For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 1, 2002
President's Remarks at Iowa Republican Dinner
Remarks by the President to Iowa Republican Party Victory 2002 and Latham for Congress Luncheon
The Marriott Hotel
Des Moines, Iowa
11:54 A.M. CST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Please be
seated.
It's an unbelievable honor for guy from Midland, Texas, to be back
in Iowa. (Laughter.) As I recall, it started
here. And I want to thank you all. I want to
thank you for your support and I want to thank you for coming out to
support Tom Latham. And I want to thank you for your support
for the Iowa Republican Party. And I want to thank you for
that warm welcome. It's an honor to be back in your great
state.
And I, too, want to extend our most heartfelt sympathies to Katie
Roth. As you know, Luke was -- ran my campaign here in the
primaries. I remember him as a joyous, fine, solid
American. I talked to Katie the other day on the
phone. I assured her the prayers of Iowa and Luke's friends
are with her, and I know you join me, I hope, in praying for God's
blessings on Katie and the family.
Somebody said to me the other day, do you plan on
campaigning? You're the President of all the people -- I
said, sure I am. When I find somebody good, I'm going to
help them. And Tom Latham is a good, good United States
congressman. (Applause.)
You bet I'm going to campaign. I'm going to campaign for
a Party that holds the values that I hold dear to my heart of heralding
the individual and limiting the size and scope of government,
recognizing that all wisdom is not in Washington, D.C., but is in local
governments and individuals; recognizing that we must have a strong
national defense to secure freedom. I am, I'm going to
campaign. I want Denny Hastert to be the Speaker of the
House, and I want Tom Latham returned to the United States Congress.
(Applause.)
And I want to thank you all for coming to help. And I
appreciate your generosity. I also want to thank Kathy
Latham for her patience and her support of Tom. And like me,
Tom married above himself. (Laughter.) Thank you for being
here, Kathy. (Applause.)
Speaking about marrying above myself, Laura is doing
great. As you may remember, she was a public school
librarian when I married her. She really wasn't interested
in politics or politicians. And now she is a fabulous First
Lady for the United States of
America. (Applause.) She sends her
greetings. I'm going to see her here in a while and I look
forward to telling her that I saw a lot of our friends in Iowa today at
lunch.
I also want to thank Elaine Chao. You know, one of the
ways you judge a President is what kind of team does he put
together. And as you've seen, I've put together a fabulous
national security team; a team of experienced hands and people who are
willing to express their opinion, willing to work for what's best for
America. And I've also put together a great domestic team,
as well. And one of those members is Elaine Chao, who is the
Secretary of Labor, and I want to thank you for coming, Elaine.
(Applause.)
I see the Party Chairman. Chuck, thank you for coming
here. I got to know Larson on the campaign
trail. Never did I realize he'd be elevated to such a high
standing in life. (Laughter.) But now that he is,
I hear that he's doing a great job. So Mr. Chairman, thank
you for taking on a leadership
role. (Applause.) I love your enthusiasm and I
love your zest for life.
I think Bob Ray is here, who set the standard for what it means to
be a governor. Terry Branstad, I understand was going to be
here as well -- if so, thanks for coming. Branstad, how are
you? Hi, Bob. Thank you all for
coming. (Applause.) It's good to see you both
again. I know Mary Kramer told me she was coming, and I know
the Speaker is here and others from the State House. Mary,
how are you? Again, thank you Speaker. (Applause.)
I want to thank you all for being here. I was back --
met some folks back there and this tall giant walked
through. He said, I used to mow down the Texas Rangers on a
regular basis. And I said, you're not Cal Eldred are
you? He said, yes, I am. I said, well, I'm sorry
to see you again. (Laughter.) But I'm glad to see him
here. Where are you, Cal? There he
is. Thanks for coming, Cal; I appreciate your being
here. (Applause.) I know you're sorry to be out
of baseball, but Ranger fans are glad you are.
(Laughter.) At any rate, thank you all for coming.
Let me tell you a couple things about Tom Latham that it's
important for those who might be undecided to listen
to. One, he's on the Appropriations
Committee. That's important to be on the Appropriations
Committee. It requires somebody who has got a little extra
-- a little extra talent to be on that committee in the House of
Representatives. It makes no sense for people in the
congressional district in which he's seeking to replace somebody on the
Appropriations Committee with somebody who's not. The
Appropriations Committee is one of the most important committees there
is in the United States Congress. And not only that, but
he's got some accomplishments that I want to tout.
One of them is -- and this is an important issue that faces the
future of America -- he is a strong battler of illegal
drugs. Methamphetamine, for example, has been a problem in
the midwest, a problem here in Iowa, and this good United States
Congressman had the foresight and willingness to get a regional
training center to fight methamphetamines. And I appreciate
that very much, Tom, and so do the people of Iowa, and they've got to
remember that when it gets ready to go into the polls.
As you know, in Washington we've got a lot of
talkers. And what you need to do is herald the doers, the
people who get things done. One of the interesting issues,
as you know, that obviously faces Iowans -- and I learned this
firsthand, of course -- is the agricultural economy
here. The farm bill is working its way through, and Tommy
Latham understands a couple of points that are
important. One, we need a safety net. But we
don't want to encourage over-production. We want a wise farm
policy. And part of that wise farm policy is to make sure
that we open up markets for trade.
The Iowa farmers are the best farmers in the
world. (Applause.) And it makes sense if you're
the best farmer in the world -- if you're the best in the world, you
want to be able to sell more, not sell less.
And so when I was in China recently, I made it very clear to the
Chinese officials with whom I met that they need to honor obligations
and open up their markets, starting with soybeans from the United
States of America. (Applause.) Those
protectionist voices in Washington must not understand the Iowa farm
community. The more product we sell, the better off it is
for the Iowa farmer, and Tom Latham understands that.
He also understands, and I understand, the importance of
value-added processing when it comes to agricultural
products. I told the good people in Iowa when I campaigned
here I supported ethanol. I supposed ethanol as the nominee
of the party, I supported ethanol as a candidate, and I support ethanol
as the President of the United States. (Applause.)
But there are some other things we ought to do. We ought
to do what Tom Latham has suggested and has done, which is to encourage
more research and development between the Energy Department and the Ag
Department, so that we can fully explore the potential of
biomass. One thing you'll hear me talk a lot about is we
need less dependency on foreign sources of energy. And there
would be nothing better than to be able to grow our way out of that
dependency -- but it requires leadership, and Tom Latham has provided
that leadership for the good of Iowa, as well as for the good for the
nation.
And, finally, an issue that he spends a lot of time thinking about
and working on and talking to me about, is to make sure that there is
equity for rural hospitals, particularly when it comes to Medicare
reimbursements. (Applause.)
My point to the people of Iowa is that this is an accomplished man
and a smart man who has got the interest of his district in his heart,
and it makes a lot of sense if you care about the future of Iowa --
forget political party, if you care about the future of Iowa -- to send
this good man back to Washington, D.C. come
November. (Applause.)
And one other thing I like about him is he understands that the
budget I sent up to Washington, D.C. -- up in Washington, that
prioritizes our national defense is the right priority for the
country. We're defending freedom. And I sent a
budget up there that says we're going to set a priority for defending
freedom. And the Congress ought to pass that
budget. It ought to recognize that the price for defending
freedom is high, but whatever it takes we ought to spend because our
freedom is precious and dear. (Applause.)
This nation has sent men and women who wear our uniform into battle
to defend freedom. And they have performed
brilliantly. But if we send them into battle, they deserve
the best training, the best supplies, the best
equipment. They deserve another pay raise. And
Congress needs to fully fund the military and defense budget I sent up
to both the Senate and the House. (Applause.)
Because we're in for a long struggle. You know, I told
the American people that this was a new kind of war. The
enemy hit us. We've never been attacked like that before on
the continental 48. And we realized that we're in a new
era. And that it's going to require patience of the American
people. Because we're chasing down a kind of a faceless
enemy; an enemy who sends young men to die on suicide missions and
they, themselves, try to hide in caves.
But you need to know how determined I am to defend America and our
freedom. It doesn't matter how deep the cave
is. It doesn't matter where the cave is. We're
going to find them. We're going to slowly but surely hunt
them down and bring them to justice. (Applause.)
In the course of this war, I laid out some doctrines that are
pretty darned clear. One of them is, if you harbor a
terrorist, if you feed a terrorist, if you provide aid or comfort to a
terrorist, you are just as guilty as the terrorist. And the
Taliban found out exactly what we meant.
Our military took on a tough mission, to uphold that doctrine, and
it was a dangerous mission, and they performed
brilliantly. We're not conquerors, we showed the world;
we're liberators. We liberated people from the clutches of
one of the most barbaric regimes in the history of
mankind. I cannot tell you how proud I was to see the joy on
the faces of women and little girls in Afghanistan with the realization
that this mighty nation has freed them to realize their
dreams. (Applause.)
I also made it clear to the world that either you are with us or
you're against us. That either you're with the United States
in defending freedom, or you're not with the United States in defending
freedom. And a lot of people have heard that nation and
they're proud to sign up with us. And we've got a vast coalition, as
we're hunting down the al Qaeda.
We've had over 1,000 arrests in places outside of
Afghanistan. I mean, we're slowly but surely doing what we
need to do to protect the homeland. And the coalition
understands our determination, and they see our resolve.
I'm proud of the patience of the American people. The
American people recognize the new type of war we're in. They
understand that sometimes they'll see the action of the United States
government and sometimes we won't. But they also understand
we must be strong and diligent as we defend freedom, because that's
what we defend.
I made it clear that this is a war beyond just a single
individual. One guy thinks he can hide, but he's not going
to. We haven't heard much from him lately, by the
way. (Laughter.)
But we fight terror wherever it exists. And this is for
the good of our children. History has called us into action,
and we must not and we will not blink. It's a chance to
define freedom for future generations.
I made it clear that a scenario which I will not let stand is one
in which a terrorist organization could team up with a nation that has
had a history of mistreating her people, a nontransparent nation
perhaps, a nation that is known to be developing weapons of mass
destruction.
We cannot let, for the sake of our children and grandchildren,
terrorist organizations team up with nations that want to develop
weapons that can be delivered from long distances that will hurt
ourselves, our friends and our allies. We're not going to
let the world's worst regimes develop the worst weapons and threaten
the United States of America. (Applause.)
We're doing everything at home to defend the
homeland. We've got a good strategy in place. It
starts, by the way, with having the best intelligence possible,
gathering intelligence from all around the world, disseminating on a
quick basis, and following every lead and every hint.
If we get any kind of whiff that somebody is trying to do something
to the American people, we're moving. We've got thousands of
FBI agents whose major task, primary focus, is on preventing an
attack. We're doing a much better job of coordinating with
state and local authorities. We've got a national strategy
in place to make our borders more secure, to make our nation more
responsive to a potential bioterrorist attack.
I mean, we're making good progress, and our budget reflects
that. But the best way to secure the homeland is to be
relentless in our pursuit against terrorists, and that's exactly what's
going to happen, so long as I'm the President of the United
States. (Applause.)
You know, I remember campaigning in Chicago and somebody said,
would you ever spend a deficit? And I said, only if we're at
war or we had a recession or there was a national
emergency. Little did I realize we'd get the
trifecta. (Laughter.)
It's going to be important for Congress to fund the
priorities. But in order to make sure whatever deficit we
have is short-lived, they better hold the line on the rest of the
budget. And that's why the President has the veto
pen. It's important for there to be fiscal discipline in
Washington, D.C., right now.
Our economy is, as you know, has been sputtering. And
thankfully, the Congress, working with me, did a smart
thing. Last March, we cut the taxes on the people who pay
the bills in America. (Applause.) Actually, I
think it took place a little later than March. Last year, we
cut the taxes. It happened at the exact right
time. You see, in order to stimulate economic vitality and
growth. When we give people their own money back, it
enhances demand, which causes more production, which creates job
stability.
Now, there are some in Washington that have been mumbling beneath
their breath that maybe they think they want to prevent the rest of the
tax relief package from going through. I do not know what
economic textbook they're reading.
One thing you don't do is raise taxes in the middle of a
recession. In order to stimulate growth, you trust the American people
with their own money, and that's what we did. I appreciate
Latham's vote on that matter, and I'm going to hold the line when it
comes to tax relief. (Applause.)
And I can remember standing on farms in Iowa, standing by a
generation of farmers, saying one of the worst things that can happen
to the Iowa agricultural economy is the death tax. We need
to get rid of the death tax, and I'm proud to report the death tax is
on its way to extinction. (Applause.)
I hope Congress gives me a trade bill so I can open up
markets. I hope Congress gives me an energy bill so we
become less dependent on foreign sources of crude oil and can conserve
more energy. I hope Congress gives me a stimulus package
that not only takes care of workers who lost their jobs, but recognizes
that people want more than an unemployment check; they want a permanent
paycheck. And we need to stimulate economic activity by
encouraging more plant and equipment, more investment in plant and
equipment.
The House has acted. The Senate has
stalled. It's time to get some of these important measures
to my desk so we can make progress in the
country. (Applause.)
I, like everybody else in America, was heartsick on
9/11. I can't tell you how sad I was, just like
you. And then I got a little angry. And then I
realized upon reflection that out of this evil was going to come some
good, and it has.
Out of this terrible evil, we have a chance to keep the peace for a
long time coming, and we will. And out of this evil, this
nation has shown the world what a compassionate, kind place we are.
I always used to say that one of my hopes was that this nation's
culture would shift from one that said, if it feels good, just go ahead
and do it, and if you've got a problem go ahead and blame somebody
else, to a culture which says each of us are responsible for the
decisions we make in life. Unbeknownst to the evildoers, I
think they've helped accelerate that cultural change.
I know millions of Americans are asking the question, what can I do
to fight terror? What is it I can do to fight
evil? And they're beginning to realize what I know, that in
order to fight evil, do something good. In order to stand
square in the face of evil, this good nation, through the millions of
acts of kindness that take place on a daily basis, stands opposite of
evil. And as a result of neighbors looking after neighbors,
of people caring for somebody in need, of somebody loving their
neighbor like they'd like to be loved themselves, people understand
there's a new responsibility to be had.
Mothers and dads know that the most important job they will ever
have is to love their children, is to love their
children. Churches and synagogues and mosques who have these
fantastic neighborhood healing programs need to be unleashed in America
through the faith-based initiative that I have proposed.
You see, government shouldn't fear faith. We ought to
welcome faith and the power of faith to change people's lives in a very
positive way.
You know, I was working the rope line over there at the retirement
plan ceremony and I ran into a guy I met in Colfax, Iowa, from Teen
Challenge. It was a fantastic experience during the course
of the caucuses because it gave me a chance to explain to people what I
meant when -- how faith changes life. But I'll never forget
the heroin addict from Chicago standing up and saying he was clean
because a power greater than himself entered into his heart.
These kinds of programs government can't create. But
these kind of programs exist in America because of the goodness of
America. And this society is changing, as we unleash this
compassion, as people understand that part of being responsible is not
only responsible for your own family but responsible for loving a
neighbor. And it's taking place in the country and it's so
powerful and positive, it leads me to say that out of this evil is
going to come a stronger, more decent, more humble society.
There's defining moments that take place in our history, and I
think a defining moment was Flight 93, when people on an airplane, on
cell phones, told their wives they loved them, said a prayer, and drove
a plane into the ground to save somebody's life, to serve something
greater than yourself.
It's the ultimate testimony to the American character and the
American spirit which defines this nation for what it is, the greatest
nation on the face of the earth. And I am really proud to be
its President. God bless. (Applause.)
END 12:20
P.M. CST
|