[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 35 (Monday, September 2, 2002)]
[Pages 1427-1432]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Reception for Gubernatorial Candidate Bill Simon in Dana 
Point, California

August 23, 2002

    The President. Thank you all very much. Thanks for inviting me. We 
don't have views like this in Crawford. [Laughter] What a beautiful spot 
this is, in a fantastic State. And thanks for coming tonight. It is my 
honor to come and help support the fine slate of candidates that our 
party is fielding this year. And it's my honor to come and support the 
next Governor of the State of California, Bill Simon.
    Bill mentioned that Laura was out here working for--on his behalf. 
And that day he drew the long straw, and today--
[laughter]--you drew the short one. [Laughter] But she's doing great. I 
had a talk with her when we got settled into this beautiful spot. And 
yesterday in Leander, Texas, they named an elementary school for her. So 
she thought it would be good--and deservedly so, I might say.
    You know, when I married Laura, she was a public school librarian. 
That's how she made her living. She was a public school librarian, and 
the truth of the matter is, she didn't care for politics or politicians. 
[Laughter] And now she got stuck with one. [Laughter] For the good of 
the country, she's a fabulous First Lady. I'm proud of her. Just like 
Cindy Simon is going to be a great first lady for California.
    I like the way the Simon's value family. That's important for your 
leader of the State of California to hold values dear to his heart. And 
there's nothing more important than

[[Page 1428]]

people who value faith and family and service to something greater than 
yourself.
    This event has not only drawn a lot of hardworking grassroot 
activists--and I want to thank you for your hard work, not only for 
what----
    Audience member. Working hard.
    The President. I know you are. [Laughter] Not only for what you have 
done but for what you're fixing to do, which is to turn out the vote. A 
lot of times, you never get thanked enough. A lot of times, those of us 
running for office kind of take you for granted. Well, you want--need to 
know your President doesn't take you for granted. I want to thank you 
for your hard work. I want to thank you for what you do. I'm urging you 
to get out and support this good man and the slate that we have put 
together here in the great State of California.
    But we've got some strong--we've got some strong members of the 
congressional delegation who are here, and I want to introduce some of 
them. I'm going to probably need their vote when--[laughter]. The good 
news is, I haven't had to ask the ones I'm about to introduce too often, 
because they've been loyal friends, and they're strong, like Ken 
Calvert--I appreciate you coming, Kenny--or Ed Royce, right up the coast 
here. Ed, thank you for coming.
    How about Randy ``Duke'' Cunningham. Duke.
    Audience members. Duke! Duke! Duke!
    The President. I asked him how long it took to get up here from his 
district. He said, when he put in an afterburner, about 3 minutes. 
[Laughter] I appreciate so very much Darrell Issa being here as well. 
Darrell, thanks for coming. And finally, the Congressman from this 
district, a true leader in the House of Representatives, Chris Cox.
    We've got candidates who are running statewide in this fantastic 
State. The next Lieutenant Governor of your State of California is Bruce 
McPherson. I appreciate you coming, Bruce. I've known Bruce for quite a 
while. He's a good hand, as they say in Crawford. He's a good, hard-
working man, who is going to work with the next Governor to do what's 
right for the people of this State. I want to thank very much Dick 
Ackerman, who is the candidate for State attorney general, for being 
here. The next secretary of state, Keith Olberg, is with us today. Greg 
Conlon, who is going to be the next treasurer of your State, is with us 
today. Gary Mendoza is running a great race for insurance commissioner--
is with us today. I appreciate so very much Katherine Smith, running for 
state superintendent of public construction. Thank you, Katherine. These 
are fine candidates, and I want to thank you all for supporting them.
    I also want to pay tribute to Jack and Joanne Kemp who are here 
today. Jack has been a great stalwart for the--[applause]. It's good to 
know they still remember you. He's a good friend and a great man, who 
has been stalwart in the--for our cause and our way of thinking. I 
appreciate so very much his willingness to work hard to take the edge 
off a message to make it clear that what we believe in applies to 
everybody, that we don't believe in excluding people. We believe in 
including people in our message of--[applause].
    And I want to thank my friend Gerry Parsky, who has done a great job 
on my behalf in this State. He had some really heavy lifting to do in 
2000. He was my campaign chairman in this State. But he's a good man. 
He's a good man, and I appreciate his friendship.
    But I want to talk to you about the next Governor. The thing I like 
about Bill Simon is he's willing to work to change the tone of politics. 
And that's important. If you want to lead, if you're there for the right 
reason, if you want to serve the people, the first thing you've got to 
do is change the tone and attitude of people, in this case in 
Sacramento, California.
    You see, if you believe in pitting one group of people against 
another, you can't get anything done. If you believe that politics is 
zero-sum--we've got one winner and one loser--you're not going to get 
positive things done on behalf of the people. Bill Simon is committed to 
changing the tone in Sacramento, to get things done not just for 
Republicans, but for Democrats and independents and people who don't 
give a darn about politics.
    And notice, I said ``get things done.'' I mean ``get results,'' 
results such as making

[[Page 1429]]

sure that every child gets a good education in this important State. It 
is really important. It's really important in this big State, in this 
powerful State, in this State that has got people from all walks of 
life, that we make sure that every single child gets educated--every 
child. Not a few, not some in the fancy districts, not some in the 
suburbs, but every child, everywhere in the State of California.
    And that means setting high standards. That means having a Governor 
who believes every child can learn. You see, the sad fact is, around 
probably California, I know in Texas and around the country, there are 
some people who believe children can't--some children can't learn. See, 
that means they've got low standards, what I call the soft bigotry of 
low expectations. If you set the low--bar low, you're going to get bad 
results. And so first and foremost, you've got to have a Governor who 
believes every child can learn.
    Secondly, you've got to have a Governor who trusts the people to 
make the decisions as to how to get the path to excellence set up in 
each school district. You see, you cannot have a one-size-fits-all 
education system, not only out of Washington but out of a big, powerful 
State, diverse State, like California. You've got to trust the local 
folks. You've got to trust the teachers and the parents. You've got to 
be willing to say, ``We're not going to try to micromanage from a 
centralized authority.''
    Thirdly, you've got to have a Governor--and this Governor--future 
Governor agrees with me about this--that you've got to be willing to 
measure. You see, if you believe every child can learn, like I do, then 
you insist that every child be measured to determine whether they are 
learning. It's the folks who say every child can't learn, are the ones 
who say, ``Let's don't measure.'' If you believe the child can't learn, 
there's no need to tell whether or not they are. Guess what happens with 
the system that doesn't measure? You shuffle children through--called 
``social promotion.'' And guess who gets hurt? Everybody gets hurt in a 
system that refuses to educate each and every child. I believe we ought 
to measure, and I believe we ought to measure so we know who to praise. 
And I believe we ought to measure to make sure we correct problems 
early, before they're too late. No child in America and no child in 
California should be left behind.
    And you've got a Governor--future Governor, who understands that. 
See, it's a frame of mind you've got to have in Washington. Public 
education isn't a political issue; it is a issue that is important for 
every single family in this State. You can't play politics with the 
education system.
    You need a breath of fresh air in Sacramento, is what you need. You 
also need somebody who can balance the budget, somebody who can help set 
priorities, somebody who doesn't try to be all things to all people. 
That's what you need. And that's the way Bill Simon is going to be.
    And finally, an issue that is dear to my heart is the understanding 
that we need to help people help themselves in California and in 
America. We need--for example, when we reauthorize the welfare bill, 
we've got to make sure that the key component of any new reauthorization 
is work. We've got to understand that work equals dignity.
    But you've also got to understand we've got to help people. We've 
got to help people be prepared to work. Listen, there are pockets of 
despair and hopelessness in this State and all around this country. And 
one way to make sure that we help people is to unleash one of the great 
strengths of America, and that is the faith-based programs all across 
our country.
    I'm trying to get a bill passed out of Washington that recognizes 
the power of programs coming out of church and synagogue and mosque, 
programs--programs all designed to help people in need. Bill Simon 
understands that. We ought to ask the question, ``Does it work? Does it 
work? Does changing a person's heart help ease addiction, help cure the 
hopelessness?'' You bet it does. And therefore, we ought to have a 
Governor in this State who's willing to grab the great talent of the 
State, the compassion of the State, to make sure that every Californian 
has got an opportunity to realize the great dream of this State. That's 
the kind of man Bill Simon is.
    He doesn't need a poll to tell him what to believe. He's got a 
compass and a direction. So I hope you work hard to put him

[[Page 1430]]

in and work hard to get the rest of the candidates in. It will be a big 
day for your State, to get a new attitude, a new way of thinking in the 
State's capital. It's good for all people of this State.
    We've got some problems in Sacramento, and we've got some problems 
we've got to deal with as a Nation. We do. But we're going to deal with 
them. My most important job--my most important job is to protect 
innocent life here in the country. And it's still a task, because 
there's still an enemy that hates us. You know, I'm sure your sons and 
daughters or grandkids are saying, ``Why would anybody hate America? 
What have we done?'' Well, we love freedom, that's what we've done. We 
value each life. That's what we do here in this country. Each person has 
got worth, each person has got dignity. Everybody matters.
    We love the fact that people can worship freely in America, and 
we're not going to change. We love the fact that people can speak their 
mind----
    Audience member. I love it----
    The President. ----and they're not going to change. Keep speaking 
it. [Laughter]
    We love the fact--we love the fact we've got a free press. We love 
that. And anybody who tries to take away our freedoms is going to find 
out we're plenty tough. We're staring down nothing but a bunch of 
coldblooded killers. That's all they are--that's all they are. And 
therefore, we're going to deal with them as such.
    But in order to protect the homeland, I need some help out of 
Congress. I want to thank the House Members for voting on a good bill 
that recognizes that when you have over 100 agencies in Washington, DC, 
kind of scattered all over the Nation's Capital, it's hard to get 
priorities set; it's hard to get a culture in place that demands the 
fact that we're all working to keep the people safe. That's what we need 
to do. We need to bring them under one Cabinet officer.
    The problem I face is that the Senate doesn't quite understand what 
the House has done. See, I need to be able to move people--I need to be 
able to move people to the right place at the right time in order to 
make the border more secure, for example. We've got different agencies 
on the border all competing. We've got the INS and the Customs; we've 
got Border Patrol, three fine agencies with great people, but they're 
not--they compete. They need to work together. We've got a new day in 
America. The Senate is more worried about their political turf and less 
worried about the security of the American people.
    But you need to know there are a lot of fine people--I mean fine 
folks--working on your behalf, people running down every hint that 
somebody might be thinking about doing something, people sharing 
intelligence, people working overtime to do everything they can. And I 
don't mean people just at the Federal level; I'm talking about at the 
State level and at the local level. I'm grateful for the law enforcement 
folks here in the State of California, who care deeply about the 
citizens of this State. I'm grateful for our FBI agents who are working 
hard. I'm grateful for all the people who are involved with the homeland 
security.
    We're doing everything we can--you just need to know it--everything 
we can to make sure that we protect the people. But the best way to 
protect the people is to hunt the killers down, one at a time, and bring 
them to justice. And that's what we've got to do. That's what we have to 
do, and that's what we're going to do. That's why I submitted the 
largest increase in defense spending since Ronald Reagan was the 
President.
    I did so because I want to send a clear message that any time we put 
one of our troops into harm's way, they deserve the best pay, the best 
training, and the best possible equipment. If you've got a loved one in 
the military, you tell them the Commander in Chief and the country is 
really proud of their service. And I'm proud of your support for your 
loved ones. I'm proud of them. It's really important they serve. They're 
serving a great nation.
    We also have a big increase in our defense spending because I want 
the enemy and friend alike to know that we're in this for the long pull. 
There's not a calendar on my desk--one of those kind of flipping 
calendars. You flip it, and it says, now time to quit. [Laughter] That's 
not how I think, and that's not how you think.

[[Page 1431]]

    You see, history has called us into action. History has given us a 
chance to defend freedom, to bring freedom not only here at home--to 
make sure we preserve it here at home--but to have freedom in other 
parts of the world. That's what history has done. We're making good 
progress, by the way. We're making good progress, thanks to our 
coalition and thanks to our friends. We've captured over a couple 
thousand of them. [Laughter] Seriously.
    Audience member. Round 'em up, George.
    The President. About the like number haven't been so lucky. 
[Laughter] But we've got more work to do; we just do. And no matter 
where they light, we're going to get after them. We're going to uphold 
the doctrine that says, if you harbor a terrorist, you're just as guilty 
as the terrorists.
    I spend a lot of time talking about this, because not only is it on 
my mind and it's our priority, but it's very important for the American 
people to understand we face a different kind of war. Sometimes you'll 
see it on TV, and sometimes you won't. Sometimes you'll see our actions; 
a lot of times you won't. But you've just got to know that we're chasing 
them, one by one.
    And not only that, it's very important for our future to deal with 
those leaders, those leaders--the world's worst leaders, who want to 
harbor and develop the world's worst weapons. We owe it to our children. 
We owe it to our future. I'm a patient man. We've got tools at our 
disposal, but we have got to defend freedom. We owe it to the future 
generations to do so.
    You know, when the enemy hit us, I can't imagine what was going 
through their mind. See, they must have thought that this great Nation 
was so self-absorbed, so materialistic, and so shallow that after 
September the 11th, we might just file a lawsuit or two. [Laughter]
    But they found out we think differently here in America. They found 
out what this country is made out of. We're a strong nation, but we're a 
decent nation as well. See, we don't seek revenge; we seek justice. We 
don't go to countries to conquer; we go into countries to liberate, just 
like we did in Afghanistan. We believe in the worth of human beings all 
around the world. Our dream is for freedom not just for our own children 
but for children all around the globe. That's the way our Nation thinks.
    I'm going to tell you what I believe. I believe out of the evil done 
to America is going to come some incredible good. I believe it. I 
believe that if this Nation remains strong and tough and pursues 
terrorism, upholds doctrine, is true to our word, is willing to 
delineate between good and evil, that we can achieve peace, that we can 
have peace not only for our own people, but we can have peace in places 
where they've quit thinking about peace, like the Middle East or South 
Asia. I believe that.
    I want you to tell your children, when they hear the talk of war or 
they talk about our United States taking action, that it's all a design, 
it's all aimed to make this world a peaceful place.
    And here at home, I believe that out of evil done to America is 
going to come some incredible good as well. I mentioned the fact that 
there are pockets of despair and hopelessness in California and America. 
There just are. I believe when one of us hurts, we all hurt. But I 
understand the role of Government is limited. See, Government can hand 
out money, but what it cannot do is put hope in people's hearts or a 
sense of purpose in people's lives.
    No, societies change, one heart, one soul, one conscience at a time. 
Societies change when people say, ``I want to love my neighbor just like 
I was loved myself.'' And that's what's happening here in America. 
People have said, ``What can I do to help?'' I've said, ``Do some 
good.'' It's the collective acts of our kind and decent and compassioned 
citizens which defined the true character and true face of our country.
    No, the enemy hit us--the enemy hit us. But out of the evil done on 
that terrible day is going to come a more compassionate and decent and 
hopeful America. You see, people have taken a step back here in this 
country, and they now understand that serving something greater than 
yourself is part of being a patriotic American. It's more than just 
putting your hand on your heart and saying, by the way, ``one Nation 
under God.'' It's more than that.

[[Page 1432]]

    A patriot is somebody who mentors a child. A patriot is someone who 
brings hope into a life that is hopeless. A patriot is somebody who 
works to feed the hungry. That's a patriot. A patriot is somebody who's 
a responsible citizen, responsible for loving their children with all 
their heart and all their soul but responsible for working in the 
community in which they live. And that's what happening here in America.
    And perhaps the most vivid example of what I'm talking about, a 
vivid example of an attitude change, a clear beacon of what's happening 
in America took place on Flight 93, when citizens were flying across the 
country. History shows that they were on the cell phones, and they told 
their loved ones they loved them and goodbye. They said a prayer. One 
guy said, ``Let's roll.'' They took the airplane that was to be used as 
a weapon, perhaps against the White House or the Capitol, they drove it 
into the ground to serve something greater than themselves in life.
    No, I believe--I believe from the bottom of my heart that out of the 
evil done to America is going to come some great good. The world is 
going to be more peaceful, and this country is going to be more 
compassionate and decent and hopeful, because this is the greatest 
country on the face of the Earth. We're the greatest country because 
we've got the greatest people on the face of the Earth.
    Thank you all for coming. God bless, and God bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 7:04 p.m. at the St. Regis Monarch Beach 
Resort. In his remarks, he referred to Cindy Simon, wife of candidate 
Bill Simon; and former Representative Jack F. Kemp, and his wife, 
Joanne. This item was not received in time for publication in the 
appropriate issue.