[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book II)]
[October 30, 2006]
[Pages 1953-1960]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks at a Texas Victory 2006 Rally in Sugar Land, Texas
October 30, 2006
The President. Thank you all very much. Thank you. I always feel
better when I'm in Texas. Thanks for coming out. I'm honored you are
here. I appreciate you taking time out of your day.
I thank you for joining me and saying loud and clear to the people
of the 22d Congressional District: Shelley Sekula Gibbs is the right person to serve you in the United States
Congress. She served in public office before, you might remember, she
was a member of the Houston City Council, where she helped pass tax
cuts. She's a doctor. She's a doctor, where she's helped heal broken
bodies. She is going--she's a mother who understands the importance of
family values. She's the right person to send to Washington, DC.
If you'll give me a chance maybe to, kind of, serve as the secretary
of state for Texas for a second--[laughter]--for those folks who haven't
been paying attention to this election yet--want good government, you
get to vote twice for Shelley. You get
to check her name in the special election portion of the ballot, and
then you get to write her name in. See, if you want to send Shelley to
the United States Congress, you're going to have to take a pencil into
the ballot box.
Now, you can bring a piece of paper with you that's got her name on
it, so you can copy it down on the ballot. So remember, when you show up
to vote on November the 7th, bring your pencil, bring your
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paper, and write Shelley's name in for
good government.
Laura sends her love. As President, I make a
lot of decisions, but the best decision I have made as a person is
asking Laura to marry me. Some of her friends are still wondering
whether the best decision she ever made was to say yes. [Laughter] But
I'm real proud of her. She's a fantastic wife, a great mom, and a great
First Lady for the United States.
Speaking about great ladies, this State is fortunate to have Kay
Bailey Hutchison as the
United States Senator. She is effective; she is capable; she's all
Texan. And it's important for this State to send her back to the United
States Senate with a strong, strong vote. I appreciate Kevin
Brady joining us. He's the Congressman from
over there. [Laughter] I know him well. He's a good one.
And I want to thank my friend Commissioner Michael
Williams, who's joined us today. I want
to thank all the statehouse folks; they're sitting behind me. I remember
serving with them when I was their Governor--a little different here in
Texas than it is in Washington. [Laughter] These are good people, and I
appreciate them joining us.
I want to thank the mayor, Mayor David Williams [Wallace],* right here from Sugar Land, Texas, for joining us. I
thank all the grassroots activists who've joined us. I want to thank you
for the job you're going to do, and that is, turn out your neighbors on
November the 7th with a pencil and a piece of paper, and tell them to
write in Shelley Sekula Gibbs to be the
next United States Congresswoman.
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*White House correction.
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I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to sprinting to the
finish line. I'm looking forward to this campaign. I like campaigning. I
like getting out and about the people. I like telling them what's on my
mind. You know, what's interesting in Washington, some of the folks over
there are already picking out their new offices. [Laughter]
Audience members. Boo!
The President. That's not the first time it's happened since I've
been in Washington. You might remember in 2004, some of them were
measuring the drapes in the West Wing. [Laughter] They had their office
suites all picked out. Except their problem was, the movers weren't
needed. [Laughter] And the same thing is going to happen this year.
We're going to elect Shelley, and we're
going to control the House and the United States Senate.
We've got a record to run on. We've done some things that are
positive for the United States of America. For decades, the public
schools failed too many children. And so we passed the No Child Left
Behind Act, which demanded results in return for Federal money. And now
test scores are rising, the achievement gap is beginning to close, and
we're bringing closer to the day when every single child in America gets
their quality education.
For decades, we've been growing too dependent on foreign oil. So we
passed a good energy bill that encourages conservation, additional
production for oil and gas in the United States. We're doing something
else that's smart too: We're spending money on technology so that our
automobiles will be able to be running on crops grown right here in the
State of Texas. We want to be less dependent on foreign sources of oil.
For decades, Medicare was outdated, so we did something about it. We
passed landmark legislation that modernized the Medicare system. Today,
33 million seniors have more choices and more access to affordable
drugs, and because of our action, poor seniors no longer have to choose
between food and medicine.
For decades, we hadn't had complete control over our southern
border. Illegal immigration has been on the rise. So we acted. I sent
the National Guard down there to help the Border Patrol do their
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job. We're adding thousands of new Border Patrol agents. We're
modernizing this border. We will reform our immigration system, and this
country of ours will enforce our immigration laws.
For decades, activist judges have tried to redefine America by court
order. I don't know if you've been following what happened in New Jersey
recently. Another activist court issued a ruling that raises doubts
about the institution of marriage. We believe marriage is a union
between a man and a woman and should be defended. And I believe I must
continue to appoint judges who will strictly interpret the law and not
legislate from the bench.
No, we got a strong record to run on. This country is better off
because John Roberts and Sam
Alito are serving on the Supreme Court
of the United States. And I want to thank Senator Kay Bailey
Hutchison for her strong
support helping get those nominees on the floor of the Senate and
getting them confirmed as Supreme Court Justices.
Now, there are big differences between the Democrats and the
Republicans. Perhaps the two biggest differences can be seen in these
two issues: One, which party is going to keep your taxes low to keep
this economy growing? And which party is going to take the necessary
steps to protect the United States of America?
Let me start with taxes. Shelley
and I have a clear philosophy: We believe that you know how to spend
your money far better than the Federal Government can. We believe that
when you have more money in your pocket to save, invest, or spend, the
economy benefits.
The Democrats want more of your money because they think they can
spend it better than you can.
Audience members. Boo!
The President. Over the past 5 years, we've acted on our philosophy.
In other words, we just didn't go to Washington to talk. We went to
Washington to get a job done on your behalf. We passed the largest tax
relief since Ronald Reagan was the President of the United States.
When you're out there rounding up votes, remind them of this record:
We cut taxes on everyone who pays income taxes; we doubled the child tax
credit; we reduced the marriage penalty; we substantially cut taxes on
small businesses; we cut taxes on capital gains and dividends to
encourage investment and jobs; and to reward family businesses and
farmers and ranchers for a lifetime of work, we put the death tax on the
road to extinction.
I know Senator Hutchison and Congressman Brady
remember the debate in Washington. They remember those Democrats
predicting that the tax cuts would not create jobs, would not increase
wages, and would increase the Federal deficit. Well, the facts are in.
The truth is, the tax cuts have led to a growing economy that has added
6.6 million new jobs since August of 2003. Real wages are on the rise,
and we cut the deficit in half 3 years ahead of schedule.
Around this country, a lot of people don't understand the Democrats'
position on taxes. So part of my job is to clarify matters, is to make
it clear their intentions. Part of the confusion comes about because the
leading lady in the Congress proclaimed this--
you're not going to believe what she said, but she actually said this on
TV the other--she said, about the Democrats: ``We love tax cuts.'' The
problem is, given her record, she must be a secret admirer. [Laughter]
She and her party voted against reducing
the marriage penalty, voted against cutting taxes on small businesses,
voted against taxes--lowering taxes for families with children, voted
against reducing taxes on capital gains and dividends, voted against
eliminating the death tax. That's their record. Time and time again,
when she had a chance to show her love for tax cuts, she voted no. My
attitude is, if this is the Democrats' idea of love, I don't want to see
what hate looks like. [Laughter]
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Here's what happens: If we do not make the tax cuts we passed
permanent or extend the tax cuts, you'll get a tax increase. That's just
the way it is. You know, it's interesting; they asked the man who would be the chairman of the House Ways and
Means Committee--the Democrat who will be the chairman of the Ways and
Means Committee, if the Democrats were to take over the House--which
they're not--[applause]. And here's what he said--it's important for
Americans to know the facts. Here's what he said. He said, when asked
about extending the tax cuts or making them permanent, he said he
couldn't think of one of the tax cuts he would extend. In other words,
what they're telling you is, they're going to raise your taxes.
I want you to think about this. I want you to think about this: If
the child tax credit were to expire, your taxes will go up by $500 per
child. See, in other words, we increased the child tax credit from $500
to $1,000 per child. For those of you with children, you know what I'm
talking about. If that tax cut were to expire--just like the man who
wants to be the head of the tax committee said--your taxes per child go
up $500. So when you're eating dinner tonight and you're looking around
the table, you can take the number of children around your table and
multiply it by $500, and that's going to be part of the tax increase you
have to pay.
Audience members. Boo!
The President. You take a family working hard to get ahead, and they
got four children; they're looking at a $2,000 tax increase. That may
not seem like a lot to Democrats in Washington, DC, but it seems like a
lot to me. And I know it's a lot for you. And the best way to make sure
it doesn't happen is to send Shelley to
the United States Congress.
So when they're out there campaigning and somebody comes up and
says, ``Shel, tell me the difference
between what the Republicans are going to do and the Democrats,'' it's
real easy. We're going to keep your taxes low, and they're going to
raise your taxes. And a tax increase would not only be bad for your
wallet; a tax increase would be bad for the economy of the United States
of America.
We're meeting in historic times. This election is happening during
historic times. And when our children and grandchildren look back at
this period, one question is going to overwhelm all the rest: Did we do
everything in our power to fight and win the war on terror?
We face an enemy that is brutal. They have an ideology. It's the
opposite of our ideology. We love freedom. They hate freedom. They will
kill innocent people to achieve their objectives. You cannot negotiate
with these radicals and extremists. You can't hope for the best with
these radicals and extremists. The only way to protect America, which is
our most important job, is to stay on the offense and bring them to
justice before they can hurt us again.
Our most important job is to protect you. I wish I didn't have to
report that there's an enemy still out there, but there is. And they
want to attack again. We have to be right 100 percent of the time to
protect the American people, and they have to be right one time in order
to achieve their objectives. And that's why I put some tools in the
hands of our professionals, so they could better do their job.
You know, when I--right after 9/11 when we analyzed part of the
problem, there was a wall that existed between our intelligence
gathering people and our law enforcement, and they couldn't share
information. I know that's hard for you to believe, but that's the way
it was. So I asked Congress to pass the PATRIOT Act, and thanks to
Senators like Kay Bailey Hutchison and Congressmen like Kevin Brady, we passed the PATRIOT Act.
In this different kind of war, we must understand what the enemy is
thinking, in order to be able to protect you. And so therefore, when we
found Al Qaida or Al Qaida affiliates making phone calls into the
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United States, I thought it was important to understand why, in order to
protect you. We are picking up the enemy on the battlefield. And when we
pick people who understand what the plans are about attacks, we need to
know what they're thinking.
See, this is a different kind of war. It requires pinpoint
intelligence, advanced knowledge in order for us to do our job. And so
we picked up people off the battlefield, like Khalid Sheikh
Mohammed. You might have heard of
him. He was the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks; at least that's what our
intelligence people think. In other words, he was the--they think he was
the person that organized and ordered the attacks that killed nearly
3,000 people on one day. I thought it was important to have the CIA be
in a position to question him to find out what he knew, in order to
protect America.
If anybody has any doubts about the differences of opinion in
Washington, DC, between Republicans and Democrats, I want them to
analyze the recent votes that took place on these important programs.
When it came time to renew the PATRIOT Act, more than 75 percent of the
House Democrats voted against it.
Audience members. Boo!
The President. When it came time to vote on whether or not to allow
the CIA to continue its program to detain and question captured
terrorists, more than 80 percent of House Democrats voted against it.
Audience members. Boo!
The President. When it came time to vote on whether the National
Security Agency should continue to monitor communications that we think
would be--contain information that would protect you, more than 90
percent of the House Democrats voted against it.
Audience members. Boo!
The President. In all these vital measures for fighting a war on
terror, the Democrats in Washington follow a simple philosophy: Just say
no. [Laughter] When it comes to listening in on the terrorists, what's
the Democrats' answer?
Audience members. Just say no!
The President. Just say no. When it comes to detaining terrorists,
what's the Democrats' answer?
Audience members. Just say no!
The President. When it comes to questioning terrorists, what's the
Democrats' answer?
Audience members. Just say no!
The President. When it comes to trying terrorists, what's the
Democrats' answer?
Audience members. Just say no!
The President. And so when the Democrats ask for your vote on
November 7th, what's your answer?
Audience members. Noo!
The President. No doubt in my mind, I can count on Shelley Sekula
Gibbs to make sure that our
professionals have the tools necessary to protect you in this dangerous
world. But the best way to protect you, the best way to make sure that
an enemy is unable to do us harm, is to stay on the offense and keep the
enemy on the run. It is hard to plot, plan, and attack when you're on
the run. And that's precisely what we're doing.
I can't tell you how honored I am to be a Commander in Chief of a
military full of decent and honorable Americans who have volunteered to
protect this country. And one of the things that I make a pledge to the
families of those who wear our uniform is that we'll continue to make
sure our troops have all that is necessary to be able to do the job that
I have asked them to do. And I know that Congresswoman Shelley Sekula
Gibbs will be a strong and steady vote
for the men and women of the United States military.
One of the lessons of September the 11th is that this Nation must
take threats seriously before they come home to hurt us. We must take
every threat we see overseas very seriously. Otherwise, if we don't,
there's an enemy that lurks and intends to hit us again. I saw a threat
in Saddam
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Hussein. Members of both political parties
saw a threat in Saddam Hussein. The United Nations saw a threat in
Saddam Hussein. I made the right decision to get Saddam Hussein out of
power.
We're in a global struggle against these killers. And the war is
fought on many fronts, but right now, the central front in this war on
terror is Iraq. Oh, I hear them in Washington say, ``Iraq is a
distraction from the war on terror.'' Well, they shouldn't take my word
for it; they should take the word of Usama bin Laden, who has said that the fight in Iraq is the third world
war. He said victory for the terrorists in Iraq will mean America's
defeat and disgrace forever. That is what the enemy has said. It's
important for all Americans to listen carefully to the words of the
people who would do us harm.
Now I want you to listen to the words of a senior Democrat in the House of Representatives, one of the leaders.
She said, ``The President says that fighting them there''--she's talking
about Iraq--``makes it less likely we will have to fight them here.''
This is exactly what I've said. 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.''
Here's what the person doesn't understand: Iraq is not the reason
the terrorists are in the war against us. I would remind the House
Democrat, our troops were not in Iraq when the terrorists first attacked
the World Trade Center in 1993. We weren't in Iraq when they blew up our
Embassies in Kenya or Tanzania, or blew up the USS Cole. And we were not
in Iraq when they killed nearly 3,000 people on September the 11th,
2001. We do not create terrorists by fighting the terrorists. The best
way to protect you is to stay on the offense and bring the terrorists to
justice wherever we find them.
Our goal in Iraq is clear: It's victory. We want to help this young
democracy grow so it can sustain itself and govern itself and defend
itself and become an ally in the war on terror. And the fighting is
tough. I know it's tough, and you know it's tough. It's tough because we
fight an enemy that has no conscience. We fight an enemy that can't
stand the thought of a free society. We fight an enemy whose ideology is
the opposite of our ideology.
The enemy kills innocent men, women, and children. They film the
atrocities, and they broadcast them for the world to see. Our enemies
hope these violent images will cause us to lose our nerve and pull out
before the job is done. They don't understand the United States of
America. We will not run from thugs and assassins.
I'll make sure our commanders have what they need to complete this
job. If they want more troops, they get more troops. If they want less
troops, they get less troops. They are flexible. We're constantly
adjusting our tactics to meet the tactics of the enemy.
We got another asset going for us beside our military, and these are
brave Iraqis. They have suffered unspeakable violence, yet they're
committed to a free society. They're committed to reject the extremists
and radicals who try to overturn their will. They voted--nearly 12
million people--to say, ``We want to be free.'' It's in the United
States interest to help them succeed. It's in our interest to defeat the
radicals. It's in our interest to defeat the extremists. The only way we
won't succeed in Iraq is by leaving before the job is done.
You listen to the debate about Iraq, the Democrat plan for success,
well, they don't have a plan for success. [Laughter] It's a serious
political party in the midst of a war, and they have no plan for
success. They don't even have a plan for victory. [Laughter] Last week,
one Democrat Senator described her
party's position: ``We haven't coalesced around a single plan, but we're
in general agreement on the basic principles.'' She's right; the only
principle about which they can agree is, get out before the job is done.
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You know, they put it different ways. Some say, immediate
redeployment. Some say they wouldn't spend another dime on our troops in
Iraq. Some say that the idea that we're going to win this war is an idea
that, unfortunately, is just plain wrong. Well, however they put it,
their approach comes down to this: The terrorists win, and America
loses.
Audience members. Boo!
The President. The Democrat goal is to get out of Iraq. The
Republican goal is to win in Iraq.
I'm not saying that these Democrats are unpatriotic, I'm just saying
they're wrong. You can't win a war unless you're willing to fight the
war. Retreat from Iraq before the job was done would embolden an enemy
and make this country more vulnerable to attack, would allow the
terrorists to gain a new safe haven, which is precisely what they said
is part of their plan, in Iraq. And why do they want a safe haven? They
want a safe haven like they had in Afghanistan so they can launch
further attacks.
Retreat from Iraq would strengthen the hands of these radicals and
extremists and enable them to recruit better. Retreat from Iraq before
the job was done would dishonor the sacrifice of the men and women who
have worn the uniform of the United States of America in Iraq to protect
us. The consequences of failure in Iraq would be felt for generations.
You see, the enemy has clearly stated they want us to retreat. They
want to topple moderate governments. They want their extremism to become
the philosophy of a governing structure that stretches from Indonesia to
Spain. It's called a caliphate. That's what they've said. Imagine a
Middle East in which violent forms of extremists compete for power,
moderate governments are overturned, oil-rich states are controlled by
the radicals who will use the energy to create blackmail for the United
States, and in the midst, a country with a nuclear weapon that can't
stand us. Thirty years from now, if that were to happen, people will
look back and they'll say, ``What happened to that generation in 2006?
How come they couldn't see the impending danger? How come they couldn't
see the threat?''
I want you to know, I see the threat. That is why we will support
our troops, we will fight, and we will win in Iraq.
We've got another powerful tool at our disposal, and it's called
freedom. I would like to share a story with you about a recent
experience I had. Well, it's when I went down to Elvis's place.
[Laughter]
You might remember, my guest was the then-sitting Prime Minister of
Japan. Laura said,
``Why you going down there?'' I said, because I never been. [Laughter]
By the way, she decided to come too. Prime Minister Koizumi wanted to go
because he loved Elvis.
But I wanted to tell a story to the American people about the power
of liberty, and I want to share it with you right quick. You see, after
the Japanese attacked America, where more people--by the way, more
people died on September the 11th than the attack of Pearl Harbor. When
they attacked, a lot of brave Americans, including one George H.W.
Bush, volunteered to defend America.
I bet you a lot of folks out here had relatives who did the same
thing. They said, ``I volunteer to protect this country against a mortal
enemy.'' I'm flying down on Air Force One with the Prime
Minister of the sworn--the country that
used to be our sworn enemy talking about keeping the peace. I was
talking to him about the fact that Iraq had 1,000 troops--I mean, Japan
had 1,000 troops in Iraq because he knows what I know: In this
ideological struggle, when we find young democracies, which will serve
as a major defeat for ideologues who hate, that we've got to support
them. We talked about convincing the leader of North Korea to give up his nuclear weapon for the sake of peace.
In other words, we were talking about peace. Isn't it interesting?
My dad fought
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the Japanese as a sworn enemy; his son is sitting down with the leader
of that country talking about peace. Let
me tell you something: 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 so desperate for freedom into a place of peace. Someday an
American President 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.
So these are the stakes in this election, and I thank you for giving
me a chance to come out and urge you on, to urge you to go to the polls
and to take your friends. Find Republicans, discerning Democrats,
discerning independents, and remind them, if you want more money in your
pocket, vote Republican, and if you want a party who will take the steps
necessary to protect you today and to protect a generation of Americans
coming up, vote for Shelley and vote
for Republicans.
God bless. God bless America.
Note: The President spoke at 5:04 p.m. at the Sugar Land Regional
Airport. In his remarks, he referred to Michael L. Williams,
commissioner, Texas Railroad Commission; former President Saddam Hussein
of Iraq; Usama bin Laden, leader of the Al Qaida terrorist organization;
former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan; and Chairman Kim Jong
Il of North Korea.