[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 48 (Monday, December 5, 2005)]
[Pages 1785-1789]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Luncheon for Representative Marilyn N. Musgrave in Denver, 
Colorado

November 29, 2005

    Thank you all. Thanks for the warm welcome. Thanks for the 
invitation, Marilyn. I am here because Marilyn Musgrave is a great 
Congresswoman, and she deserves to be reelected to the United States 
Congress.
    And I want to thank you all for coming to support her. I want to 
remind you, it's one thing to support a person with your hard-earned 
wages; it's another thing to support

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a person with your time and efforts. So when the time comes, I hope 
you're dialing the phones and knocking on the doors and helping defeat 
the special interests that are trying to drive her out of office.
    I appreciate Marilyn because she's a hard worker. You know, some of 
them get up to Congress, and they take it easy, take things for 
granted--not this Congressperson. She's home in her district because she 
cares about the people of Colorado. I know she cares about the people of 
Colorado because every time I see her, she says, ``I want to remind you 
about the values that are important in Colorado.'' [Laughter]
    She's not only a hard worker; she brings commonsense values to 
Washington, DC. And that's a town that needs some commonsense values. In 
order to keep this country safe, in order to keep this country strong, 
we need people like Marilyn Musgrave in the United States Congress.
    By the way, Laura agrees with me. [Laughter] I'd like us to hang 
around for lunch, but I've got to head back to Washington and have 
dinner with her--and my mother and dad, by the way, who send their love 
as well to the Congresswoman.
    I'm proud to have traveled from the airport not only with your great 
Governor, Bill Owens--it's great to see you, Governor; thanks for being 
here--but with Marilyn's husband, Steve. As a matter of fact, I've met 
so many Musgraves today--[laughter]--that if they all lived in the 
district, it would be a landslide. [Laughter] Nothing like somebody in 
the Congress who loves her family and who understands the importance of 
family values, and that's Marilyn Musgrave.
    Not only do we have the Governor here, we got the Lieutenant 
Governor, Jane Norton. Thanks for coming, Governor--both Governors. 
Proud you're here. Mark Hillman, the treasurer, is here; a lot of State 
and local officials. Thanks for coming. It's good to see my friend the 
Congressman, Bob Beauprez, and Claudia. Thanks for coming, Mr. 
Congressman.
    I had the privilege of saying hello to former Senator Armstrong and 
his wife, Ellen. It's good to see the Senator. It looks like he's doing 
pretty good. Retirement hasn't been all that difficult on him, and nor 
has it been rough on former Congressman Schaffer as well.
    But most of all, I want to thank you all for working hard to get 
this good person back in Congress. We got a lot to do up there. These 
are extraordinary times that we live in. We're at war. I wish I could 
report to the people of Colorado the war was over. It's not. There's an 
enemy still out there that wants to inflict harm on the United States of 
America because of what we believe in.
    We believe in the freedom of people to worship and speak their mind, 
the freedom of the press to print what they want. They believe in the 
opposite. They have a dark vision of the world. They have made their 
intentions clear. They want to establish a totalitarian empire that 
stretches from Spain to Indonesia. And one way for them to accomplish 
their objective is to drive us out of the Middle East, is to cause 
America to become isolated. It's not going to happen on my watch.
    One of the reasons I'm proud to stand here with Marilyn is she 
understands the stakes as well. It's important to have a--somebody from 
the United States Congress from that district, from her district, who 
understands that on September the 11th, 2001, an enemy declared war on 
the United States of America, and we must do everything in our power to 
protect the American people.
    This is an enemy that has declared their intentions in Iraq. They've 
got one weapon, by the way. Their ideology is so dark, nobody believes 
in it except for a handful, but they've got the capacity to kill 
innocent people and have those images on the TV screens around the 
world, all attempting to shake our will and to get us to retreat. They 
have stated openly their desire to do to Iraq what they did to 
Afghanistan, to convert that country into a safe haven so they can plan, 
plot, and attack. We will defeat the enemy in Iraq. We will do our job 
to protect the American people.
    The stakes are high, and it's important to have Members of the 
United States Congress who understand that. Marilyn Musgrave understands 
that we're in a time of war. And in a time of war, it's important to 
support those who wear the uniform, the men and

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women who are courageous enough to volunteer for the United States 
military. Marilyn is a strong supporter for our troops, and that's 
important.
    Marilyn also understands what I know, is that we've got a strategy 
for victory in Iraq. On the one hand, we'll help this good country 
develop into a democracy, and it's happening. Think about what's 
happened in such a brief period of time. You might compare it with our 
own history, which was a little rocky getting to our own constitutional 
process. In 2\1/2\ years, that country has gone from a totalitarian 
dictator, who is an enemy of the United States, to a Transitional 
Government to the ratification of a constitution and, in 2 weeks' time, 
elections to elect a Government to serve the people for 4 years. 
Democracy is on the march in Iraq.
    And at the same time, we're training the Iraqi troops so they can 
take the fight to the enemy. The Iraqis are becoming more and more 
capable of doing that which they want to do, which is secure their own 
country against terrorists and Saddamists. Listen, these people--the 
mothers in Iraq are like the mothers here in Colorado. They want to 
raise their child in a free and peaceful society, and they've got 
citizens willing to sacrifice for that free and peaceful society.
    Oh, I know there's some in Washington that have said, ``Get out of 
Iraq now.'' They're wrong. Precipitous withdrawal of our troops would 
send the wrong signal to our own troops, send the wrong signal to the 
enemy, and send the wrong signal to people around the world who watch 
the commitment of the United States. We're going to stand squarely with 
the people of Iraq and help them develop a free society.
    Marilyn also understands what I know, is that democracies yield the 
peace we all want. You know, I just came back from the Far East, had a 
great trip representing our country there. And it's--and in my time in 
Kyoto, Japan, it struck me again about how amazing the democratic 
process can be for laying the foundation for peace. I was there to--as a 
guest of Prime Minister Koizumi, and we sat around the table talking 
about helping Iraq develop a democracy, and what do we do about the 
person in North Korea that is developing a nuclear weapons program, we 
think, and how do we keep the peace.
    Sixty years ago, my dad fought the Japanese. Many of your relatives 
fought the Japanese as well. They were the sworn enemy of the United 
States. Yet in the year 2005, the President is sitting down with the 
Prime Minister talking about making the world a more peaceful place. 
Something happened, obviously, between when an 18-year-old fighter 
pilot--Navy fighter pilot, I might add--George H.W. Bush signed up, and 
his son is the President. What happened was Japan developed a democracy, 
a Japanese-style democracy, but a democracy.
    Democracies make the world more peaceful. Someday, an American 
President is going to look back at this period of history and say, 
``Thank goodness the United States of America kept faith in the capacity 
of democracy to change the world,'' and be dealing with duly democratic, 
elected leaders in the Middle East, helping to lay that foundation of 
peace for generations to come. The stakes are high. It's important to 
have Members of the United States Congress like Marilyn Musgrave, who 
understand the fact that we're laying the foundation of peace for 
generations to come.
    I promise not to talk so long the food gets cold. [Laughter] But I 
do appreciate Marilyn's understanding about how our economy works. You 
know, there are some in Washington that would like to raise your taxes. 
They believe that raising taxes would be good for the economy. I think 
that's what they believe. But their logic is backward. Marilyn and I 
understand if you let people keep more of their own money, it spurs 
economic growth and vitality. We've come through a lot in this economy. 
We've been through a recession. We've been through terrorist attacks. 
We've been through corporate scandals. Yet economic--the economic growth 
of this Nation is strong and vital. And I believe, and Marilyn believes, 
one of the main reasons why is because of the tax cuts that we delivered 
for the American people.
    She also understands that the death tax is unfair. We put the death 
tax on the road to extinction, and we need to make sure it stays 
extinct, for the good of our farmers and ranchers and small-business 
owners.

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    Good thing about Marilyn, she also understands Washington has got to 
be wise about how we spend your money. We're working on a lean budget up 
there, and it's good to have strong fiscal conservatives in Washington, 
DC, to fight off the tendency of Washington to spend too much.
    She understands how the economy works. She understands that small 
businesses create most new jobs. It's important to have somebody from 
the State of Colorado in that congressional district who stands squarely 
with the entrepreneurs and small-business people, and that's Marilyn 
Musgrave.
    I look forward to working with her on a rational immigration policy. 
The United States of America will secure our border. I just signed an 
appropriations bill which expands the number of Border Patrol agents, 
which is good. But you can't do that, enforce this border only with 
agents; you need technology like drones and infrared and cameras. And 
the bill I signed provides for additional technology to help these good 
Border Patrol agents do their job down there.
    We're going to stop catch-and-release by expanding the number of 
detention beds. We got people working hard down there. They're finding 
people trying to sneak into the country, and sure enough, shortly after 
they get detained, they're back in society again. And so we're going to 
increase the amount of detention space and work on expedited removal. 
We're also going to do a better job of enforcing worksite rules here in 
the United States of America.
    Finally, I feel strongly that in order to have a good and secure 
border, we got to differentiate between those who are here to work and 
those who are here to bring criminal--to provide--to do criminal 
activities. Listen, we got people coming into this country to do the 
jobs Americans won't do. It seems like to me it makes sense to have a 
willing worker be able to work with a willing employer on a temporary 
basis.
    I stand strongly against amnesty. Amnesty sends the wrong message. 
Amnesty would say to other illegal aliens, ``Come, and you can come into 
America and get citizenship automatically.'' No, I'm for a bill that 
strengthens our border by providing people with a tamper-proof identity 
card to let them work in America for jobs Americans won't do, on a 
temporary basis, and then go back to their country. And I'm looking 
forward to working with Marilyn on rational border control policy, and I 
think we can get something done.
    I'm also proud of the fact that she stands up for values that she 
thinks important. It's really important for the United States of America 
to promote a culture of life, to be a welcoming society, to recognize 
the value of each person. Marilyn is a strong supporter of developing a 
culture of life. And she's a strong supporter of the sanctity of 
marriage. We supported a constitutional amendment to make sure that 
activist judges do not redefine traditional marriage. And I'm proud of 
your support of that important piece of legislation, Marilyn. And the 
people of this district ought to send her back to Washington, DC, 
because she shares the same values as most people in Colorado.
    So, in summary, send her back. [Laughter] She's doing a fine job. 
You know, when you find somebody who's honest and upright, somebody who 
speaks her mind, somebody who's willing to take a tough position 
regardless of all the noise around, seems like to me that it makes a lot 
of sense to keep her in the United States Congress. I'm proud to be here 
today to support a good person, a good family person, good God-fearing 
person, somebody who is doing a fine job for the people of Colorado, and 
somebody who will do--continue to do a great job for the people of 
Colorado.
    Thanks for letting me come by to say hello. Marilyn, I'm proud to be 
on your side. God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 1:24 p.m. at the Comfort Inn Downtown. In 
his remarks, he referred to Gov. Bill Owens, Lt. Gov. Jane E. Norton, 
and State Treasurer Mark Hillman of Colorado; Claudia Beauprez, wife of 
Representative Bob Beauprez of Colorado; former Senator William L. 
Armstrong of Colorado and his wife, Ellen; former Representative Robert 
W. Schaffer of Colorado; former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq; and 
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan.

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