[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 36 (Monday, September 11, 2006)]
[Pages 1583-1589]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Reception for Congressional Candidate
Max Burns in Pooler, Georgia

September 7, 2006

    Thanks for coming. I want to thank you all for coming and joining me 
in supporting my friend Max Burns to be the next Congressman from this 
district.
    Max, this is a good sign that so many people would show up. 
[Laughter] And I thank you for supporting him. I know him quite well. 
See, as he mentioned, we have worked

[[Page 1584]]

together before. He's not an unknown quantity. You don't have to guess 
about his political philosophy. You don't have to worry about whether he 
will do the right thing. Max Burns is a man who is the right man to 
represent the 12th Congressional District for the State of Georgia. And 
I want to thank you for giving him this strong support.
    Max not--I not only think Max is the right guy, but so does Laura. 
[Laughter] She sends her love to the Burns family, to Lora and Max. She 
sends her thanks to all of you. And she reminded me to remind--to thank 
you for the fantastic experience we had down here in 2004. If you ever 
want to host an international conference, I strongly suggest this part 
of the country. The G-8 was a great success, primarily because of the 
beauty of the coastline and, more importantly, the warmth of the people 
here on the coastline. And so we're proud to be back in Savannah. This 
is good country with good people. And I'm proud to be back, and I'm real 
proud to be supporting Max.
    Today I'm traveling from Atlanta, where I gave a speech, the third 
of three speeches on what we're doing to secure this country, and I 
traveled over on Air Force One with a man who is doing a fabulous job as 
the Governor of an important State, and that's Governor Sonny Perdue. 
Sonny, thanks for coming. He's a straightforward fellow. He's the kind 
of guy, frankly, that the Texas voters would be comfortable with. 
[Laughter] He's no-nonsense. He's down-to-earth. What you see is what 
you get. And even though he didn't ask, I do want to remind you to 
support him for his reelection. He deserves it.
    Max is going to be working with a really important and a very fine 
senatorial group of folks from Georgia. I know firsthand because I work 
with them all the time. This State has done a very smart thing in 
sending Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson to the United States Senate. 
I'm proud they're here, and I thank them for coming.
    I'm looking forward to getting my instructions on Air Force One 
flying back to Washington. [Laughter] They're not shy about telling me 
what's on their mind, and it usually starts with, ``Here's what's best 
for Georgia.''
    I'm proud to be here with Eric Johnson, president pro tem of the 
Georgia State Senate. Thanks for coming, senator. Tommie Williams, who 
is the majority leader of the Georgia State Senate, is with us. Senator, 
thank you for coming as well.
    I know Max appreciates the statehouse people supporting him. I know 
he is proud to have the support of those who run for office themselves. 
It's a good sign. When people have been out there knocking on doors 
saying, ``I'm for this man for Congress,'' they know what the grassroots 
are thinking; they know what the people want. The people want Max Burns 
to return to the United States Congress, and so do I.
    Swainsboro mayor, Mayor Charles Schwabe is with us today. Mayor, 
thank you for coming. I appreciate Karen Handel, who's the candidate for 
secretary of state, joining us today. Perry McGuire, the candidate for 
the attorney general for the State of Georgia, is with us as well. Brent 
Brown and Gary Black--they're colorful characters--[laughter]--running 
for the labor commissioner and agriculture commissioner.
    I appreciate--let me just say this--I appreciate all of you running 
statewide. It's hard work. I know you want me to say this--these folks 
need your help too. It's not easy to be a candidate; it just isn't. And 
when you find somebody as honest as Max, who's willing to step up there 
and run, I believe you owe him more than just writing a check; I believe 
you owe him putting up those signs. That's what I believe. I believe you 
owe him time, if you don't mind me saying so. He's counting on it, and 
so am I. It's important to have good, strong, decent, honorable people 
like Max Burns representing you in the United States Congress.
    I want to thank Mike Wiggins, the candidate for the Georgia Supreme 
Court. I appreciate you being here, Mike.
    And finally, I can't--I want to thank the original members of the 
Mighty Eighth Air Force. I want to thank the museum director. This is a 
spectacular facility, and we're grateful that we could use it.
    These are historic times in which we live. These are--and that's why 
it's important to have people in the Congress who clearly see the 
challenges this Nation faces. We are a nation at war. I can't tell you 
how much I wish I could come to Savannah, Georgia, and

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say we weren't at war. I wish I could report that to you, but I can't.
    It should have been clear to the American people that we're still 
under threat when a couple of weeks ago, working with Great Britain, we 
uncovered yet another plot. People were going to get on airplanes bound 
for the United States and destroy them because they can't stand what we 
believe. We're facing ideologs.
    In other words, these are people that have a belief system. The best 
way to understand the belief system they have is to think opposite of 
what we believe. We believe in the freedom of people to worship. See, 
you're equally American if you're Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, 
agnostic, whatever. You're equally American. You have the right to 
choose. The people that face us, the radicals and extremists who attack 
us, believe you ought to worship one way, the way they believe, or else 
you're condemned. We believe in people being able to express themselves 
in the public square. We believe in dissent. We believe in the freedom 
of the press. We believe in freedom, and they don't.
    I will be in New York City and in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon 
next Monday with Laura. It is a day for us to remember the sorrow and 
the horror of that day. It's a day for us to remember the incredible 
bravery of first-responders who were willing to rush into danger to save 
life. It's a day to remember those on the airplane that drove that 
airplane into the ground, which was the first victory in the war on 
terror.
    And it's also a day to remember the lessons learned. And the first 
lesson learned from that day is that the most important duty that those 
of us in the executive branch and the legislative branch have is to 
protect the American people from harm. And the best way to do so is to 
stay on the offense, is to defeat the enemy overseas so we do not have 
to face them here at home.
    So I need Members of Congress who understand that we must give our 
troops and intelligence and those responsible for protecting America all 
the support they need. See, in order to stay on the offense, we have got 
to support those on the frontline of protecting the American people. We 
will use all assets to defend this Nation.
    I learned another lesson, and that is, in order to protect the 
country, we must deny the enemy safe haven. See, the people were 
plotting and planning to attack us from Afghanistan, and so I laid out a 
doctrine that said, if you harbor a terrorist, you're equally as guilty 
as the terrorist. You'll be an enemy of the United States, and we will 
hold you to account.
    The Taliban found out what I meant, and so over the last 5 years, we 
liberated 25 million people in Afghanistan but, equally important, 
denied the radicals, the extremists, a safe haven from which to plot and 
plan. I need Members of Congress who understand--Members like Max 
Burns--that when the President says something, he better mean what he 
says, in order to make sure the world is a more peaceful place.
    A lesson of September the 11th, an important lesson for the 
President and Members of Congress and people of the United States is 
that when we see a threat, we must take the threat seriously before they 
come to the United States and hurt us. I saw a threat in Iraq. I not 
only saw the threat; nations around the world saw the threat. 
Republicans and Democrats in the United States Congress saw the same 
threat. We went to the United Nations and said to Saddam Hussein, 
``Disclose, disarm, or face serious consequences.'' I believe that when 
the President and the world speaks, they better mean what they say, in 
order to keep the peace. I meant what it said. Saddam Hussein didn't. He 
ignored the demands of the free world. Our coalition removed Saddam 
Hussein from power, and the world is better off.
    And now the question is, will the United States of America keep its 
word and help this young democracy survive? It's really the challenge. 
And it's hard work. I fully understand why Americans are troubled by the 
death and destruction they see on their television screens. I know that. 
You see, it's easy to understand because I understand the compassion of 
the United States of America. Isn't it a wonderful country when people 
suffer when they see a child maimed by an extremist's car bomb. It's the 
nature of our country. We care deeply. We suffer when one of our 
youngsters lose their life in combat.

[[Page 1586]]

    The stakes in Iraq are incredibly high, however. It's really 
important that we succeed. It's important for a lot of reasons. If we 
were to leave before the job is done--and the job is this: to help this 
young democracy govern itself, sustain itself, and defend itself; to 
help this young democracy that has formed because 12 million people went 
to the polls and said, ``We're tired of tyranny; we're tired of 
subjugation; we want to be free.''
    That's the challenge. If we leave before the job is done, if we 
leave before this country's forces are able to defend themselves from 
the enemies of freedom who want to destroy this young democracy, if we 
forget the words of Usama bin Laden, who has declared that Iraq is the 
central part of this war on terror, if we ignore the words of Zawahiri--
the number-two man in Al Qaida, who has said that what we're going to do 
is drive America out of Iraq; we'll be able to use Iraq then as a 
launching pad to destroy moderate governments in the Middle East; we'll 
be able to launch attacks against our enemy, America--if we ignore those 
words, if we ignore the hopes and aspirations of the Iraqi people, we 
will have failed when history looks back.
    We will have created a situation that is more dangerous than today. 
We will have said to our enemies that we will give you a key victory in 
the war on terror. We will have said to our friends, ``You can't count 
on us.'' We will have said to the reformers and moderates in the Middle 
East who are so desperate to live in a society that is hopeful that 
``You don't matter.'' We will say to the troops and their families who 
have sacrificed, ``Your sacrifice wasn't worth it.''
    Make no mistake about it, if the United States leaves before the 
mission is complete, the enemy will follow us here to America. The 
stakes are high. We will help this Government succeed, and we will 
achieve victory in Iraq.
    I have defined the struggle we're in as the ideological struggle of 
the 21st century. You see, we face the task not only of protecting 
ourselves in the short run by staying on the offense and improving our 
intelligence and finding people before they come here; we also have a 
weapon for the long term. And that is, in order to win an ideological 
struggle, you have to be able to have an ideology of hope that defeats 
an ideology of hate.
    And we have such an ideology; we live it. It's an ideology based 
upon liberty. It's this notion that we strongly believe here in America 
that democracies don't war, that a free society is the best way to 
prevent radicalism and extremism from convincing people to become 
suiciders. Free societies equal hopeful societies.
    You know, one of the challenges I face as your President is to make 
it absolutely clear--the stakes in this war on terror. And what I'm 
saying is, the stakes are more than just protecting you from attack. The 
stakes really are protecting future generations from attack. If we were 
to leave early and concede the Middle East to the enemies of freedom, 
imagine a world in which moderate governments get toppled. Imagine a 
world in which extremists and radicals have control of oil that they'll 
be able to use to inflict incredible economic damage on those of us who 
love liberty. Imagine a world in which state sponsors of terror have a 
nuclear weapon to be able to blackmail the world. Imagine such a world. 
I can see it coming if America does not do our duty and support 
moderation over extremism.
    The other day in a speech, I said, ``Fifty years from now, if the 
United States does not rise to the challenge, a generation of our 
citizens will look back and say, `What happened? What happened to 
America?' '' No President is going to allow this to happen, and I'm not 
going to allow this to happen. We will--[applause].
    And I got great confidence in the outcome. You know, I guess the 
best way for me to describe why I'm confident is to tell you about my 
experience with Prime Minister Koizumi of Japan. You might remember, 
recently I had the pleasurable experience of going to Elvis's place--
[laughter]--Graceland, right there in Memphis, Tennessee. Isn't that 
interesting? I thought it was. [Laughter] I invited him to go down to 
Graceland, and I'd never been to Graceland. I thought it would be kind 
of fun to go down there, and Laura wanted to go. [Laughter] More 
importantly, he wanted to go. See, he's an Elvis fan. [Laughter] I also 
wanted to send

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a message to our fellow citizens that is relevant today, and here it is. 
One way to put it is--and can you imagine somebody in 1948, after World 
War II, after the bloody battles and fighting the Japanese--the sworn 
enemy of the United States--saying, ``You know, I'll make a prediction 
for you; someday, an American President is going to be taking a Japanese 
Prime Minister to the home of a famous American singer.'' [Laughter] I 
don't think that person would have had much credibility. [Laughter]
    Something happened between when my dad and many of your relatives 
fought the Japanese in a bloody war, and the 43d President is on Air 
Force One flying down to see Elvis Presley. Something happened--Japan 
adopted a Japanese-style democracy. Liberty has got the capacity to 
convert enemies into allies. That's what history tells us. You know, 
when the Prime Minister and I flew down on Air Force One to Elvis's 
place, we didn't talk about Elvis. We talked about keeping the peace. We 
talked about North Korea. We talked about the fact that he had 1,000 
troops helping this young democracy in Iraq, because he understands what 
I know--liberty can transform areas of hate into areas of hope. Someday, 
an American President is going to be sitting down with duly elected 
leaders in the Middle East talking about keeping the peace, and a 
generation of Americans will be better off.
    Max Burns understands the stakes. He's going to be the right guy to 
represent you in Washington. He also understands this: He, like me, 
understands that if you're worried about whether your economy is going 
to grow, that the best way to encourage growth is to just let you keep 
more of your own money. See, we have a theory that says, if you have 
more money in your pocket to save, invest, or spend, the economy will 
grow.
    And you know what? We tested our theory in the face of recession, 
corporate scandal, war, Katrina, high energy prices, and it works. 
Today, the national unemployment rate is 4.7 percent. We've added over 
5\1/2\ million jobs since August of 2003. Our economy is the strongest 
of any major industrialized nation in the world. Lowering your taxes has 
worked.
    I want to work with Max to make sure the tax cuts we passed are 
permanent. You know, it's interesting in Washington; you'll hear people 
say, ``Well, we just need to raise your taxes to balance the budget.'' 
That's the language of a lot of folks up there. That's not the way 
Washington works. Max understands this, as do I. Here's the way it 
works: They'll say, ``Okay, we'll raise your taxes, but we will figure 
out new ways to spend your money.'' [Laughter] The best way to balance 
this budget--and we're on the way to doing so. I said we'll cut the 
deficit in half by 2009; we're cutting it in half by 2008. The best way 
to balance the budget is to keep progrowth economic policies in place--
that means low taxes and be wise about how we spend your money--is to 
set priorities about how we spend your money.
    And here are my priorities. Here are my priorities. The first 
priority is to spend enough money to make sure we can protect the 
homeland. The Port of Savannah, I understand, is an important part of 
securing the homeland. You need a Congressman who can pick up the phone 
and say, ``Mr. President, you came and talked about the Port of Savannah 
when you campaigned for me.'' That Congressman is going to be Max Burns.
    And the other priority is to make sure our troops, our brave men and 
women who wear the uniform of the United States of America, have all it 
takes to defend the United States of America. Max understands that. He 
understands when you put a kid in harm's way, they deserve the full 
support of the United States Government.
    A couple other things I want to talk about right quick is--you know, 
the country shouldn't fear the future. We really shouldn't. As a matter 
of fact, we ought to welcome the future and shape the future. And the 
best way to remain the world's leading economy, which I strongly think 
we ought to do, is not only keep taxes low and keep lawsuits reasonable, 
make sure the entrepreneurial spirit is strong--is to do some things on 
energy. I am concerned about the fact that we are addicted to foreign 
oil. I know that might sound odd for somebody from Texas to say, but I 
am a realistic fellow. See,

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I get to see the consequences of needing energy from parts of the world 
that don't like us. That creates a national security issue.
    The world is connected today so that when demand for crude oil goes 
up in China and India, it affects the price of gasoline in Savannah, 
Georgia. There are economic consequences, and there are national 
security consequences for being dependent on foreign sources of oil, and 
we have started a very strong initiative to diversify away from oil. And 
I'm going to work with Max to make sure that the ethanol initiative that 
we promoted--an initiative that says we want Georgia farmers growing 
energy on behalf of the American people.
    Old Max said this--I thought this was an interesting quote--so for 
all the farmers who might be listening to what your Congressman thinks, 
he said, ``I already know Georgia farmers are the best providers of food 
and fiber in the world, and if we can grow it, eat it, drink it, and 
wear it, then certainly we can burn it.'' And we need to be selling that 
which Georgia grows.
    Now, I know the trade is important for the Port of Savannah. I just 
want to tell you my view on trade. I believe it's in the interest of 
Georgia farmers--I know it's in the interest of Savannah, people who 
depend upon the Port of Savannah--to have more markets for U.S. goods.
    We're 5 percent of the people in the world, in the United States. 
That means 95 percent of the world is potential customers. But trade 
means this to me--it just says--let me put it to you this way: I want 
the other people to treat us the way we treat them. That's all I ask. 
Treat us fairly. America can compete with anybody, anytime, anywhere, so 
long as the playing field is level, and that's what we'll be working for 
in Washington, DC.
    In order for America to be a great nation, we got to make sure that 
we have got an education system that is giving the kids the skills 
necessary to be able to compete in a global economy. And that starts 
with the early grades. It means we got to make sure a child can read, 
write, and add and subtract early, before it's too late.
    I'm a strong believer in the No Child Left Behind Act. It believes 
in local control of schools. It says the Governor sets the policy. But 
it also says that, in return for Federal money, you measure, so we can 
know. There's nothing worse than a system that guesses on whether a 
child has got the skills necessary to compete. We need to know early. 
And if we find a child that needs extra help, we'll provide extra help 
so no child is left behind.
    Max is an educator. He knows what he's talking about when it comes 
to education. And 2007 is going to be an important year when it comes to 
reauthorizing No Child Left Behind. This district would be wise to send 
a good man, who knows what he's talking about when it comes to educating 
children, to Washington, DC.
    Laura said, ``Don't talk too long when you get up there.'' I'm 
running out of oxygen, and so are you. [Laughter]
    I do want to share one other thought about our country. I mean 
there's a lot of issues, and Max will be talking about them. One of the 
most important initiatives that I have started in Washington is called 
the Faith-Based and Community-Based Initiative.
    The reason it's an important initiative is because it taps into the 
strength, the true strength of the American people, and that is the 
hearts of the American people. We are a compassionate neighbor. It's 
just an amazing country, isn't it, where there are millions of acts of 
kindness that take place on a daily basis without one government edict. 
People are listening to a--many times, to a higher calling, a calling 
much higher than government.
    De Tocqueville, a Frenchman, came to America in the 1830s and saw 
the spirit of America. He saw the fact that America is a unique place 
because there were voluntary associations where people bound together to 
help solve community problems.
    I strongly believe that many of the most intractable problems in 
society require something more than government, and therefore, our 
society must welcome the healers and helpers and people full of love as 
a part of solving and improving the human condition. And one practical 
thing--the way to do this is to open up Federal money for competitive 
grants to houses of worship.
    See, I firmly believe that there are some neighborhoods in which the 
church or the

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synagogue or the mosque can be much more effective than the government 
program. After all, people who go to the houses of worship go because 
they want to love a neighbor just like they'd like to be loved 
themselves.
    Ours is a fantastic country, full of the armies of compassion that 
feed the hungry and find shelter to the homeless and put their arm 
around somebody and says, ``I love you, brother; what can I do to 
help?'' Government is of law and justice; love comes from a higher 
calling. And I need Members of the United States Congress who are 
willing to stand strong to make sure the Faith-Based Initiative in 
Washington, DC, is strong, active, and alive, so we can help change 
America one heart, one soul, one conscience at a time.
    And so I've come back to Savannah with a simple message: Please send 
a good man--a good, smart man--a good, honest, smart man, who loves his 
family and loves the people of this district, to the United States 
Congress. And that man is Max Burns.
    Thanks for coming. May God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 1:46 p.m. at the Mighty Eighth Air Force 
Museum. In his remarks, he referred to Walter E. Brown, president and 
chief executive officer, Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum; former 
President Saddam Hussein of Iraq; Usama bin Laden, leader of the Al 
Qaida terrorist organization; Ayman Al-Zawahiri, founder of Egyptian 
Islamic Jihad and senior Al Qaida associate; and Prime Minister 
Junichiro Koizumi of Japan.