For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 27, 2002
Remarks by the President at Saxby Chambliss for Senate Dinner - Atlanta, GA
Grand Hyatt Hotel
Atlanta, Georgia
6:30 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very
much. Saxby, thanks. I am honored that so many
showed up. I want to thank you for such a warm welcome.
I'm here to deliver this message: Saxby Chambliss needs
to be in the United States
Senate. (Applause.) And I'm so pleased you agree
with me. (Laughter.)
First, I want to thank Julianne. One of the things I've
learned is that a life in the public arena is a lot easier when you've
got a great wife. (Applause.) He married above
himself, and so did I. (Laughter.) We both married school
teachers. (Applause.)
And like Saxby is proud of Julianne, I'm really proud of
Laura. I wish she were here tonight. She's in
Crawford, Texas. The two dogs and the cat -- (laughter) --
went down to Crawford, because that's where I'm headed after this
event. I love my job. But even though I've
changed addresses, my home is still in the heart of
Texas. (Applause.)
I want to thank Saxby's mother for being here. She
informed me when she came through to get her picture taken that she was
here, but she was a Democrat. (Laughter.) I said
that didn't bother me one bit. (Laughter.) I never would
have gotten to be the governor of Texas had not a lot of Democrats
voted for me. (Laughter and applause.)
It doesn't matter whether you're Republican or Democrat when it
comes to doing the right thing for the country and the right thing for
our democracy. We welcome all people; we welcome
anybody. (Applause.)
And looking at the mother reminds me to remind all the youngsters
here to listen to your mother. I'm still listening to
mine. (Laughter.) I'm listening to her most of
the time. (Laughter.) Don't tell her I said
that. (Laughter.)
I want to thank Bo Callaway for being the master of
ceremonies. I appreciate his long service to the United
States of America. (Applause.) I want to thank Congressmen
Barr and Collins, Deal, Linder and Norwood, fine, fine members of the
congressional delegation from the great state of Georgia, members with
whom I enjoy working, members who represent your state in a proud
way. And I appreciate you letting somebody from the state of
Ohio in -- (laughter) -- the chairman of the Education Committee, John
Boehner. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (Applause.)
I had the privilege of saying hello to one of Georgia's most
distinguished citizens today, and that's Judge Griffin
Bell*. I'm so honored the Judge is
here. (Applause.)
You all have produced a lot of fine leaders from your state, and
Judge Bell is one of the finest. And I appreciate the party
chairman Ralph Reed*. I appreciate his dedication to
grassroots politics. (Applause.)
And I want to thank the R.B. Wright* Fifth Grade
Choir. (Applause.) You read more than you watch
TV. (Laughter.) And thanks for coming.
And I want to thank all those who worked hard to make this a
successful evening, and I want to thank you all for caring about your
country and for doing what is right -- getting involved in democracy
and working hard. And when you find a good one, like Saxby
Chambliss, work your heart out. Because there is no finer
American than Saxby. He loves his family. He
loves his country. He's a man of enormous experience. He's
one of these can-do politicians; somebody who goes to Washington and
tries to figure out how to make things better.
I value his advice on terrorism. He's sound when it
comes to counter-terrorism. He's been in the Oval Office to
give me sound, solid advice. And I've listened to it every
time he's come in there.
I appreciate his love for education. He understands
this, that if you can't read, you can't realize the American
Dream. I like to put it this way: reading is the
new civil right, and we must have people who understand the profound
impact quality education can have on the future of this
country. (Applause.)
And I'm glad Boehner is here. I had the honor of signing
a profound piece of education reform. It said a couple of
things. One, it says we believe in high standards for
everybody -- not just a few, but everybody; that we trust the people of
Georgia to run your schools more than we trust the people in
Washington, D.C. (Applause.) That we're committed
to spending federal dollars on education; but for every dollar spent,
we expect there to be results.
We believe -- and I strongly believe -- every child can
learn. And, therefore, the system must focus on every
child. The name of the bill that Saxby worked on and John
Boehner worked on is no child shall be left behind. And
that's the way I feel. And that's the way America must be;
that the promise of America must be extended to every single
person. Saxby understands that and I'm going to be proud to
have him in the United States Senate working on these fundamental
issues that will help change America.
There is no more fundamental issue than to making sure we have a
judiciary of people that do not interpret the law from the bench;
people who do not try to write law from the
bench. (Applause.) People who interpret the law
and not try to write it.
And I put up a good man from Mississippi the other
day. And I don't remember the senior senator from Georgia
defending this man's honor. And we're going to have more
fights when it comes to the judiciary. And I'm going to put
strict constructionists on the bench. And I expect people in
the United States Senate from a great state like Georgia to do what
Zell Miller did, and stood up and defended the honor and integrity of
Judge Pickering. And that's what Saxby Chambliss is going to
do. (Applause.) He also knows something about
agriculture. This state will benefit by having somebody who
knows something about agriculture in the United States Senate.
Saxby knows what I know: That we're the best producers
in the world. That Georgia farmers and American farmers are the
best. (Applause.) And if you're the best, it
benefits our farmers to fight to open up markets around the
world. And that's exactly what I'm going to
do. And I want his help. You see, it's a
confident nation that tears down barriers. It's a confident
nation that insists that people open up their markets to our food
products.
It's been my policy, and I need people in the United States Senate
who's willing to back me on that policy. And so do the
American farmers. (Applause.)
I'll never forget one time in Chicago when a reporter said, would
you ever deficit spend? And I said, well, only -- only if we
were at war, only if there were a national emergency, or only if there
is a recession. Never did I believe we'd get the
trifecta. (Laughter.) But we're dealing with it.
And let me talk about this recession. We cut taxes at
exactly the right time. (Applause.) We understand
that if you let people keep their own money, they will demand more
goods and services. And as they demand more goods and
services, somebody will produce more goods and services. And when you
produce more goods and services, you expand the job base.
Now, some folks evidently don't understand that. They've
been reading a different textbook than Saxby and I read. You
see, they either want to delay the tax cut or raise your
taxes. We need somebody in Washington -- a friend of the
taxpayer, a vote we can rely on.
And let me tell you a crucial vote that's going to come
up. The tax reform act started the end of the death
tax. However, we need to make getting rid of the death tax
permanent in the tax code. (Applause.) We don't
need anybody up there who's going to waiver, somebody who's going to
try to check in with a higher political authority on whether this is
the right move or not.
Getting rid of the death tax forever is important for small
business owners, it's important for farmers, it is important for
ranchers. The death tax is a bad tax. The death
tax says that someone is going to have to work all their life to build
up their assets and then leave most of it not to who they choose, but
to the federal government. Saxby Chambliss understands
that. It's a vote that you can count on in the United States
Senate when it comes to tax policy. (Applause.)
And we're dealing with the other issues. We're dealing
with the national emergency, and we're dealing with the
war. I had the honor of going to Georgia Tech today to talk
about our homeland defense. (Applause.) I'm glad they let
one graduate in. (Laughter and applause.) Two
in. (Laughter.)
I talked about my administration's commitment to protecting the
homeland, to doing everything we can do to keep American families
safe. Part of that protection is to make sure that if there is any
attack that we can respond quickly, so I talked about a first
responders initiative. I had the honor of being with some of
the finest folks in your state, the firefighters and those who work for
the police and emergency medical teams, to lay out one of my budget
priorities, which is a first responders initiative. We've
got $3.5 billion in the '03 budget to make sure that if there is an
attack, we can respond quickly.
I've also talked to folks about how we're going to strengthen the
Coast Guard to make sure our ports are more secure. We've
got an airline security bill to make sure that air traffic is -- air
travel is as safe as it can possibly be.
I want you to know that our law enforcement is communicating better
from the federal to the state to the local level. Any time
we get any whiff or hint that somebody may do something in America,
we're reacting. We're doing everything we can.
We need better control of our borders. We want to know
who's coming in and why they're coming in and are they leaving. So
we're doing everything we can to bolster the homeland
security. It's the most important job, is to be able to
assure Americans we're doing everything we can to keep you
safe. (Applause.) But the best homeland security,
the best way to protect Americans for the long-run is to find the
killers and bring them to justice one by one. And that's
exactly what we're going to do. (Applause.)
I don't know what they were thinking on September the
11th. They must have taken a look at America and said, all
they'll do is sue us. (Laughter.) They were
wrong. They were wrong. I said right off the bat,
you're either with us or you're against us. I meant every
word of what I said. (Applause.)
I also said that if you harbor a terrorist, if you hide a
terrorist, if you feed a terrorist, you're just as guilty as the
murderers who hit New York and Washington, and you will be held
accountable. (Applause.) And thanks to a mighty
coalition, led by a fantastic United States military, the Taliban found
out exactly what I meant. (Applause.)
I like to assure my fellow citizens that we don't seek revenge, we
seek justice. (Applause.) And it's important for
the young in America to understand that when we went into Afghanistan,
we went in not as conquerors, but as liberators. Young girls
went to school -- many young girls went to school for the first time
this past weekend, thanks to the United States of
America. (Applause.)
I have submitted a budget that significantly increases our defense
budget. It's the largest increase in 20 years. I
did so for two reasons. One, any time that we commit U.S. troops into
action, they must have the best training, the best equipment, the best
pay possible. We owe it to those who are willing to
sacrifice for freedom. (Applause.)
I expect the United States Congress to pass the budget I
submitted. I expect them to get the appropriations bill for
defense out early, not late. Now is not the year to play games with
the defense of the United States of America. (Applause.)
And Saxby understands that. He knows what I'm talking
about. I also have asked for a significant increase because
we're in this for the long haul. We're fighting for
freedom. We fight people who are killers, cold-blooded
murderers who hate America. They hate the fact that we
worship freely in our country. They can't stand the fact
that we have political discourse. They resent the fact that
we're a free society. Freedom scares them.
And when it comes to defending freedom, they will find out that
this nation is determined and steadfast. And we will provide
the resources necessary to chase them down. These are
international criminals. They will be treated like
international criminals. And we will not stop until we hunt
'em all down to make sure our children and grandchildren can grow up in
a peaceful world. (Applause.)
And the task is more than one person, or more than one terrorist
organization. There are some nightmare scenarios that we
must confront if we want to secure the peace and defend our
freedoms. One such scenario is the fact that a terrorist
organization could join up with some of the world's worst leaders, who
harbor some of the world's worst weapons. I referred to some
of those world's worst leaders as an axis of evil. I meant
exactly what I said.
Now, our nation is deliberate, we're steady, we're going to talk
with our allies. But we will not let the world's worst
leaders hold our nation and our friends and our allies hostages with
weapons of mass destruction. (Applause.)
And I believe that the fact that we will remain strong and united
as a nation, that we will be determined, will yield a world that will
be more peaceful. It's going to be rough at times, no
question about it. And we'll call upon our citizens to
sacrifice, particularly those who wear the uniform. But, as
a result of a steadfast, absolute determination to defend freedom, the
world's going to be more peaceful.
Out of the incredible evil of September the 11th will come some
lasting good. And nothing compares to peace. We
fight for peace, we long for peace, but we will not
relent. We will not weary until peace is
secure. (Applause.)
And out of this terrible evil will come some good at
home. And the reason why is because the great strength of
our country lies in the hearts and souls of our
citizens. What a fabulous nation we are, what a great
country America is. You know, the thing that I love about
our country is the fact that people are willing to help people in need,
and it doesn't require a government law. You see, people ask
me all the time, what can I do to help in the war against
terror? You can be vigilant, you can be
alert. But you can also love a neighbor just like you'd like
to be loved yourself.
If you want to do something against evil, do some
good. If you want to do something against evil, mentor a
child who may need to learn to read. Walk across the street if there's
a shut-in and say to that person, I care for you. Feed the
hungry. Go to your church or synagogue or mosque and
convince a Sunday school class to get a project that will help somebody
who hurts. Recognize the power of faith in our society when
it comes to healing the addiction of alcohol or drugs.
That's what we can do in America. We can capture a
unique spirit in this land and stand squarely in the face of those who
are evil. And that's what America is doing. And
that's why it's such a huge honor to be the President of the greatest
country on the face of the earth.
I'm honored you all are here. Thank you for supporting
this good man. May God bless you all and may God bless
America. (Applause.)
END 6:54
P.M. EST
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