[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 41 (Monday, October 14, 2002)]
[Pages 1709-1715]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Reception for Senatorial Candidate John Sununu in 
Manchester

October 5, 2002

    Thank you all for coming. Listen, it's good to be back. I had the 
honor of speaking in the Armory before, and it's the place where I cut 
my teeth in New Hampshire politics by flipping pancakes. [Laughter] But 
it was reminiscent of some really good times for Laura and me, and I 
recognize a lot of faces here, and I want to thank you all for coming.
    I'm here because I want to make it as plain as I can, John Sununu 
will be a great United States Senator for New Hampshire. It's in my 
interests. It's in New Hampshire's interests. It's in the country's 
interests that John Sununu be elected.
    I want to thank you all for working hard for his election. There's 
no doubt in my mind that we will be able to work together to do what's 
right for the country.
    I'm impressed by his record. First of all, I know something about 
what I'm about to speak. He and I share something in common: We've both 
got mothers still telling us what to do. [Laughter] He assures me he's 
still listening to her--[laughter]--and I'm listening to mine--
[laughter]--most of the time.
    We both married above ourselves. [Laughter] I want to thank Kitty 
Sununu, mother of three, for standing by John's side. It's tough to run 
for office. It's hard on a family. But if you've got a good marriage and 
if you prioritize your family, you can do anything. And I appreciate the 
Sununus' love for each other, and I appreciate their family values a 
lot.
    Laura sends her best. She made a lot of friends here in New 
Hampshire. She sends her love to her friends. She sends her best, of 
course, to the Sununus. She wishes she could be here. She is opening up 
a museum in Portland, Maine. You all drew the short straw. [Laughter] 
But she's doing great. She's doing great. I have been incredibly proud 
of her.
    The country has seen her grace and her strength and her calm when 
the pressure was on. People began to realize why I asked her to marry 
me, and some are a little confused as to say why she said yes, but 
nevertheless. [Laughter] I love her dearly. She is a fabulous First Lady 
for the country.
    I appreciate Judd Gregg. He's been a friend. He's a solid citizen. 
He's a really, really good United States Senator. He too married well. 
It's great that Kathy's here. But the Greggs are close friends of Laura 
and mine. We value their friendship, and I know you value his service to 
the great State of New Hampshire.
    I want to say a word about Bob Smith. Bob served well in the United 
States Senate. I was incredibly impressed by his graciousness on what 
had to have been a very difficult night for Bob and his family. He was 
gracious about John. He was strong in his support. New Hampshire has 
been well represented by Senator Bob Smith. I too am proud to call him 
friend. And I appreciate his service to the country.

[[Page 1710]]

    I'm also proud to serve in Washington, DC, with a fine United States 
Congressman, a fellow I got to know pretty well as I traveled on John's 
Winnebago all over the State of New Hampshire, and that's Charlie Bass. 
I appreciate you, Charlie.
    I also look forward to being joined in Washington by the Congressman 
Jeb Bradley. I appreciate the campaign Jeb is running, and I'm honored 
to be here with the next Governor of the State of New Hampshire, Craig 
Benson. I appreciate you, Craig.
    I know something about being a Governor, and I know what it takes to 
get elected. And I am impressed by the campaign that Craig is running. 
He takes nothing for granted. He's out there in those coffee shops and 
knocking on those doors. He is traveling this State. He has got a 
burning desire to do what's right for all the people of New Hampshire. 
I'm confident he's going to win, and I'm equally as confident that he'll 
do a great job as your Governor.
    But most of all, I want to thank the grassroots activists of the 
State of New Hampshire for coming. I want to thank you for what you have 
done and, more importantly now, what you're going to do.
    And I know what you can do in this State. You can turn out the vote. 
You can put up the signs. You can mail the mailers. You can get on the 
phones. John Sununu will be elected the United States Senator, not only 
because he's got a good message and a good heart but because of your 
hard work and your dedication to turn out the vote.
    I want to thank the chairman of the party, John Dowd, and Tom Rath, 
the national committeeman, and Nancy Merrill, the national 
committeewoman, for leading an active, strong grassroots organization. 
You need to go to your coffee shops. You need to go to your churches or 
your synagogues or your mosques or any other place of worship. You need 
to go to your community centers. And you need to tell everybody in the 
State of New Hampshire, Republican, Democrat, or Independent, that 
you've got some fine candidates, that John Sununu needs to be the United 
States Senator.
    And we've got some tough tasks ahead of us. We must work together to 
make sure Americans can find work. The way I like to put it is, anytime 
anybody who wants to work can't find a job, we must do everything we can 
to seek to expand the job base.
    Now, the role of Government--John and I know this--is not to create 
wealth. The role of Government is to create an environment in which the 
small business can grow to be a big business, in which the entrepreneur, 
the spirit of America, can flourish, in which our producers have got a 
chance to make a living. And so therefore, I need somebody in the Senate 
who understands that, somebody who also understands the importance, when 
the economy is slow, of letting people keep more of their own money.
    New Hampshire citizens of all political stripes must understand that 
when the economy is slow, that you don't increase taxes on the American 
people, but you let people keep more of their own money. Because when 
they do, they demand a good or a service, and when they demand a good or 
a service, somebody in the marketplace is likely to produce the good or 
a service. And when somebody makes that decision to produce a good or a 
service, somebody is more likely to find work.
    For the sake of jobs in New Hampshire, for the sake of economic 
vitality in this State, you need a United States Senator who will join 
me in making the tax cuts permanent.
    John Sununu was with me from the beginning. There was no question in 
my mind where he stood. He didn't need to take a poll or a focus group 
to make his decision about tax relief. He knew it was the right thing 
for the national economy. The problem we have and the reason we have to 
continue to talking about this issue is because of a quirk in the Senate 
rules. And I'm going to let old Judd, after I leave back to go see my 
mother, tell you what--how this happened.
    Let me just put it to you this way, in plain language. The Senate 
has got the kind of rule where you pass the tax cut, and then 10 years 
it goes back to where we were. The way I like to put it, if I can--in 
plain English is, on the one hand, they taketh away, on the other hand, 
they giveth. On the one hand they give tax relief; on the other hand, 
you don't get tax relief. It's hard to explain in Manchester, New 
Hampshire, and it's darn sure hard to explain in Crawford, Texas.

[[Page 1711]]

    But this isn't hard to explain: That wouldn't happen if you had a 
United States Senate which would vote to make the tax cuts permanent, 
and that Senator would be John Sununu.
    A couple of other things that we need to do in Washington to make 
sure our folks can find work. Listen, we've got a lot of construction 
projects which are on hold because people can't get terrorism insurance. 
The enemy hit us, and they affected our economy. And one way they did 
was a lot of construction projects--like $15 billion worth--are not 
going forward because people can't get insurance, because of a potential 
terrorist attack.
    I think it is a legitimate use for Congress to kind of underwrite 
terrorism insurance. There is 300,000 jobs going begging, 300,000 
hardhats not finding work because we can't get terrorism insurance. It 
doesn't cost the American people anything if there's not another attack. 
But it'll help the economy grow. It'll help make people--it'll help 
people find work. John Sununu understands this. What we need to do is 
pass a terrorism insurance bill that does not reward trial lawyers but 
works to put our hardhats back to work in America.
    And finally, there's a lot of things we can do to make the 
environment for economic growth strong. But one thing we need to do for 
certain is to elect people who understand whose money we spend in 
Washington. You need to listen carefully to the debates that goes on in 
our Nation's Capital. You see, some of them are--goes on with people 
trying to get to the Nation's Capital. Some of them, they talk about the 
Government's money. Folks, we don't spend the Government's money in 
Washington. We spend your money. And you better make sure you send 
somebody to Washington who is a fiscally responsible person.
    I know firsthand that John is. After all, he's on the--he's vice 
chairman of the Budget Committee in the House. And by the way, the House 
Budget Committee passed my budget, so the House has a budget. It gets us 
back to balance quickly. It funds priorities. It gets us back to balance 
as quickly as possible. It says, ``Let's be responsible with your 
money.'' We can't get a budget out of the United States Senate. And if 
you don't have a budget and because every idea in Washington sounds like 
a brilliant idea, even though the price tag may run in the billions, 
we've got the danger of the Congress overspending. There's no question 
in mind that John Sununu will be responsible with the people's money 
when he becomes the United States Senator.
    I think a lot about our economy. I'm going to do everything I can to 
increase the job base. I spend a lot of time on it. It's one way to make 
sure the country is stronger. Another way to make sure we've got a 
strong country is to make sure that our Federal bench is a bench full of 
judges that don't use their position from which to legislate. We've got 
plenty of legislators. We don't need our judges legislating, we need 
them strictly interpreting the Constitution.
    That's an issue in this campaign--the bench is an issue in this 
campaign. I named a fabulous lady from Texas named Priscilla Owen. She'd 
been running statewide in our State several times, got elected 
overwhelmingly, had strong Republican support, strong Democrat support, 
number one in her law school class, or tops of her law school class. 
She's ranked the highest rating possible by the American Bar 
Association. She is a--you know, she'll interpret the Constitution; 
she's not going to try to rewrite it.
    And I sent her name up there and they--they weren't fair with her 
record. They totally politicized the issue. They made this a huge 
political deal. For the sake of a solid judiciary, I need John Sununu in 
the United States Senate.
    I named a new man named Michael Estrada to one of our higher 
benches. It's a great American success story. He couldn't speak English 
when he came here. He's now being nominated by the President to one of 
the highest benches because he's a brilliant lawyer. He's got fantastic 
support from Democrats and Republicans. John Sununu will cast his vote 
with Michael. Judd Gregg would. I wonder if the other candidate in this 
race would stand up and support the judicial nominees of a President 
George W. Bush. For the sake of a strong judiciary, we need John Sununu 
in the United States Senate.

[[Page 1712]]

    I also appreciate his understanding that our most important priority 
is to protect the homeland. See, there's an enemy which stills hate 
America lurking around. And so long as they lurk, we must do everything 
we can to protect America. That's our most important job, is to protect 
you. There's a lot of good folks working hard to do this. Listen, we're 
running down every lead, every hint; every idea that somebody might hurt 
us, we're following up on.
    But in order to make sure I can do a better job, I ask the Congress 
to join me in the creating of a Department of Homeland Security. Listen, 
when I was campaigning here I didn't say, ``Vote for me. I want your 
Government to be bigger.'' I did say, ``I want your Government to work 
where it needs to work.'' And it needs to work in protecting the 
homeland. There's over 100 agencies scattered around Washington that 
have got something to do with the homeland.
    So for the sake of better managing the Department, for the sake of 
being able to get people to work together, I said, ``Let's have it in 
one agency.'' The House heard it. Judd Gregg has heard it. Sununu 
supported it. But it's tied up in the Senate. And here's the issue. Some 
Senators want there to be a thick book of managerial regulations which 
will prevent a President from putting the right people at the right 
place at the right time in order to respond to an enemy. Some people 
want there to be more bureaucracy than managerial flexibility.
    One example, just one of many: We believe, and the Customs Service 
believes, that people ought to be wearing radiation detection devices 
when they inspect cargo, to determine whether or not a weapon of mass 
destruction is coming into the country. The union representing the 
Customs agents said, ``Wait a minute. You can't make people wear 
radiation detection devices. That's a matter for collective bargaining; 
we need a collective bargain over that,'' which could have taken a year 
to do that.
    I need flexibility. I need a Senator who understands that this 
President and future Presidents--[applause].
    The best way to protect America, however, is to chase these killers 
down, one at a time, one person at a time. And that is precisely what we 
are going to do.
    And they're out there. They just are. We're making progress. The 
doctrine that says, ``Either you're with us, or you're with the enemy,'' 
still stands. It's just as important today as it was the day after the 
attacks on September the 11th. And so there's a lot of folks working 
with us. We've got good intelligence. We're sharing it better than ever 
before. We're cutting off their money. We're denying safe haven. If we 
can find them lighting somewhere, we get them on the run. And we pulled 
in a couple of thousand of them.
    And sometimes it makes news when we do it, and sometimes it doesn't. 
This is just a different kind of war. In the old days, you destroyed an 
enemy's tanks, and you say, ``Well, we're making progress,'' sunk a 
couple of ships and we're making progress.
    These folks don't have ships. They don't have tanks. They hide in 
caves, and they send youngsters to their suicidal death. That guy al-
Shibh, bin al-Shibh popped up, and he's no longer a problem. [Laughter] 
We hauled him in.
    Slowly but surely, we are dismantling an Al Qaida terrorist network, 
and we've got a lot more work to do. By the way, we probably captured a 
couple of thousand of them, and just that many weren't as lucky, thanks 
to the United States military.
    By the way, that doctrine that says, ``If you harbor one of those 
terrorists, you're just as guilty as the terrorists,'' it still stands, 
too. But I want you to remind you--I want you to remind your kids, in 
all the midst of this talk about military this and that, that this great 
Nation did what it said it was going to do. And at the same time it 
upheld doctrine, it liberated people.
    We didn't go to Afghanistan, nor will we ever go anywhere, to 
conquer anybody. See, we believe in freedom. That's why the enemy hates 
us. We believe in freedom, and we went into Afghanistan--we freed 
people. Thanks to the United States, young girls now go to--many young 
girls now go to school for the first time because of our belief in 
freedom. Everybody counts. Everybody has got worth.

[[Page 1713]]

    I sent a bill up there to increase defense spending, a big increase, 
for two reasons. I hope you appreciate the reasons why. One, anytime we 
put our troops in harm's way, we owe it to our troops; we owe it to 
their loved ones, to make sure they've got the best training, the best 
pay, and the best possible equipment. And secondly, it's a clear signal 
that we're in this deal for the long haul, that there's not a artificial 
timeline that says: Well, we've had enough; we're kind of tired; let's 
quit.
    See, we need to send a signal--we know this here at home, but others 
need to know that when it comes to the defense of things which we hold 
dear, namely our freedoms--our freedom to worship the way we see fit, 
the freedom to debate political issues in an open forum, the freedom of 
the press--when it comes to the defense of our freedoms, there is no 
timeframe. It doesn't matter how long it takes. It doesn't matter how 
difficult the task. The United States of America will defend our 
freedoms.
    I haven't seen that defense bill yet. Judd voted for it, and John 
voted for it. I haven't seen it yet. It's stuck in committee. They don't 
need to be playing politics with the defense bill right now. They need 
to get the bill done before they go home. They need to get the defense 
bill on my desk.
    I said we're in this deal for the long haul, and we are. We'll be 
chasing Al Qaida down. They think they can hide somewhere. They just 
cannot do that with America. The long arm of American and allied justice 
will seek them out.
    We've got some other tasks ahead as well to keep the peace and to 
make our country secure. And that of course is Iraq. There's now a 
national debate, one which I encourage, one which I think is helpful, a 
national debate on how best to keep the peace, how best to secure the 
homeland, whether or not we ought to deal with threats before they 
become so severe that we may never be able to deal with them. It's an 
important debate.
    Monday night I'll be giving a talk to the Nation about my take on 
the debate. I want to share some thought with you right quick, and it's 
this. The facts and the history of Iraq are pretty clear to me. This is 
a man who told the world he would not have weapons of mass destruction, 
your chemical, your biological or nuclear weapons. For 11 years he has 
lied.
    On the one hand, he said he wouldn't have them--he does. And 
remember, this is a guy who's used them. He not only has denied and 
deceived about possessing weapons; he's actually used the weapons of 
mass destruction. He's used the weapons of mass destruction against 
neighbors. He has used weapons of mass destruction against his own 
people. He hates America. He hates many of our friends. He hates Israel. 
He's a man who continues to kill his own people who might dissent. When 
the inspectors were able to go into the country and have unfettered 
access, it was discovered that he was a short period away from owning a 
nuclear weapon.
    It's an important debate we're going to have here in America about 
how best to secure the homeland. I took the debate to the United Nations 
a while ago. One, I want the United Nations to be effective. I want 
there to be a body of freedom-loving nations that, when they speak, 
something actually can happen.
    This is a man, as I reminded them, who has looked the United Nations 
in the eye for 11 long years and has defied them. Sixteen times the 
Security Council passed resolution after resolution after resolution 
after resolution, and 16 times he defied them.
    My message was, ``We want you to be effective. We've got a new kind 
of war we fight. You need to be effective. We want you to work. But it's 
your choice. You can either be an effective United Nations, or you can 
be the League of Nations. You get to pick.''
    I also have said as clearly as I can that this isn't an issue of 
inspectors. That's what the process-oriented people want. This is an 
issue of disarmament. This is a man who has said he would disarm. The 
United Nations said he must 16 times. He said he would, but he hasn't. 
The choice is his to make as well. And those choices will be made over 
time here.
    But for the sake of our peace, for the sake of our children's 
future, if the United Nations will not act in strong fashion, if they 
continue to be ineffective, if Saddam Hussein makes the choice not to 
disarm, the United States and a lot of our friends will disarm him. For

[[Page 1714]]

the sake of peace, for the sake of freedom, for the sake of our future 
and our children's future, we will disarm him.
    The use of our military is my last choice, not my first. I take my 
responsibilities very seriously as the Commander in Chief. The use of 
force is not my first choice; it's my last. But my first choice as well 
is not to allow the world's worst leader to blackmail, to harm America 
with the world's worst weapons.
    The United States Congress will speak to this issue next week. It's 
a very, very important debate. This is not a partisan discussion, it's a 
philosophical discussion. It's a discussion that's a weighty matter. I 
look forward to the debate. I actually encourage the debate.
    I was proud the other day when both Republicans and Democrats stood 
with me in the Rose Garden to announce their support for a clear 
statement of purpose: You disarm, or we will. We owe it to our children 
to think about this issue. We owe it to the future. My belief is, is 
that the enemy hit us, and out of the evil can come some incredible 
good. And one of the good that can come is peace.
    The United States can lead the world to peace if we're clear and 
forthright and determined. If we speak clearly about terror and its 
threats, if we hold our values, God-given values in the forefront, and 
that is freedom, we can achieve a peaceful world.
    And you know what else we can do here in America? We can achieve a 
better world for all of us too, better world for each person who lives 
in this country. There are pockets of despair and loneliness in America. 
My attitude is, when our citizens hurt, we all hurt. I recognize the 
limitations of Government, I think John does as well. I mean, we can--
Government should educate, see that people are educated--passed a good 
education bill. John talked about--he was a strong stalwart, as was 
Judd, who actually was an author, of holding people accountable. It says 
every child can learn in America. We are going to challenge the soft 
bigotry of low expectations in this country, and we're going to insist 
every child learns.
    Government can make sure the health systems are modern. Medicare is 
old. Medicine has changed, Medicare hasn't. Medicine is modern. 
Medicare--and a really incredibly important program--has not changed 
with medicine. For the sake of our seniors, we need a prescription drug 
plan and a modern Medicare system. That's an important part of 
Government being involved with making our society better.
    But what Government cannot do is cause people to love one another. 
Government cannot put hope in people's hearts. That's up to us, our 
fellow citizens. My call to America has been and will continue to be to 
love a neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself.
    If you want to fight evil, do some good. Do some good. Help somebody 
in need. Mentor a child. Go to a Boy Scout--or run a Boy Scout or a Girl 
Scout troop. Feed the hungry. Find shelter for the homeless. There are 
many ways to fight the evil that has been done to our country.
    You see, it's the millions of acts of kindness and decency by our 
fellow citizens that reflect the true nature and character of this 
country. No, the enemy hit us. They thought--they thought, they probably 
thought that after September the 11th, 2001, we would file a lawsuit or 
two. [Laughter]
    What they didn't realize is, this country is plenty tough. And the 
world is beginning to see we're plenty--we're plenty compassionate too, 
that in our--that our strength is our will and our resolve and our 
dedication to values we hold dear, and our strength is our collective 
heart.
    You know, one reason I got into politics was because I wanted to be 
a part of a cultural shift, just a small part of a change. I think the 
enemy accelerated that cultural shift from one in which it said, ``If it 
feels good, just go ahead and do it, and if you've got a problem, blame 
somebody else,'' to a culture in which each of us understand we are 
responsible for the decisions we make in life.
    If you are a mom or a dad, your most important responsibility is to 
love your child. If you're living in Manchester, New Hampshire, you have 
the responsibility for the quality of life. You have the responsibility 
to

[[Page 1715]]

making sure the schools work. If you're running corporate America, you 
have a responsibility to tell the truth and to treat your shareholders 
and employees with dignity and respect.
    Perhaps the most vivid example about what I'm talking about, about 
serving something greater than yourself as part of a culture of personal 
responsibility, came on Flight 93. It's an important moment, in my 
judgment, about what took place on America on that terrible day.
    We had citizens flying across the country. They were told on the 
telephone that the airplane they were on was being used as a weapon. 
They told their loved ones goodbye. They said a prayer--history will 
show they said a prayer. A guy said, ``Let's roll.'' They took the plane 
in the ground.
    They sent a clear signal to America that serving something greater 
than yourself in life is an incredibly important part about being the 
ultimate American, about serving our country.
    No, when the enemy hit us, they didn't know who they were hitting. 
See, out of the evil done to America is going to come incredible good. 
The world will be more peaceful. This country will be able to 
eliminate--work to eliminate the pockets of despair.
    There's no question in my mind we face challenges as a nation. But 
there's no question in my mind we can overcome them. After all, this is 
the finest nation, the greatest nation, on the face of the Earth.
    Thanks for coming to help John. May God bless you all, and may God 
bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 12:15 p.m. in the Expo Center of New 
Hampshire at the Holiday Inn Manchester. In his remarks, he referred to 
Kitty Sununu, wife of Representative Sununu; Kathleen MacLellan Gregg, 
wife of Representative Gregg; Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla 
Owen, whose nomination to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit 
failed on September 5 when the Senate Judiciary Committee refused to 
send it forward for a vote by the Senate; Miguel A. Estrada, nominee to 
be U.S. Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit; 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.