[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 15 (Monday, April 15, 2002)]
[Pages 602-607]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Republican Luncheon in Greenwich, Connecticut

April 9, 2002

    Thank you for that warm welcome. It's nice to be back in the State 
in which I was born. I was running for Congress one time, and they 
accused me of not being able to represent the people of west Texas 
because I was born in Connecticut. And I said, ``Heck, I just wanted to 
be close to my mother on that day.'' [Laughter]
    I know I've got a lot of people here are friends of Mother and 
Dad's. I just want you to know they're doing great, and so am I, and so 
is my wife. I'm sorry Laura couldn't be with us today. She went to the 
Queen Mother's funeral in London, and she's flying back tonight. But let 
me just tell you, for somebody who is a public school librarian, who 
wasn't all that thrilled about politics and all that in love with 
politicians, she's made a fabulous First Lady; she really has. She's 
brought a lot of comfort to the Nation when we needed to be comforted, 
and she brings a quiet dignity that I'm most proud of.
    I also want to thank my friend Johnny Rowland. I'm here because I 
want the people of Connecticut to reelect Johnny. He's done a heck of a 
job as your Governor. And you get a good Lieutenant Governor with him as 
well. I appreciate Lieutenant Governor

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Jodi Rell* for being here. Thank you very much. It's great to see you 
again. Lieutenant Governor Rell and I spent some quality time 
campaigning together, and I found her to be a very bright, very 
accomplished soul. It's great to see you again, Jodi.*
    * White House correction.
    And I'm also here because I want Denny Hastert to be the Speaker of 
the House. It is important that we elect Republicans from Connecticut to 
support Denny Hastert.
    I remember one time, right after--in the fall, people said, ``Well, 
do you plan on campaigning?'' I said, ``Yes, I plan on campaigning.'' It 
is in my interest to campaign for good candidates, because I think it's 
in the Nation's interest that we have people like Chris Shays and Nancy 
Johnson and Rob Simmons represent the good people of Connecticut in 
Washington, DC.
    I appreciate Shays. [Laughter] Sometimes, he appreciates me. 
[Laughter] But I enjoy working with him because he's a man of deep 
compassion. He cares deeply about the human condition, and so does his 
wife, Betsi. And it's been an honor to call them friends, and I 
appreciate you all very much.
    I want to thank Charlie Glazer, the event chairman, longtime friend. 
I appreciate your tireless work. And I want to thank those who represent 
the grassroots of the Connecticut party. Oftentimes, those of us in 
public office only focus on one aspect of politics. But I like to remind 
people that it takes the good folks dialing the phones and mailing the 
mail, holding those signs up--at least the ones that say nice things on 
them. [Laughter] They're the ones who really oftentimes don't get the 
credit. And so for those of you who have toiled in the vineyards on 
behalf of candidates such as me and those on the stage, thanks from the 
bottom of our heart. And thank you all for helping the party, which 
helps Johnny, and helping the two candidates who have got serious 
challenges.
    First, on Johnny. The way we like to put it in Texas is, he's the 
kind of fellow that does in office what he said he would do. I can't 
tell you how important it is to have people who hold office who deliver. 
And one of the jobs of a Governor is to help restore faith in the 
political process of a particular State. And the best way to defeat 
cynicism is to accomplish things on behalf of everybody, is to rise 
above the traditional noise that tends to dominate the political scene 
and perform. And that's what Johnny has done. He said he would cut 
taxes, and he did. He said he would reduce those taxes which inhibited 
growth in the State of Connecticut, and he did. And as a result, the 
economy here has been vibrant and exciting, thanks to Johnny's 
leadership.
    Listen, he understands what I understand: Governments don't create 
wealth--we know that--but governments need to create an environment in 
which people are willing to risk capital, in which the entrepreneur can 
flourish. That's what's happening in Connecticut, thanks to Johnny 
Rowland's leadership.
    I gave a speech the other day on the importance of making sure that 
children learn how to read early in life, so that when they start 
kindergarten, there's not this huge learning gap that takes place in 
America. Johnny figured that out way before my speech. He figured out 
preschool education was important before a lot of other people knew it 
was important. And I appreciate Johnny's efforts on focusing the State 
of Connecticut and his budget on preschool programs as well as spending 
billions of dollars to make sure class sizes are smaller in the State of 
Connecticut.
    Listen, we passed historic education reform in Washington, DC. And 
thanks to the Members on the stage and both Republicans and Democrats 
working together, finally, in Washington, we were able to pass a 
meaningful piece of legislation, part of which is to not only hold 
people to high standards and to expect the best out of every child, but 
part of it is we're going to trust the Governors and local people to 
figure out the path to excellence. And it gives me great confidence in 
supporting such a bill, knowing that Johnny Rowland is the Governor of 
the State of Connecticut.
    Serious crime has dropped by 15.7 percent in the State of 
Connecticut since Johnny's been the Governor. His record speaks for 
itself, and I'm confident the State will be wise enough to send Johnny 
back to the statehouse for another term. I certainly hope so, because 
he's a good man.
    And Nancy Johnson's got a race. And surely the people of her 
congressional district are

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going to be wise enough to send this good soul back to Washington, DC, 
because she is a good soul. She's the dean of the delegation. She's a 
leader in the Republican Party. She has got enormous respect on both 
sides of the aisle, and that's important. If you're a person who goes to 
Washington to get something done, you've got to have the respect on both 
sides of the aisle, and Nancy Johnson does. She is--she has been in the 
Oval Office more than one time with steady counsel and good advice, and 
she's not afraid to give it. [Laughter]
    She is a leading authority on health care and retirement security. 
If I've heard her say one time, I've heard her say 50 times, ``Let's 
work together to get a plan to make sure our seniors have got 
prescription drug coverage.'' I agree with Nancy. We need to work 
together to achieve some important national objectives.
    Nancy is a builder. She's a good, steady soul. She is working on 
pension reform, and she proudly stood with me when it came time to cut 
the taxes. And I want you to know we cut the taxes right at the right 
time. She understands that when you give people their money back or let 
them keep their own money in the first place, it increases demand. And 
when you increase demand, somebody is going to supply something for you. 
And when they supply that good or service, it means jobs. Cutting taxes, 
which I understand was unpopular on some of the opinion pages around 
America, was the exact right thing to do, and I want to thank Nancy and 
Rob and Chris for their support.
    And we sent the death tax on its way. We're getting rid of that 
death tax. But unfortunately, there is a quirk in the law that means 
that the repeal of the death tax is not permanent. It's hard for me to 
explain why you eliminate the death tax, and all of a sudden it's able 
to come back to life. [Laughter] That's Washington. [Laughter]
    We need to make the tax cuts permanent, and the three Members from 
the United States Congress understand that the repeal of the death tax 
is an important part of letting people realize the American Dream. And 
we've got small-business owners all over the country who've worked all 
their life, who want to leave their business to their heirs, to a son or 
a daughter, and can't do so because of the death tax.
    Listen, getting rid of the death tax was great for farmers and 
ranchers. It's good to--it's a good policy if you're worried about urban 
sprawl, so they can keep the farmland in their families for generations. 
And we need to make it permanent. We need to make sure that the good 
work we did doesn't change because of a quirk in how Washington works. 
So the three Members up here are going to be important to make sure that 
the repeal of the death tax is forever, and that will be good for the 
country.
    And I appreciate Rob Simmons. He and I showed up about the same time 
in Washington. [Laughter] And he is doing a fine, fine job. He's 
respected. When he speaks, people listen to what he has to say. As you 
know, he has had a lifetime of service to the country. He worked for the 
CIA after he served in the Army. He worked on the Senate staff. He's in 
the State legislature. He's worked hard, very hard, at every position 
he's held. And he's been a very fine Member of the United States 
Congress. He cares deeply about our veterans. He's a member of the 
Committee of Veteran Affairs. He knows our country owes a lot to the 
people who have worn the uniform. He's also on the Armed Services 
Committee. The Armed Services Committee is important for the State of 
Connecticut. It's important to have his voice heard on behalf of not 
only Connecticut, of course, but the entire Nation. But I'm confident 
he'd tell you things about Connecticut first. [Laughter] And the people 
of his district will be doing the State of Connecticut a very important 
service to send him back to Washington, DC, as well.
    I have mentioned a couple of the issues that we've worked on, 
education and tax relief. But there's a lot to do in Washington. We need 
an energy policy, an energy policy on the one hand that enhances 
conservation, that unleashes the technology of the country to enable our 
cars to run cleaner, our plants to burn cleaner. But we need to explore 
more, too. We need to be less dependent on foreign sources of crude oil. 
This was made pretty clear the other day when Saddam Hussein stands up 
and announces he's going to try to organize an oil boycott. You

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know my opinion about Saddam. [Laughter] The world's not going to follow 
him. But it just goes to show how important it is to diversify our 
supply away from places like Iraq.
    We need to have trade promotion authority passed for the good of 
American workers. I need to be able to negotiate trade agreements with 
countries all around the world. That bill passed the House, just like 
the energy bill. It stalled in the Senate.
    Nothing seems to be moving out of the Senate these days. A faith-
based initiative passed the House. It is now sponsored by Joe Lieberman 
of Connecticut. It's stalled in the Senate.
    We've got a lot of work to do in Washington, DC, and I appreciate 
these House Members' support. But there's no greater work to be done 
than to protect the American people. I have submitted a budget that 
prioritizes homeland defense and our national security. I submitted a 
budget that recognizes that we've got to prepare America for whatever 
emergency may come, a budget that puts ample amount of money in place to 
enable our first-responders, our brave police and firefighters and EMS 
crews all around the country, to have the equipment and training 
necessary to respond should the enemy hit us again.
    I know the Coast Guard Academy is based here. In my budget, I beefed 
up the Coast Guard in order to make sure that our borders are more 
secure.
    We've got to change the INS, the Immigration and Naturalization 
Service, so we understand who's coming into our country and what is 
their purpose for coming into our country. We've got to make sure we 
have a mechanism in place to deal with any bioterrorist attack that may 
occur. And so we've got--and I've got a good man, a friend of Johnny's 
and mine who is a fellow Governor of ours from Pennsylvania named Tom 
Ridge, running this operation.
    You also need to know that every morning that I'm in Washington, I 
go into the Oval Office--which is a fabulous office, by the way. 
[Laughter] It's a great shrine to our country. I sit at the desk where 
the Roosevelts--I guess since I'm a President, I can call them the 
Roosevelt boys--sat at the desk, John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan. And I 
think my dad had a different desk.
    And so I sit there and open up a threat assessment that our people 
put together about noise we hear of one kind or another about the enemy 
still is interested in hitting us. And so I'm reminded every day that my 
job is to protect America, which I'm going to do. Any time we get a 
hint, any time we get any evidence that somebody might be thinking about 
doing something, you need to know we're moving, and we're moving in a 
way that would make you proud.
    But the best way to secure the homeland is to find the enemy 
wherever they try to hide and bring them to justice. The best way--make 
no mistake about it--you should not be confused about the nature of the 
people we're dealing with. They hate us because we're free. They hate 
the thought that Americans welcome all religions; they can't stand that 
thought. They hate the thought that we educate everybody. They hate our 
freedoms. They hate the fact that we hold each individual--we dignify 
each individual. We believe in the dignity of every person. They can't 
stand that.
    And the only way they know to express themselves is through killing, 
coldblooded killing. And so we need to treat them the way they are, as 
international criminals. And that's why my defense budget is the largest 
increase in 20 years. You know, the price of freedom is high, but for me 
it's never too high because we fight for freedom.
    I've tried to speak as clearly as I possibly can. You're either with 
us, or you're not with us. You're either with us, or you're against us. 
And the good news is, there's a lot of people with us. A lot of people 
love freedom like we do, and we've got a vast coalition we've put 
together that we work on. I had the honor of welcoming Tony Blair down 
to the ranch. We've got no finer friend, no stronger partner in our 
quest for freedom than Tony Blair.
    I also said that if you hide a terrorist or feed one, you're just as 
guilty as a terrorist. And the Taliban found out exactly what we meant. 
We went into Afghanistan not as conquerors but as liberators.
    It is so hard for people to understand, the fact that this was a 
government--it's hard for

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people in America to understand that this is a government that would not 
let young girls go to school. I mean, these were barbaric, backward 
people. And we got them out of office. And not only did we get them out 
of office, we kept a nation from starving. We're helping with their 
health care system. I am so proud of the contributions that our military 
and Americans have made. It is a signal to the world that we're not only 
tough--if somebody wants to take us on, they will have made a bad 
mistake. But we're also compassionate, and we care deeply about the 
plight of our fellow human beings, no matter what part of the world they 
live in.
    The enemy must be chagrined. You know, first of all, I can't imagine 
what went through their mind when they attacked. I like to remind 
people, they must have felt we were so materialistic and so self-
absorbed and so weak and feeble that all we would do would be to file a 
lawsuit. [Laughter]
    They thought we would grow weary. They thought we would tire. Man, 
are they wrong. This Nation is united and strong. And it's important 
that we be patient and united and strong, because there are still a lot 
of them out there. There just are; that's the reality. I deal with 
reality every day. But there's no cave deep enough for these people to 
hide in. You just need to know that.
    The other day we hauled in a guy named Abu Zubaydah. He's one of the 
top operatives plotting and planning death and destruction on the United 
States. He's not plotting and planning anymore. He's where he belongs.
    History has called us into action, and this Nation is responding. 
You've got to understand my mindset and what I think. We've got to act 
on behalf of the little ones. We've got to secure the world and this 
civilization as we know it from these evil people. We just have to do 
this.
    And that includes making sure that some of the world's worst leaders 
who desire to possess the world's worst weapons don't team up with 
faceless, Al Qaida-type killer organizations. We owe it to the future of 
this country to lead a coalition against nations that are so evil and, 
at the same time, desire incredibly evil weapons. And you just need to 
know, so long as I'm the President, my focus is going to be defending 
freedom and making sure that, when they look back at history, they will 
have said the United States did what was necessary to keep the world 
free from terror and barbaric behavior.
    And I want to thank these Members for their strong support of the 
defense budget that I submitted. And my call, of course, to the Congress 
is that instead of passing the defense budget last, like they always try 
to do, let's pass it first; let's get it done. Let's make sure our 
troops understand they're going to have the best equipment, the best 
training, and the best pay possible early in the budget cycle, not late.
    I believe strongly in the inherent good of our country. I'm an 
optimistic fellow because I know what a great land we are--have--and 
what a great people we are. I believe out of this evil that has been 
done to our Nation will come incredible good. There's no doubt in my 
mind; there's no doubt in my mind, if we're firm and deliberate and 
tough, we'll achieve peace in places where we never dreamt there would 
be peace. If we're steady and rout out terror wherever it exists, we can 
achieve peace. And I know this country can respond to the evil acts by 
responding with acts of kindness and decency.
    People say, ``What can I do to help?'' The answer is, love a 
neighbor like you'd like to be loved yourself. If you want to help 
America fight evil, do some good in your neighborhood. Put your arm 
around a child who may wonder whether or not the American experience is 
meant for them and say, ``I love you.'' And more than that, teach them 
how to read, so they can understand what America is all about. If you 
really want to help, support your schools. Help people understand that 
loneliness and despair do not have to be a way of life. Walk across the 
street to a shut-in who may live in your neighborhood and say, ``I care 
for you. What can I do to help you today?''
    It's small acts of kindness and decency that define the true face of 
America for the world. If you want to fight evil, do some good. And it's 
that gathering momentum of millions of acts of kindness which will have 
the American people stand squarely in the face of the evildoers.

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    And that's happening in America. It is. Our culture is beginning to 
change from one of--that basically said, ``If it feels good, just go 
ahead and do it,'' and, ``If you've got a problem, blame somebody 
else,'' to one in which we're all responsible for the decisions we make 
in life, that we're responsible for loving our children. The most 
important job you'll ever have as a mother or father is to love your 
children with all your heart and all your soul.
    A responsible period of time says that you will be involved in your 
community, that you shouldn't just take from the great American 
experience but you've got to give and you've got to help people in need. 
It means we've got corporate responsibility in America. CEOs of 
corporate America must not only be responsible for full disclosure of 
assets and liabilities, but they must also stay focused on the health 
and welfare of their workers.
    There is a responsibility era emerging in America to the better--to 
the better--and as a result, we'll be able to overcome evil with good.
    And perhaps that change of attitude and change of culture is best 
reflected by what took place on Flight 93. For me, it was one of the 
most meaningful stories of September 11th and on. It's the story of 
average Americans flying an airplane--on an airplane, traveling our 
country just like everybody else has done--most everybody has done--just 
got on an airplane and said, ``I'm going to go somewhere,'' for business 
or pleasure, whatever it was. And they were told on their telephones 
that America was under attack. And they told their loved ones they loved 
them, and they said a prayer, and they drove the plane in the ground to 
save others' lives.
    It is the ultimate--it's the ultimate statement of personal 
responsibility to serve something greater than yourself. And that's 
what's happening in America. Americans all around our country are 
serving something greater than their own self-promotion. And that's 
good. And that's the American spirit. And that's why I am so incredibly 
optimistic about the future of this country, because we're a land full 
of decent and caring and compassionate Americans.
    Thank you all for coming today, and may God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 12:55 p.m. in the Regency Ballroom at the 
Hyatt Regency Greenwich. In his remarks, he referred to President Saddam 
Hussein of Iraq; Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom; and 
Abu Zubaydah, a leader of the Al Qaida terrorist organization, who was 
captured on March 28.