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Skriven 2005-11-28 23:33:06 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0511289) for Mon, 2005 Nov 28
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Remarks by the President at Jon Kyl for Senate Dinner
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
November 28, 2005

Remarks by the President at Jon Kyl for Senate Dinner
Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa
Phoenix, Arizona



5:23 P.M. MST

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. (Applause.) Thanks a lot.
(Applause.) Thanks for coming. Please be seated. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you all. Thanks for the warm welcome. (Laughter.) It's really good to
be here. I'm here because I strongly believe Jon Kyl needs to be reelected
to the United States Senate. (Applause.)

I'm here because I believe that when you find somebody who's got the utmost
of integrity and is willing to work hard, that you ought to support him.
Jon Kyl is highly respected. Jon Kyl is a leader. Jon Kyl has got the
experience necessary to represent the people of Arizona. The people of this
good state need to send Jon Kyl back to the United States Senate.
(Applause.)

And I appreciate you supporting him. I particularly want to thank the
organizers of this event. It's a big event, by the way. (Laughter.) Thanks
for working over Thanksgiving to make this such a successful show of
support for Jon Kyl, but it wouldn't be successful if it wasn't for the
nature of the man that you're supporting. You've seen him, you know him.
You know he loves the people of Arizona.

McCain was kind of teasing him about the water issue, but it's a serious
business to get it done, and it took somebody who knows his way around
Washington, D.C. to get the job done. That's what you want in a senator;
you want somebody who can go to Washington and represent the people of
Arizona, from this state. You want somebody who doesn't fumble around and
kind of preen for the cameras, but somebody who is effective. Jon Kyl is an
effective United States Senator, and the people of this state need to send
him back to Washington, D.C. (Applause.)

He also married well. (Laughter.) And so did I. Laura sends her love to Jon
and Carol. (Applause.) Plus I had the privilege of driving in the limousine
with Arlene Kyl, Mom. And I want you to know that Jon Kyl, United States
Senator from Arizona, still listens to his mother. (Laughter and applause.
That's a pretty good sign, isn't it?

I want to thank Senator John McCain for his strong leadership in the United
States Senate, as well. He's a good man, a man of strong character and --
(applause.) I appreciate the United States Congressmen who have joined us
here today -- Congressman Hayworth and Shadegg and Flake. I'm -- and Trent
Franks. I enjoy working with these gentlemen. They care a lot about our
nation and they care a lot about the state of Arizona, and they're doing a
fine job in the House of Representatives. We're proud you all are here, and
thanks for coming. (Applause.) Most of all, I want to thank you all for
joining to help Jon. You can't win unless you got a base of support. You
can't -- listen, I, fortunately, have had my fill of campaigns, but there's
nothing like being -- walking into a room full of enthusiastic supporters
to give you that spirit, to kind of put that wind behind your back. And
that's what you're doing for Jon Kyl.

It's not easy to be in the United States Senate in this day and age. It's
not easy to represent an important state like Arizona when you have to
travel as far as you have to do to get here. And yet, this guy does a lot.
He comes back and forth because he cares deeply. And I want to thank you
all for standing squarely with him. There's nothing better than somebody
who's seeking election than to be able to walk into a ballroom this full of
enthusiastic people saying to Jon Kyl loud and clear, we're not only going
to give of our money, we're going to give of our time to get you reelected
to the United States Senate. (Applause.)

Look, I don't know how many U.S. senators there are that like NASCAR.
(Laughter.) I view that as a pretty good sign, to have a United States
senator who follows NASCAR. It means he's down to earth. He doesn't walk
around Washington with a lot of airs like some of them do. He's a
common-sense man who understands the values of the people. And that's why
I'm proud that he invited me to come, and by the way, it took me no time to
say yes.

These are serious times in which we live, and it requires serious,
experienced people to deal with the problems that we're confronted with.
And the biggest problem we got is we're still at war. I wish I could report
to you we weren't at war, but there's an enemy that still lurks that wants
to do harm to the United States of America. And they want to do us harm
because we stand squarely for freedom and democracy and we're not going to
change. You see, they can't stand the fact -- (applause) -- they can't
stand the fact that we allow people to worship freely, or to speak their
mind in the public square, or to print articles the way they want to print
them in America. They have a different view of the world. They've got this
vision of darkness that stifles dissent and stifles the freedoms that many
of us take for granted.

They have declared their ambitions loud and clear. Zawahiri, the number two
man in the al Qaeda operation, has made it abundantly clear that they must
drive America out of the Middle East, must drive us into an isolated state
so that they can expand their totalitarian vision "from Spain to Indonesia"
-- his words, not mine. They not only talk war, they declared war by
attacking us on September the 11th, 2001, and this country must never
forget the lessons. We cannot take our security for granted, and we must
stay on the offensive against these killers and bring them to justice
before they hurt the American people again. (Applause.)

And that's what Senator Jon Kyl clearly understands, and that's another
reason why the people of Arizona need to put him back in the United States
Senate. (Applause.)

The enemy has made Iraq a central front in this war on terror, so we must
take it seriously. We're going to succeed in Iraq. We're going to succeed
in Iraq because our vision, and the vision of those in Iraq who believe in
democracy, is positive and hopeful, as opposed to the vision of the
suiciders and killers of the innocent. We're going to succeed in Iraq
because we've got a plan that will help the Iraqis not only develop a
democracy, but a security force.

Listen, the Iraqis want to defend themselves. They want to be capable of
fighting off an enemy. And our job is to make sure they are capable. We
will stay until the job is done, not a day longer. We will get the job done
in Iraq. (Applause.)

And Jon Kyl understands that in this war on terror it's important to have
members of the United States Senate who understand mixed messages, and who
understand that when we've got a kid in harm's way, that soldier deserves
all the very best that the federal government can give him in terms of
equipment and training and support. (Applause.)

Jon Kyl has been a stalwart in this war on terror. And so has John McCain.
And so have members of the United States congressional district. And I'm
proud to -- I'm proud to fight this war side by side with them.

Jon Kyl also understands what history has taught us, that democracies bring
the peace we all want; that democracies don't fight with their neighbors;
that democracies lay this foundation for a better future. He understands
the lessons of history that I understand.

You know, I just recently came off a trip to the Far East. By the way,
representing the United States of America around the world is one of the
great experiences of the presidency. And it struck me that I was in a
region of the world where there -- where wars had started. You know, my dad
and Senator McCain's relatives, I'm sure many of your relatives, fought the
Japanese. They were our sworn enemy. And yet there I was in Kyoto, Japan,
sitting with my friend, Prime Minister Koizumi, talking about the peace,
talking about what we can do in the Far East to work together to keep the
peace, and what we can do in the Middle East to help rid that region of
resentment and hatred, to help change the breeding grounds for the
recruitment of suiciders into a hopeful place. Isn't that amazing? Think
about that. Who would have thought 50 years ago, or 60 years ago, a
President of the United States could have stood here in Phoenix, Arizona,
and said he sat down at the table with the Prime Minister of Japan talking
about the peace. Nobody would have thought that way then.

So what happened? Democracy prevailed. Japanese-style democracy came into
being, and it yielded an ally. And what we're doing today in Iraq and
elsewhere in the broader Middle East is laying that same foundation for
peace. Some day an American President is going to look back and say, 50
years ago, fortunately we had leaders in the United States Senate like Jon
Kyl who understood that by spreading democracy in the broader Middle East
they were laying the foundations of peace for generations to come. Jon Kyl
needs to go back to the United States Senate. (Applause.)

I want to talk about three other things right quick. One, you might
remember that right after I came into office, this nation had to deal with
tough economic times. And I proposed, and many in the United States
Congress supported the idea of making sure we got out of the recession as
quickly as possible by letting people keep more of their own money. We
believe strongly that if a small business person has more money to invest,
it means more jobs are likely to be created. We believe strongly that if
there is reduction in capital gains and dividend taxes, people are more
likely to make investments. We believe the death tax is a bad tax. Jon Kyl
supported the tax cuts, and he, like me, believes for the sake of economic
vitality, we need to make the tax cuts permanent. (Applause.)

And at the same time, he understands we can't waste your money. There's no
tougher watchdog for the people's money than Jon Kyl. If people of Arizona
want to make sure that the federal government doesn't waste your taxpayers'
money, you need to send him back to the United States Senate. He's doing a
great job when it comes to fiscal sanity in the halls of the United States
Senate. (Applause.)

As Senator McCain mentioned today, the congressional delegation and myself
went down to Tucson to talk about immigration. Jon Kyl understands the
issue. He understands that we need to secure the border of the United
States and is willing to work with the administration to do that. He's been
a leader in increasing the number of Border Patrol agents, particularly
those here in the state of Arizona. He understands the program of catch and
release doesn't work, and so he is willing to help fund additional beds to
detain non-Mexican illegal immigrants. He understands that we need to have
strong work site enforcement in the United States if we're going to have an
immigration plan work.

He understands that border security also means a rational -- a temporary
worker plan, so our Border Patrol agents aren't chasing people coming to
work, they're chasing criminals and drug lords. Jon Kyl understands clearly
that the role of the federal government is to enforce the border of the
United States of America, which is precisely what we're going to do.
(Applause.)

Finally, I want to talk about judges. I remember campaigning here in
Arizona -- I remember debating here in Arizona -- and I remember saying --
in 2000 and 2004 -- if you put me in office, I will nominate people for the
bench who will strictly interpret the Constitution and not try to become a
part of the legislative branch of government. (Applause.) And those are the
kind of judges I put up. And I can't thank Jon Kyl enough for making sure
the judges I nominate get a fair hearing and an up or down vote on the
floor of the United States Senate.

Judge Roberts is going to make a great Chief of the Supreme Court. And Sam
Alito is going to make a really fine replacement for Arizonan, Sandra Day
O'Connor. And Jon Kyl is going to be one of the leaders in making sure that
Sam Alito gets confirmed in the United States Senate. (Applause.) And if
the people of this state want to make sure that we've got judges on the
bench who strictly interpret the Constitution and not legislate from the
bench, they need to return Jon Kyl to the United States Senate. (Applause.)

I think you're getting the picture about where my position is on Kyl. I
can't thank you enough for letting me come by to put my two cents in for
Jon. He is -- he's a classy guy. He is really the kind of person that you
would hope would be serving you. You don't have to worry about him not
telling the truth or doing something that would make you ashamed. He's not
that kind of fellow. He's as -- his integrity is as strong as it gets. And
it seems like to me that when you've got an experienced hand, somebody who
knows what he's doing in Washington, D.C., somebody who can get the job
done for people, somebody who brings integrity and decency to the office,
that there's only one logical conclusion. For the sake of the state and for
the sake of the country, Jon Kyl needs to be reelected to the United States
Senate.

Thanks for coming tonight. May God bless you all. (Applause.)

END 5:44 P.M. MST

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