' Well, given her record, she must be a secret admirer.
    [Laughter] She and her party voted against every single one of the tax

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    cuts we passed. If this is their definition of love, I'd sure hate to
    see what hate looks like.
        If the tax cuts we passed are allowed to expire, if the tax cuts we
    passed are not extended, if the tax cuts we passed are not made
    permanent, you get a tax increase. That's how it's going to work. And so
    they asked the person who thinks he's
    going to be chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, ``Can you
    think of any of the tax cuts we've passed that ought to be extended?''
    And see, the Ways and Means Committee is the tax-writing committee in
    the House. They said, ``Can you think of one?'' He said, ``I can't think
    of one tax cut that should be extended.'' In other words, every one of
    the tax cuts we passed ought to lapse, which means your taxes go up.
        I'll give you an example. If the tax cuts are not extended or made
    permanent, the child tax credit will go from $1,000 a child to $500 a
    child, see.
        Audience members. Boo!
        The President. So when you get home this evening and you're sitting
    around the table--anybody here got four kids? I'll use you as an
    example. There you are at the table; you got five, okay. Five, okay.
    She's got five kids. So when you get home: one, two, three, four, five
    times 500. That's $2,500. That's your tax increase if you vote Democrat.
    That's your tax increase if the Democrats take over the House of
    Representatives. That 2,500 may not seem like a lot to people in
    Washington, but it seems like a lot to me and Jim Ryun, and that's why we're going to keep your taxes low.
        This election is taking place in an historic time for our country,
    and when our children and grandchildren look back on this period, one
    question will overwhelm all the rest: Did we do everything in our power
    to win the war on terror? I wish I could report to you that we were not
    at war, but we are. We face a brutal enemy that has no conscience, an
    enemy that does have an ideology.
        People in our country wonder why an enemy would want to attack a
    compassionate people like those of us in the United States, and the
    answer is, because we thwart their ambitions to spread their dark vision
    around the world. They believe--we believe in freedom; they don't. We
    believe in liberty; they don't. They understand America won't change.
        You cannot negotiate with these people. You can't hope for the best
    from these people. The best way to do our most important job--is to
    protect you--is to defeat them overseas so we do not have to face them
    here at home.
        Part of our strategy is to stay on the offense. The other part of
    our strategy is to protect you on the homeland. Now, the problem we face
    is that the enemy has to be right one time, and we have to be right 100
    percent of the time. So I went to Congress and said, here are some vital
    tools that are necessary to protect the American people.
        Let me give you three examples. One, there was a wall that separated
    our intelligence folks from sharing information with our law enforcement
    people. Now, that's probably hard for you to understand, but that was
    the reality. In this new kind of war, we must have good intelligence,
    and the people who are responsible for protecting you must be able to
    act on it. So I asked the Congress to pass the PATRIOT Act, and the
    PATRIOT Act made sure that folks had the tools necessary to protect you.
    And when that bill came up for reauthorization, the vast majority of
    Democrats in the House and the Senate voted against it.
        Audience members. Boo!
        The President. It's important for people in this district and around
    the country to understand there is a different mindset. You cannot wait
    to respond to an attack. You got to act before the attack.

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        I felt like if Al Qaida was making a phone call into the United
    States from outside the United States, we better understand why. If our
    job is to protect you, we've got to have the tools necessary to do so.
    When this bill came up in front of the House of Representatives, the
    vast majority of Democrats voted against it. I felt like it was
    important that when we picked somebody up off the battlefield, we better
    understand what that person is thinking.
        Let me give you an example. We captured Khalid Sheikh
    Mohammed. Our intelligence officers
    believe he was the mastermind of the September the 11th attacks. My
    attitude is, if he knew about one attack, he might know about another
    attack, and we better find out why and what he knows.
        The vast majority of Democrats voted against giving our CIA
    professionals the tools necessary to question detainees. There is a
    different mindset in Washington. The best way to protect you is to make
    sure our professionals have the tools necessary to do so, and the best
    way to make sure they do is to send Jim Ryun back
    to the United States Congress.
        We are in a global war against an enemy that wants to strike us. And
    this war is fought on a variety of fronts. One of the lessons of
    September the 11th is that when we see a threat overseas, we must take
    each threat seriously, before it comes to hurt us. It's a lesson that
    every President must understand in this new world we live in. I saw a
    threat in Saddam Hussein; Members of the
    Congress from both political parties saw the same threat; the United
    Nations saw the threat in Saddam Hussein. The decision I made to remove
    Saddam Hussein was the right decision, and the world is better off for
    it.
        And today we witnessed a landmark event in the history of Iraq.
    Saddam Hussein was convicted and sentenced to
    death by the Iraqi High Tribunal. Saddam Hussein's trial is a milestone
    in the Iraqi people's efforts to replace the rule of a tyrant with the
    rule of law. It's a major achievement for this young democracy. We
    congratulate the Iraqi people, and as I do so, I congratulate the men
    and women who wear the uniform of the United States for their hard work.
    Without their courage and skill, this verdict never would have happened.
        Iraq is the central front in this war on terror. Oh, I've heard all
    the lines, and I know you have as well. ``No, it's a distraction in the
    war on terror,'' the Democrats say in Washington. Well, that's not what
    I think, and that's not what our troops think, and that's not what Usama
    bin Laden thinks. Usama bin Laden has called
    this fight the third world war. He has said that victory for the
    terrorists in Iraq will mean America's defeat and disgrace forever. They
    just think different in Washington. You just got to know that. When you
    go in the booth to vote, you all got to understand that people don't see
    this world the way I do. I understand that.
        I want you to hear the words of the Democrat--leading Democrat in
    the House. She said, ``The President says that
    fighting them there makes it less likely we will have to fight them
    here.'' I do say that because I believe that. She went on to say, ``The
    opposite is true. Because we're fighting them there, it may become more
    likely we will have to fight them here.''
        Audience members. Boo!
        The President. Iraq is not the reason the terrorists are at war with
    us. We were not in Iraq when they bombed the World Trade Center in 1993.
    We were not in Iraq when they blew up the Embassies in Kenya and
    Tanzania. We were not in Iraq when they bombed the USS Cole. And we were
    not in Iraq when they attacked us on September the 11th, 2001. You do
    not create terrorists by fighting the terrorists. The best way to
    protect you is to stay on the offense and bring them to justice before
    they can hurt us again.
        Our goal is victory in Iraq. That is our goal, and we got a plan to
    achieve victory.

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    And victory means a government that can sustain itself, govern itself,
    defend itself, and serve as an ally in the war against these extremists
    and radicals and terrorists.
        We got a plan to do just that, but the enemy has got a plan to
    prevent us. See, they kill innocent men, women, and children, knowing
    that those images will be on our TV screens. And they believe that the
    United States does not have the will or the capacity to stay in the
    fight for the long run. And they recognize that these images, which
    justifiably horrify many of our citizens, will cause us to leave before
    the job is done. But they don't understand this administration, nor do
    they understand millions of our citizens. We're not going to run from
    thugs and assassins.
        Our goal remains the same. Our tactics constantly shift. I have
    given our commanders on the ground all the flexibility they need and all
    the tools necessary to achieve victory. And we got great assets for us.
    We have a plan for victory that will work, and we got a fantastic United
    States military.
        Any time--first of all, no matter what your view about the decisions
    I have made to protect America, you owe, and everyone owes, a debt of
    gratitude for the men and women in the United States military. And those
    of us in Government owe the men and women in uniform all the support
    necessary, all the pay, all the training, so they can do the job we've
    asked them to, and Jim Ryun is a strong supporter for the United States
    military.
        There's something else going for us in terms of victory in Iraq, and
    that's the Iraqis themselves. They have suffered unspeakable violence,
    yet they are committed to a government of, by, and for the people. You
    know, I was pleased when nearly 12 million people went to the polls
    saying, ``We want to live in a free society,'' but I wasn't surprised.
    And the reason I wasn't surprised is I believe a gift from the Almighty
    to each man, woman, and child on the face of the Earth is the desire to
    be free, is liberty.
        And I believe in the universality of freedom. And I believe it's in
    our interests to help this young democracy survive. It's in our
    interests to help them on the political track and on the economic track.
    And at the same time, we're training Iraqis so they can take the fight
    to the enemy. We'll succeed. Let me tell you this: If I didn't think
    we're succeed and if I didn't think the cause was noble and just, I'd
    pull our troops out.
        I can't look at the eyes of a mother or wife or husband or dad of a
    troop in combat if I didn't believe it was essential to the security of
    this country. As a matter of fact, the only way we won't succeed is if
    we leave before the job is done. If people go to the polls, I want you
    to think about the Democrats' plan for victory: There isn't one.
        Iraq is the central front on this war, and yet they have no plan for
    victory. Oh, some of them say we ought to pull out now. Others say we
    ought to pull out on a fixed date, even though the job hadn't been done.
    One of the leaders in the House of Representatives--one of the Democrat
    leaders said--well, they're going to move the troops 5,000 miles away to
    an island. Nineteen people in the House said, ``We're going to cut off
    the funds right now.'' In other words, they're all over the lot, but
    they agree on one thing: Get out before the job is done.
        Audience members. Boo!
        The President. Listen, I'm not saying these people are unpatriotic;
    I'm just saying they're wrong. You can't win a war unless you're willing
    to fight the war. The Democrats have taken a calculated gamble in this
    election that--they think they can win by just criticizing. That's what
    they believe. You know, if you happen to run into a Democrat candidate,
    you might want to ask them the simple question: What's your plan?

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        See, if they say they want to protect the homeland but opposed the
    PATRIOT Act, ask them: What's your plan? If they say they want to
    uncover terrorist plots but opposed listening in on terrorists'
    conversations, just go ahead and ask them: What is your plan? If they
    say they want to stop new attacks on our country but oppose letting the
    CIA detain and question the terrorists who might know about what those
    plots are, ask them this question----
        Audience members. What's your plan?
        The President. If they say they want to win the war on terror but
    call for America to pull out of what Al Qaida says is the central front
    in the war on terror, ask them this question----
        Audience members. What's your plan?
        The President. They don't have a plan. Harsh criticism is not a plan
    for victory, and second-guessing is not a strategy. We have a plan, and
    part of our plan is to send Jim Ryun back to the
    United States Congress.
        Retreat from Iraq before the job is done will make this country more
    vulnerable to attack. This is a different kind of war. If we were to
    leave before the job is done, the enemy would follow us here. Leaving
    before the job is done would embolden the extremists and the radicals
    and would dash the hopes of millions of people in the Middle East who
    want to live a peaceful life.
        Leaving before the job is done would dishonor the sacrifice of the
    men and women who have worn the uniform of the United States. The
    consequences of leaving before the job is done will be felt for
    generations. The enemy has made it clear that they want to establish
    safe haven in order to launch further attacks, just like the safe haven
    they had in Afghanistan.
        They have made it clear that they want to drive us out of the Middle
    East to topple moderate governments as a part of spreading their dark
    vision of the future throughout the Middle East. They have made it clear
    that they would like to control resources like energy in order to
    extract economic blackmail from the West.
        Imagine if these enemy were able to control countries and said,
    ``We're going to pull a bunch of oil off the market to run up the price
    of your oil unless you abandon your alliances''--alliances with Israel,
    for example--or, ``unless you withdraw from the Middle East.'' Coupled
    with all this is a country which doesn't like us trying to possess a
    nuclear weapon. Thirty years from now, people would look back, if this
    were to happen, and say, ``What happened the folks in 2006? How come
    they couldn't see the impending danger? What clouded their vision--which
    caused them not to do their duty?''
        I want to assure you, I see the impending danger. I see the threats
    to a future for our children. Therefore, we will fight in Iraq, and we
    will win in Iraq.
        We got one other thing going for us, and that is the power of
    liberty. I don't know if you all remember, but recently Laura and I took then-sitting Prime Minister of
    Japan to Elvis's place in Memphis.
    [Laughter] I'd never been there. [Laughter] Koizumi wanted to go there.
    See, he loved Elvis.
        But I also want to tell an interesting story about the power of
    liberty. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, my dad and many of your relatives said, ``I want to go defend
    this country,'' and they signed up by the thousands. By the way, the
    same thing is happening now. And these Americans fought the Japanese as
    a sworn enemy in a bloody, bloody war.
        And yet I'm on Air Force One, flying down to Memphis, talking about
    how to keep the peace. Isn't that interesting? My dad fought the Japanese, and his son is talking to the
    leader of the Japanese--the leader of the
    former enemy--talking about North Korea, what we can do to work together
    to prevent the North Korea peninsula from having nuclear weapons.
        We were talking about the fact that Japan had 1,000 troops in Iraq.
    See, the

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    Prime Minister knows what I know. In this
    ideological struggle of the 21st century, when you find a young
    democracy--a form of government which defeats the radicals and
    extremists--you got to support it. We talked about, ``To whom much is
    given, much is required,'' and therefore, we'll continue to lead the
    fight against HIV/AIDS on the continent of Africa.
        My dad fought them, and I'm working to
    keep the peace with the leader of the very
    same country. Something happened. What happened was, Japan adopted a
    Japanese-style democracy. The message is, liberty has got the capacity
    to change an enemy into an ally, and liberty has got the capacity to
    change a region of the world that is resentful and hopeless to a region
    of the world that has got hope and optimism. Someday--someday American
    leaders will be sitting down with duly elected leaders from the Middle
    East talking about the peace, and a generation of Americans will be
    better off for it.
        And these are the stakes in this election. And I thank you for
    coming out and giving me a chance to tell you what's on my mind. In 48
    hours, our citizens around this country are headed into the box, and
    they've got clear choices to make. If you believe that your health care
    decisions ought to remain in the hands of bureaucrats, vote Democrat. If
    you believe that you and your doctors should control your health care
    decisions, vote Republican.
        If you think trial lawyers should be allowed to continue driving
    good doctors and honest job creators out of business, vote Democrat.
        Audience members. Boo!
        The President. But if you believe that we should rein in the trial
    lawyers and protect our physicians and small-business owners from junk
    lawsuits, you vote Republican. You think activist judges should be
    allowed to redefine our country and issue new laws from the bench, vote
    Democrat.
        Audience members. Boo!
        The President. But if you believe that the role of the judge is to
    strictly interpret the Constitution and leave the legislating to the
    legislators, vote Republican.
        If you think Medicare was serving our seniors just fine and did not
    need to be reformed, vote Democrat. But if you believe we were right to
    expand choices for our seniors and provide better access to affordable
    prescription drugs, you vote Republican.
        You think your family budget can afford more taxes, vote Democrat.
        Audience members. Boo!
        The President. If you believe you pay more than enough in taxes as
    it is, and if you believe that you can spend your money better than the
    Federal Government can, vote Republican.
        And finally, if you think the way to protect America and win the war
    on terror is to criticize your opponents and offer no plan of your own,
    vote Democrat.
        Audience members. Boo!
        The President. But if you believe that the way to win the war on
    terror is to stay on the offense, and if you believe it is necessary to
    lay the foundation of peace for generations to come, you vote
    Republican.
        I thank you for coming. Go vote. Get your neighbors and friends to
    vote. And send Jim Ryun back to the United States
    Congress.
        God bless. And God bless America.

    Note: The President spoke at 6:10 p.m. at the Kansas Expocentre. In his
    remarks, he referred to Kansas State Attorney General Phillip D. Kline;
    former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq; Usama bin Laden, leader of the
    Al Qaida terrorist organization; and former Prime Minister Junichiro
    Koizumi of Japan.

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