[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 10 (Monday, March 17, 2008)]
[Pages 368-372]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the National Republican Congressional Committee Dinner

March 12, 2008

    Thanks for the warm welcome. I don't know about you, but I'm excited 
about the year 2008. I intend to finish strong with my head held high. 
And I intend to work to see to it that we keep the White House and elect 
John Boehner Speaker of the House of Representatives. [Applause] And 
evidently, you feel the same way.
    I thank you all for coming tonight. I am really pleased that this 
event has turned out to be as successful as it has been. I send--I bring 
greetings from First Lady Laura Bush. She's--[applause]--yes, thank you. 
She's doing great. She's wedding planning right now, so I appreciate the 
invitation to be here. [Laughter]
    You know, I was just thinking about how next year's dinner is going 
to be a little different from this one. First, you're going to be 
welcoming a new keynote speaker, President John McCain. And President 
McCain will start this dinner by saying, ``Thanks for the introduction, 
Mr. Speaker.'' And I'll be watching it all on TV in Crawford. [Laughter]
    I do want to thank my friend John Boehner. He has been a great 
leader for the Republicans in the House of Representatives. He's a good, 
solid, strategic thinker. I'm proud to call him friend, and I thank you 
for your service.
    I want to thank the House leaders who are here: Roy Blunt, Adam 
Putnam, Darrell Issa. Issa, you did a heck of a job tonight. Thank you 
for doing this. I want to recognize my friend Tom Cole. Tom Cole has the 
vision and determination to effect change, and that is, elect 
Republicans to be the Speaker and leaders of the House of 
Representatives. I appreciate you coming, Tommy.
    I want to thank Eric Cantor, David Dreier, Kay Granger, John Carter. 
I appreciate Sam [Ralph] * Hall, my fellow Texan, and Sam Johnson, my 
fellow Texan, and Ralph Regula for presenting the awards on all the 
veterans who are serving in Congress tonight. That'll happen after I 
leave, but nevertheless, I do want to extend my congratulations.
    * White House correction.
    I thank Trace Adkins for singing here tonight. Trace wondered 
whether I was going to sing. I told him, no, I didn't think I'd sing; I 
thought I'd just do a little tapdance. [Laughter] And I also appreciate 
my friend, one of the great voices of all time, Sam Moore. Thank you, 
Sam, for being here.
    I also want to welcome all the candidates who are running for 
office. You know, it's not an easy decision to make to run for the

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United States Congress, but it's a noble decision. And it's a tough 
decision for your families. And so I want to thank you for agreeing to 
run; I want to thank your families for agreeing to support you. My 
advice is, work hard, talk about what's in your heart, let the people 
know your values, and win. And I think you will. I think 2008 is going 
to be a fabulous year for the Republican Party.
    And the reason why I believe that is because when the American 
people look at our ideals versus the ideals of the Democrats, when they 
look at what we believe versus what they believe, they're with us. We 
represent the values of the American people. Our ideas are the ones 
embraced by the folks. They may not be the ones that the pundits listen 
to, but they're the ones who are out working every single day to make 
America a great and hopeful place.
    We believe in strong national defense, and we will do what it takes 
to keep our Nation safe from a terrorist attack. We believe in limited 
government. We believe in the collective wisdom of the American people 
to make the decisions on behalf of the American Government. We would 
rather trust you than the people in government to make the decisions for 
what's best for you.
    I'm optimistic about this year because I know John McCain. I've 
known him for many years. I've seen his character and his leadership up 
close. I've campaigned with him, and I've campaigned against him. 
[Laughter] And I can tell you this: He's a tough competitor. I've seen 
in every decision he makes that he is guided by the national interests 
of the United States, not by self-interest. I know John McCain to be a 
man who will make decisions based upon sound principles, not based upon 
the latest focus group or political poll.
    John McCain is running on a clear, consistent, and conservative 
agenda. He's a man of honor. He's a genuine hero. He has the wisdom and 
the experience necessary to be the Commander in Chief of our United 
States military forces. He loves this country. He's ready to lead this 
country. I'm proud to be his friend. I'm proud to be his supporter. And 
on Inauguration Day, I'll proud to be--say to John McCain, 
``Congratulations, Mr. President.''
    And I can assure you he doesn't want a lonely victory. He needs 
allies in the Congress to help enact his agenda. And he's going to work 
hard alongside these candidates and the incumbents to make sure we win. 
He'll be a great standard bearer. And I'm confident--I hope you go forth 
from this meeting with confidence cause I am confident. I firmly believe 
that we can retake the House. I know we'll hold the White House. And I 
know it's necessary for the United States of America that we do both.
    Let me talk about some of the issues and why I think we'll win. We 
trust people. We Republicans believe you can make the best decisions for 
your life. On health care, we trust patients to make decisions, not 
bureaucrats in Washington, DC. When it comes to education, we trust 
parents to make the right decisions for their children, and we believe 
in strong accountability in our public schools. We refuse to accept 
mediocrity. We refuse to accept the status quo when not every single 
child in America is learning to read and write and add and subtract.
    The American people need us because we'll appoint judges who will 
strictly interpret the Constitution and not use the bench from which to 
write law--judges like John Roberts and Sam Alito.
    But I think the biggest issue in this campaign is going to be your 
taxes. I think the biggest issue in this campaign is which side of the 
political divide is going to let you keep your money and which side is 
going to raise your taxes. Now, we've got a record on which side will 
not raise your taxes. We've been through some tough economic times 
together. We've been through a recession and a terrorist attack and war 
and corporate scandal and natural disasters. And up until recently, this 
economy has been strong. We added jobs for 52 consecutive months. It's 
the longest uninterrupted job growth in the Nation's history. And the 
reason we did so in the face of these daunting challenges: We trusted 
the American people, and we cut taxes on every American who pays taxes.
    And we're fixing to do so again. We've hit a rough patch, but we 
took the lead. We anticipated the problems. And thanks to the leadership 
of John Boehner and Roy Blunt,

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they helped shepherd through over $160 billion of tax relief that will 
be reaching the mailboxes of the American people in the second week of 
May. Tax relief has worked in the past, and tax relief will work this 
time, when we get through this rough patch.
    Now, apparently, the other side thinks this is a bad thing, because 
they want to let the tax cuts expire. Let me be clear about this. Milk 
expires; taxes increase. [Laughter] And we know the difference. And so 
will the American people when they realize that 116 million households 
will see their taxes rise by an average of $1,800 if the Democrats get 
their way in the House of Representatives.
    Our message is this: We need a Republican President and a Republican 
Congress to prevent the Democrats from raising your taxes. We need to 
make the tax cuts permanent.
    There's no bigger issue than protecting our country from harm. It is 
the most solemn responsibility that those of us who have been honored to 
serve you have. We must do everything in our power to make sure the 
enemy doesn't strike us again. And I fully understood that after 
September the 11th, that the temptation would be to dismiss any threat; 
the temptation would be that, ``Oh, perhaps since we haven't been 
attacked, the threat doesn't exist.''
    Well, the threat does exist, and it requires steadfast, strong, 
clear-eyed leadership here in Washington, DC. One of the things that we 
must do is to make sure that the hundreds of people that are out working 
for you every night to protect you have the tools they need. If the 
enemy, if the extremists who want to do America harm, if the radicals 
who want to kill again, like they did before on our homeland, are making 
phone calls into the United States of America, we need to know who 
they're calling, what they're saying, and what they're planning.
    The Congress came together last year and passed the Protect America 
Act to give our professionals the tools they need. Unfortunately, that 
act expired. But the threat to the United States of America has not 
expired. Unfortunately, Democratic leaders in the House are continuing 
to block bipartisan legislation that would give our intelligence 
officials the tools they need to quickly and effectively monitor 
terrorist communications.
    And they are doing so despite the fact that legislation--good 
legislation to give our professionals the tools passed the United States 
Senate by an overwhelming majority of 68 to 29. Instead of holding a 
vote on this bill that would pass the House of Representatives, House 
leaders have introduced a highly partisan and deeply flawed bill of 
their own. Their bill would put in place a cumbersome court approval 
process that would make it harder to collect intelligence on foreign 
terrorists and could reopen dangerous intelligence gaps that we 
experienced last year.
    Their bill fails to provide liability protection to companies 
believed to have assisted in protecting our Nation after the 9/11 
attacks. Instead, the House bill would make matters worse by extending 
litigation for years to come. In fact, House leaders simply adopted the 
position that class-action trial lawyers are taking in billions of 
dollars of lawsuits they have filed.
    We're under threat, ladies and gentlemen, and yet the House leaders 
blocked meaningful, substantial legislation that will help protect 
America for the sake of class-action trial lawyers. Companies that may 
have helped us save lives should be thanked for their patriotic service 
and should not be subjected to billion-dollar lawsuits.
    This bill would require the disclosure of state secrets during the 
litigation process. This could lead to the public release of highly 
classified information that our enemies could use against us. The 
Democrat version of protecting America is a bad bill. It is 
irresponsible. It casts aside the bipartisan consensus that was reached 
in the United States Senate in favor of a partisan approach that has no 
chance of becoming law. House leaders know this, yet they're pursuing 
this anyway. This is bad public policy and another reason to elect 
Republicans to the House of Representatives.
    There's a lot of folks working to protect you at home. But the enemy 
only has to be right one time, and therefore, the best way to protect 
the American people from further harm is to defeat the enemy overseas so 
we do not have to face them here at home. And

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that's precisely the strategy that we're following.
    We're on the offense. Wherever we can find a terrorist who would 
harm the American people, we'll bring him to justice. We're constantly 
pressing. And this war against the extremists is now being played out on 
two major theaters.
    First is Afghanistan. I laid out a doctrine that said, if you harbor 
a terrorist, you're equally as guilty as the terrorists. The Taliban 
and--didn't believe us, and so the United States of America, after 
giving the enemy due warning, unleashed the fury of a great military. 
And in so doing, we cleaned out the terrorist training camps from which 
they launched attacks on the United States and freed 25 million people 
from the clutches of a barbaric regime.
    This young democracy is struggling for its very existence against 
coldblooded killers, and it's in the interests of the United States that 
we stand strongly with these proud Afghan citizens, that we back them in 
their efforts, and that we make sure Al Qaida or any other extremist can 
no longer find a safe haven in the country of Afghanistan.
    And then, of course, the other theater is Iraq. Removing Saddam 
Hussein was the right decision early in my Presidency; it is the right 
decision now; and it will be the right decision ever. And the fight's 
been tough in Iraq. And for those of you here--who are here who have 
served in that theater, I can't thank you enough for your sacrifices and 
your service to the United States of America.
    There have been amazing gains made in that country. After all, they 
wrote one of the most modern constitutions in the history of the Middle 
East. Iraqis braved the violence to vote. And yet nearly a year ago, the 
terrorists and extremists were succeeding in their efforts to plunge the 
country into chaos.
    So I had a tough decision to make. I reviewed our strategy. I fully 
understood that failure in Iraq would make America more vulnerable to 
attack, that failure in Iraq would create unbelievable chaos in a part 
of the world that has--that produced suicide bombers in the first place.
    And so rather than retreating, I made the considered judgment to 
send reinforcements into the country, in a dramatic move that's now 
called the surge. Fourteen months after I ordered the surge of forces, 
sectarian killings are down, and Al Qaida is on the defense. U.S. and 
Iraqi forces have captured or killed thousands of extremists in Iraq, 
including hundreds of key Al Qaida operatives.
    Progress in Iraq is fragile, and there's no question, it's going to 
take strong determination to prevail. Yet even the enemy recognizes 
they're on the wrong side of events. They're disheartened; they're 
demoralized; and they will be defeated.
    When things were going poorly in Iraq early last year, Democrats 
called for withdrawal. Today, the situation has turned around, and 
Democrats are calling for withdrawal. It seems that no matter what 
happens on the ground, the opponents of the war have only one answer: 
retreat. You might even say that when it comes to withdrawing from Iraq, 
the Democrats' policy is, stay the course.
    If we followed their advice a year ago, Iraq would be far different 
and a much more dangerous place than it is today, and the American 
people would be at greater risk. And if we followed their advice now, we 
would put at risk all the gains our troops have made over the past year. 
The United States Congress does need to act when it comes to Iraq, and 
they need to stand with our brave men and women in uniform and give them 
all the resources they need to do their job. And it--when it comes to 
standing with the United States military, there's no greater supporters 
than the Republicans in the House of Representatives.
    The struggle we're engaged in is difficult for the American--some 
Americans to really understand the scope and the nature of the battle. 
We're involved in an ideological struggle between folks who murder the 
innocent to achieve political objectives, folks who have got a vision 
about what they would like to impose on the rest of the world, and 
particularly in the Middle East, and those of us who believe strongly in 
the power of liberty. I believe in the transformative power of liberty. 
I believe that if the United States of America does not lose its faith 
in the power of freedom to transform hopeless societies, that we will 
see the peace that we all want. I believe in the universality of 
freedom. I believe there's an Almighty, and I believe a gift of

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that Almighty to every man, woman, and child is freedom.
    I love to share the story, and I'm sure some of you have heard this 
before--but the story about my friendship with Prime Minister Koizumi of 
Japan. He's the guy that we went down to Elvis's place in Memphis with. 
He is a good pal. He's no longer in power, but when he was in office, 
right after the attacks of September the 11th, he clearly saw the 
dangers and the opportunities. He saw the dangers that hopelessness was 
the only way that these ideologues could recruit suicide bombers. And he 
knew that the United States of America and our allies must be firm in 
our resolve to bring the terrorists to justice and, at the same time, 
spread the blessings of liberty.
    And what's interesting about this story is that he was the leader of 
a country that my father fought against some 60 years prior. Think about 
that. Eighteen-year-old Navy Ensign George H.W. Bush, like many of your 
relatives, signed up to fight the Japanese. As a matter of fact, the war 
was so bitter that our vocabulary had slur words in it about the 
Japanese for years after the war ended. They were the hated enemy.
    And yet 60 years later, his son, the son of a Navy fighter pilot, 
was at the table talking with the Prime Minister of the former enemy 
about the peace. Something amazing took place. And what happened was, 
Japan adopted democracy, a system of government with liberty at its 
core.
    My friends, freedom is transformative. Freedom can transform an 
enemy into an ally. And someday, an American President will be thanking 
this Congress for its steadfast support of liberty, because he'll be 
sitting down at the table talking about keeping the peace for 
generations to come, and our children and our grandchildren will be 
better off for it.
    I thank you for coming. I thank you for your prayers. May God bless 
America.

Note: The President spoke at 6:38 p.m. at the Hilton Washington Hotel. 
In his remarks, he referred to entertainers Trace Adkins and Sam Moore.