[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book II)]
[August 27, 2007]
[Pages 1110-1116]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks at a Reception for Congressional Candidate David G.
Reichert and the Washington State
Republican Party in Bellevue, Washington
August 27, 2007
Thank you all. Thanks for coming. I appreciate it. Okay, thank you.
Thanks for coming. How's your elbow, Dave? [Laughter] First of all, I
thank you all for supporting an honest, decent, hard-working, fine
American in Dave Reichert. You call him ``the sheriff.'' I look at him
as a sheriff. He's tough when he has to be, he's compassionate when he
needs to be, and he's an independent thinker. He's the kind of person
who has done a fabulous job in the United States House of
Representatives, and he deserves to be reelected. And I thank you for
supporting him. I particularly want to thank Julie for standing with Dave--and the family.
I know something about families and politics. Like Dave, I married
above my head.
[[Page 1111]]
[Laughter] And Laura sends her very best to the
Reichert family. She's a--I left her on the ranch this morning. We're
working our way back to Washington, DC. I'm going to Australia to
represent the United States of America at what they call APEC. By the
way, there's no greater honor than to represent the United States of
America overseas. It is a fantastic experience. We're such a fabulous
country of decent, honorable people.
I want to thank my friend, the former Senator of the State, Slade Gorton, and Sally, for joining us today. Senator, thank you for being
here. Luke, I want to thank you for being here.
Thanks for being the chairman. Use this--[applause]--yes. You need to
put this money to good use and turn out the vote, get people to the
polls.
We run for reasons. We've got a philosophy that works. We believe in
strong defense. We need to protect this country. We believe in human
rights and human dignity, and we believe in keeping your taxes low.
That's what we believe.
I want to thank Matt Hasselbeck and Mack
Strong. These are champs. These men are champs
on the field, and they're champs off the field. And they set such a fine
example for people who look at the Seattle Seahawks, and they look at
these players and say, ``Gosh, I'd like to be like them.'' And I thank
you for being such good family men, setting such a good example for the
kids here. And I'm honored to have the jersey.
I want to talk about a couple of issues with you. We're a nation at
war. I wish I didn't have to say that. No President should ever want to
come to any community in our country and say, ``We're at war,'' but we
are. And the fundamental question facing this Nation is, how do we face
this conflict? What do we do?
The most important priority of government--it's one of the reasons
I'm such a strong believer in Dave--is to protect the homeland. That's
our most important job. And Dave Reichert understands that. He
understands that it's possible for government to balance the need to
understand the enemy and civil liberties. And we're doing just that. He
knows what I know, that we've got to use all assets at our power to
protect you.
You know, I was deeply affected on September the 11th, 2001. I vowed
that day that I would use all of our assets to keep the enemy from
harming us again. And I'm proud to have an ally in Dave Reichert, who
understands that as well. That's why you've got to send him back.
The stakes are high. There are some--[applause--I recognize there
are some who hear we're at war and dismiss that as empty political talk.
That's either disingenuous or naive--either case it is dangerous because
we face an enemy that is ideologically bent, determined to achieve their
objectives and murder the innocent. They are not religious people. They
may have hijacked religion, but they're not religious. I don't believe
you murder innocent people to achieve political objectives and be a
religious person. I just don't believe that. As a matter of fact, I
believe that's the definition of evil. And I think the United States
must do everything we can to prevent them from harming us and others
again.
And the stakes are high in this war. Our strategy is to stay on the
offense. I would rather defeat them overseas than to face them here at
home. And so every day, you've got really fine, decent people working
hour after hour to find these killers and to bring them to justice. You
can't negotiate with these kind of people; you can't talk sense to them.
The only thing--the way to protect us in the short term is to find them
before they hurt us again. And that's what's happening every single day.
Dave Reichert understands it. He is a strong supporter of law
enforcement, of the intelligence community, and of the United States
military. And I appreciate that, Dave.
In the long run, the best way to protect you is to win this
ideological struggle by defeating what they believe with something
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that has worked throughout history, and that's liberty. I make my
decisions based on just some fundamental principles--principles, by the
way, I'm not going to change; principles that--you know, I think the
thing that matters most in life is when you finish the task at hand,
whatever that may be, that you can look in the mirror and say you stayed
true to your principles; you stayed true to that which you believe. I'd
rather be dealing with people who make decisions based upon what's
right, not based upon the latest focus group or opinion poll. And that's
exactly what we need to do to protect this country.
I believe there's an Almighty, and I believe a great gift of the
Almighty to each man, woman, and child on the face of the Earth is
freedom. And I believe it's in the interest of the United States to help
people be free. Freedom yields the peace we want. Freedom yields the--
lays that foundation for peace so our children can grow up in a peaceful
world. And that's what you're seeing happening right now.
Iraq is the central front of this war. This war is being fought on a
variety of fronts, and Iraq obviously is the central front. It's the
front that's dominating the news. It's the front that appears on your TV
screens. It's the front in which there's a lot of debate in a free
society, and there should be debate. I happen to believe it's essential
that we win this war in Iraq, that we do the job on this front.
We've done some remarkable things there. First of all, we removed a
brutal dictator. Getting rid of Saddam Hussein made the world safer. It
was the right decision. The Iraqis went to the polls and wrote a
Constitution. I mean, I wasn't surprised they went to the polls. If you
believe in the universality of freedom, it shouldn't surprise you that
people, if given a chance, will express their desire to be free. I
wasn't surprised; I was pleased that 12 million people defied the car
bombers and killers and murderers to vote.
And then the thinking enemy, recognizing that a free society in the
Middle East would be a major blow to their ambitions to spread their
caliphate throughout the Middle East, tried to create sectarian
violence. They murdered the innocent in order to cause people to doubt
government and doubt the coalition. These are coldblooded killers.
These, by the way, have sworn allegiance to--many of them have sworn
allegiance to Usama bin Laden, the same
person that ordered the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 of our
citizens. They can't stand the thought of a free society in their midst.
An Iraq that can govern itself and sustain itself and be an ally against
these radicals and extremists would be a major defeat in this
ideological struggle.
And so they struck. And I was confronted with a decision: You either
leave, pull back, or send more troops in to try to bring enough security
so that the society can emerge and evolve. And I chose the latter. I
chose the latter because the consequences of failure in Iraq are
enormous for the security of the United States of America.
I gave a speech to the VFW the other day and talked about the
different theaters of war in the past, whether it be Japan or Korea and
Vietnam. I reminded the listeners, Vietnam was much different from Iraq
in that you could leave Vietnam, and yeah, there was a human toll, huge
human catastrophe as a result of us leaving, but the enemy wasn't going
to follow us here. In the beginning of the 21st century, failure in Iraq
would cause the enemy not to retreat, but to follow us to America. The
stakes of success for your security are enormous. And that is why I
listened to our commanders and the experts and military folks about how
to provide enough security for democracy to have a chance to succeed.
I sent a new commander there on the ground, a fellow named General
David Petraeus. We've been there for--
fully staffed and engaged for about 2 months, with a full complement of
manpower, and
[[Page 1113]]
we're making a difference. It's changing on the ground. The people are
beginning to see that grassroots reconciliation is possible. Neighbors--
listen, people want to live in peace. People don't like violence. They
want their children to grow up in a peaceful world. If given a chance, I
believe people will cling to liberty and freedom. And I know it's in our
interests for us to deny Al Qaida a safe haven or the extremists an
opportunity to become more emboldened throughout the Middle East. What
happens in Iraq matters in America.
And that's why I've asked Congress to wait until these commanders
come back--the Ambassador and commander come back and tell people
exactly what's happening. You know, when they open up a new school in
Iraq, it doesn't make headline news. When Al Qaida kills a bunch of
people, it does. And these folks are trying to shake our will. I'm
giving a speech to the American Legion tomorrow, and a line in there is,
``We will not be intimidated by thugs and murderers. The United States
of America will stand strong.''
I'm confident we can succeed. I really am. I could not look at a
mother whose child was in combat if I didn't believe, one, it was
necessary, and two, we can succeed. I couldn't do that in good
conscience. And one of the reasons I'm confident we can succeed is
because we have done this kind of work before.
I like to remind people about the story of my dad and my Presidency.
I find it incredibly ironic that George H.W. Bush went straight out of high school, became a Navy fighter
pilot, and fought the Japanese, and some 60 years later, his son sits
down at the table with the Prime Minister of Japan, the former enemy, working to keep the peace. Isn't
that interesting? I think it is. And you know what happens? Liberty has
got the capacity to change an enemy into an ally. Liberty and freedom
have--are transformative. They've got the ability to transform an entire
region, one of hopelessness, where 19 kids are willing to get on an
airplane to kill, to one of hope, where people realize a better future
and a peaceful future.
This is a long ideological struggle we're involved in. And the
fundamental question is, will the United States of America take the
lead? Will we be confident in the values that have made us a great
nation? And I answered that question loud and clear: We're in the lead,
we'll stay in the lead, and we'll work for the peace that we all want.
You know, every time you run, at least every time I've run, the
economy has always been an issue. And I'm glad it is this time around.
[Laughter] We have--I can remember campaigning in Washington State and
campaigning with Dave before and reminding people of another principle
that I believe in, and that is, you can spend your money better than
government can. It is a--there is a kind of a philosophical divide in
Washington. There are people that, one, don't--believe we don't have
enough money in Washington--I happen to believe we do--and secondly,
that they would rather figure out how to spend your money than you
should.
You know--and so our argument, however, wins when you look at the
facts. We had to deal with a recession, an attack on the country,
corporate scandals. This economy was not very good in our--in the
beginning of my administration. So I went to Congress and said, ``I've
got an idea for us to get out of this recession. Why don't we let the
people have more of their own money? Rather than taking money away from
the spenders and savers and investors, why don't we try something
different? Why don't we say, `Here, you can have your own money in your
own pocket so you can spend it yourself'?''
And it worked. Since August of 2003--by the way, we didn't cut taxes
on a few people, we cut taxes on everybody that paid taxes. It wasn't
one of these special deals where you paid some, and you paid some, but
you get the tax break; you don't. If
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you have a family with children, you got a tax break. I happen to think
it was a mistake to penalize marriage. We had a marriage penalty in the
Tax Code. It seems like to me, we ought to be encouraging marriage
rather than penalizing marriage.
We cut taxes on dividends and capital gains to encourage investment.
We cut taxes on small businesses, and we reduced all the income tax
rates. And by the way, most small businesses pay tax at the individual
income tax rate. See, if you're a subchapter S or a limited partnership,
you pay income tax based upon individual rates. And so when you say
you're cutting the individual rates, you're actually cutting taxes as
well on small businesses. Seventy percent of new jobs are created by
small businesses, and so when a small business has more money in its
treasury, it tends to expand and invest. When a consumer has more money
in his or her pocket, they either save or invest or spend.
And our plan worked. Cutting taxes works. Cutting taxes has created
a strong economy. We've created 8.3 million new jobs since August of
2003. Unemployment rates are down. People are working; inflation is low;
interest rates are low; people are owning homes. This economy is strong.
And the best way to keep it strong is to put people in Congress that
won't raise your taxes.
And make no mistake about it, the Democrats are going to raise your
taxes, pure and simple. They may say they're not going to in the
campaign, but they're going to raise your taxes. How do I know? Well,
they submitted a budget recently. Their budget calls for $205 billion of
extra discretionary spending over the next 5 years. That's their
blueprint for what they're going to do with your money, 205 billion
additional dollars. That averages out to $112 million a day, $4.7
million per hour, $78,000 per minute, $1,300 in higher discretionary
spending every second of every minute of every hour of every day of
every year for the next 5 years. And you're going to pay for it. That's
why we need to reelect Dave Reichert. And that's why they give the
President the power of veto. I'm going to veto any tax threats.
What's interesting is that we were able to cut taxes and grow the
economy and, at the same time, reduce our deficit. That's what we told
the people we would do. We said, ``Give us a chance. You're going to
have more money in your own pocket to spend, save, and invest, and we're
going to manage this fiscal house in such a way that the deficit comes
down.'' Today, the projected deficit is about 205 billion; that's a nice
number. That's what the Democrats are going to take out of your pocket;
that's the size of the deficit, which, by the way, as a percentage of
GDP is low.
And I've submitted a budget that will actually balance the budget by
2012, so long as we have fiscally responsible people in Washington. And
that means we need to elect people who understand what it means to set
priorities. And the number-one priority, as far as I'm concerned, is to
protecting the American people. The number-one priority is to make sure
our troops have the support they need and to make sure our veterans get
the care they need.
And Dave is right there. You can count on him. You can count on him
to be a watchdog for your money in Washington, DC.
I want to talk about one other issue, and that is--it's a national
security issue, it's an economic security issue, and it is an
environmental issue--and that is our dependency on oil. Now, that
probably comes as a shock to you to hear a Texan say that, but I
understand what it means to be dependent on a product from parts of the
world where some of the people don't like us. I know what that means for
our national security.
I also understand, in this world we live in, when demand for crude
oil goes up in a developing country like China and the corresponding
supply doesn't keep up with
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the demand, the price of gasoline goes up at the pump here in Seattle,
Washington. So it's an economic security issue as well. If the
terrorists and these radicals that would like to create economic havoc
on the United States were ever to able to significantly disrupt the oil
supply, you'd feel it. So it's an economic security issue. And
obviously, burning fossil fuels creates an environmental issue.
And so I look forward to working with Dave to come up with a
practical plan that enables us, one, to grow the economy and, at the
same time, to become less dependent on oil and better stewards of the
environment. And our strategy makes sense. It's a commonsense strategy.
First, I believe that we can grow enough fuel to become less
dependent on oil. I'd rather our farmers be producing fuel than buying
fuel from overseas. I think that's a practical application of
technology. We're selling a little--we're using a little more than 7
billion gallons of ethanol now, made mainly from Midwestern corn. In
other words, there's a whole industry growing. And we're encouraging it.
As a matter of fact, we believe that technology is going to advance to
the point where we can reduce our gasoline usage by 20 percent over the
next 10 years and replace it with alternative fuels. I believe that.
Your government is spending a fair amount of your money--if billions
is fair--[laughter]--a lot of your money on technologies because the
truth of the matter is, the only way to be able to grow our economy and,
at the same time, be better stewards of the environment is to come up
with new technologies. It's conceivable that relatively quickly, there
are going to be automobiles where you can drive your first 40 miles on a
battery and the thing you're in doesn't look like a golf cart. It will
actually be a car, something that you'd like to be in. [Laughter]
I'm a big believer in clean coal technologies. We're spending up to
about $2 billion to be able to use this plentiful supply of energy in an
environmentally friendly way. And I think there's going to be some
breakthroughs coming down the road.
I believe in nuclear power. I believe if you're really, truly
interested in greenhouse gases, then you ought to be supporting nuclear
power. If you're really that concerned about the environment, you ought
to be saying, this great economy of ours can grow and, at the same time,
not pollute. Nuclear power doesn't put one emission into the atmosphere.
And so we're spending money to come up with technologies that will
enable us to be less dependent on oil. And I think it makes sense. And
I'm proud to have Dave's support. He's an environmentally conscious guy.
He cares about the environment, like a lot of people around the country
do. But I want to tell you something that's interesting and something
you probably haven't spent much time reading about. Do you realize that
the United States is the only major industrialized nation that cut
greenhouse gases last year? We grew our economy by 3.4 percent in the
second quarter, and we cut greenhouse gases.
Our strategy is working. Our philosophy makes sense. It is a
commonsense philosophy that's making a difference in the lives of the
average citizens. David Reichert understands that, and that's why you
need to send him back to the United States Congress. And I'm proud to be
here for him.
Thanks for coming. God bless.
Note: The President spoke at 4:28 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency. In his
remarks, he referred to Sally Gorton, wife of former Sen. T. Slade
Gorton III; Luke Esser, chairman, Washington State Republican Party;
Matt Hasselbeck, quarterback, and Mack Strong, fullback, Seattle
Seahawks; Usama bin Laden, leader of the Al Qaida terrorist
organization; Gen. David H. Petraeus, USA, commanding general, Multi-
National Force--Iraq; and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan.
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