[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book II)]
[October 26, 2006]
[Pages 1927-1933]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at a Reception for Senatorial Candidate Michael 
Bouchard in Warren, Michigan
October 26, 2006

    Thank you all. Thanks for coming. The way to go from worst to first 
is elect Mike Bouchard to the United States Senate. I am impressed by 
Mike Bouchard's character, his decency, his compassion for the people of 
Michigan. And there's no doubt in my mind, with your hard work, he'll be 
elected to the United States Senate.

[[Page 1928]]

    I thank you for coming. You know, it's an interesting year. The 
other side is dancing in the end zone, except they're on the 15-yard 
line. We got the issues on our side. We got the right candidates 
running. Mike Bouchard is going to win. And I appreciate you coming to 
support him.
    And I'm proud to be here with Pam and his 
family. I thank--you know, there's nothing better than having a 
candidate who has got a strong family. I appreciate the fact that he 
puts family first in his life. And I know what it's like to have a 
loving wife and kids that love you because I've got a loving wife. And she understands what I know: Michael Bouchard is 
the right man for this job.
    I appreciate Congressman Joe Knollenberg joining us. Congressman, I appreciate you coming. We 
got the State attorney general, Michael Cox. 
Michael, where are you? Thanks for coming, buddy. [Applause] There you 
go. He's a good man to be running with. He's a good, strong leader. I 
appreciate you coming, Mike.
    I'm proud to be here with the grassroots activists for the State of 
Michigan, the party chairman, the 
national committeewoman; the cochair of the 
Michigan Republican Party happens to Jane Abraham. I know her husband quite 
well. [Laughter] The reason I bring up the grassroots activists is, I 
want to remind you that giving money is one thing; turning out the vote 
is the other. And coming down the stretch, this good man is going to 
give it his all, but he needs you by his side. He needs people getting 
on the telephones and putting up the signs and knocking on doors and 
reminding people of Michigan, if they want good government and good 
results, Mike Bouchard is the--should be the United States Senator.
    And when he wins, we've got a lot to do together--got a lot to do 
together. One thing we're going to do together is to make sure we 
continue to develop alternative fuel for our automobiles. See, we've got 
a problem here in America. We are too dependent on foreign sources of 
oil. And the best way to diversify away from foreign sources of oil is 
to encourage renewable fuels like ethanol. We want Michigan farmers 
growing the fuel that runs our automobiles, for the sake of economic 
security and national security.
    I'm looking forward to having this good Senator vote to confirm the 
judges I nominate to the Federal bench. Make no mistake about it, one of 
the key issues in this campaign is the type of judiciary we end up 
having in America. My job is to appoint judges who will strictly 
interpret the Constitution and not use the bench from which to 
legislate. And it would be--if you believe in that philosophy, it's 
important that you have at least one United States Senator from Michigan 
who will support a conservative judiciary, and that's Senator Mike 
Bouchard.
    I mentioned his love for family. He understands what I know, that 
marriage is a fundamental institution of our civilization. Yesterday in 
New Jersey, we had another activist court issue a ruling that raises 
doubts about the institution of marriage. I believe that marriage is a 
union between a man and a woman. Mike and I believe that marriage is a 
sacred institution, that it is critical to the health of our society and 
the well-being of families, and marriage must be defended.
    Another big issue in this campaign, and one I'm looking forward to 
working with Senator Bouchard on, is taxes. You know, we believe that we 
ought to keep your taxes low because we believe you can spend your money 
better than the Government can. The Democrats believe that they can 
spend your money better than you can and, therefore, will raise your 
taxes.
    Make no mistake about it, this is a key issue in this campaign. When 
we were confronted with recession and corporate scandal and an attack on 
the United States and the war--needed to defend ourselves--and 
hurricanes and high energy prices, this

[[Page 1929]]

economy was able to withstand those challenges because we cut the taxes. 
See, if you have more money in your pocket to save, invest, or spend, 
this economy grows.
    Oh, you heard all the rhetoric during those tax debates. For those 
people who are undecided in this campaign, you might want to look up the 
words of the respective candidates when it came to cutting taxes. You 
might want to make sure you understand the record of people who are 
running in this race for the United States Senate when it comes to 
taxes. You might remember, the Democrats said that tax cuts were not the 
solution for an economy that was slipping into recession. Truth is, the 
tax cuts have helped make America's economy the fastest growing of any 
major industrialized nation.
    The Democrats said the tax cuts would lead to a jobless recovery. 
You might remember that rhetoric. The truth is that our economy has 
added jobs for 37 months in a row, and since August of 2003, our economy 
has created more than 6.6 million new jobs. Oh, the Democrats said the 
tax cuts would cause the deficit to explode. Well, the truth is that the 
tax cuts led to economic growth, and that growth has helped send tax 
revenues soaring. As a result, we cut the deficit in half 3 years ahead 
of schedule.
    And now the Democrats are telling you they're going to win on 
election day. But the truth is, if their electoral predictions are as 
reliable as their economic predictions--[laughter]--November 7th is 
going to be a good day for Michigan because Mike Bouchard is going to 
win the United States Senate.
    One of the reasons why we're going to hold the Senate and hold the 
House on election day is because the Democrats are determined to raise 
the taxes on the people that work in this country. Oh, I know, they're 
not going to admit it out loud, but I want to remind you of what the top 
Democrat leader in the House said recently. She 
said, ``We love tax cuts.'' Given her record, she must be a secret 
admirer. [Laughter]
    It's just not the so-called tax cuts for the rich that she opposes. When we cut taxes for everyone who pays income 
taxes, she and her House colleagues, as well as Members of the United 
States Senate, voted against that tax cut. When we reduced the marriage 
penalty, she and her colleagues in Washington, DC, voted against it. 
When we cut the taxes on small business, she and her colleagues voted 
against it. When we lowered taxes for families with children, she and 
her colleagues voted against it. When we reduced the taxes on capital 
gains and dividends, she and her colleagues in Washington, DC, voted 
against it. When we put the death tax on the road to extinction, she and 
her colleagues in Washington, DC, voted against it. Time and time again, 
when she had an opportunity to show her love for tax cuts--[laughter]--
she voted no. If this is the Democrats' idea of love--[laughter]--I 
wouldn't want to see what hate looks like. [Laughter]
    No, taxes are a big issue--big issue. Oh, you'll hear them try to 
obscure the deal by saying, ``We're just--only going to tax the rich 
people.'' I want you to tell your fellow citizens who have yet to make 
up their mind that in 1992, they campaigned on, ``We're going to give 
you a middle class tax cut.'' And when they had the power and the 
capacity to make the decisions about taxes in the White House and in the 
Congress, we had the largest--one of the largest tax increases--
increases--in American history. Their record is clear. They can run, but 
they can't hide. If the people of Michigan want low taxes, you vote for 
Mike Bouchard as United States Senator.
    I want to talk about taxes just a little bit more. [Laughter] See, I 
know how important they are for this economy of ours. I know how 
important they are for small businesses. I know how important it is for 
our farmers and ranchers to get tax cuts.

[[Page 1930]]

I know how important it is for people who are working for a living to be 
able to have more money in your pocket so you can make the decisions for 
your family. I know how important it is to keep taxes low. I've seen it 
work. We've got a record that we can run on.
    You know, the way it works is, is that these tax cuts we passed are 
set to expire, so, therefore, they have to be renewed by Congress or 
made permanent. So recently they asked the head man on the Ways and 
Means Committee in the House of 
Representatives--he would be the head man, see, he's the ranking member 
on the Ways and Means Committee--they asked him about which tax cuts he 
would extend--the ones that maybe help the family with children, or the 
ones that get rid of the marriage penalty. He asked that--he couldn't 
think of one of those tax cuts that he would extend. In other words, by 
not extending, he's raising your taxes. See, they try to hide behind the 
language.
    I don't know if your opponent is 
trying to hide behind the language, but I doubt that she's going to be 
there to make sure these tax cuts we passed stay intact. I want to tell 
you what that means. It means that if the child tax credit were cut in 
half, if these tax cuts aren't extended, if you're having breakfast with 
your family and you got one kid, your taxes go up $500, if they get 
control. Imagine having lunch with four children and the tax cuts don't 
get extended. That mother and father can rest assured that the Democrats 
will have caused their taxes to go up by 500 times four. That would be 
$2,000. That may not seem like a lot to the big spenders in Washington, 
DC, but it's a lot to the people who work for a living. If you want to 
keep your taxes low, you vote for Mike Bouchard for the United States 
Senate.
    Mike mentioned an issue that's on my mind a lot. As a matter of 
fact, every day I think about how best to protect the American people, 
because that is the most important responsibility of your Government. I 
wish I didn't have to say that, but as your Commander in Chief and as 
the person responsible for rallying the Federal Government to use all 
assets to protect you, I've got to speak plainly to the American people. 
An enemy still lurks; a dangerous enemy still exists, which will use any 
means they can to attack us again. And therefore, we must use every 
means we have at our disposal to protect you. The most important job I 
have, and the most important job this United States Senator will have, 
is to make sure that we do everything in our power to protect the 
American people.
    See, we face an enemy that knows no bounds of decency. They're 
ideologues, but they're ideologues of hate. They have taken a great 
religion and have twisted it to their evil intentions. They want to 
establish a caliphate, a governing structure, from Spain to Indonesia, 
in which they're able to impose their dark vision on decent men and 
women. They want safe haven from which to launch attack against America 
again. They would like the wealth so they can develop weapons of mass 
destruction to use against us.
    You cannot negotiate with these people. You cannot reason with these 
people. The best way to attack--the best way to defend America is to go 
on the attack, stay on the attack, and bring the people to justice 
before they hurt us again.
    And Michigan needs a United States Senator who understands the 
stakes of the world in which we live, and that Senator will be Mike 
Bouchard. We need a Senator up there who understands this is a global 
war fought on a variety of fronts. One of the lessons of September the 
11th is we must stay on the offense. Look, it's hard to plan, plot, and 
attack if you're running or hiding in a cave. And you got to know, we 
got immense pressure on those who would do harm to the United States.
    The other lesson--another lesson is, is that when we see a threat 
overseas, we must take that threat seriously. America cannot wait to 
respond after we've been

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attacked. One of the lessons of that fateful day is we must do 
everything in our power to protect you before there's an attack. I saw a 
threat in Iraq. Getting rid of Saddam Hussein 
has made the United States safer and the world better off.
    And now our job is to complete the mission, and that is to help Iraq 
become a government--a country that can govern itself, sustain itself, 
defend itself, a country that will be an ally in the war against these 
extremists that want to harm us. And the stakes are high. It's important 
that we succeed. It's important that we understand there's an enemy that 
will kill innocent life so they can get their images on our TV screens, 
because they believe it's just a matter of time before we leave before 
the job is done.
    If we were to listen to the Democrats in Washington, DC, who say, 
``Let's have a fixed date of withdrawal''--by the way, that's code word 
for saying, leave before the job is done--we would turn over this 
important country to radicals and extremists who would plot and plan and 
attack.
    I want you to think about a world in which violent forms of 
extremists battle for power, a Middle East in which moderate governments 
have been toppled, a Middle East in which these extremists get ahold of 
oil and energy and enable--to enable them to blackmail the United 
States. Imagine the message: ``If you don't abandon your relationship 
with Israel,'' for example, ``we'll run the price of oil up to--if you 
don't retreat to allow us to continue to expand our caliphate or 
governing structure, we'll run the oil up.'' Imagine Iran with a nuclear 
weapon 20 or 30 years from now. People would look back at this period of 
time and say, ``What happened to them? How come they couldn't see the 
threats to a generation of Americans who are growing up? Why weren't 
they able to see the dangers that persisted?''
    I see the dangers. I understand the stakes. Victory in Iraq is 
essential for the security of the United States of America. We will 
change our plans; we will adjust our tactics; but we will support our 
military. We will support this young democracy, and we will win in Iraq.
    And there's a fundamental difference of opinion. You listen to the 
rhetoric of the leaders of the Democrat Party. They have a different 
view than I do about whether or not this is a global war on terror. They 
have a different view about how aggressive the United States should be 
in pursuing enemies overseas so we do not have to face them here at 
home.
    I want you to listen to what the--one of the leaders in Washington, DC, said this past Sunday. She said--a 
Democrat leader in a nationally televised interview--she said, ``It is 
not right to say that, quote, `Iraq is part of the war on terror.' '' In 
other words, they don't believe Iraq is a part of the war on terror. 
They believe it is a separate theater of some kind. I'm not sure what 
they believe. This is a global war we're--fight. You can't win a war if 
you don't believe we're in a war. And therefore, we need leaders in 
Washington, DC, who understand the stakes.
    And her position on Iraq would come as news to Usama bin Laden, who has proclaimed that the ``third world war is 
raging in Iraq.'' Her position would come as news to the number-two man 
of Al Qaida, Mr. Zawahiri, who has called 
the struggle in Iraq ``the place for the greatest battle.'' Her position 
on Iraq would come as news to the terrorists from Syria, Saudi Arabia, 
Egypt, Sudan, Lybia, Yemen, and other countries who have come to Iraq to 
fight America and the coalition forces. Her position would come as news 
to the people of Iraq who have lost loved ones as a result of terrorist 
bombings and beheadings and brutal acts of terror. Her position would 
come as news to those brave men and women who wear the uniform of the 
United States of America who are risking their lives every day to 
protect the American people.

[[Page 1932]]

    And her position that the war on terror--see, she went on to say 
it's only in Afghanistan--her position that the war on terror should be 
fought only in Afghanistan would come as news to the citizens of London 
and Madrid and Amman and Bali and Beslan and Riyadh and Istanbul and 
Casablanca and other cities where the terrorists have murdered innocent 
men, women, and children.
    We need people in Washington, DC, who understand the stakes of the 
world in which we live. Our most important duty is to protect you. And 
the best way to protect the American people is to confront the enemy 
overseas so we do not have to face them here at home. And the best way 
to confront the enemy is to be clear-eyed and understand that if we were 
to leave Iraq before the job is done, the enemy would follow us right 
here to the United States of America. We will fight; we will win in 
Iraq.
    We got a lot of assets at our disposal. We got the finest military 
that has ever existed, and we need a United States Senator who will 
support them. And when I say support them, I mean give them all the 
tools necessary so they can do their job. This Government owes these 
young men and women and their families all the support necessary, and 
I'm confident that Senator Mike Bouchard will help me provide that 
support.
    But we've got another asset, and that's the power of liberty. I like 
to tell the story--as a matter of fact, I'm going to tell it as many 
times as people will listen--[laughter]--about my trip to Elvis's place. 
[Laughter] I went down there, as you might recall, with the then sitting 
Prime Minister of Japan, who no longer 
holds the office, Prime Minister Koizumi. He's a friend of mine. We went 
down there. I'd never been, thought it would be fun to go. He wanted to 
go a lot. [Laughter] He was an Elvis fan.
    But I also wanted to tell a story. And here's the story. My 
dad, like many of your--who got relatives 
here, many of you whose relatives did the same thing, who are--you're 
here; the relatives probably aren't--[laughter]--joined the Navy to 
fight the Japanese. You know the kind of people I'm talking about. He's 
an 18-year-old kid; the Japanese had attacked America. They killed more 
people on 9/11 than were killed at Pearl Harbor. And yet he went, just 
like the kids who are signing up today. We've got unbelievable men and 
women who are saying, ``I understand the stakes, and I want to go defend 
my country''--as volunteers. That's what happened in World War II. And 
it was a bloody war, and a lot of people lost their lives. It was a 
tough, tough fight.
    I find it to be really interesting that the son of this Navy 
pilot is on Air Force One flying down to 
Memphis, Tennessee, with the Prime Minister of the former enemy, talking about peace, talking 
about the fact that this country of Japan has sent 1,000 troops into 
Iraq, because the--Prime Minister Koizumi and I understand that we're 
involved in an ideological struggle between decent people who want to 
live in peace and radicals and extremists who will battle democracy in 
order to be able to impose their will.
    We talked about North Korea and the fact that not only the North 
Korea--man trying to get him a nuclear weapon and 
how destabilizing that would be, but we mourned the fact that thousands 
starve inside that country. We talked about HIV/AIDS on the continent of 
Africa and our understanding that to whom much is given, much is 
required, and that this great country, I assured him, would continue to 
take the lead in providing antiretroviral drugs to help save lives. And 
we talked about helping Afghanistan build up its democracy.
    Isn't it amazing? My dad fought the 
Japanese, and I'm talking about keeping the peace. Something happened 
between World War II and today, and what happened was, Japan adopted a 
Japanese-style democracy. Democracies yield the peace.

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Liberty has got the capacity to transform an enemy into an ally. Liberty 
has got the capacity to transform regions of hopelessness to regions of 
light and hope.
    Someday an American President will be sitting down with duly elected 
leaders from the Middle East talking about keeping the peace, and our 
children and grandchildren will be better off for it.
    God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 6:03 p.m. at the Mabry Banquet and 
Convention Center. In his remarks, he referred to Saulius Anuzis, 
chairman, and Holly Hughes, national committeewoman, Michigan Republican 
Party; former Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham; former President 
Saddam Hussein of Iraq; Usama bin Laden, leader of the Al Qaida 
terrorist organization; and Chairman Kim Jong Il of North Korea.