[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 45 (Monday, November 10, 2003)]
[Pages 1523-1525]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks in Gulfport, Mississippi

November 1, 2003

    The President. Thank you all very much. Thanks for coming. I'm proud 
to be here in southern Mississippi. Thanks for your time. It's a 
beautiful night to be with the next Governor of the State of 
Mississippi.
    I'm here to say it as plainly as I can say it. The right man to be 
the Governor of Mississippi is Haley Barbour. We've known each other a 
long time. Even when he was in high cotton--[laughter]--running with the 
big shots--[laughter]--he always talked about Mississippi. He loves this 
State, and he loves the people of Mississippi. I think he's going to be 
a great Governor because he's going to be the Governor of everybody. 
He's not going to be the Governor of one political party or another. 
He's going to represent every single person who's fortunate enough to 
live in the great State of Mississippi.
    He's going to be a fine Governor because he's an optimist. He's got 
a clear and optimistic and positive vision for this great State. He 
believes in the potential of the State because he believes in the people 
of Mississippi. Haley Barbour is a family man, a man of faith. There is 
no doubt in my mind he is going to be a great Governor of this big 
State.
    Plus, he married well. [Laughter] Marsha is going to be a great 
first lady. And speaking about great First Ladies, I'm sorry Laura is 
not with me today. I know it; you got the short straw. [Laughter] But 
after I shake enough hands, I'm going to head back to Crawford, and I'm 
going to tell her that there's no doubt in my mind that the people of 
this great State support Haley Barbour to be the next Governor.
    And the definition of support means not only coming out to a big 
rally like this; it means doing your duty to vote. In our free society, 
you have a duty and an obligation to go to the polls. I'm asking you to 
ask your friends and neighbors to go to the polls as well. Don't be 
afraid to talk to that disenchanted Democrat--[laughter]--or the 
discerning independent. They want good government too. And Haley Barbour 
is going to give them good government. Turn out that vote. Work hard to 
get this man into office.
    I'm proud to be onstage as well with your Lieutenant Governor, Amy 
Tuck. She's a woman of conscience. She made a tough decision. She 
decided she wanted to be a principled politician. [Laughter] That's what 
you need. That's what you want in your statehouse. You want a principled 
Governor, and you want a principled Lieutenant Governor, and you'll have 
a principled Lieutenant Governor in Amy Tuck.
    I appreciate so very much Tricia Lott being here. She's a great 
friend of mine and Laura's. She married well--[laughter]--Senator Lott, 
who does a fantastic job for the people of Mississippi. He came out to 
the airport. He said, ``Look, I've heard you speak before.'' [Laughter] 
He's heading north--[laughter]--to rally the vote for Haley. I said, 
``You've got an excused absence just so long as you send your wife.'' 
[Laughter]
    I appreciate so very much Congressman Chip Pickering and his wife, 
Leisha, for being here as well. Chip's one of the rising stars in the 
United States House of Representatives, a good, honorable, decent family 
man who cares deeply about the people of this State.
    I'm also honored to here with Margaret Ann Pickering. She is the 
wife of Charles Pickering, Judge Pickering. You may have--[applause]. My 
job as the President is to find good, honorable citizens to serve on the 
high courts. When I picked Charles Pickering to serve in the high court, 
I picked a smart, intelligent, perfectly capable judge. It is time for 
some of the Members of the United States Senate to stop playing politics 
with American justice.
    I want to thank Scott Newton, who's running for the attorney 
general. I appreciate you coming, Scott. Don't forget him when you get 
in the booth.
    I want to thank the mayors who are here and the local officials. I 
particularly want to thank the Lynyrd Skynyrd band.
    But most of all, I want to thank you all. It's got to make a 
candidate that's coming down the stretch feel great to see so many 
people. They've been working hard and knocking on doors and making the 
phone calls, and here you all show up and give them extra energy, and I 
want to thank you for coming.

[[Page 1524]]

    It's important to have the right platform when you're running for 
Governor. You've got to believe in something. You can't get by just on 
your pretty looks. [Laughter] Well, in Haley's case--[laughter]. You've 
got to stand for something, and I appreciate what he stands for.
    First of all, he shares the same concerns I have. When we hear that 
a fellow citizen is looking for work and can't find a job, that says 
we've got a problem. We want all our people working. We want people to 
be able to put bread on the table for their families. We want people to 
realize their ambitions. It's important to have a Governor who 
understands the role of government is to create an environment for small 
businesses to grow to be big business, to create an environment which is 
pro-growth and pro-jobs. Haley Barbour understands that.
    You know, we face an issue in Washington, and that is the country 
was in recession just about the time we arrived. Then the enemy hit us. 
That hurt our economy. We had some of our citizens forget to tell the 
truth. They forgot what it means to be a responsible citizen, so they 
kind of--they fudged the books a little bit. They're weren't open and 
honest with their employees and shareholders. They now know what it 
means to be held accountable.
    War, a national emergency, and a recession all affected our economy. 
That's why I went to the United States Congress, not once but twice, and 
said, ``Let's let the people keep more of their own money. If you're 
interested in job creation, if you want economic growth, have tax cuts 
for the American people.''
    And the economy is beginning to recover, thanks to the hard work of 
the American people. You need to have you a Governor in the great State 
of Mississippi who understands what it means to create an environment 
for job growth, who hurts when he hears people are working, and that man 
is Haley Barbour.
    It's also important, if you want to have a good economic environment 
so people can find work, that you have a Governor who will manage the 
budget well. And that starts with having somebody who understands whose 
money government spends. We don't spend the government's money in 
Washington or here in Mississippi, see. We're spending the people's 
money. And Haley Barbour understands that. He'll be a good steward of 
the people's money. He will set priorities for the people of 
Mississippi. He won't play politics with the people's money.
    In order to make sure people can find work, you better have a legal 
environment that is reasonable. People need to be able to have their day 
in court. The problem is, frivolous and junk lawsuits clog up the 
dockets. They make it hard for employers to hire people who are looking 
for work. You need a Governor who is strong enough to stand up to the 
personal injury trial lawyers, a Governor who is tough enough to insist 
upon medical liability reform for the people of Mississippi.
    I used to say, when I was the Governor of Texas, education is to a 
State what national defense is to the Federal Government. It's the top 
priority. That's the way it ought to be here in Mississippi. You'll have 
you a Governor, Haley Barbour, who will set education as the top 
priority for this State, and that's the way it should be.
    Haley will stand with the hard-working teachers all across the State 
of Mississippi. Haley will stand with the parents of the schoolchildren 
all across the State of Mississippi. Haley will stand with the 
schoolchildren by challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations, by 
raising the bar, by insisting upon standards and insisting upon 
curriculum that will teach our children how to read and write and add 
and subtract.
    No, Haley's got a good, strong platform. And he understands what I 
understand, that amidst our plenty there are broken hearts, there are 
people who hurt, there are people who are addicted or homeless, there 
are people who need to be fed. He also understands that government can 
hand out money--sometimes we do a pretty good job of it--but what 
government cannot do is put hope in people's hearts or a sense of 
purpose in people's lives. That is done when somebody who has heard the 
universal call to love a neighbor just like you'd like to be loved 
yourself puts their arm around somebody who needs love.
    Government should never sponsor religion, and religion should never 
try to be the

[[Page 1525]]

state. But it's essential to make sure America is hopeful, that 
government not fear the role of faith in the lives of providing 
compassionate help for people who hurt. I look forward to working with 
Governor Haley Barbour to make sure the Faith-Based Initiative, which 
will come out of Washington, DC, is implemented in such a way that 
people have got hope for the future.
    I look forward to working with Haley Barbour to make sure that the 
homeland security initiative is well implemented, to make sure there's 
good coordination between the Federal Government and the State 
Government and the local governments, to make sure our first-responders, 
the brave police and firefighters and emergency squads, have got the 
help necessary to do their job here in Mississippi.
    But he and I understand this: The best way to secure the homeland is 
to chase the killers down and bring them to justice, which is exactly 
what America will do. We must never forget the lessons of September the 
11th, 2001. America cannot afford to sit back and hope for the best. In 
order to make America secure, we must stay on the offensive. This 
country will not tire; we will not rest until the danger to civilization 
is removed.
    A lot of people support the military here in this part of our 
country, and I want to thank you for that. A lot of you have got 
relatives who wear the Nation's uniform. When you e-mail them or write 
them a letter or talk to them on the phone, you tell them the Commander 
in Chief is incredibly proud of the sacrifice and service they're giving 
to this Nation.
    We'll stay on the offensive. We'll do what it takes to keep this 
country secure. But I want you to know, I fully understand the best way 
for long-term security is for this Nation to work to spread freedom 
around the world. See, free nations don't attack their neighbors. Free 
nations don't develop weapons of mass terror to blackmail or threaten 
the world. That's why we will succeed in Iraq. A free Iraq, a free and 
peaceful Iraq, is in this national--is in our national interests. It's 
in the interests of our children and our grandchildren. Can you imagine 
what will take place, the change that will take place when democracy 
flourishes in the midst of a part of the world that has been an area of 
hate and violence?
    I also understand this, that freedom is not America's gift to the 
world, freedom is the Almighty's gift to every person who lives in this 
world.
    I want to thank you all for taking time out of your Saturday 
evenings to come out here. You're showing a strong commitment to your 
State, and I'm proud for that. You're showing a strong commitment of 
what it means to be a citizen living in a democracy. I'm going to ask 
you to take it a little extra farther.
    Audience members. [Inaudible]
    The President. Thank you. [Laughter] If you love me so much, make 
sure you turn out to vote. [Laughter] Make sure you go to the polls. 
Make sure you put this good man in office. Mississippi can do better, 
and Haley Barbour will lead Mississippi to that day.
    Thanks for coming. May God bless. Thank you all.

Note: The President spoke at 6:28 p.m. at Jones Park. In his remarks, he 
referred to gubernatorial candidate Haley Barbour and his wife, Marsha; 
Amy Tuck, incumbent candidate for Mississippi Lieutenant Governor; 
Representative Charles W. ``Chip'' Pickering, Jr., of Mississippi; 
Charles W. Pickering, Sr., nominee to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the 
Fifth Circuit; and rock music group Lynyrd Skynyrd.