[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 10 (Monday, March 11, 2002)]
[Pages 382-385]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Republican Party of Florida Reception in St. Petersburg

March 8, 2002

    The President. Thank you all. Well, thank you all for coming out to 
say hello to me and my little brother. [Laughter] I sure hope you work 
hard to get him back in. He has done a fabulous job. You know, when 
you've got somebody who brings honor and integrity and works hard and 
loves the people and does in office what he said he's going to do, you 
need to send him back in. So thank you for getting ready to work. Thank 
you for getting ready to work. Grassroots politics means a lot.
    Audience member. We love you both. [Laughter]
    The President. Thank you. Sounds like you've been talking to our 
mother. [Laughter] I think she still loves us. I know she's telling us 
what to do all the time. [Laughter] Jeb listens about half the time. I 
listen all the time, of course. [Laughter]
    It's great to be in Pinellas County. You know, I was flying down 
today with Chairman Young. He said, ``It's about time you came to 
Pinellas.'' I said, ``Well, it's about time you invited me, Mr. 
Chairman.'' [Laughter] But I'm proud of Bill Young. I hope you're proud 
of Bill Young. He's doing a fabulous job. He's a good man. He's a good 
man in the right position.
    And Mr. Mayor, thank you for coming, too. The mayor of St. 
Petersburg is here. I'm honored you're here, Mr. Mayor. I don't know if 
any of the other Congressmen that came down with us are here.
    Audience member. [Inaudible]
    The President. There he is. Miller, Bilirakis--of course he's here. 
What am I thinking? What am I thinking? Where's Red? There he is. Adam 
Putnam, he's here. Miller, Dan Miller is here.
    Listen, there are some fine Members of the United States Congress 
from Florida; you need to get them back in, too. Miller is not running 
again, I'm sorry to say, but nevertheless, we've got to make sure his 
seat stays Republican, and these other three need to come back, along 
with the chairman.
    Listen, we're making a big difference up there. And one of the 
reasons why is, we've got a Republican Speaker, and we want to make sure 
we have a Republican Speaker after the off-year elections.
    I told Jeb, I'll do anything he wants me to do to get him elected. 
If he wants me down here, I'm coming back. It's important for the State 
of Florida. Jeb said, ``Well, it'll help me.'' Nuh-uh, it's going to 
help the people of Florida. You see, you've got a man here who cares 
deeply about making sure the school system works and that no child in 
Florida is left behind. It is essential that you have a Governor who 
knows how to lead on education. It is by far the most important issue 
that a Governor can deal with, is educating the children. And Jeb, as a 
result of his program and as a result of the help you're giving his 
program, is making a huge difference in the very future of the State of 
Florida.
    Florida has got her challenges, and it's good to have a good, steady 
man at the helm, a person, by the way, who makes his mind up not based 
upon polls or what some focus group might say, but a person who makes up 
his mind based upon principles. Jeb is a principled man. And he's not 
going to blink in the face of tough times, and neither am I.
    And we've got some tough times ahead of us in America. We've got 
some tough times. We're fighting for freedom. We're defending the very 
values that we hold dear.
    We got attacked by some murderers, people--and I like to remind 
people, they must have not known who they were attacking. They thought 
we were soft. They thought we were self-absorbed. They thought we were 
so materialistic that we would maybe try to sue them--[laughter]--that 
we wouldn't deal with them. But they made a big mistake.
    I told the world that either you're with us, or you're against us, 
and there's no in-between. And most of the world is with us. And

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I'm proud to say our coalition is strong, because people understand the 
value of freedom, the freedom to worship the way you like to worship, 
the freedom to vote, the freedom to express your opinion without fear of 
reprisal, the freedom to risk capital and realize your entrepreneurial 
dream. Well, listen, we hold freedom dear, and we will defend it at all 
costs.
    I also said that if you harbor a terrorist, if you feed one, if you 
think they can hide in your land, you're just as guilty as the 
terrorist, and the Taliban found out exactly what we meant. They are no 
longer in power, thank goodness. And the people who appreciate that fact 
the most are women and children in Afghanistan.
    We seek justice, not revenge, and we're liberators, not conquerors. 
Our mighty military, along with other coalition forces, routed out the 
Taliban and liberated people from the clutches of one of the most 
barbaric regimes in the history of mankind. I cannot tell you how proud 
I am of the will of the American people and the strength of the United 
States military.
    I have said from the beginning of this war that this is going to be 
a long, difficult struggle. And it is. Today Jeb and I had the honor of 
meeting a mom and dad whose son was recently killed in the battle that 
rages in Afghanistan. It broke my heart to see her sadness. I was 
touched by her grief. But I assured her, like I assure you, that this 
cause is noble; this cause is just. And our country will not relent; we 
will not tire; we will not falter until we have routed out terror from 
its very roots and held people accountable for those who would want to 
hurt America.
    History has called us into action. History has called this great 
land to lead, and we will lead. And the good news is, the world sees how 
strong the American people are and how united we are and how convinced 
we are of the rightness of our cause.
    I have submitted a budget that is the largest defense spending 
increase in 20 years. I did so because of my conviction, a conviction 
supported by Chairman Young, that our military deserves the best 
equipment, the best training, a pay increase. If we send the men and 
women in uniform into harm's way, our Government must stand strongly 
with them in the fight for freedom. Thank goodness the man from Pinellas 
County is in charge of the appropriations process, because he knows what 
I know. The price of freedom is high, but the price of freedom is never 
too high, as far as we're concerned.
    And by the way, the war against terror is bigger than any single 
individual. Oh, I know there are some always talking about this bin 
Laden fellow. But remember, he's the kind of fellow who--he asks 
youngsters to go commit suicide, and he tries to bury inside a cave. We 
haven't heard from him in a long time. He's been kind of quiet for 
months. I don't know if he's alive; I don't know if he's dead. But I 
know this: If he is alive, there is no cave deep enough for the United 
States. We're going to find him.
    It doesn't matter whether he was brought to justice a month ago or 
years from now. What matters is the resolve of the American people to 
rout out terror. And what matters is, as well, is we're not going to let 
nations develop the worst kinds of weapons and hook up with terrorist 
organizations so that future generations of Americans will be held 
hostage to people who resent our country and resent our way of freedom. 
The world's most dangerous weapons will not--the world's most dangerous 
nations will not be allowed to develop, to keep the world's most 
dangerous weapons.
    We're doing everything we can to secure the homeland. My most 
important job is to protect the American people. Every morning I walk 
into the glorious Oval Office. I'm an early morning guy, so I get out 
there about--get over there about 6:50, 7 o'clock in the morning. In 
comes Spot, the dog, with me. [Laughter] Spot was born at the White 
House when Mother and Dad were there, so she's kind of used to the 
surroundings. [Laughter] When I told them that, somebody said, ``What 
about Barney, the Scottish terrier?'' I said, ``Well, we just bought a 
new rug.'' [Laughter] He's a little young for the Oval Office.
    And I read about the threats that face our country. The enemy is 
still out there. And I want you to know we're doing everything in our 
power. We're chasing down every lead. We're working with law enforcement 
officials. We're focused on hunting them down.

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Anybody who thinks they can come to our country to hunt them--to hurt 
us, we're going to be after them. And we're on alert. And I'm proud of 
the American law enforcement officials, and I'm proud of our citizens.
    But I want to remind my fellow citizens, the best way to secure the 
homeland is to rout out terror wherever it exists and get them and bring 
them to justice. And so long as I'm the President, that's exactly what 
we're going to do.
    I want to thank you all, too, for standing strong on taxes. Now, as 
you know, our economy got roughed up as a result of 9/11, that we got 
hit pretty hard. You're going to hear the statisticians, the number 
crunchers, the bean counters, as we call them in Texas, say, well, this 
might have been a recession; this might not have been a recession--this, 
that, and the other. Look, so long as somebody lost a job, I'm worried 
about it. That's enough to get my attention.
    And we need to make sure we focus on how to create jobs in our 
economy, and one way to do that is to let people keep their own money. 
One way to make sure that there's economic vitality is to let people 
keep their own money so that increases demand, which increases supply, 
which then helps people keep jobs. We cut the taxes last year, last 
June. We signed the tax bill. It was the absolute right thing to do at 
the right time in order to make sure our economy did not suffer 
economically.
    And as Jeb mentioned, sometimes people in the political process read 
the wrong economics textbook. When times are slow, they want to raise 
your taxes. Or when times are slow, they don't want tax relief to 
continue on. Well, when they do that, they get crossways with the Bush 
boys. [Laughter] We understand--we understand that the money is not the 
Government's money; it's the people's money.
    And finally, let me share with you my optimism about our country. 
This is such a fabulous nation. And people say, you know, they say, 
``How do you fight terror?'' And I say--you remind them that one way to 
stand in the face of evil is to do some good, and that's what's 
happening all across the country.
    We're a compassionate nation. We're a kind nation. We're a nation of 
faith, a nation of family. We're a nation where somebody walks across 
the street and says to a neighbor who's shut in, ``What can I do to make 
your day brighter? How can I help you?'' That's the America I know. As a 
result of the millions of acts of kindness and decency that take place 
on a regular day, America stands strong in the face of evil. Our 
collective front is formed by the compassion that Americans do to 
neighbors in need.
    And so my call to my fellow Americans is, love a neighbor just like 
you'd like to be loved yourself. Mentor a child. Help somebody who needs 
help. Love somebody. Donate some money to a worthy cause. Go to your 
church or your synagogue or your mosque and start a faith-based program 
that will help somebody defeat addiction. Remember, there are still 
people that hurt in our society, and we can help. And we can help.
    There is the gathering momentum of millions of acts of kindness in 
America. And as a result of this evil, we're assessing ourselves. We're 
taking a good look at values that matter. America is on the verge of 
ushering in a new culture, one that says, ``I'm responsible for the 
decisions I make in life,'' a culture that recognizes there's 
something--a culture that recognizes serving something greater than 
yourself is a noble culture.
    Flight 93 helped define what I'm talking about. Young men and a lady 
on an airplane knew they were in danger. They were on their cell phones. 
They told their wives they loved them. They said a prayer, and they 
sacrificed for something greater than themselves. That's the America the 
world is beginning to see. That's the America I have the honor of 
leading. It is such a privilege to be your President. It is such a 
privilege to be the President of the greatest Nation on the face of the 
Earth.
    May God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 1:34 p.m. in the King Charles Ballroom at 
the Don CeSar Beach Resort and Spa. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. 
Jeb Bush of Florida; Mayor Rick Baker of St. Petersburg; and Usama bin 
Laden, leader of the Al Qaida terrorist organization.

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