[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book II)]
[October 19, 2006]
[Pages 1878-1883]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at a Reception for Senatorial Candidate George Allen in Richmond, Virginia
October 19, 2006

    Thank you all. Thank you for coming. Thanks for the warm welcome, 
and thank you for supporting George Allen to be reelected United States 
Senator of the great State of Virginia.
    I'm proud to be here with him. He's a man who has earned the 
confidence of the people of this State as a delegate, as the Governor--
and a very successful Governor--as a United States Senator. He's the 
kind of fellow who says he's going to--what he tells you on the campaign 
trail, he does in office. He doesn't need a poll or a focus group to 
tell him what to think or what to say. George Allen is a man of strong 
principle; he is a leader; he is the right man to be the United States 
Senator from the State of Virginia.
    And he married well, and so did I. See, we got something in common. 
We're both named George, and we both married smart, beautiful women. Laura is very fond of the 
Allens. She understands that they are honorable, decent people--honest, 
good folks. We're proud to call them friends, and I know the people of 
Virginia are proud to call George Allen United States Senator.
    I appreciate the Lieutenant Governor--Lieutenant Governor Bill 
Bolling and his wife, Jean Ann, and the family are with us today. Governor, thanks for 
coming. Speaker Bill Howell is with us. 
Appreciate you being here, Mr. Speaker.
    I had the honor of meeting an interesting fellow at the airport today--as a matter of fact, he was at 
the steps there when I got off of Air Force One, and we traveled 
throughout his senatorial district a little bit because we went and 
bought some pumpkins. [Laughter] His name is State Senator Benny 
Lambert. See, the Allen campaign understands that you reach across party 
line. He did that as the Governor of the State of Virginia; he has done 
that as the United States Senator. There's no doubt in my mind this good 
man will win by getting the votes of Republicans, discerning Democrats, 
and wise independents.
    I really want to thank you all for coming. I appreciate you 
contributing to his campaign, and I want to thank the grassroots 
activists who are here for what you're fixing to do. See, we're getting 
close to voting time. We're coming down the stretch. And for those of 
you who are going to be putting up the signs and making the phone calls 
and going to your houses of worship or community centers urging people 
to do their duty as an American citizen and voting for George Allen, I 
want to thank you. A lot of times the grassroots folks don't get the 
thanks that you deserve. I'm here giving you thanks; I know the Senator 
gives you thanks. Work hard. We need him in the United States Senate, 
for the good of the United States of America.
    I'm looking forward to continue to working with Senator Allen to 
diversify our energy. I'm looking forward to promoting ethanol and new 
technologies so that we can change our habits and become less dependent 
on foreign sources of oil. For the economic security of the United 
States and for the national security of the United States, we need to 
get off oil.
    I'm looking forward to continue to work with Senator Allen to make 
sure that patients and doctors make the decisions for health care, not 
for people in Washington, DC. Now, there's a lot of domestic issues that 
I look forward to working with Senator Allen on, but there's no bigger 
issue than what we do with the people's money--no bigger issue.
    There's a lot of rhetoric in these campaigns, a lot of needless 
noise in a campaign. A lot of time it's to obscure the

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fundamental issues facing the people of Virginia and the people all 
across our Nation. And the two biggest issues in this campaign, in any 
campaign across the country, is which party will take the steps 
necessary to protect the American people and win the war on terror, and 
which party is going to keep your taxes low to keep this economy 
growing.
    George Allen and I have made our position very plain. Nobody has to 
guess where we stand. We got a clear record on taxes, and our philosophy 
is easy to understand. It says: We trust the people. See, we understand 
it's your money, not the government's money. We think the best people to 
spend the hard-earned dollars that you make is you. We understand the 
economy grows when you have more money in your pocket to save, spend, or 
invest.
    And therefore, we worked together to deliver the greatest tax cuts 
since Ronald Reagan was the President of the United States. We said, if 
you're going to have tax relief, then everybody who pays taxes ought to 
get relief. So we reduced the marriage penalty as well. We doubled the 
child tax credit. We understand that an economy grows when the small-
business owners are growing. And so we cut taxes on small businesses; we 
cut taxes on capital gains and dividends to promote investment and jobs. 
And to reward family businesses and farmers right here in the great 
State of Virginia for a lifetime of hard work and savings, we put the 
death tax on the road to extinction.
    Our record on cutting taxes is clear, and the Democrats in 
Washington, DC, have a record of their own. The trouble is, they don't 
want you to know about it. [Laughter] It's interesting that recently the 
top Democrat leader in the House of Representatives made an interesting declaration. 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'' she opposes.
    When we cut taxes for everybody who pays income taxes, she voted against it. When we reduced the marriage penalty, 
she voted against it. When we cut taxes on small businesses, she voted 
against it. When we put the death tax on the road to extinction, she 
voted against it. Time and time again, she and her party voted against 
tax cuts. Time and time again, when she had an opportunity to show her 
love for tax cuts, she voted no. If this is the Democrats' idea of 
love--[laughter]--I wouldn't want to see what hate looks like. 
[Laughter]
    But, by the way, this view of taxes extends beyond the House of 
Representatives. Democrats in the United States Senate had the same 
point of view. I remember when we cut the taxes in 2003. See, we were 
coming out of a recession, and we were dealing with the effects of a 
terrorist attack, and we were dealing with the effects of corporate 
scandal. And we knew that in order to recover, we had to let the people 
have more of their own money.
    And one Democrat in the Senate said these tax cuts would do nothing 
to create jobs. One of his colleagues called the tax cuts the wrong 
prescription for our economy. Those were the predictions, and here are 
the results: The tax cuts we passed have put more than a trillion 
dollars in the hands of American workers and families and small 
businesses, including millions of families living right here in 
Virginia. And the amazing thing is, the people did a much better job 
with your money than the Government did or could have done.
    Since August 2003, our economy has had 37 straight months of job 
growth. Since August of 2003, we added 6.6 million new jobs. Small 
businesses are flourishing. Homeownership is up. This economy is strong, 
and we intend to keep it that way.
    You know, I'm sure you've heard the line that the Democrats are just 
going to raise taxes on the rich. They say it every time. But I want the 
people here in Virginia who

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are listening to the debate on taxes to remember what happened back in 
1992, after the Democrats campaigned on cutting the taxes for the middle 
class. Well, they won, and they came to power, and the middle class tax 
cut they promised turned out to be one of the largest tax increases in 
American history.
    We just have a different view of the world when it comes to taxes. 
We believe you can spend your money well. The Democrats want the 
Government to spend your money. No, the best way to make sure that this 
economy stays strong is to make the tax cuts we passed permanent. And 
the best thing the Virginia citizens can do to make sure taxes stay low 
is to send George Allen back to the United States Senate.
    It's interesting, if you look at the history of tax cuts, the 
Democrat Party always--didn't always feel the way they feel today. Back 
in the sixties, the Democrats understood that our economy grows when 
Americans keep more of what they earn, when Americans make their own 
decisions about how to save, spend, or invest. You might remember, when 
President John F. Kennedy became President, he proposed across-the-board 
tax cuts for American families and small businesses, including tax cuts 
on capital gains.
    In his message to the Congress in 1963, he explained that cutting 
taxes across the board, in his words, ``would help strengthen every 
segment of the American economy and bring us closer to every basic 
objective of American economic policy.'' John F. Kennedy was right in 
1963, and George Allen and I are right in 2006.
    Next month, the people of this State and people all across the 
United States have a basic choice to make: Do we keep taxes low so we 
can keep the economy growing, or do we let the Democrats in Washington 
raise taxes, which will hurt our economic growth? And I'm convinced, 
when people sift through all the noise and listen carefully to the 
debate, the people of this State and the people across the United States 
will choose low taxes and strong economy policy and growth, and that 
means reelecting George Allen to the United States Senate.
    The biggest issue we face is protecting the American people. It's 
the most important job of government. I learned that lesson on September 
the 11th, 2001, and so did George Allen and a lot of other good folks. 
And we learned that fateful day that our most important responsibility 
is to protect you, and this is a fundamental issue in this campaign: 
What candidate or what party has got the right policies to protect the 
American people from further attack?
    We face a brutal enemy, an enemy that uses murder to achieve 
political objectives. You can't negotiate with these people. There's no 
such thing as a peace treaty with these kind of killers. The best way to 
protect the American people is to stay on the offense and bring them to 
justice before they hurt America again.
    And the best way to protect America is to give our professionals the 
tools they need to protect you from attack. We recently had a debate--a 
series of debates in the House and the Senate that clarified the two 
political parties' position on the war on terror on how best to protect 
the American people.
    I believe strongly that our CIA professionals should have 
authorization to question people we pick up on the battlefield, to 
determine whether or not they have information that is necessary to 
protect you. We're at war with a group of killers. We pick people up off 
the battlefield, and I believe that it's necessary to learn what they 
know so that we can anticipate attacks before they occur.
    This bill came up before the--in front of the United States Senate, 
and one of the strongest advocates for making sure our professionals had 
the tools necessary to protect you was Senator George Allen of the State 
of Virginia.

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    The same cannot be said for his Democratic Senate colleagues. More 
than 70 percent of the United States Senators from the Democrat Party 
voted to take away this vital tool in the war on terror. We just have a 
different point of view, a different look at the world.
    You know, another clear example of the difference of opinion came 
when we voted for and reauthorized what we call the PATRIOT Act. There 
was a wall that existed between law enforcement and intelligence 
gathering in the United States. I know that's hard to conceive, but it's 
true. In other words, intelligence officers could not speak with law 
enforcement officers. In this new war on terror against these 
extremists, we have to have good intelligence. And that good 
intelligence must be shared with professionals all throughout 
government, in order to be able to protect you.
    Right after September the 11th, when people were deeply concerned 
about attacks and future attacks, George Allen voted yes on the PATRIOT 
Act, as did 97 of his colleagues in the Senate. And yet the bill needed 
to be reauthorized years later. And so I called upon the Senate. I said, 
``There's still a threat; we still face a threat.'' And yet Senate 
Democrats filibustered the bill, the reauthorization of a bill that 
would tear down the walls between intelligence and law enforcement. 
Filibuster means they don't want it to pass, so they talk a lot. 
[Laughter] It happens quite a bit in Washington. [Laughter] The Senate 
Democratic leader bragged, ``We have killed the 
PATRIOT Act.'' Think about that. The main Democrat in the United States 
Senate said, ``We killed the PATRIOT Act.'' He was asked later by a 
reporter whether killing the PATRIOT Act was 
really something to celebrate, and he answered, ``Of course it is.''
    There's a fundamental difference of opinion between Democrats and 
Republicans on this issue. They voted for it right after 9/11; they 
tried to kill it 5 years later. Kind of sounds familiar, doesn't it? 
[Laughter] They voted for it right before they voted against it. 
[Laughter] You don't have to worry about George Allen being steadfast 
and making sure our folks have the tools necessary to protect you. A 
fundamental issue in this campaign is--who best to protect the United 
States of America. Our record is clear, and you need to send George 
Allen back to the United States Senate so we can do our duty, so we can 
assume the responsibilities of this era and protect you from further 
attack.
    A big issue in this campaign, of course, is Iraq. Iraq is a central 
front in the war on terror. Iraq is a part of defeating an enemy that 
would like to hurt us again. Oh, I know, I've heard all the rhetoric; 
I'm sure you've heard it too, that people say Iraq is just a distraction 
from the war on terror. That's what a lot of Democrats believe. Well, if 
you're out there listening and you're worried about who to vote for and 
worried about which party has the clearest vision about how to protect 
the American people, don't take my word for whether Iraq is part of the 
war on terror, listen to Usama bin Laden--or 
Mr. Zawahiri, he's the number-two man in 
Al Qaida.
    These two killers have made it clear that Iraq is an important part 
of their campaign to establish a totalitarian form of government across 
the Middle East. They have made it clear in their words that they 
believe America is weak, that it's just a matter of time; if they murder 
enough people, that we will withdraw.
    And they want us to withdraw. They want us to withdraw so that they 
can establish safe haven from which to launch attacks. They want us to 
withdraw so they can topple moderate governments. They want us to 
withdraw because they got designs on energy. They would like nothing 
more than to blackmail the free world with the fear of running up the 
price of energy; blackmail the free world to abandon our alliance with 
Israel; blackmail the free world to continue to force the West to

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cater to their needs and their dark vision of the world.
    When you couple all that with the possibility of Iran having a 
nuclear weapon, you begin to understand the stakes in the war on terror. 
You begin to think about how important it is that when we confront the 
enemy, we defeat the enemy.
    I fully understand--[applause]--we have a fundamental disagreement 
in Washington, DC, on this central front in the war on terror. Most 
Democrats--most leading Democrats argue we should pull our troops out of 
Iraq--some, ``right away''; others, ``in just a few months,'' even if 
the terrorists have not been defeated. Others recommend moving our 
troops to an island 5,000 miles away. Nineteen House Democrats 
introduced legislation that would cut off funds for our troops in Iraq. 
All these programs have one thing in common: They would have our country 
quit in Iraq before the job is done. That's why they are the party of 
cut-and-run.
    The United States of America will support our allies in Iraq. We 
will stand with the 12 million people who demanded freedom at the ballot 
box. Our goal of Iraq that can defend itself and govern itself and 
sustain itself and an ally in the war on terror is an important goal. We 
will give our commanders the flexibility they need to continue to change 
the tactics to achieve that goal. We will fight, we will stay, and we 
will win in Iraq.
    And I want to thank Senator Allen's stand. This is tough; this is a 
tough fight. It's a tough fight when we see carnage on our television 
screens. It's a tough fight when somebody you know has volunteered to 
serve the United States and doesn't come home. It's tough, but it's 
tough for a reason: Because the enemy understands the stakes in Iraq. 
They have ambitions. And it's up to this generation to stand with our 
troops, to put forth a strategy for victory, to not abandon those voices 
in the Middle East, the millions of people who simply want to live in 
peace. This is the calling of our time.
    You know, the Democrat Party made a clear statement about the nature 
of their party when it came to how they dealt with Senator Joe 
Lieberman. He's a three-term Democrat 
from Connecticut who supports completing the mission in Iraq. He took a 
strong, principled stand, and he was purged from the Democrat Party. 
Think about what it means. Six years ago, the Democrats thought that Joe 
Lieberman was a good enough man and a good enough politician to run as 
the Vice Presidential candidate. Now, because he supports victory in 
Iraq for the sake of security in the United States, they don't think 
he's fit to be in their party. There's only one position in the 
Democratic Party that everybody seems to agree on: If you want to be a 
Democrat these days, you can be for almost anything, but victory in Iraq 
is not an option.
    These are serious times. It requires steadfast leadership, strong 
determination. People like George Allen need to be reelected, to stand 
strongly with our troops, the voices that desire peace. We'll stay on 
the offense; we will keep the enemy on the run. We will do the hard 
fight now so a generation of Americans can grow up in peace. We've got 
fantastic assets on our side. We've got a military that will get all the 
support and training they need to defend the American people.
    We also have the power of liberty. Freedom is a powerful force. You 
know, I like to tell people about an interesting experience I had. 
That's when I went to Elvis's place--[laughter]--with the then sitting 
Prime Minister of Japan. I went down 
there. I'd never been to Elvis's place. I thought it would be 
interesting to go there. [Laughter] Prime Minister Koizumi wanted to go 
to Elvis's place because he loves Elvis. [Laughter]
    But I wanted to tell a story, and I'm going to tell it to you right 
quick, the reason I went. You might remember, my dad,

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and I know some of your relatives, fought the Japanese as a sworn enemy. 
There was a lot of kids in the early forties that signed up to fight the 
Japanese. They had attacked us, and this country was going to defend 
ourselves.
    I find it amazing, and I hope you do too, that the son of Navy pilot 
George H.W. Bush, the sitting President of 
the United States, is on Air Force One, flying down with the Prime 
Minister of the former enemy talking about 
the peace. We're talking about North Korea and how we can work together 
to convince the leader in North Korea to give up 
his nuclear weapons ambitions. We're talking about the fact that Japan 
had 1,000 troops in Iraq because Prime Minister Koizumi and I know that 
freedom is how you defeat an ideology of hatred; that we understand that 
when you encourage liberty to flourish where it hadn't flourished, it 
provides hope; it helps defeat those who prey on hopelessness.
    It's an amazing conversation--I've had several with him. But every 
time I have sat down with him, I find it interesting fact of history 
that my dad fought the Japanese, and today, 
his son is working to keep the peace. Something happened. Japan adopted 
a Japanese-style democracy. It's--the example is, liberty has the 
capacity to change an enemy into an ally. Liberty has the capacity to 
turn a region of hate into a region of compassion. Someday, an American 
President will be sitting down talking about the peace with duly elected 
leaders from the Middle East, and a generation of Americans will be 
better off.
    God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 5:33 p.m. at the Science Museum of 
Virginia. In his remarks, he referred to Susan Allen, wife of Sen. 
George Allen; 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.