[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 35 (Monday, September 2, 2002)]
[Pages 1464-1469]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Dinner for Senator Tim Hutchinson in Little Rock

August 29, 2002

    The President. Well, thank you all. Thank you all very much. I 
appreciate your warm welcome. Thank you. Thank you all. Well, thank you 
very much for coming out tonight. I'm proud to come back to Arkansas. 
I'm surprised you let a Texan come here this many times. [Laughter] I 
came here today to talk about educational excellence. I went to Parkview 
Magnet School to talk about setting high standards and making sure no 
child gets left behind. And tonight I'm here to urge the good people of 
this State to send Tim Hutchinson back to the United States Senate.
    He's a hard worker. He cares deeply about the people of Arkansas. 
He's doing a fine job as the United States Senator. I'm proud to call 
him friend. I appreciate his advice, and I appreciate you all working 
hard to send him back up to Washington, DC.
    I'm so grateful that Randi Hutchinson, his wife, is campaigning with 
him and standing by his side during this campaign for reelection. I 
appreciate meeting Randi. And it's an honor to have you here, Randi. 
Thank you. And speaking about wives, I'm sorry mine is not here.
    Audience members. Me too.
    The President. Yes, I know you are. [Laughter] You drew the short 
straw. [Laughter] She's doing great. I'm really proud of Laura. She's 
down in Crawford. It's where I'm heading after tonight, for a couple 
more days. She--you know, when I married her, she was a public school 
librarian. She didn't care for politics and didn't particularly like 
politicians. [Laughter] Now she's stuck with one. And she's doing a 
fabulous job as First Lady.
    I want to thank John Boozman, who's a member of the United States 
Congress, for being with us today. John, thank you for coming down for 
the fundraiser. I had the honor of being with your Governor earlier 
today. He's off working. You need to send Mike Huckabee back to the 
Governor's office here in Arkansas. He's a fine fellow. And so is your 
Lieutenant Governor, who is with us tonight, Win Rockefeller. Thanks for 
coming.
    I want to thank members--two guys who are running for the United 
States Congress. Former Member Jay Dickey is with us today. Jay, thank 
you very much. And the man they call ``TR,'' Tommy Robinson, is with us 
as well. I appreciate my family friend John Paul Hammerschmidt for being 
here tonight and for being the national committeeman from the State of 
Arkansas. Thank you, John Paul. I want to thank your chairman, Marty 
Ryall, for his leadership here in the State of Arkansas.
    And I appreciate all the grassroots activists who are here. I 
appreciate you for what you have done and what you're going to do. See, 
over the next couple of months, you need to go to your coffee shops and 
your churches and your synagogues and your community centers and turn 
out the vote. You need to tell the people, when you find a good one like 
Tim Hutchinson, ``We need to send him back to office.''
    And there are some good reasons why, starting with the fact that he 
has a good vision for education. We passed a good piece of legislation 
out of Washington for education. It's one that Tim had a lot to do with. 
He worked hard on that legislation. And let me describe the principles 
and why it's so important to have this type of person in Washington. It 
first starts--the bill says, and he and I both believe, that every child 
can learn. That sounds simple, but too often in our society, we've 
lowered the standards. We don't believe every child can learn. 
Therefore, we have low standards. It's what I call the soft bigotry of 
low expectations. If you lower the bar, you're going to get lousy 
results. So this bill believes that if you set high standards and 
believe every child can learn, you start with the right frame of mind.
    Secondly, it says, we trust the people of Arkansas, the people of 
this good State, the people of Little Rock and Jonesboro and all the 
cities, to chart the path for excellence for every child in their 
community. We believe in local control of schools.
    And finally, at the core of the bill is this principle: It says, we 
want to know whether

[[Page 1465]]

or not our children are learning. You see, if you believe every child 
can learn, the next question is, are they? And the only way to know is 
to measure, is to hold people to account, is to let the children take a 
test to see whether or not they can read and write and add and subtract. 
If you believe every child can learn, then you want to know.
    And you see, when you find out children aren't learning, it gives 
you the tools necessary to do something about it. If you believe every 
child can learn, they ought to show us whether or not every child is 
learning. And if they're not, we need to correct problems early, before 
it's too late. You see, there are no second-class children in the State 
of Arkansas, and no child should be left behind.
    I appreciate Tim's stand on education policy, and I appreciate his 
stand on tax policy. When I took office, I knew things were kind of 
slow, but I didn't realize that we were in the beginning of a recession. 
The first three quarters of my Presidency were negative growth; that 
means recession. Thankfully, people like Tim Hutchinson supported my 
call for tax relief. See, we read from the same textbook. It's a little 
different from some of the other ones in Washington. It says, if you let 
a person keep their own money, they will demand a good or a service if 
they have more money. And when they demand a good or a service, somebody 
is likely to produce the good or a service. And when somebody produces 
the good and service, somebody is more likely to find jobs in the midst 
of a recession. It is important to let the people have their own money.
    Tim was the original author of the $500-per-child tax credit in the 
House. And he supported the doubling of that tax credit in the new tax 
relief plan. Not only does the tax relief plan lower all rates, which, 
by the way, stimulates small-business growth--see, most of the new jobs 
in Arkansas and around the country are created by small businesses. 
Seventy percent of new jobs in America are created by the entrepreneurs 
who start their own business. Yet most of those small businesses are 
sole proprietors or limited partnerships, which means they pay taxes at 
the individual rate. When you lower the individual rates, you stimulate 
the growth of our economy by stimulating the entrepreneurial spirit in 
America.
    This tax relief plan did more than that. It mitigated the ill 
effects of a marriage penalty. The Tax Code ought to promote family, not 
discourage family. And finally, the tax relief plan put the death tax on 
its way to extinction. I know there's a lot of farmers and ranchers in 
this State and some in this audience. The death tax is bad for our 
ranching families. It's bad for our farming families, and it's bad for 
the entrepreneurial families of Arkansas.
    And Tim was right by my side on this tax relief plan. But what's 
interesting--not interesting, kind of a quirk in the law, is that all 
this, all the tax relief that we passed goes away after 10 years from 
the sign of passage--from the time of passage. That's the quirk in the 
Senate rules. It's hard to explain, I understand. You ought to try that 
in the Crawford coffee shop. [Laughter] On the one hand, we giveth; on 
the other hand, we taketh away. For the sake of planning, for the sake 
of economic vitality, for the sake of job growth, you need to have a 
United States Senator who will join me in making this tax relief 
permanent.
    I appreciate Tim's concern about health care, health care not just 
for Republicans but health care for everybody who lives in Arkansas. 
He's on the leading edge of those in the Senate who want to bring a 
reasonable reform to Medicare. See, Medicare is an incredibly important 
program, but medicine has changed, and the program hasn't. Medicine has 
changed, and yet the bureaucracy still strangles the capacity for our 
seniors to get the care they need. We need to reform Medicare and make 
sure our seniors have got prescription drugs.
    I appreciate Tim's support for the farm bill. See, he and I 
understand that good economic policy at home means that you've got to 
have a strong agricultural sector. It's a luxury for this President to 
be able to say we feed ourselves. Imagine if we were around the world 
asking for food. We've got a great farm economy, and the farm bill we 
passed recognizes that. And Tim was one of the leaders that helped get 
that farm bill out of the Senate and to my desk. I was proud to

[[Page 1466]]

sign the farm bill. It was good for Arkansas farmers.
    And finally, I appreciate his leadership on sending a clear message 
to people who have got positions of responsibility in America. Our 
economy was hurt by a recession, and then it got shocked by the attacks 
of September the 11th. And then, of course, we found out that bubbling 
up through the years was this business about people trying to cook the 
books, some of our corporate leaders deciding that the best way to get 
ahead was not to tell the truth, was not to uphold their 
responsibilities to employee and shareholder alike.
    I signed the most comprehensive corporate reform legislation since 
Franklin Roosevelt was the President. And Tim Hutchinson was a strong 
supporter. It says this: If we catch you cheating, if you're not a 
responsible citizen, if you think you can cook the books, you're wrong. 
We're going to find you, and we'll prosecute you, and no more easy 
money, just hard time.
    Finally, I support--I appreciate Tim's support on our war against 
terror and our need to protect the homeland. My most important job is to 
protect the homeland, is to protect innocent people. After September the 
11th, the stakes obviously changed. The enemy brought war to us, and 
they're still out there. They just are. By the way, they're nothing but 
a bunch of coldblooded killers. They hate us because we love freedom. 
They can't stand the thought of a society which values free speech, 
which says you can worship the Almighty any way you see fit. They hate 
the idea of people being able to come to our country and succeed. The 
more we love freedom, the more they hate us. But you know what, we're 
never going to stop loving freedom. This great country loves freedom and 
will do anything it takes to protect that freedom.
    You need to know there's a lot of good folks working a lot of hours 
to protect you. Anytime we get a hint or any piece of evidence that 
somebody might be plotting against America, we're moving--we're moving. 
There's a lot of good folks who are gathering intelligence and now 
sharing it like it's never been shared before. Obviously, everything we 
hear we take seriously, and we're trying to do everything we can to 
disrupt and deny.
    In order to make sure that I can look you in the eye and say, 
``We're doing everything to secure the homeland,'' I have asked the 
Congress to join me in setting up a Department of Homeland Security. I 
did so because in order to change a culture and in order to set homeland 
security as a number one priority, I felt like we needed to gather up 
agencies involved with the homeland security and put them under one 
umbrella organization. You see, there's over 100 of them, scattered all 
over Washington, which means it's kind of hard to set a tone and a 
culture. It's hard to set a priority.
    And so I asked Congress, I said, ``Let's get together and come up 
with an American idea''--it's not a Republican idea; it's not a 
Democrat; it's an American idea--``to do everything we can to give us 
the tools''--not only me, but future Presidents the tools--``necessary 
to guard our homeland.'' And I'll give you an example. We need to know 
who's coming in America, what they're bringing into America, and if 
they're leaving when they say they're going to leave America. And yet, 
on our borders, we've got your Customs and INS and Border Patrol, three 
different agencies, three different cultures, three different uniforms. 
I need the capacity to be able to move people to the right place at the 
right time to protect the homeland.
    The House of Representatives got the message. They provided 
flexibility so that this President and future Presidents can do what it 
takes to move people in the right place. The Senate, unfortunately, 
doesn't see it that way. Fortunately, Senator Hutchinson does. But see, 
there are some Senators out there who would rather listen to special 
interests in Washington, DC, than listen to the voice of the people. 
There are Senators who would rather give us a rule book this thick about 
how we have to behave and what we must do to protect the homeland, than 
to trust any administration for protecting America. I refuse to accept a 
bill which ties my hands or the hands of future Presidents.
    And I want to appreciate Senator Hutchinson's understanding of that. 
And I'm proud to call him supporter on helping craft a Homeland Security 
Department which will

[[Page 1467]]

stand the test of time and will do the job on behalf of the American 
people. But the best way to protect the homeland, the surest way to 
secure our freedom, the best way to leave a peaceful legacy for our 
children is to hunt the killers down, one person at a time, and bring 
them to justice. And that's what the United States of America is going 
to do.
    And it's going to take a while. It's a different kind of war. People 
during World War II were used to measuring progress based upon 
infantries marching across the plain or squadrons of aircraft flying 
here or ships sailing across the sea, getting this island or that 
island. That's how they used to judge progress. This is a different type 
of war, but it's war. And the stakes are just as high.
    See, this is the kind of war where you have their commanders hide in 
caves. They find the deepest and darkest cave they can, and then they 
send their soldiers, their youngsters, to their suicidal death. That's 
who we're fighting. See, these people have no regard for human life. 
Innocence doesn't matter to them. They've hijacked a great religion in 
order to provide cover for their hatred. But there's no cave deep enough 
for America, as far as I'm concerned.
    See, we've got a fantastic coalition of nations which understand 
what's at stake, and we've got the finest United States--we've got the 
finest military in the world. Our soldiers are performing brilliantly 
under tough, tough conditions. And that's why--the fact that they're in 
the field is why I submitted the largest increase in defense spending 
since Ronald Reagan was the President. I did so for two reasons. One, 
anytime our soldiers are in harm's way, they deserve the best pay, the 
best training, and the best possible equipment. We owe that to them, and 
we owe it to their loved ones. And for those of you who have got a 
relative in the military, I want to tell you how proud that their 
Commander in Chief is. I'm really proud. They're fine, fine people who 
are sacrificing on behalf of our Nation.
    And the second reason I submitted this request, as big as it is, is 
I wanted to send a message to our friends and foes alike that we're in 
this deal for the long haul. They understand this war isn't going to end 
tomorrow, that when it comes to our freedom, it doesn't matter how long 
it takes. The United States of America will fight terror and fight its 
sponsors and will uphold doctrine. One doctrine says, ``Either you're 
with us, or you're with them.'' And the other doctrine says, ``If you 
harbor a terrorist, if you feed a terrorist, you're just as guilty as 
the terrorist who committed the murders on September the 11th.''
    And we're making progress. Sometimes you'll see the progress on your 
TVs, and sometimes you won't. It's a different kind of war; it's a hard 
war to measure. But slowly, but surely, we're rounding them up, one way 
or the other. We estimate there's over a couple of thousand of them who 
have now been captured by our friends and ourselves, hauled off, no 
longer a part of the army. And another like number just weren't as 
lucky. They met their fate.
    But we've got a lot of work to do; we really do. We--our strategy is 
pretty clear. First was to rout out the Taliban. And you need to tell 
your kids this about America: One, we do what we say; and two, when we 
went into that country, we went in as liberators, not as conquerors. We 
freed people from the clutches of one of the most barbaric regimes in 
the history of mankind. Young girls, many young girls, go to school for 
the first time in their lives, thanks to the United States of America 
and our allies and friends.
    And we're not leaving. We're not leaving for two reasons: One, 
there's still Al Qaida, and we're after them. Slowly, but surely, we're 
getting them. And secondly, we want democracy to flourish in 
Afghanistan. We believe in the values here at home--ought to be applied 
elsewhere, not American values but God-given values that each life 
matters, that every voice ought to be heard.
    We're getting them on the run, getting them moving around, and then 
making sure that we deny sanctuary to these killers. The other day--a 
while ago, you may remember the Philippines. They asked for our help. I 
said loud and clear to them, ``If you want help, we'll provide you help. 
If you can't do it yourself, give us a call.'' And the Philippines, as a 
result of Gloria Arroyo's fine leadership--and frankly, some of our 
training--put a force together and did in the head

[[Page 1468]]

of what they call Abu Sayyaf. This is the group of Al-Qaida-sponsored 
terrorists who kidnapped two Americans as well as others and brought 
people to their death. They don't care about life. But we got the 
leader. We got the leader because our coalition remains firm.
    No, our job is to get them on the run, deny them sanctuary, and 
slowly, but surely, get them and bring them to justice, which is exactly 
what this country is going to do. We owe it to our children. We owe it 
to our grandchildren to make sure that the world's worst leaders do not 
develop and deploy the world's worst weapons. We owe it to future 
generations of America to make our stand for freedom.
    Oh, I know there's a lot of speculation in the press, and you've 
just got to know something about me--I'm a patient man. And we've got a 
lot of tools at our disposal. We've got a lot of pressures we can bring 
to bear. We've got friends in the world. But for the sake of our 
children, we're going to deal with the problems now presented. For the 
sake of freedom, we will not allow these tyrants to hold the United 
States or our friends and allies blackmail with weapons of mass 
destruction.
    I appreciate Tim's understanding, and I appreciate his support on 
this war against terror. I believe that out of the evil done to this 
country is going to come incredible good. I believed that shortly after 
the attacks, and I still believe it. See, I believe that the stronger 
this country is on our quest for freedom and our willingness to battle 
terror, the more likely it is we'll achieve peace. And I don't mean 
peace just for Americans; I mean peace around the world.
    The tougher we are against terror, the more willing we are to speak 
clearly as a nation, the more likely it is we can achieve peace in parts 
of the world where people have quit on peace. Peace is possible in the 
Middle East. Peace is possible in South Asia.
    I want you to assure your children when they hear their President 
talk about fighting the enemy or bringing them to justice, I have peace 
in my mind. That's my vision. I want there to be a peaceful world for 
all people. See, this country values all life; not just American life, 
every child counts. When I say no child is left behind--that's obviously 
a slogan for education here in America--I mean it for everywhere else 
too. Children ought to grow up in a peaceful world, and the United 
States of America can affect that peace. It's not going to be easy. 
There's going to be some steep hills to climb. But if any nation can do 
it, it is this strong and--this Nation that's based upon values.
    And here at home, we can achieve some incredible good too. I don't 
know what went through the mind of the enemy. They probably thought that 
we were so self-absorbed and so materialistic, so selfish in our ways, 
that after 9/11 all we might do was file a lawsuit. [Laughter] See, they 
didn't understand our country. They didn't know that, when it comes to 
something we value, we're plenty tough. Nor did they realize that when 
they hit us, a new culture would begin to evolve, a culture of serving 
something greater than yourself in life.
    The thing I love about our country is that we're a compassionate 
nation. I hope you understand that in the midst of plenty, there are 
pockets of despair in America, hopelessness and addiction, people 
wondering whether or not the American Dream is meant for them. And I 
believe we have a chance now, as we take a step back and look at our 
inner souls, to help solve those problems.
    Government can hand out money. I realize that. As I like to say, we 
do a pretty good job of it. But what Government cannot do is put a sense 
of purpose in people's lives. It can't put hope in people's hearts. That 
is done when our fellow Americans put their arm around somebody who 
hurts and says, ``I love you.'' People say, ``What can I do in the war 
against terror? How can I fight evil?'' My answer is, love a neighbor 
just like you'd like to be loved yourself.
    And it's happening in this country. It sure enough is. People 
realize that a patriot is more than somebody who puts their hand over 
their heart and says, ``one Nation under God.'' They understand that a 
patriot is somebody who is willing to serve something greater than 
themselves, and that can be in all kinds of ways. It can be leading a 
Boy Scout or Girl Scout troop. It can be coming out of your church and 
feeding the hungry or coming out of your synagogue and helping

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somebody who doesn't have housing find housing. You see, it's the 
millions of acts, millions of acts of kindness and decency that take 
place on a daily basis which defines the true character and true hope 
and true decency of this country.
    No, the enemy hit us, but they've awakened a great spirit of 
personal responsibility. One of the reasons I decided to run for 
Governor of Texas is, I wanted to be a small part of a cultural change 
in America. I wanted to help encourage this country to reject the 
culture which said, ``If it feels good, just go ahead and do it, and if 
you've got a problem, blame somebody else.'' My dream was to help usher 
in a period of personal responsibility, when each of us understood we're 
responsible for decisions we make in life. If you're fortunate enough to 
be a mom or a dad, your most important job and important responsibility 
is to love your child with all your heart and all your soul. If you're a 
citizen of Little Rock, Arkansas, you have a responsibility to help heal 
those who hurt. That is a responsibility for being an American, and that 
period of responsibility is coming.
    The enemy hit us. They're evil. But out of that evil is going to 
come incredible good. Perhaps the most vivid example is that of Flight 
93. Deena Burnett is here today with us. Her husband was on that flight. 
She knows about which I'm about to speak. She heard it firsthand. These 
were great Americans who were flying across the country and learned that 
their airplane was going to be used as a weapon. Who knows what it was 
targeted for, the White House or the Capitol, but it was going to be 
used as a weapon. Their loved ones said goodbye on the telephone. Their 
last words were, ``I love you,'' to their loved ones. They said a 
prayer. A guy said, ``Let's roll,'' and they took the plane in the 
ground. There is a new spirit in America of serving something greater 
than yourself in life.
    No, the enemy hit us. They didn't know they were hitting--they hit a 
great nation. I promise you, out of the evil done to America is going to 
come incredible good, because we're the finest nation on the face of the 
Earth, full of the finest people.
    Thank you all for coming. May God bless you all, and may God bless 
America.

Note: The President spoke at 6:30 p.m. in Governor's Halls II and III in 
the Statehouse Convention Center. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. 
Mike Huckabee of Arkansas; Tommy Robinson, candidate for Arkansas' First 
Congressional District; Jay Dickey, candidate for Arkansas' Fourth 
Congressional District; John Paul Hammerschmidt, national committeeman, 
and Marty Ryall, chairman, Republican Party of Arkansas; and President 
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines.