[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 39 (Monday, September 30, 2002)]
[Pages 1601-1606]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Luncheon for Senatorial Candidate Doug Forrester in Trenton

September 23, 2002

    The President. Thank you all.
    Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
    The President. Thank you all very much. Thank you all. Well, thank 
you, ``Senator.'' I appreciate those kind words. [Laughter] I believe 
it's in New Jersey's interests--I believe it's in America's interests 
that Doug Forrester be the next United States Senator from this State.
    And I want to thank you all for helping him become that Senator. I 
want to thank you for being here today. I want to thank those of you who 
are involved in grassroots politics. I want to thank you for what you 
have done and what you're going to do. I want to thank you for going to 
your coffee shops, your community centers, your churches, and your 
synagogues and your mosques to talk about a good man who has decided to 
serve the people of New Jersey.
    I want to thank you for getting ready to stuff the envelopes and to 
dial the phones and to put up the signs and to turn out the vote for a 
good man, a man who didn't need to run for office, a man that had a 
nice, comfortable life. After all, he married well. [Laughter] He's got 
a fine family. He's a successful businessman. And yet, he decided to 
serve his State and his country, because he believes deeply in the 
future of the country. I like to put it this way: When you find a good 
one, you've got to back him. [Laughter] You've got a good one in Doug 
Forrester.
    I'm honored to be standing beside a man who was an Eagle Scout as a 
youngster, who they tell me sold flags door to door. It makes him a 
patriot and an entrepreneur. [Laughter] I appreciate the fact that he 
moved to this State to attend the Princeton Theological Seminary. It's a 
man of faith, a man who is self-made, a man who has got his priorities 
straight, a man who will be a breath of fresh air for New Jersey in the 
United States Senate.
    We both married above ourselves. [Laughter] And it didn't take me 
long to figure that out, having met Andrea and her children. My wife 
sends her best. I thought about her today. Actually, I thought about her 
more than once, since I delivered her her coffee this morning. 
[Laughter] Good lesson for you guys out there. [Laughter] Just trying to 
set the example for others. [Laughter]
    We met some fine folks who help the Red Cross here in New Jersey at 
Air Force One. And the lady said, she said, ``You know, I'm a public 
school librarian, just like your wife.'' And I said, ``Well, Laura was a 
public school librarian. When she married me, she wasn't interested in 
politics, didn't particularly care about politicians either.'' 
[Laughter] ``And now she's First Lady of the United States, bringing 
great comfort to the people of this country.'' She sends her best to the 
Forresters. She looks forward to seeing Andrea when Doug wins.
    I want to thank members of the New Jersey congressional delegation 
being here. I see Chris Smith and Frank LoBiondo. Are you here, Franky? 
There he is. Appreciate you for coming, Frank. Jim Saxton is here, I 
know. I appreciate you coming, Jimmy. Thanks for being here. I want to 
thank Mike Ferguson for coming as well. Thank you, Mike.
    You've got two members--two folks here who are running to become 
Members of Congress: Scott Garrett, who's running in the

[[Page 1602]]

fifth--thank you for coming, Scott--Buster Soaries, my friend who's 
running in the twelfth. Thank you, Buster.
    I know Donnie DiFrancesco is here. I appreciate you coming, Don. 
It's good to see you. Give your wife my best. I appreciate so very much 
the party chairman of the State of New Jersey, Joe Kyrillos. Joe, where 
are you? Thanks, Joe, Mr. Senator. I want to thank Bob Prunetti for 
coming back again a second day--second event in one day.
    And finally, I want to thank the chairman of this campaign, a man 
who brought a lot of class to the Governor's office here in New Jersey, 
Tom Kean. Thank you, Tom, for being here.
    I ended with Tom because this is where Doug cut his teeth in 
politics. See, he worked for the good Governor. He was a part of his 
budget office and then ran his--a director of pensions, ran the pension 
system as director of pensions, made sure that the people were taken 
care of. If you're interested in understanding his priorities, look at 
the job he did when he worked for this good man as the Governor.
    See, he cares a lot more about people than politics. He's going to 
keep his commitments when he--he's the kind of fellow, when he says he's 
going to do something, that's what he's going to do. That's what you 
need from New Jersey. He's somebody who speaks plainly and just was 
running to get something done, as opposed to running just for the sake 
of holding the office. If he says he's going to protect seniors when it 
comes to Social Security, that's what he's going to do. He's going to 
work with me to modernize Medicare, to make sure our seniors have got 
prescription drug benefits.
    He understands what I know, that the role of Government is not to 
create wealth but an environment in which the entrepreneur and small 
business can grow. That's the role of Government. When we got up to 
Washington, DC, the country was headed into a recession. The market 
started correcting in March of 2000; that's when it peaked. And then the 
summer the economic growth started to slow. And so by the time the Vice 
President and I showed up in Washington, DC, we were in three-quarters 
of recession. And we had to do something about it. See, my attitude is, 
anytime anybody wants to find work can't find a job, we've got a problem 
in America. I want our people working.
    So here's what I did--and Doug understands this; that's why I'm 
standing by his side. We took a page out of this textbook. It's a little 
different from what some of the other folks in Washington are trying to 
do. The page says that if you've got an economic slowdown, one way to 
help the economy recover is to let people keep their own money. We've 
got a lot of hard-working Americans, who, if you give them more of their 
own money, let them keep their own money, they're going to spend it on a 
good or a service. And when they demand a good or a service, somebody 
will provide. And when somebody provides for that good or service, 
somebody is more likely to find work.
    Now what's interesting about what happened in the tax relief plan 
is, thanks to a quirk in the Senate rules--it's one of these deals where 
Washington gives tax relief and then takes it away after 10 years. I 
must confess that's hard to explain in Crawford--[laughter]--and 
probably in the fire stations and police stations here in Trenton. It's 
hard to tell people who work hard for a living that you've got tax 
relief, but then because of a quirk in the rules, it goes away. Listen, 
we need a Senator up there who agrees with me that we've got make this 
tax relief permanent. We've got to provide relief for the working 
people.
    And I need somebody up there to work with me to make sure that the 
Senate does not overspend. See, I'm going to stay focused on our 
economy, because I understand it's part of how we make sure America is a 
stronger place. But if the Senate and the Congress overspends, it will 
serve as a drag to any economic recovery. It's one thing to fund 
priorities, and we will do that. But you've got to understand something 
about Washington: Every idea is a brilliant idea. [Laughter] Everybody's 
program sounds like just a perfect program. And then when you add up all 
the perfect programs and all the good ideas, we're not talking millions; 
we're talking billions of dollars.
    The second problem we have in Washington is, sometimes the spenders 
forget whose money they're spending. You'll hear,

[[Page 1603]]

we're going to spend--the Government is going to spend the Government 
money here, and the Government is going to spend the Government here. 
We're not spending the Government's money, folks. It's your money we're 
spending, and we need fiscal responsibility in Washington, DC.
    We need to set priorities and fund those priorities. You know, the 
Senate doesn't even have a budget. It couldn't get a budget passed. If 
you don't have a budget, guess what happens? You have the tendency to 
overspend. If you don't have a budget, there's no discipline or fiscal 
restraint. And so for the sake of fiscal sanity, we need Doug Forrester 
in the United States Senate.
    I say priorities--I say priorities. The most important priority we 
have today and tomorrow is to protect the homeland. That's the most 
important priority in America. It's a priority because there are people 
who hate America still on the loose, see. They hate us because we love 
freedom. They hate, and we love freedom. And we love the fact that 
people from all walks of life can worship freely in this country. That's 
what we love. We love the idea that people from all backgrounds can 
worship an almighty God the way he or she sees fit. The enemy hates 
that. They hate that idea.
    We love the idea that people can debate and speak their mind and 
holler and whoop about politics. They hate it. They hate free thought 
and free speech. We love a free press. They hate it. See, they hate 
freedom, and we love freedom. And for so long as we love freedom, which 
will be forever as far as I'm concerned, they're going to try to hurt us 
again. And so our number one priority should be reflected in our 
budget--it is reflected in how I think and what I do--is to make sure 
this great country is secure from a bunch of coldblooded killers. And 
that's all they are.
    There's a lot of good people--there's a lot of good people, a lot of 
good people who wear the uniform at the local level, working hard to 
secure the homeland. A lot of good firefighters and EMS and police 
officers spend a lot of time, a lot of time worrying about you and your 
health. There are a lot of good people at the State level, a lot of fine 
people at the Federal Government level worrying about our security. 
We're running down every lead. You've got to just know, any time we get 
a hint, a whiff, a suggestion that somebody might be trying to come back 
to America, we're moving. We'll protect our rights.
    Listen, I believe in strongly in the United States Constitution. And 
I know we can protect that Constitution and at the same time make sure 
this homeland is secure. We've got the FBI and the CIA talking like they 
never have been before. We're sharing intelligence. We've got people 
around the world helping us. We've got freedom-loving countries sharing 
information with us. No, we're moving hard.
    But to make sure that we even do a better job, I asked the Congress 
to join me in setting up a Department of Homeland Security. Listen, I 
didn't run for--my slogan wasn't, ``Vote for George. He wants Government 
to be bigger.'' But I do want it to work. I do want to be able to say to 
the American people we've left behind--I do want it to be said we worked 
together. Republicans and Democrats worked together to leave behind a 
strategy and the ability for future Presidents to more adequately secure 
the homeland.
    And we're having a little problem in the Senate, see. The House 
passed a good bill. It allows me to move people anytime, any place, 
anywhere in order to best deal with an enemy which isn't going to be 
bound by bureaucratic rules or handbooks or volumes of micromanagement. 
That's not what they have to deal with. And I refuse to have future 
Presidents or this President deal with a Senate trying to tell me 
through micromanaging the process how best to secure the homeland.
    I'll give you one example. On our borders we need to know who's 
coming into America. We need to know what they're bringing. We need to 
know if they're bringing something in the country, and we need to know 
if they're going to leave when they say they're going to leave. That's 
logical, and that makes common sense. And yet, on our borders, we've got 
three different departments dealing with our border security. We've got 
the INS and the Border Patrol and the Customs, all full of fine people, 
staffed by really great Americans, all working hard to make sure

[[Page 1604]]

that border security is a part of the homeland security. Except in cases 
now, they've got different uniforms, different cultures, different 
styles, perhaps different strategies. And for the sake of the country, I 
need to have the flexibility to meld those organizations together. I 
need to be able to say to the American people that we're working 
together. The Senate doesn't hear it yet, but the Senate is going to 
hear from me if they don't pass a good bill as this.
    And my message to the Senate is: You need to worry less about 
special interest in Washington and more about the security of the 
American people. But the best homeland security strategy is to hunt the 
killers down, one person at a time, and bring them to justice, which is 
what we're going to do.
    It's a different kind of war, but folks, we're still at war. We're 
still at war. This is an enemy which--it used to be you could count an 
enemy's tanks or the size of its fleet, the number of aircraft they had, 
and say, ``Oh, gosh, we're making progress. They had a thousand 
airplanes. Now they've got 50. We're making progress.'' [Laughter] 
That's not the way this war works right now. See, that's not the way it 
works. You've got to remember, their commanders hide in caves or in the 
dark corners of certain cities around the world and then send youngsters 
to their suicidal deaths. Theirs is an army which doesn't take a lot to 
fund. They're resourceful, and they're tough, but they are not as tough 
as the United States of America.
    And we're making progress. It's hard to tell whether we're making 
progress or not, but we are. One person at a time, one person at a 
time----
    Audience members. [Inaudible].
    The President. ----thank you--one person at a time. The other day, 
as you noticed, there was a fellow hiding in the dark caves--or dark 
corners, not caves--it was in the city, dark--dark corners of a city in 
Pakistan. He was going to be the 20th hijacker, bin al-Shibh. He wanted 
to come here to kill. He didn't make it, because we fortunately did not 
give him access. His brothers obviously made it. They're all now dead. 
And he thought he was going to come. And he thought he could hide, 
however. You can't hide from our justice. We finally got him.
    And it's typical of what's taken place. We're running them down one 
at a time. We've got them on the run. We're going to keep them on the 
run. There have been over a couple thousand of these killers who we have 
brought to justice. We have arrested them. It's either us or--remember 
that doctrine, either you're with us--by the way, a doctrine which still 
stands--either you're with us, or you're with them. And we're rounding 
them up slowly but surely. And the other piece of news is, about like 
number weren't as lucky as bin al-Shibh. They're off the face of the 
planet. They're no longer around. Slowly but surely, we're going to 
dismantle the Al Qaida terrorist network, so they can never hurt America 
and freedom again.
    I sent a defense bill that says--and it's a big increase, because I 
strongly believe that anytime we send one of our troops into harm's way, 
he or she deserves the best pay, the best training, and the best 
possible equipment. We owe it to the troops, and we owe it to their 
loved ones. And if you're anybody out there who has got a member of the 
United States military in your family, first of all, thanks. You thank 
them on behalf of the Commander in Chief. I'm confident and proud of our 
abilities.
    And secondly, I've asked for this increase in defense spending 
because I want to send a signal to the world, to both friend and foe 
alike, that when it comes to the defense of our freedoms, we're in this 
for the long pull. We're in it for the long haul. There's no calendar on 
my desk that says, because we're getting tired, we're going to quit. 
When it comes to freedoms, no matter how much the cost, no matter how 
long it takes, we will defend the freedoms of the United States of 
America.
    The Congress has got the defense bill in committee. They passed it 
out of the House, and I'm grateful. They passed it out of the Senate, 
and I'm grateful. But what I'm not grateful for is, they can't get it to 
my desk. They need to reconcile their differences, set this as a 
priority, get it to my desk. For the sake of our national security, I 
want to sign the defense bill before they go home.
    That's why we need people like Doug up there in the Senate. We don't 
need to play

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politics with the defense bill. We need to do what's right for the 
country. And we need to also send a message, and I sent a message the 
other day, right up the way here, to the United Nations.
    Here's the message I sent. I said, when we see a threat to our 
country, we want to work with others, of course. When we see a threat to 
freedom--let me put it to you that way, not just to our country, but to 
freedom--we'll work with others to make sure that threat doesn't 
materialize. See, we believe not only in dealing with the immediate. We 
want to make sure that we deal with problems before they become so acute 
that we look back and say, where were we--where were we?
    And we're dealing with a man in Iraq who has done a couple of things 
that I remind you about. One, he gassed his own people with weapons of 
mass destruction. He has invaded two countries since 1980. He's a man 
who told the United Nations time and time and time again, ``I will 
disarm. I don't have weapons.'' He lied or deceived. He has made that 
body look weak. For the sake of peace, the United Nations must make a 
decision as to whether or not it's going to be a debating society, like 
the League of Nations, or have the capacity to keep the peace. It's 
their choice to make. It is their choice to make.
    There are no negotiations with Saddam Hussein about what he should 
or should not do. He's already said what he would do. The negotiations--
the discussion is within the United Nations Security Council, and soon 
they will tell the world whether or not they're going to be relevant or 
whether or not they're going to be weak. For the sake of world peace, I 
hope they're relevant. However, for the sake of freedom and peace, if 
the United Nations will not deal with Saddam Hussein, the United States 
and our friends will.
    We owe it to our children to defend freedom. We owe it to our 
children and children elsewhere to keep the peace. I want you to know 
that behind the rhetoric is my strong desire for the world to be a--to 
live in peace. And I believe it's possible. I believe it is possible 
that if we remain strong and focused, speak clearly about good and evil, 
speak clearly about the need for all of us to bind together to fight 
terror, to resist those who hate peace, that we can achieve peace. I 
recognize it might be a steep hill to climb. There's going to be some 
hurdles to cross. But by being resolved and determined, we can achieve 
peace. We can achieve peace not only here at home, but we can achieve 
peace in the Middle East. We can achieve peace in South Asia. By leading 
the world, we can achieve peace in places where people have quit 
dreaming about peace.
    See, the enemy hit us. They didn't know who they were hitting. They 
thought probably after the September the 11th, 2001, we'd kind of take a 
hard look and then maybe file a lawsuit or two. [Laughter] They don't 
understand the character of this Nation. They don't understand our 
determination, nor do they understand our good heart and good will.
    I want you to remind your kids that when it came to enforcing the 
doctrine that said either--the doctrine said, ``If you harbor one of 
those killers, you're just as guilty as the killers,'' that we went into 
Afghanistan--the first theater we went into, as a great country--with 
friends, but we went in not to conquer anybody, not to conquer anybody. 
We went in to uphold doctrine and liberate people. There are young girls 
going to school in Afghanistan for the first time, thanks to the United 
States of America.
    That's the nature of our country. That's the kind of people we are. 
We love freedom. You see, one of the things that distinguishes us from 
the enemy is, everybody has worth, as far as we're concerned. Everybody 
counts. Everybody matters. Life is precious. That's what we believe in 
America. And it's not just American lives that are precious; it's the 
life of every child, every citizen around the world. That's what they 
didn't understand about this country, and now they're learning the hard 
way.
    No, out of the evil done to America is going to come some great 
good, I believe. Here at home as well, we can achieve great good. See, 
there are pockets of despair here in America. There are places where 
people hurt. Sadly enough, there are some neighborhoods where people 
say, ``The American Dream isn't meant for me. When you say American 
Dream, what are you talking about? It's not meant for me.'' There are

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places where people are addicted, people are lonely, people have just 
given up.
    And as long as they hurt, we hurt. And we have a chance to do 
something about it here in America. See, people have asked me, right 
after September the 11th, 2001, ``What can I do to help?'' I said, 
``What you can do to help is, you can love a neighbor just like you'd 
like to be loved yourself. If you want to fight evil, do some good. If 
you want to fight evil, help somebody who hurts.''
    No, some of the greatest welfare programs in America come out of our 
churches and synagogues and mosques, because you know why those 
institutions exist? To love somebody. There's a universal call, and 
that's what's happening in America. This country is going to change, one 
heart, one soul, one conscience at a time. It changes when you put your 
arm around a child and says, ``Can I help you learn to read?'' It 
changes when you walk into a shut-in's house and say, ``Can I love 
you,'' or, ``Can I help you?'' It changes when you run a Girl Scout or a 
Boy Scout troop. It changes when you care about the quality of education 
in your neighborhood. It changes when you become a responsible citizen.
    See, one of the reasons I first sought office down in Texas was 
because I wanted to work--be a part of a cultural change, the change of 
culture from one which it said, ``If it feels good, just go ahead and do 
it, and if you've got a problem, blame somebody else.'' I wanted to be a 
part of a cultural shift that said, ``Each of us are responsible for the 
decisions we make in life, that if you're a mom or a dad, it's you who 
is responsible for loving your child with all your heart and all your 
soul.''
    If you're living in Trenton, New Jersey, you're responsible for the 
quality of life in Trenton. If you're running a corporation in America, 
you're responsible for telling the truth and treating your employees and 
shareholders with respect.
    No, the enemy hit us. The enemy hit us, but instead of weakening 
America, it strengthened America. We still grieve for those who lost 
their life, but the country is responding so magnificently. People do 
love a neighbor more. People are loving their children more.
    Perhaps the most vivid example of serving something greater than 
yourself, perhaps the most vivid example of being not self-absorbed and 
materialistic that you don't understand the call, happened on Flight 93. 
It's a serious lesson for our youngsters to understand. It's a serious 
moment. It's a significant and serious moment in our Nation's history. 
After all, we had people flying across the country. They thought they 
were on a normal trip. They learned the airplane was going to be used as 
a weapon. They learned that America's oceans--the oceans no longer 
protected America. They told their loved ones goodbye or, ``I love 
you.'' They said a prayer. One guy said, ``Let's roll.'' They took the 
plane into the ground to save life, to serve something greater than 
yourself in life. These brave souls represented the true spirit and 
greatness of our country.
    You can probably tell I'm an optimistic person. I am, and I have 
every reason to be. After all, the United States is the greatest country 
on the face of the Earth, full of the greatest people. I know Doug 
Forrester wants to keep it that way, and so do I.
    I'm honored you all came today. Thanks for supporting Doug. May God 
bless you, and may God bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 11:55 a.m. at the Sovereign Bank Arena. In 
his remarks, he referred to former Gov. Tom Kean of New Jersey; former 
Gov. Don DiFrancesco of New Jersey, and his wife, Diane; Robert D. 
Prunetti, county executive, Mercer County, NJ; Ramzi bin al-Shibh, an Al 
Qaida operative suspected of helping to plan the September 11, 2001, 
terrorist attacks, who was captured in Karachi, Pakistan; and President 
Saddam Hussein of Iraq.