For Immediate Release
Office of the Vice President
April 6, 2004
Remarks by the Vice President at a Reception for Senatorial Candidate David Vitter
The Plimsoll Club
New Orleans, Indiana
April 5, 2004
6:30 P.M. CDT
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Four more years, four more years.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Four more years.
AUDIENCE: Four more years, four more years, four more years, four
more years.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you. We'll take it.
(Laughter.)
We're delighted to be here today. And as Lynne said, we always
love coming to New Orleans and Louisiana. And I often tell people that
if it hadn't been for a great Republican election victory in 1952, our
lives would have turned out very differently. Because in 1952, I lived
in Lincoln, Nebraska, with my folks. I was just a youngster. And when
Eisenhower got elected; he came in; he reorganized the Agriculture
Department. Dad got transferred to Casper, Wyoming, and we moved to
Casper. And that's where I met Lynne. And we did grow up together,
and went to high school together. In August we'll celebrate our 40th
wedding anniversary. (Applause.)
I explained that to a group of folks the other night, that if it
hadn't been for that Eisenhower election victory, Lynne would have
married somebody else. And she said, right, and now he'd be Vice
President of the United States. (Laughter and applause.)
But -- true, isn't it, Wendy? You know that. Yes? (Laughter.)
But we are delighted to be here today, and we're here for one
specific reason, and that's to see to it that David Vitter is the next
United States senator from Louisiana. (Applause.)
I flew in from Cincinnati today. Lynne and I were up there. I had
the honor of throwing out the first pitch at the Cincinnati
Reds-Chicago Cubs Opening Day game today. And you may not know some of
this, but in high school, I logged some solid innings on the mound for
the American Legion team in Casper, Wyoming. (Laughter.) I think I've
lost a little after the -- off the fastball since then, but my
change-up is still pretty good. (Laughter.)
And I want to thank all of the state and party leaders here. I
also want to say a word about your senior congressman who I know wishes
he could make it here tonight. Billy Tauzin is an old friend of mine.
He's given more than two decades of outstanding service to the people
of Louisiana in the United States Congress. I was delighted to serve
for a decade with him, alongside him in the House of Representatives.
We're going to miss Billy's leadership and his personality on Capitol
Hill. And we all want to wish him a very speedy recovery. (Applause.)
Now, about David Vitter -- David, of course, has been the
congressman. He's shown himself to be a man of great integrity and a
tremendous advocate for the people of Louisiana. He shares your
values. He knows your priorities -- from low taxes, to better
education for our children, to a strong national defense. He's smart.
He's energetic. He's been a principled public servant, just the kind
of leader that the people of Louisiana deserve to have in the United
States Senate.
This is going to be a long, hard-fought campaign. I know a little
bit about long, hard-fought campaigns. We all know Louisiana hasn't
had a Republican senator in some time. But David has a strong
supporter in President Bush, and I know he's got a lot of strong
supporters here in Louisiana. Come November, the people of Louisiana
are going to make a great choice. And next January, as President of
the Senate, which is my job as Vice President, I look forward to
swearing in David Vitter as a United States senator. (Applause.)
President Bush and I have now begun the fourth year of our
administration. It's been a period defined by serious challenges, by
hard choices, and by the need for decisive action. As David knows,
there are many tasks that those of us in public service must take on,
but none is more important than working to ensure that the citizens of
this great country are safe and secure.
The attacks of September 11, 2001, signaled the arrival of an
entirely new era. We suffered massive civilian casualties on our own
soil. We awakened to dangers even more lethal -- the possibility that
terrorists could gain chemical, biological or even nuclear weapons from
outlaw regimes and turn those weapons against the United States.
Remembering what we saw on the morning of 9/11, and knowing the
nature of our enemies, we have as clear a responsibility as could ever
fall to government, we must do everything in our power to protect our
people from terrorist attack, and to keep terrorists from ever
acquiring weapons of mass destruction.
This great and urgent responsibility has required a shift in our
national security policy. For many years prior to 9/11, terror attacks
against Americans were treated as isolated incidents and answered, if
at all, on an ad hoc basis -- never in a systematic way. Even after an
attack inside our own country, the 1993 bombing of the World Trade
Center in New York, there was a tendency to treat terrorist attacks as
individual criminal acts, as primarily matters for law enforcement.
The main perpetrator of the '93 attack was tracked down, arrested,
and is now doing a life sentence in the federal penitentiary. Yet
behind that one man was a growing network with operatives inside and
outside the United States waging war against our country.
In 1996, Khalid Shaykh Muhammad, the mastermind of 9/11, first
proposed to Osama bin Laden that they use hijacked aircraft to strike
targets in the United States. In 1996 and again in 1998, Osama bin
Laden declared war on the United States.
During that period, thousands of terrorists were trained in al
Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. And we've seen the work of terrorists in
many attacks since 9/11, all over the world -- Riyadh, Casablanca,
Istanbul, Karbalah, Mombasa, Bali, Jakarta, Najaf, Baghdad, and
Madrid.
The recent attack in Spain and the ongoing attacks in Iraq,
including the barbaric acts we've seen this past week in Fallujah, once
again reveal the brutality of our enemy, and once again show that the
fight against terrorism is the responsibility of all free nations. The
terrorists are testing the unity and the resolve of the civilized
world, and we must rise to that test. (Applause.)
David understands that against this kind of determined, organized,
ruthless enemy, America requires an aggressive strategy, not merely to
prosecute a series of crimes, but to fight and to win a global campaign
against the terror network.
Our strategy has several key elements. We've strengthened our
defenses here at home, organizing the government to better protect the
homeland. But a good defense is not enough. The terrorist enemy holds
no territory, defends no population, is unconstrained by rules of
warfare, and respects no law of morality. Such an enemy cannot be
deterred, contained, appeased, or negotiated with -- it can only be
destroyed. And that is the business at hand. (Applause.)
In Afghanistan, we've removed the brutal Taliban from power and
destroyed the al Qaeda training camps. In Iraq, America and her allies
rid the Iraqi people of a murderous dictator, and rid the world of a
menace to our peace and security. Just over a year ago, Saddam Hussein
controlled the lives and the future of 25 million people, today he's in
jail. He will never again brutalize his people. (Applause.) He will
never again support dangerous terrorists, or pursue weapons of mass
destruction. He will never again threaten the United States of
America.
We still face challenges in Afghanistan and Iraq, but our progress
has been enormous. In Afghanistan, there's a new constitution. Free
elections will be held later this year. In Iraq, a new basic law has
been signed, an historic achievement, and a landmark document for that
region.
From the very beginning, America has sought and received
international support for our operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. In
the war on terror, we will always seek the cooperation of our allies
around the world. But as President Bush has made very clear, there is
a difference between leading a coalition of many nations, and
submitting to the objections of a few. The United States will never
seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country.
(Applause.)
America has been extremely fortunate during these times of testing
to have the dedicated service of the men and women who wear America's
uniform. Many of them have seen hard duty, long deployments and fierce
fighting. They've endured the loss of friends and comrades. As a
former Secretary of Defense, I have never been prouder of the United
States military. (Applause.)
In January, I visited one of our bases in Vicenza, Italy, and had a
chance to talk with some of the fine men and women of our armed forces,
recently returned from Iraq. One young soldier, part of the 173rd
Airborne that jumped into Iraq at the beginning of the war, wanted me
to know how much he appreciated the President's decisive leadership.
"Indecision kills, sir," this soldier said to me, "indecision kills."
These are not times for leaders who shift with the political winds,
saying one thing one day and another the next. (Applause.) We need a
Commander-in-Chief of clear vision and steady determination. And
that's just what we have in President George W. Bush. (Applause.)
That standard of steadiness must be applied to the candidate who now
opposes him in the election of this year, the Junior Senator from
Massachusetts.
In one of Senator Kerry's -- (laughter) -- in one of Senator
Kerry's recent observations about foreign policy he informed his
listeners he had met with foreign leaders who, and I quote, "can't go
out and say this publicly, but, boy, they look at you and say, you've
got to win this, you've got to beat this guy, we need a new policy,
things like that." End quote.
A voter in Pennsylvania asked Senator Kerry directly who these
foreign leaders are. Senator Kerry said, "That's none of your
business." (Laughter.)
But it is our business when a candidate for President claims the
political endorsement of foreign leaders. American voters are the ones
charged with determining the outcome of this election, not unnamed
foreign leaders. (Applause.)
Senator Kerry has also asserted that our troops in Iraq are not
receiving the materiel support they need. May I remind the Senator
that last fall, at the President's request, Congress considered
legislation, a supplemental appropriations bill, providing funding for
body armor, hazard pay, health benefits, ammunition, fuel and spare
parts for our military to support our troops. Senator Kerry was asked
whether he would vote against the President's request. He said, and I
quote, "I don't think any United States senator is going to abandon our
troops. That's irresponsible." End quote. That legislation passed
overwhelmingly with a vote of 87 to 12 in the Senate. But Senator
Kerry voted "no."
As a way to clarify the matter, Senator Kerry recently said, and I
quote: "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against
it." (Laughter.) End quote. The Senator, obviously, is free to vote
as he wishes, but he should be held to his own standard. It is
irresponsible to vote against vital support for the United States
military. (Applause.)
On the broader picture, Senator Kerry has questioned whether the
war on terror is really a war at all. Recently he said, "I don't want
to use that terminology." In his view, opposing terrorism is far less
of a military operation, and far more of a law enforcement problem. As
we've seen, however, that approach was tried before and proved entirely
inadequate at protecting the American people from terrorists who are
quite certain they're at war with us.
I leave it for Senator Kerry to explain, or to explain away his
votes and his statements about the war on terror, our cause in Iraq,
and the needs of the American military. Whatever the explanation, it
is not an impressive record for someone who aspires to become
Commander-in-Chief in this time of testing for our country.
The American people will have a clear choice in the election of
2004, on national security, as well as on policies here at home. When
the President and I took office, the economy was sliding into
recession. Then, just as our economic was ready to recover, terrorists
struck our nation and shook the economy once again. President Bush has
taken strong, confident steps to get the economy growing again.
Working with David and our other strong allies on Capitol Hill, the
President has signed into law three separate tax relief measures,
resulting in significant tax relief for millions of American families
and businesses.
We doubled the child tax credit, decreased the marriage penalty,
cut tax rates across the board, and have put the death tax on the way
to extinction. (Applause.)
Now we're beginning to see the results of the President's
policies. Last month, the economy added over 300,000 new jobs. And
we've created over 750,000 jobs just since August. In the second half
of last year, our economy grew at an annual rate of nearly 6.2 percent,
its fastest pace in almost 20 years, and the highest rate in any major
industrialized nation in the world. The home ownership rate is the
highest ever. Interest rates and inflation are low. Manufacturing
activity is increasing. Productivity is high. Business investment is
rising. Incomes are growing strongly. America's economy is moving in
the right direction, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
(Applause.)
The American people are using their money far better than the
government would have, and Congress was right to let them keep it.
(Applause.) As you know, there are voices in the land who want to roll
back the Bush tax cuts. If elected, Senator Kerry has promised to
repeal the Bush tax cuts within his first 100 days in office.
This isn't surprising when you consider his record. Over the
years, 19 to be precise, Senator Kerry has voted over 350 times for
higher taxes on the American people, including the biggest tax increase
in American history. He also supported a 50-cent-a-gallon tax increase
on gasoline. For the sake of long-term growth and job-creation, we
ought to do exactly the opposite of what Senator Kerry proposes.
(Applause.) We should make the Bush tax cuts permanent and practice
spending discipline in Washington, D.C.
Tax cuts started this economic recovery. To strengthen it even
more, we need to protect small business owners and employees from
frivolous lawsuits and needless regulation. (Applause.) We need to
control the cost of health care by passing medical liability reform.
Here in Louisiana, and across the nation, good doctors should be able
to spend their time healing patients, not fighting off frivolous
lawsuits. (Applause.) We need to pass sound energy legislation to
modernize our electric system and to make America less dependent on
foreign sources of energy.
It's also time -- also time for the United States Senate to get
about the business of confirming President Bush's judicial nominees.
(Applause.) The President has put forward talented, experienced men
and women who represent the mainstream of American law and American
values. Yet Senate Democrats have taken to waging filibusters, denying
up-or-down votes for months, or even years. That's unfair to the
nominees, and it is an abuse of the constitutional process. Every
nominee deserves a prompt up-or-down vote on the Senate floor. And
that's another reason we need to send David Vitter to the United States
Senate. (Applause.)
On issue after issue, from national security, to economic growth,
to improving our public schools, President Bush has led the way in
making progress for the American people. David has been a valuable
partner on these issues. And once he's in Senate, he's going to help
us achieve even greater goals.
President Bush has a clear vision for the future of our country:
Abroad, we will use America's great power to serve great purposes, to
turn back the forces of terror, and to spread hope and freedom
throughout the world.
Here at home, we will continue building the prosperity that reaches
every corner of the land so that every child who grows up in the United
States will have a chance to learn, succeed, and to rise in the world.
Once again, I want to thank all of you for your commitment to the
cause we share. It's an honor to help with David's energetic,
optimistic campaign. He's going to be a great senator, and President
Bush and I look forward to working with him for a good many years to
come.
Thank you all very much. (Applause.)
END 6:50 P.M. CDT
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