For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 15, 2003
President's Remarks at Luncheon
Remarks by the President to the Bush-Cheney 2004 Luncheon
Hyatt Regency Irvine Hotel
Irvine, California
12:57 P.M. PDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thanks for the warm welcome.
Thanks for the friendship. It's great to be back in the great state of
California, and wonderful to see so many friends from Orange County.
I'm honored you all are here. I appreciate the strong financial support
you've given.
I want to thank those who have worked so hard to make this a major
success. Really what we're doing is we're laying the foundation for
next year's campaign, putting the process in place and the foundation
in place for what's going to be a great victory in November of '04.
(Applause.)
And I need to count on you, particularly when it comes to
energizing the vote, to making sure the grass-roots gets our message. I
want you to remind your Republican friends, your Democrat friends, your
independent friends that this administration is one that is serving all
the people of the United States of America. (Applause.)
I'm getting ready. (Laughter.) And I'm loosening up. (Laughter.)
But the political season will come in its own time. See, I've got a job
to do, and right now I'm focused on the people's business. We'll
continue to work hard to earn the confidence of the American people by
keeping this nation strong and secure and prosperous and free.
(Applause.)
I regret that our First Lady is not with us. I just talked to
Laura, she's in Midland, visiting her mother, and I'm going to see her
tonight for dinner. But she sends her love, and I tell you, I love her
a lot, she is a great lady. (Applause.)
I appreciate my friends, Brad Freeman and Gerry Parsky and Mercer
Reynolds for working so hard to organize what is going to be a great
nationwide effort in terms of collecting the resources necessary to run
a viable campaign.
I want to thank Duf Sundheim, the party chairman of the state of
California, for his leadership. (Applause.) I'm honored that members of
the mighty California congressional delegation are with us, friends of
mine, people who work hard on behalf of the citizens of California:
Congressmen David Drier and Ed Royce and Ken Calvert and Congressman
Chris Cox. I want to thank them for coming. (Applause.)
I appreciate John Campbell and Bob Pacheco, state reps, people who
represented their districts well and who were strong supporters of mine
in 2000. (Applause.)
But most of all, I thank you all for coming.
In the last two-and-a-half years, our nation has acted decisively
to confront great challenges. I came to this office to solve problems,
not to pass them on to future presidents or future generations.
(Applause.) I came to seize opportunities, instead of letting them slip
away. We are meeting the test of our time. (Applause.)
Terrorists declared war on the United States of America, and war is
what they got. We have captured or killed many key leaders of al Qaeda,
and the rest of them know we're on their trail. In Afghanistan and
Iraq, we gave ultimatums to terror regimes, those regimes chose
defiance and those regimes are no more. (Applause.) Fifty million
people in those two countries once lived under tyranny, and now they
live in freedom.
Two-and-a-half years ago, our military was not receiving the
resources it needed and morale was beginning to suffer. We increased
the defense budget to prepare for the threats of a new era. And, today,
no one in the world can question the skill and the strength and the
spirit of the United States military. (Applause.)
Two-and-a-half years ago, we inherited an economy in recession. And
then our country was attacked and we found out that there were some
CEOs in America who forgot to tell the truth. We had corporate
scandals. War affected the people's confidence. But we acted. We passed
tough new laws to hold corporate criminals to account. And to get the
economy going again, I have twice led the United States Congress to
pass historic tax relief for the American people. (Applause.)
I believe that when Americans have more take-home pay to spend, to
save or invest, the whole economy grows, and someone is more likely to
find a job. (Applause.) And I understand whose money we spend in
Washington: it is not the government's money, it is the people's money.
(Applause.) We're returning more money to people to help them raise
their families. We're reducing taxes on dividends and capital gains to
encourage investment. We're providing small businesses with incentives
to expand, so they can hire people.
With all these actions we are laying the foundation for greater
prosperity and more jobs across America, so that every, single citizen
in this country can realize the great promise of America. (Applause.)
Two-and-a-half years ago there was a lot of talk about education
reform, but there wasn't much action. So I called for, and the Congress
passed, the No Child Left Behind Act. With a solid bipartisan majority,
we delivered the most dramatic education reform in a generation. We're
bringing high standards and strong accountability measures to every
public school in America. We believe every child can learn the basics
of reading and math, and we expect every school in America to teach the
basics of reading and math. (Applause.)
This administration is challenging the soft bigotry of low
expectations. The days of excuse-making are over. We expect results in
return for federal money in every classroom in America, so that not one
child is left behind. (Applause.)
We reorganized our government to create the Department of Homeland
Security to better safeguard our borders and ports, and to protect the
American people. We passed trade promotion authority to open up new
markets for California manufacturers and farmers and ranchers and
entrepreneurs. We passed budget agreements to help maintain much needed
spending discipline in Washington, D.C.
On issue after issue, this administration has acted on principle,
has kept its word and has made progress for the American people.
(Applause.)
The United States Congress has shared in these great achievements,
and I appreciate their hard work. I've got a great relationship with
Speaker Hastert and Leader Frist. I'll continue to work with them to
change the tone in Washington, D.C., and to focus on results, as
opposed to process and politics.
And those are the kind of people I've assembled in my
administration. I have put together a great administration on behalf of
the American people. (Applause.) We have no finer Vice President in
our nation's history than Dick Cheney. (Applause.) Mother might have a
second opinion. (Laughter.)
In two-and-a-half years, we've come far, but our work is only
beginning. I've set great goals, worthy of this great nation. First,
America is committed to expanding the realm of freedom and peace for
our own security, and for the benefit of the world. (Applause.)
And, second, in our own country we must work for a society of
prosperity and compassion so that every single citizen, regardless of
their background, regardless of their religion, regardless of their
status has a chance to work and to succeed and realize the great
promise of our land. (Applause.)
It is clear that the future of freedom and peace depend on the
actions of America. This nation is freedom's home and freedom's
defender. We welcome this charge of history, and we're keeping it.
(Applause.)
Our war on terror continues. The enemies of freedom are not idle,
and neither are we. This country will not rest, we will not tire, we
will not stop until this danger to civilization is removed. (Applause.)
Yet, our national interest involves more than eliminating
aggressive threats to our security. Our greatest security comes from
the advance of human liberty. Free nations do not support terror. Free
nations do not attack their neighbors. And free nations do not threaten
the world with weapons of mass terror. (Applause.)
Americans believe that freedom is the deepest need and hope of
every human heart. And we believe that freedom is the right of every
person. And we believe that freedom is the future of every nation.
(Applause.)
America also understands that unprecedented influence brings
tremendous responsibilities. We have duties in the world. And when we
see disease and starvation and hopeless poverty, we will not turn away.
On the continent of Africa, America is now committed to bringing the
healing power of medicine to millions of men and women and children now
suffering with AIDS. I'm so proud of our great land. We're leading the
world in this incredibly important work of human rescue. (Applause.)
We face challenges at home. And our actions are equal to those
challenges. I will continue to work to lay the foundation for economic
growth, to make sure the entrepreneurial spirit is strong, to encourage
job creation, so that anybody who wants to work today and can't find a
job will be able to do so. (Applause.)
And we have a duty to keep our commitment to America's seniors by
strengthening and modernizing Medicare. A few weeks ago, the Congress
took historic action to improve the lives of older Americans. For the
first time since the creation of Medicare, the House and Senate have
passed reforms to increase the choices for our seniors and to provide
coverage for prescription drugs.
The next step is for both bodies to get together and iron out some
details and get a bill to my desk. The sooner they finish the job, the
sooner Americans will get a modernized Medicare system. (Applause.)
And for the sake of our health care system, we need to cut down on
the frivolous lawsuits which increase the cost of medicine. (Applause.)
People who have been harmed by a bad doc deserve their day in court.
Yet, the system should not reward lawyers who are simply fishing for a
rich settlement. (Applause.)
Because frivolous lawsuits drive up the cost of health care, they
affect the federal budget. They affect the Medicare budget, the
Medicaid budget, the veterans health care budget. Medical liability
reform is a national issue that requires a national solution. The House
of Representatives passed a good bill to reform the Senate -- the
system. It is stuck in the Senate. It is now time for the United States
Senate to act on behalf of the patients of America. No one has ever
been healed by a frivolous lawsuit. (Applause.)
I have a responsibility as President to make sure the judicial
system runs well, and I have met that duty. I have nominated superb men
and women for the federal courts, people who will interpret the law,
not legislate from the bench. (Applause.)
In California, I nominated Carolyn Kuhl to the 9th circuit court of
appeals. She is a tremendous bipartisan support. She's respected as a
state judge. Yet, some senators are distorting her record, they're
threatening to block and up-or-down vote. Unfortunately, she's not
alone. They're doing that to too many of my nominees, and that is
wrong. All judicial nominees deserve a fair hearing and an up-or-down
vote on the Senate floor. It is time for some members of the United
States Senate to stop playing politics with American justice.
(Applause.)
The Congress needs to complete work on a comprehensive energy plan
that, among other things, will help us modernize our infrastructure
around America. (Applause.) We must promote energy efficiency and
conservation, develop cleaner -- develop technology to help us explore
for energy in environmentally sensitive ways. But for the sake of
economic security and for the sake of national security, we need to
become less dependent on foreign sources of energy. (Applause.)
Our strong and prosperous nation must also be a compassionate
nation. I will continue to advance our agenda of compassionate
conservatism. We will apply the best and most innovative and effective
ideas to the task of helping our fellow citizens in need. There are
still millions of men and women who want to end their dependence on
government and become independent through hard work. We must build on
the success of welfare reform to bring work and dignity into the lives
of more of our fellow citizens.
Congress should complete the Citizens Service Act to encourage more
Americans to serve their communities and their country. And both Houses
should reach agreement on my faith-based initiative so that we can
support the armies of compassion which are mentoring children, caring
for the homeless and offering hope to the addicted. (Applause.)
A compassionate society must promote opportunity for every citizen,
including the independence and dignity that come from ownership. This
administration will constantly strive to promote an ownership society
in America. We want more people owning their own home. We have a
minority home ownership gap in America, and I've got a plan to close
that gap. We want people owning their own retirement systems, and
managing their own retirement systems. We want people controlling their
own health care systems. We want more people owning and operating their
own small business in America, because we understand that when somebody
owns something, he or she has a vital stake in the future in the United
States of America. (Applause.)
In a compassionate society, people respect one another and take
responsibility for the decisions they make. We're changing the culture
of America from one that has said, if it feels good, do it, and if
you've got a problem, blame somebody else, to a culture in which each
of us understands that we are responsible for the decisions we make in
life. (Applause.)
If you're fortunate enough to be a mother or a father, you're
responsible for loving your child with all your heart and all your
soul. If you're concerned about the quality of education in your
community, you're responsible for doing something about it. If you're a
CEO in America, you have the responsibility to tell the truth to your
shareholders and your employees. (Applause.)
And in the responsibility society, each of us is responsible for
loving our neighbor just like we'd like to be loved ourself. And we can
see the culture of responsibility and service growing around us here in
America. I started what's called the USA Freedom Corps to encourage
Americans to extend a compassionate hand to a neighbor in need, and the
response has been strong. People from all walks of life are signing up
to figure out how to help and do their duty as an American citizen.
Charities are strong, and the faith-based organizations are
vibrant, bringing hope and healing to citizens who hurt. Policemen and
fire fighters and people who wear our nation's uniform are reminding us
what it means to sacrifice for something greater than yourself in life.
Once again the children believe in heros because they see them every
day in America.
In these challenging times, the world has seen the resolve and the
courage of America. And I've been privileged to see the compassion and
the character of the American people. All the tests of the last
two-and-a-half years have come to the right nation. (Applause.) We are
a strong country, and we use that strength to defend the peace. We're
an optimistic country, confident in ourselves and in ideals bigger than
ourselves.
Abroad, we seek to lift whole nations by spreading freedom. At
home, we seek to lift up lives by spreading opportunity to every corner
of America. This is the work that history has set before us. We
welcome it. And we know that for our country, and for our cause, the
best days lie ahead.
May God bless America. (Applause.)
END 1:20 P.M. PDT
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