[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 41 (Monday, October 13, 2003)]
[Pages 1361-1366]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Reception for Gubernatorial Candidate Ernie Fletcher in 
Lexington, Kentucky

October 9, 2003

    Thanks for coming. It's great to be back in this beautiful State. 
It's good to see a lot of friends. I know something about the culture of 
Kentucky. I know the priorities of this State. I promise you I'll keep 
my speech

[[Page 1362]]

short so you can get to the football game. [Laughter] All I can say is, 
thank goodness it wasn't basketball season, because nobody would be 
here. [Laughter]
    I appreciate the warm welcome to this former Governor, and I'm proud 
to be here with the next Governor, Ernie Fletcher. For me, politics will 
come in time. I've got a job to do, and it's my honor to lead this 
country. But politics is upon the people of Kentucky, and I'm here 
because I want to make it as clear as I possibly can: In the interests 
of every person who lives in this State, whether they're Republican, 
Democrat, or independent, the best man to be the Governor of Kentucky is 
Ernie Fletcher.
    I know him well. I've worked with him as a United States 
Congressman. The first thing I found out about Ernie is he loves his 
family, and he loves this State. I finally had to tell him to quit 
saying the word ``Kentucky'' every time he lobbied me on an issue. 
[Laughter] He cares a lot about people. He believes in personal 
responsibility, the dignity that comes from hard work, and the 
importance of a good education for every child. There's no question in 
my mind this man has the right values to lead this great State.
    And I appreciate the fact that Ernie picked a good man named Steve 
Pence to be the Lieutenant Governor of this State. I picked him first. 
[Laughter] He was the U.S. Attorney for Western District of Kentucky, 
appointed by President George W. Bush. I looked at a lot of candidates. 
This man was the best candidate for the job. I'm proud that he served as 
U.S. Attorney. I'm proud that he served as a lieutenant colonel in the 
Army Reserves. And I'm proud to be standing on this stage with the next 
Lieutenant Governor of the State of Kentucky.
    Ernie and I both married above ourselves. [Laughter] I'm proud to be 
with Glenna and the Fletcher family. I want to thank you for your 
sacrifice and service. Glenna, you'll make a great first lady for this 
State, just like Laura has made a great First Lady for our country. I'm 
really proud of Laura. She recently went on a high-level diplomatic 
mission. She went to Russia to help promote a book festival with 
Lyudmila Putin--by the way, came back right after that in Russia and 
hosted a national book festival. She loves books. She loves reading. She 
wants every child to read in America.
    And then she--before she went to Russia, she stopped off in France. 
[Laughter] Now, you may have seen the picture. I went to France. 
[Laughter] I had a nice reception, but I wasn't treated like that. 
[Laughter] No, she's great. I'm proud of her. I can't tell you how 
thankful I am that when I got on bended knee and said, ``Will you marry 
me,'' she said yes. [Laughter] She sends her love and her best to all 
her friends here in the great Commonwealth of Kentucky.
    I also thank Ruth Ann Pence and the Pence family for working hard to 
get the next Lieutenant Governor in office. It's a sacrifice for 
families when somebody makes the decision to run. It's a team effort, 
and I thank the families for what you're doing.
    In our midst is a man who you must send back as the United States 
Senator from this great State, and that is Mr. Jim Bunning. He's strong. 
He's capable. He's the absolute right man for the job.
    Speaking about Senators, Mitch's wife is in my Cabinet. That would 
be Mitch McConnell, and I'm speaking about Elaine Chao. She's done a 
fabulous job as the Secretary of Labor. Hi, Elaine. Need a ride back? 
[Laughter] Not much air rage on Air Force One, by the way. [Laughter]
    Two Members of the United States Congress are with us today. A great 
Member, a fellow I remember campaigning with for my dad at his house, a 
person who has done a really good job for Kentucky--he is a person who 
is a leader in the House of Representatives, and that's Congressman Hal 
Rogers. As well we've got another fine Member from the House of 
Representatives with us, a good stalwart, a good ally, and that's 
Congressman Ron Lewis. I know the current Congressman, soon to be 
Governor, is really appreciative of the Members of the Congress for 
coming tonight. You know him as well as anybody.
    I appreciate the members of the statehouse who are here. It's in 
your interest you're here, because you're going to be working with a 
fine man as Governor. We've got the senator, Dan Kelly, who's the 
majority leader. You're fixing to have a great Governor

[[Page 1363]]

to work with, Senator. You've got State Representative Jeff Hoover, 
minority leader of the statehouse. And I want to thank the other members 
of the senate and the house who are here tonight as well. Help is on the 
way.
    I know there's a lot of other candidates running for statewide 
office, too numerous to name, but I wish you all the best. I thank your 
families for making the sacrifice. I also want to thank all the 
grassroots activists who are here, people who are putting up the signs 
and dialing the phones and licking the envelopes. You can't win a race 
unless you energize the grassroots.
    And we've got some fantastic leaders of the Republican Party who are 
with us tonight. Ellen Williams, my good friend, is the chairwoman of 
the Republican Party of the State of Kentucky. My friend Cathy Bailey, 
the national committeewoman and the State finance chair, by the way, for 
the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign, is with us tonight.
    But my message to the grassroots folks is it's one thing to come to 
a fundraiser--and that's important, don't get me wrong--but you need to 
go to your coffee shops. You need to go to community centers and your 
houses of worship, and you need to say to people who haven't made up 
their mind, ``You've got a good man in Ernie Fletcher.'' You need to 
spread the word. You need to energize those folks. Find those folks that 
say, ``My vote doesn't matter,'' and look them in the eye and says, ``It 
does matter to have the right kind of Governor in the statehouse.''
    I appreciate Ernie's priorities. The number one priority of any 
Governor ought to be the education of the children of the State in which 
he's the Governor. That ought to be the priority. It's Ernie's priority. 
See, if you can't get education right, there's a dismal future for the 
State. It's essential that you have a Governor who stands tall for every 
child. And that starts with having a Governor who understands the dire 
need to challenge the soft bigotry of low expectations. You've got to 
have a Governor that believes that every child can learn and is willing 
to raise the standards, a Governor who believes in the worth and 
potential of every single child in his State. And that's Ernie Fletcher.
    You see, if you do not believe that every child can learn, then 
you're willing to accept a system which simply shuffles children through 
the schools. And that's unsatisfactory. It should be unsatisfactory to 
everybody who lives in the State of Kentucky. It's important to know 
whether or not the children are learning to read and write and add and 
subtract. It's important to hold public schools accountable. That way, 
Governor Fletcher can praise the teachers and principals and parents in 
succeeding schools. And that way, Governor Fletcher can take the 
accountability measures and say, ``We're not doing it right here.'' For 
the sake of Kentucky, put a Governor in who's willing to work hard to 
make sure not one single child is left behind.
    Ernie talked about health care. Health care is an issue. It makes 
sense to have somebody who knows something about health care as the 
Governor. He does. I've worked with him closely on key issues. We worked 
on the Medicare bill together. See, we want to make sure the Medicare 
system is modern, so seniors have got choices. I'm not only talking 
about the seniors today; I'm talking about those of us who are fixing to 
be seniors. You've got to have a system that works. Let's make sure we 
have prescription drugs available for our seniors. Ernie has been a 
leader on this issue. He knows what he's talking about.
    And he and I know this, that for the sake of affordable and 
available health care, we need to have medical liability reform. For the 
sake of the working people of this State, you better have you a Governor 
who is strong enough to stand up to the trial lawyers, somebody who is 
going to remind the people of this State that nobody has ever been 
healed by a frivolous or junk lawsuit.
    And that's soon-to-be Governor Ernie Fletcher. We spent a lot of 
time in Washington talking about jobs. See, he and I understand this, 
that things might look okay, but so long as anybody is looking for work 
and can't find a job, it means we still have a problem. We've got to 
work to create the conditions for job growth. The role of our 
governments is not to create wealth--Ernie knows that--the role is to 
create the environment in which small businesses can flourish to be big 
businesses, in which the entrepreneurial spirit is strong.

[[Page 1364]]

    We had a problem at the national level. When we came in--Vice 
President Cheney and I came in--the country was headed into a recession 
in the first quarter of 2001. We were in recession. The economy started 
coming around, and then the enemy hit us, and that hurt. And then we 
found out some of our citizens forgot to tell the truth. We had some 
corporate scandals. And by the way, there's no excuse for that. They 
will be held to account. We expect corporate CEOs to be responsible 
citizens in America.
    We vigorously waged the war on terror, and the battles of 
Afghanistan and Iraq affected the confidence of the American people. We 
had an issue with our economy. I went to the Congress. I said, ``The 
best way to get the economy growing again, the best way to make sure 
people can find a job is to return the people's money.'' I proposed 
historic tax relief. We increased the child credit from $600 to $1,000. 
We reduced the marriage penalty. The code ought to encourage marriage, 
not discourage marriage.
    We cut the taxes on everybody who pays taxes. We thought the fairest 
way to deal with tax relief was not to play favorites but to say, ``If 
you pay tax, you get tax relief.'' We provided incentives for small 
businesses to expand, because Ernie and I understand that most new jobs 
in America are created by small businesses. No, we acted. I called upon 
Congress; this good man supported me. The tax relief came at the right 
time for American history.
    Now, I've watched him carefully. He understands what I know: When 
we're spending money at the Government level, we're not spending the 
Government's money; we're spending the people's money. And you'd better 
have a Governor who understands that in your statehouse.
    There's another thing we're working on in Washington to make sure 
our businesses flourish, and that's a reliable source of energy. I look 
forward to working with Ernie on clean coal technology. I want to use 
the resources at hand. You've got some great resources here in Kentucky. 
We've got to use them. We've got to make sure we use our technology so 
that the air is cleaner. But we need an energy policy for the sake of 
economic vitality. And for the sake of national security, we need to be 
less dependent on foreign sources of energy.
    We've been working on a jobs plan at the national level, Ernie's 
working on a jobs plan here in Kentucky. He knows what he's doing. He's 
got the right philosophy. If anybody out there is listening and is 
worried about their job, I'd strongly suggest that you make Ernie 
Fletcher your Governor. He knows what he's talking about when it comes 
to job creation for the people of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
    Another thing I'm looking forward to working with Ernie on is 
homeland security. There's a lot responsibility at the State level when 
it comes to protecting the homeland. Make sure you've got a Governor who 
is well organized, who can make sure that there's a response mechanism 
in case the worst might happen, somebody who supports the first-
responders, the fire and the policemen and the emergency service squads 
all over your State. I'm confident Ernie can do the job. I've worked 
with him on matters of homeland security.
    The truth of the matter is, the best way to secure the homeland is 
never to forget the lessons of September the 11th, 2001, and chase the 
enemy down, one by one, and bring them to justice.
    One of the big problems we had when we got to Washington was morale 
in the United States military was beginning to suffer. When we showed 
up, there was an issue in the military. So I proposed strong defense 
budgets to meet the threats of a new era. Congressman Fletcher was a 
strong supporter of those defense budgets. And today, thanks to his 
support and the good work of others here in this audience, no one--no 
one in the world--can doubt the strength and the spirit and the 
sacrifice and the class and the technological ability of the United 
States military.
    Thank goodness we did strengthen our military, because we're still 
at war. I knew, after September the 11th, one of the hardest things for 
me to do would be to convince the people that there was a new kind of 
war, and they had to be diligent and patient in order to do our duty, in 
order to answer history and secure our homeland. Ernie Fletcher got that 
right off the bat.

[[Page 1365]]

    It's important that our country not forget the lessons of September 
the 11th. The first lesson is the nature of the enemy. These people are 
nothing but coldblooded killers. They've hijacked a great religion. 
They'll kill innocent women and children and men. They care not who they 
kill. They try to create fear and intimidation. Therapy won't work with 
these people. Negotiation won't work with these people. The only way to 
secure America is to stay on the offensive, and this country will stay 
on the offensive.
    We're making good progress against Al Qaida. I vowed that we would 
bring those killers to justice, and we're making good progress. We're 
teaming up with other nations and, slowly but surely, bringing them to 
justice. About two-thirds of the Al Qaida leadership have either been 
killed or captured. And we're after the rest of them. I know we've got a 
family here who grieved because of the bombing in Bali. The man who 
ordered that bombing, masterminded the bombing, is now in custody. He's 
no longer a threat. May God rest your daughter. We have a duty, no 
matter whether the citizen lives here in America or elsewhere, to be 
tough and strong and vigilant, to use our resources and capabilities to 
bring killers to justice.
    I also laid out another initiative that's an important lesson of 
September the 11th. It's important for those who harbor a terrorist and 
feed a terrorist and hide a terrorist to understand they're just as 
guilty as the terrorists. And the Taliban in Afghanistan found out 
exactly what we meant. Because of the bravery of the United States 
military and our friends and coalitions, the Taliban is no more. The 
people of Afghanistan are free. Many young girls go to school for the 
first time, thanks to the United States of America.
    There's another lesson involved with September the 11th, and that 
is, when we see a gathering threat, we must deal with it. You see, in 
the past, oceans protected us, or so we thought. We felt--thought we 
were invulnerable to attack. So if we saw a gathering threat overseas, 
we might decide to deal with it, or might not. September the 11th 
changed that calculation. The enemy can strike anytime, anywhere in 
America with ruthless fashion. They know no rules. They know no bounds 
of decency. They kill in the name of great religion. And therefore, this 
Nation must deal with gathering threats when we find them.
    And Saddam Hussein was a gathering threat. He possessed and he used 
weapons of mass destruction. He was a brutal tyrant and dictator to his 
own people. We discovered mass graves of men, women, and children. He 
had rape rooms and torture rooms. Words cannot describe the tyranny of 
this brutal man. I was not about to leave the security of the United 
States to the desires and hopes of this madman.
    But we weren't alone. The world called for Mr. Saddam Hussein to 
disarm, to prove he had disarmed, not once but time after time. The 
world clearly saw the threat of Mr. Saddam Hussein. Last year, you might 
remember, we passed Security Council Resolution 1441. The United Nations 
said, ``Mr. Saddam Hussein, you must declare your weapons. You must 
disarm for the sake of peace, or there will be serious consequences. 
Your choice.'' He made a bad choice. Saddam Hussein is no more.
    Recently, there was a report about Mr. Saddam Hussein's weapons 
programs. If you read the report, it is absolutely clear that he was in 
defiance of Security Council Resolution 1441, that he was not only a 
danger but a deceiver. The United Nations was right to demand Saddam 
Hussein be disarmed, and the United States and our coalition was right 
to remove him from power.
    And we have more work to do in Iraq. See, we're at an historic 
moment. A free Iraq, a peaceful Iraq in the heart of the land of terror 
will change the world and make America and our friends more secure. A 
peaceful Iraq in the heart of the Middle East will change the habits of 
countries that have spawned terrorists. It's essential we succeed for 
the long term. It's essential we succeed for our children and our 
grandchildren in developing a peaceful, democratic country. And make no 
mistake about it, we will succeed.
    We're making great progress. I don't care what you read about. Just 
ask anybody who's been there. They will tell you that the schools are 
opening, the children are getting immunized, the electricity is up, 
water is purified and moving. We're making great progress in

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helping this nation establish itself. The Iraqis want a secure country. 
They're moms and dads just like you all are. They want to live in a 
peaceful, hopeful place. The marketplaces are burgeoning. The 
entrepreneurial spirit is growing. And they'll start taking over their 
own security. By the end of next year, we'll have 40,000 militia trained 
so they can deal with the thugs and the criminals and the Ba'athists who 
long for Saddam Hussein.
    I talked to Bernie Kerik, the police chief of New York City, who was 
the commissioner there during 9/11. He went over there in the midst of 
chaos and set up a 37,000-person police force in Baghdad. No, it's 
different. We're making progress. This country is growing. I readily 
concede it's still hard work. There's thugs and killers who can't stand 
the thought of freedom. Freedom makes them nervous. And so, they're 
going to try to intimidate. See, you've got to understand, their goal is 
to try to frighten the United States of America. They want us to leave 
early. They want to inflict damage so that we run. They don't understand 
our country. We don't run from a challenge. We understand the stakes. We 
will stay the course, not only for our own security but for the peace of 
the world.
    I've received great support from the United States Congress on this 
initiative. Ernie Fletcher understands the stakes. He understands the 
historic nature of what we are doing. He understands this war on terror. 
It will be good to have him as your Governor. He has got a vision.
    I also know what he knows, that the true strength of this country is 
not our military might, however, or it's not the size of our wallets. 
That's not the true strength of America. The true strength of this 
country is the heart of the American people. We're a compassionate, 
decent nation. It's very important that you have a Governor who knows 
that Government can hand out money, but it cannot put hope in a person's 
heart or a sense of purpose in a person's life. That comes when loving 
citizens put their arm around somebody who hurts and says, ``I love you. 
What can I do to help you? How can I make a difference in your life?'' 
You need to have a Governor who knows that amidst the plenty of this 
great State, there are people who hurt. There are people who cry for 
help. There's homeless people. There's battered women. There's addicted 
people. And the best way to solve that is to rally the armies of 
compassion. Whether it be at the Federal level or at the State level, 
elected officials should never fear rallying faith, no matter what the 
religion, to help people in need.
    No, the greatest strength of this country is the fact that there are 
thousands and thousands of people who have heard the universal call, 
whether they be Christian or Jewish or Muslim, to love a neighbor just 
like you'd like to be loved yourself. Problems will be solved one person 
at a time, one person--one conscience at a time, when our country 
gathers up the true strength, those who have heard the call, and help 
them provide the services that will save lives.
    Ernie Fletcher understands that the people are the strength of this 
State. There's no doubt in my mind he'll make a great Governor. And it's 
my high honor to come and stand by his side and urge the good people of 
this State to vote him into office.
    May God bless you all, and may God bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 6:11 p.m. in Heritage Hall at the Lexington 
Convention Center. In his remarks, he referred to Glenna A. Fletcher, 
wife of candidate Ernie Fletcher; Lyudmila Putin, wife of President 
Vladimir Putin of Russia; Ruth Ann Pence, wife of candidate Steve Pence; 
former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq; and Bernard B. Kerik, former 
commissioner, New York City Police Department.