[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 17 (Monday, May 1, 2006)]
[Pages 766-768]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Republican National Committee Reception in Indian Wells, 
California

April 22, 2006

    Please be seated. Thanks for coming. The lesson of the 1994 
fundraiser is, I should have had a better chairman. [Laughter] I want to 
thank you all for coming. I really appreciate your support for the 
Republican Party. We're the party that is the party of ideas, a party of 
optimism, and a party of people who know how to solve problems, which is 
exactly what we're doing.
    I, first, wish Laura were here; she's not, of course. About four 
people go through the photo-op line indicated that they kind of would 
rather have Laura here than me. [Laughter] Yes, well--I can understand 
why. She is really a fine person, and she sends her best to all her 
friends here.
    I thank my friend Brad. You know, one of the great things about our 
life is that we've had friends before I got into politics, and they're 
going to be our friends after we're

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in politics. And Brad Freeman is such a person, and I value his 
friendship. I want to thank him for organizing this event.
    I want to thank all the folks who helped make this a very successful 
event. One reason why we are successful as a party is because we've got 
a great party chairman who understands that our message is one that 
should reach into every neighborhood; ours is one that is inclusive; 
ours is one that is hopeful--and that's Ken Mehlman. I want to thank you 
for coming, Ken.
    I appreciate Duf Sundheim, party chairman here in California. I saw 
Duf yesterday at Cisco Systems, saw him here in the desert. What are you 
doing tomorrow, Duf? [Laughter] But thank you for your service; 
appreciate it very much.
    I'm confident that Arnold Schwarzenegger will be reelected to 
Governor of this important State.
    I am always a better person after I've been in the presence of Mary 
Bono. She is the Congresswoman from this district; she is smart; she's 
capable; she's doing an excellent job for the constituents here. I don't 
know if you realize this, but today is Earth Day, and Mary has led the 
way to make sure that some of the most valuable territory, some of the 
most valuable country in this part of the world are preserved for 
generations to come, and I want to thank you for your leadership. I also 
want to thank you for your strong stand in the war on terror. You're 
doing a fine job.
    Connie Mack, from the great State of Florida, is with us. 
Congressman, good to see you; thank you for coming. Proud you're here. 
Good friend of the brothers, and mine, too.
    Bruce McPherson, the secretary of State is with us. Bruce, thank you 
for coming. Appreciate you being here, sir. I call him ``Senator;'' now 
we call you ``Secretary.'' It's good to see Mary as well.
    Chuck Poochigian is with us. Chuck is running for the State attorney 
general. Chuck, good luck to you. Thank you. My old buddy, proud to see 
you. Thanks for coming. Thanks for bringing Debbie with you as well.
    Steve Poizner is with us, running for the insurance commissioner. 
Steve--there he is. Good luck to you.
    I just said hello to Congressman Brian Bilbray. Where are you, 
Brian? Thanks for coming. Good luck on your race. We're pulling for you. 
Finally, Ben Stein is with us. Appreciate you coming, Ben. I think he's 
with us. Maybe he's not with us.
    I'd like to make a couple of points, and then we'll sit down for a 
second, and then visit some more with you. Today we had an important day 
in the war on terror. The elected leaders of Iraq came together and 
formed a unity government for the sake of people--[applause]. The 
formation of a unity government is a blow for the terrorists who have 
tried to divide Iraq and prevent Iraq democracy from emerging forward.
    And the United States of America will continue to stand with the 
brave citizens of Iraq as this democracy grows. It is in our interests 
that democracy succeed in Iraq. We must defeat the terrorists by denying 
them safe haven, and we will defeat the terrorists with an ideology that 
is hopeful and optimistic and positive, and that's an ideology based 
upon liberty.
    I've also had a wonderful time traveling your beautiful State. 
Yesterday I talked about a really important initiative for our country, 
and that is the Competitiveness Initiative. And the reason it's--I 
started talking about it in my State of the Union is because it is very 
important for the United States of America to feel confident about our 
future, and not to fear it.
    There are some in our country that feel like we should isolate 
ourselves from the world. There are some who fear trade with other 
countries, and therefore, want to throw up walls and protective 
barriers--not me. I believe the United States, in order to make sure our 
people have got a standard of living that improves, must be a leader in 
the world, must not fear competition, must be willing to continue to put 
policies in place that will mean that other generations of Americans 
coming up can realize a great quality of life. And it starts with making 
sure that the United States of America is the leader of research and 
technology.
    And so, yesterday at Cisco Systems, I talked about our desire to 
double Federal funding for the basic sciences so as to continue to make 
sure we're technologically advanced. I also talked about making sure the

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research and development tax credit is a permanent part of the Tax Code, 
to encourage private investment when it comes to research.
    But I spent a lot of time yesterday talking about education. I 
proudly signed the No Child Left Behind Act, which changed the way 
people should view education, from one in which it was okay just to move 
kids through to one that said we're going to measure, and we're going to 
hold people to account. We're going to set high standards, and we're 
going to measure to determine whether our children are learning to read 
and write and add and subtract. And if we find out they're not able to 
read and write, we'll correct problems early, before it's too late. I 
want to extend that same rigor that we've applied in reading to math and 
science so that our children have got the skills necessary to fill the 
jobs of the 21st century.
    And today I had the honor of being in West Sacramento, after my bike 
ride, by the way, in Napa Valley, which--good place to ride, by the way. 
I talked about an issue that I know is on people's minds here in 
California, and that is high energy prices. And I reminded our folks 
that we live in a global world, and when China's demand for energy goes 
up, it affects the gasoline prices here. When India's demand for energy 
goes up, it affects the gasoline prices here, which says to me, we've 
got to be smart about using energy--using investment technology to get 
away from use of oil.
    And I talked about plug-in hybrid vehicles, the research going into 
that, so that one day you'll be driving your first 40 miles on 
electricity, electric batteries. And I talked about ethanol. But I also 
talked about hydrogen fuel cells, which I believe will be the wave of 
the future for how we drive our cars.
    What I'm telling you is, ours is a party that has got a vision and a 
plan to make sure the United States of America is the leader in the 
world. Our message to the American people is, don't fear the future, 
because we intend to shape the future.
    Thanks for coming. I'll answer a few questions in a little bit. 
Thank you for being here.

Note: The President spoke at 6:05 p.m. at the Toscana Country Club. In 
his remarks, he referred to Bradford M. Freeman, California State 
finance chairman, Bush-Cheney '04, Inc.; Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of 
California; California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson and his wife, 
Mary; Chuck Poochigian, candidate for California State attorney general, 
and his wife, Debbie; Steve Poizner, candidate for California insurance 
commissioner; Brian Bilbray, candidate for Congress in California's 50th 
Congressional District; and entertainer Ben Stein.