[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 45 (Monday, November 11, 2002)]
[Pages 1947-1952]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks in Savannah, Georgia

November 2, 2002

    Thank you all. You all go ahead and be seated. So Saxby says to me, 
he says, ``Thanks for coming. Thanks for speaking, but don't go on too 
long. There's a football game on pretty soon.''
    I want to thank you all for coming today. I'm here to remind you and 
our fellow citizens from Georgia and America that we have a duty. If you 
love freedom like I know you do, you have a duty to vote. If you're 
interested in making sure democracy is strong, you have a duty and an 
obligation as an American to go to the polls. And I'm not just talking 
about those who call themselves Republicans or Democrats. I'm talking 
about citizens who could care less about political parties. We all have 
a responsibility.
    But I've got some suggestions for you when you get inside the box. 
[Laughter] What's best for Georgia and what is best for America is to 
send Saxby Chambliss to the U.S. Senate. What's best for Georgia and 
what's best for this district--put Max Burns in the U.S. Congress. And 
what is best for the State of Georgia, for your budget, for your public 
schools, is to put Sonny Perdue in as Governor of the State of Georgia.
    Sonny is a down-to-earth fellow. You don't have to worry about him 
getting any fancy airs when he becomes your Governor. He's a fellow 
who's met a payroll. It seems to make sense to me to have somebody as 
Governor who knows what it's like to meet a payroll, particularly if 
you're interested about people finding jobs. He's a person that 
understands the importance of infrastructure in Georgia, not only 
infrastructure for the big cities but roads for those of you who live in 
rural and smalltown Georgia. He's a man who understands the most 
important priority for a State is the education of our children. There's 
no doubt in my mind Sonny Perdue is going to make a great Governor for 
the people of Georgia.
    I appreciate the members of the congressional delegation who are 
here. Charlie Norwood is here with us today, and Charlie, thank you for 
your leadership and your friendship. And Congressman Jack Kingston is 
with us as well. I met Jack's mother at the airport. She was down there 
at the foot of the stairs just as I came off the plane here. And I said, 
``Well, is Jack listening to you?'' She said, ``About half the time''--
[laughter]--kind of like me and my mother. [Laughter]
    Speaking about females with the last name of Bush, you drew the 
short straw today. See, I wasn't Saxby's first choice. He wanted Laura 
to be here, but she sends her best. She sends her best to the people of 
Georgia. Like me, she's urging you to go to the polls. Like me, she 
knows what's best for Georgia is that Saxby become the United States 
Senator. She's out there campaigning today. She's campaigning hard. I 
believe she's in Minnesota, and I know I'm going to meet her tomorrow in 
South Dakota.
    It's pretty ironic that she is the lead campaigner for my family. 
After all, when I married her, she was a public school librarian. That 
in itself doesn't say much, except the truth is, she didn't like 
politics, and she certainly didn't like politicians. But thankfully, she 
said yes when I asked her to marry me. And the American people now know 
why I did. She's calm and steady during crisis. She's got a fabulous 
smile, a great heart. She's got a vision where every child can learn to 
read in America. And she's doing a wonderful job as our First Lady.
    I'm here as well because I want to make sure that Denny Hastert 
remains the Speaker of the House of Representatives. It's in our--and 
so, therefore, I'm a strong supporter of Max Burns, and I urge you to 
support Max come Tuesday. He'll make you a fine United States 
Congressman. He's a proven leader, and he spent 20 years of his life in 
the classroom. That makes a lot of sense to have somebody in the 
Congress who's had the practical experience of being a teacher. I bet 
there's some good teachers here today. Teaching is a noble profession. 
It's an important profession. Why don't you send yourself a teacher up 
to Washington, DC, to represent you in the United States Congress.
    We've got another fellow here who's seeking the vote that I hope 
wins, and that's Calder Clay. Calder Clay is running a good campaign, 
and if you're living in his district, give him all your support.

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    Today I'm proud to be up here with Nancy Coverdell, the widow of our 
great friend Paul Coverdell. She is a--she's cool. [Laughter] She's a 
great person. And with us as well is former Senator Mack Mattingly. And 
I'm honored that both of them have joined today to do what we need to 
do, which is to work hard to turn out the vote. I'm here not only to 
urge you to vote; I'm here to urge you to urge others to vote. If you're 
the grassroots types, people that understand politics, you know that 
turning to your neighbor and saying, ``Let's go out and vote,'' is an 
important way to help these people get elected. You understand what I 
understand: Coffee shop chatter is just as effective as all those 
endless ads you see on TV.
    So when you go to your coffee shops or your houses of worship over 
the next couple of days or your community centers, tell your neighbors 
it's not only important to vote but tell them to support these good 
candidates up here on the stage. And don't be afraid to talk to 
Democrats, by the way. There are a lot of Democrats in this part of the 
world that know the difference between a balanced budget and not. There 
are a lot of Democrats in this part of the world who want somebody who 
can stand strong for homeland security. There are a lot of good 
Democrats who understand that this President needs good support in 
Washington, DC. And so over the next couple of days, I urge you to man 
the phones, to turn out the vote, to energize the grassroots, to get 
people to do their duty, to support these good candidates. You can make 
a difference come Tuesday with your active energy.
    And there are some reasons. We've got some big hurdles to cross here 
in America. We've got some big challenges ahead of us. I need people 
with whom I can work in the Senate and Congress to meet those 
challenges. One of the big challenges we have is to make sure people can 
find work in America. Our economy is bumping along. Our economy isn't 
good enough, as far as I'm concerned. Oh, there's some positive signs, 
but too many people can't find work in America. That's how I gauge 
whether or not we're doing fine in the economy. Anybody who wants to put 
food on the table and can't find a job, says to me we've got a problem.
    And therefore, we need people in the United States Congress who will 
work with me to expand the job base. And one of the best ways to expand 
the job base is understand how jobs are created. Small business creates 
70 percent of the new jobs in America. Small-business owners--we've got 
to have plans and policies that encourage the growth of small business, 
but we've also got to understand this: If you let a person keep more of 
their own money, they're likely to demand an additional good or a 
service. And when they demand a good or a service, in the marketplace, 
somebody is likely to produce that good or a service. And when somebody 
produces that good or a service, somebody is more likely to find work. 
That's why the tax relief plan that Saxby Chambliss supported came at 
the right time in American history.
    That tax relief plan, if it's permanent, means $39 billion in your 
pocket over the next 10 years. After all, it's your money to begin with. 
It's not the Government's money. It's your money. But there's an issue 
of whether or not that tax relief is going to go away. See, it's not 
permanent. I need people in the United States Congress, like the 
candidates up here on this stage, who will join me in making the tax 
cuts permanent. For the sake of jobs, for the sake of people finding 
work, we need to make the tax cuts permanent.
    And let me give you fair warning; let me help you break the code of 
Washington, DC. When you hear them say, ``Oh, we might need to revisit 
the tax cuts,'' that means they're fixing to get in your pocket. That's 
what that means. We don't need people from this part of the State or 
this part of the country who are going to get back in your pocket. We 
need people who understand the role of Government is to create an 
environment in which small businesses can grow to big businesses, in 
which people can find work because of growth.
    No, there's a lot of issues we're going to be working on. We need to 
continue working on education. We passed a good bill, and Saxby 
Chambliss was involved in the passage of that bill. You tell your 
neighbors that when

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it comes to passing good education reform legislation out of Washington, 
Saxby Chambliss took an active role. It says we trust the people of 
Georgia to chart the path for excellence for every child. See, we 
believe in local control of schools. It says we're going to have high 
standards for every child, all across the country. It says we believe 
every child can learn. It says we're going to spend some substantial 
money out of Washington, but in return for the money, we want to know 
whether or not every child is learning. We don't want children trapped 
in schools which won't teach and won't change. We want to make sure no 
child in the State of Georgia gets left behind.
    I look forward to working with these Members to make sure that 
health care works, particularly Medicare. Our medicine has changed for 
the better. New technologies, new discoveries have made medicine modern. 
Medicare isn't modern. Medicare is stuck in the past. Medicare has 
become a political football. We need people in Congress who will work 
with us to make sure Medicare is modern. And a modern Medicare system 
means prescription drug benefits for our seniors.
    I need people in the Senate with whom I can work to make sure our 
judiciary is full of judges who are honest and will not--[applause]. 
Bunch up there running the Senate right now has done a lousy job when it 
comes to my nominees for the Federal bench. I say ``lousy job'' because 
we've got a vacancy problem on our benches. All across America there's 
too many vacancies, which means you don't get the justice you deserve. 
They're playing politics with the judges. They don't like the kind of 
people I'm nominating. You see, I'm putting the ones up there that not 
only can do the job, but they're not going to use the bench from which 
to legislate. They're going to use the bench from which to strictly 
interpret the U.S. Constitution. And make no mistake about it in this 
race, if you're interested in a judiciary which is going to work and 
represent your views, Saxby Chambliss is the right United States 
Senator.
    No, there's a lot of issues we can work on together. But there's no 
more important issue than your protection. That's the biggest issue we 
face in Washington, DC, is to protect innocent life, is to protect you 
from an enemy which still lurks out there. And you've just got to know, 
they're there, and they hate us because of what we love. And we love 
freedom. We love the fact that people can pray to an Almighty any way he 
or she sees fit. We love the freedom to speak our mind. We love a free 
press. We love every aspect of our freedom, and we're not going to 
change.
    And that enemy has put us on alert. See, we now understand. And 
therefore, there's a lot of good people doing everything they can to 
protect you, at all levels of government, the Federal level and the 
State level and the local level. We've got people running down any hint. 
Anytime we get any idea that somebody is thinking about doing something 
to America, we're moving on it. We're disrupting. We're denying. We're 
doing everything we can.
    But I think we can do a better job of protecting you. That's why I 
suggested to the Congress that we come together to form a Department of 
Homeland Security, one that will allow the agencies involved with 
securing the homeland, like port security right over here, to be able to 
better coordinate, to be able to better prioritize, and if need be, 
change cultures so that you've got everybody in the Federal Government 
and the State Government and the local government working together.
    And the House of Representatives responded. As a matter of fact, 
when it came time to create this Department, and the ideas about the 
Department, I turned to the man from Georgia, Saxby Chambliss, for 
ideas, because he understands the issue. After all, he is the chairman 
of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security. Not only 
do I trust his judgment, but Members of the Congress trust his judgment. 
And so we got us a good bill out of the House.
    But it's stuck in the Senate. The Senate couldn't get the job done, 
and here's why. They wanted me to forfeit power which every President 
since John F. Kennedy has had. See, every President since Kennedy has 
had the capacity to suspend collective bargaining

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rules in any Department of the Federal Government when our national 
security is at stake. In other words, if there's some work rules that 
prevent the Homeland Security Department from doing its job, I would 
have the capacity, for the sake of national security, to suspend those 
rules. And some Senators say, ``You can't have that power.'' See, 
there's too much special interest in Washington, trying to make the 
decisions on behalf of the American people.
    Let me give you what would happen if this went through. I would have 
the capacity to suspend work rules in the Department of Agriculture for 
the sake of national security, but not in the Department that is being 
created to secure you. It just doesn't make any sense. And therefore, I 
need a guy like Saxby Chambliss in the Senate who won't crater to the 
special interests in Washington, and join me in protecting the interests 
of the American people.
    But the best way to protect America is to hunt these killers down, 
one person at a time, and bring them to justice. And that's exactly what 
we're going to do. We have no choice, see. History has called us into 
action. We love our freedoms, and we're not going to give in to these 
terrorists. We owe it to our children and our children's children. 
That's why I went to the United States Congress and asked them for the 
largest increase in defense spending since Ronald Reagan was President. 
And I want to thank the Members of Congress for agreeing to that 
request.
    And the message is loud and clear: First, anytime we put our troops 
into harm's way, they deserve the best training, the best pay, and the 
best possible equipment. And secondly, here's the message to friend and 
foe alike with this defense bill: We're in this deal for the long haul. 
There's no quit in America. There's not a calendar in the Oval Office 
that says, by such-and-such a date, haul them in, Mr. President. That's 
not the way we think, and that's certainly not the way I think. It 
doesn't matter how long it takes to hunt these killers down; we have an 
obligation to our future to secure freedom and to secure the country.
    And we're making progress. This is a different kind of war. The old 
days you use to--could measure the number of tanks destroyed or 
airplanes shot down or ships sunk, and you'd say, ``Gosh, you're making 
progress.'' These people don't have tanks. They don't have airplanes. 
They're coldblooded killers who hide in caves and send youngsters to 
their suicidal deaths. That's the way they think, and that's the way 
they fight, which means we've got to keep that coalition together.
    So I'm here to tell you today, the doctrine which says, ``Either 
you're with us or with the enemy,'' it still stands. We're on an 
international manhunt, one at a time. A couple of thousand have been 
hauled in; a couple of thousand met their fate a different way. They're 
not a problem. A lot of them met their fate a different way because they 
dared challenge the United States and the greatest military in the 
history of the world.
    Slowly but surely, we're bringing them to justice. It's going to 
take a while, but this country understands the stakes. See, it all 
changed on September the 11th, 2001. It used to be that oceans could 
protect us. It used to be that if there was a threat somewhere overseas, 
that we could determine whether or not we would deal with that threat, 
because we were pretty secure here at home. You just got to understand 
it's a different era. That's why it's essential we think about the world 
the way it is, not the way we would hope the world would be. My job is 
to be as realistic about the threats as possible and to deal with them. 
It's the job of Senators and Congressmen to be as realistic about the 
true threats we face and deal with them.
    And therefore, I asked the country to debate an important issue, and 
that is Iraq and Saddam Hussein. I wanted there to be a honest and open 
debate in our Congress, reflecting the concerns of the American people. 
I wanted there to be a debate in international bodies, because I 
understand that Saddam Hussein is a threat to the American people; he's 
a threat to our friends; he's a threat to our allies. He said he would 
not have weapons of mass destruction. And after 11 years of deceit, he 
has them. He was close at one time to having a nuclear weapon. We don't 
know how close he is today, but a Saddam Hussein with a nuclear weapon 
is a grave,

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grave threat to America and our friends and allies.
    He said he wouldn't have chemical weapons. He has them. But not only 
has he got them; I want you all to remember, he used them. He not only 
possesses; he has had a history of using them. And he's used them not 
only on his neighbors, but he's used them on his own people. This man is 
coldblooded. He can't stand America. He can't stand our friends. He 
can't stand freedom.
    And so I went to the United Nations, and I reminded them, for 16 
resolutions, resolution after resolution after resolution, Saddam 
Hussein has defied this international organization. And my point to the 
U.N. was, we want you to be effective. We want to be able to work with 
you to help keep the peace. We want you to be the United Nations, not 
the League of Nations. But if you're unable to act, if you're unable to 
have the backbone necessary to help us keep the peace by disarming 
Saddam Hussein, if you can't do it and if Saddam Hussein refuses to do 
it, then the United States, in the name of peace and in the name of 
freedom, will lead a coalition and disarm Saddam Hussein.
    I say that because I want the world to be peaceful. I want there to 
be peace here at home. I want there to be peace around the world. See, 
the evil ones hit us, and they've given us an opportunity to do some 
good. Out of the evil done to America will do good because we're a great 
nation, full of decent and honorable people. I truly believe that if we 
hold the line, that if we stay steadfast in routing out terror, that if 
we're diligent and are willing to lead, that if we remember our values 
and that freedom isn't an American-given value, it is a God-given value 
for everybody, if we remember those values that make us unique, we're 
going to achieve peace. We can accomplish some real good out of the evil 
done to this country, not only abroad but here at home as well.
    One of the things I believe is going to happen is that we will be a 
better America. Out of the evil done to America will come a more 
compassionate country. We've got to remember, in this land of plenty, 
there's a lot of people who hurt. People wonder whether or not the 
American Dream is meant for them. There's addiction and hopelessness and 
loneliness. And Government can help solve those problems, and we're 
going to try to do so. But you've got to remember this: Even though 
Government can hand out money, it can't put hope in people's hearts or a 
sense of purpose in people's lives.
    The best way to help heal America, the best way to make sure good 
comes out of evil, is for our fellow Americans to put their arms around 
somebody who hurts and says, ``I love you, brother,'' or, ``I love you, 
sister.''
    And that's what's happening all across America. See, the American 
spirit is alive and well. It's the spirit that says when it comes to the 
defense of our freedom, we're plenty tough. It's also a spirit that says 
we're going to serve something greater than ourself in life, that part 
of being a patriot is to recognize service to your community is an 
integral part of being an American.
    Today when I landed, I met Sharon Seng, who represents the Girl 
Scouts. I didn't realize it--I now know it--the Girl Scouts were founded 
right here in Savannah, Georgia. That's part of the soldiers in the 
armies of compassion. She is, and so are you. If you mentor a child, 
you're part of the army of compassion. If you feed the hungry or the 
homeless, you're a member of the army of compassion. If you help a shut-
in, if you're a Boy Scout leader, if you go over to the Boys and Girls 
Clubs, if you help change America, one heart, one soul at a time, you're 
a part of this great movement to make America a more compassionate 
place.
    No, the American spirit is alive and well, best exemplified by what 
took place on the fateful day that changed our history, and that was on 
Flight 93. Citizens were flying across the country. They learned the 
plane they were on was going to be used as a weapon. They told their 
loved ones goodbye over modern devices, cell phones. They said a prayer. 
One guy said, ``Let's roll.'' They took the plane into the ground to 
save lives.
    The enemy didn't understand who they were hitting. They don't 
understand the country. The American spirit is strong. It's alive all 
throughout our land. People understand that serving this country by 
helping people in need is a part of the new patriotism, which allows me 
to boldly predict this: Out of the evil done to America is going to

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come a more peaceful world. Out of the evil done to America is going to 
come a more hopeful America, because this is the greatest nation, full 
of the finest, most compassionate people on the face of this Earth.
    Thank you for coming today. May God bless you, and may God bless 
America.

Note: The President spoke at 4:10 p.m. in the Executive Aviation Hangar 
at Savannah International Airport in Garden City, GA. In his remarks, he 
referred to senatorial candidate Saxby Chambliss; gubernatorial 
candidate Sonny Perdue; Max Burns, candidate for Georgia's 12th 
Congressional District; Calder Clay, candidate for Georgia's 3d 
Congressional District; Ann Kingston, mother of Representative Jack 
Kingston; and President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.