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Skriven 2006-08-31 23:31:40 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0608313) for Thu, 2006 Aug 31
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Remarks by the President at Orrin Hatch for Senate Reception
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 31, 2006

Remarks by the President at Orrin Hatch for Senate Reception
Grand America Hotel
Salt Lake City, Utah



11:00 A.M. MDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. (Applause.) Thank you all. Please
be seated. Thanks for the warm welcome. It's great to be here in Utah.
Gosh, I landed at the airport last night -- a couple thousand people out
there to say hello. I just had the honor of speaking to the American
Legion; then come to a hall filled with great citizens concerned about the
reelection of Orrin Hatch. I'm coming here to tell you, this guy is doing a
great job and you need to send him back to the United States Senate.
(Applause.)

I'm proud to call him friend. And he's an effective person in Washington. I
don't know if you can tell it this far away from Washington, but he's
effective. He gets things done. People like to hear him; they listen to
him; they trust him; they trust his judgment. And so do I. And every time
I'm around Orrin Hatch, after he gets through talking about Utah, he
finally gets to the country. (Laughter.) In other words, he loves Utah and
he loves the citizens of Utah. And he married well. (Applause.)

We're proud to be here with Elaine and the Hatch family. Laura said to me,
she said, you get over to Utah and you help our friends come back to
Washington, D.C. She sends her love. I married well, just like Orrin
married well. It helps to have somebody you love stand by your side when
you're in politics. There's nothing better than having a person that you
care deeply about and to share the experience. And that's the way the
Hatches have been, and they served a great example for a lot of younger
political families. And thank you for having the right priorities -- faith
and your family and your friends.

And so I've come to say as best as I can and in as plain English as I can
possibly speak -- which sometimes gets a little distorted -- (laughter) --
please send Orrin Hatch back to the United States Senate. (Applause.)

I want to thank the Governor and Mary Kaye for joining us. I appreciate you
all taking time to come to support the senior Senator from the State of
Utah. It's smart politics. (Laughter.) You're doing a fine job, and the
people of Utah are proud of you.

I want to thank the other Senator, Senator Bob Bennett, for his courageous
leadership. (Applause.) I want to thank Congressman Rob Bishop and
Congressman Chris Cannon for joining us today and for serving the country.
Glad you all are here. (Applause.) Cannon's brother is the chairman of the
Republican Party. I like to remind the chairman that he's the cuter Cannon.
(Laughter.) Is that okay? No. (Laughter.)

I want to thank -- I want to thank all the statehouse folks who've joined
us today, too. I appreciate John Valentine who is the Senate President --
leader; and Greg Curtis, who the Speaker. I want to thank all of you who
are senators and representatives. I appreciate you serving your
communities. I had -- some of the greatest experiences I've ever had in
politics was working with our state Senate and our House of Representatives
in the state of Texas. And I hope, Governor, you're having as much fun
working with them as I had. And if not, just keep telling them what to do,
and eventually they'll get the message. (Laughter.) But thank you all for
serving.

I appreciate all the local folks here. I particularly want to say thanks to
former Senator Jake Garn, who is with us. Senator, good to see you. I
appreciate you coming. (Applause.) And I see my friend, Jim Hansen, is with
us today. Congressman, good to see you, thanks for being here. (Applause.)
And I wish LaVar Christensen all the best in his run for the congressional
seat here in Utah. Good luck to you. (Applause.) Appreciate you.

And most of all, thanks for helping Orrin. It takes a lot of work to get
this many people in the room. And for those of you who organized this
event, thank you. I know how hard you worked and so does he. This is an
incredibly successful fundraiser, and he deserves it.

And for those of you involved in grassroots politics, thanks a lot for your
hard work. Thanks for making sure that Utah was solid in 2004, and thank
you for making sure that Utah remains solid in 2006. I appreciate you
putting up the signs. I appreciate you making the phone calls. I appreciate
you knocking on the doors.

A lot of times, people kind of forget the efforts you make, but I don't,
and I know Orrin doesn't. I know the Governor appreciates all the
grassroots activists, so thanks for the good work you're doing here in the
great state of Utah.

These are historic times in which we're living. This generation of ours is
being challenged, and it's a tough challenge because we're facing an enemy
that knows no bounds of decency, an enemy that uses tactics that are beyond
our imagination to achieve certain objectives. The President has to make a
lot of decisions. Mine is a decision-making experience. I just want you to
know that a lot of the decisions I have made were based upon the
experiences of the attacks on September the 11th. See, I vowed that day
that I would never forget our most important duty in Washington, D.C. is to
protect the American people. (Applause.)

And Orrin Hatch understands that. He is a strong supporter of our strategy
to defend the country. That strategy starts with understanding this
doctrine: One, you can't rationalize with these people; you cannot
negotiate with these extremists, these terrorists, these people who are
bound together by an ideology that is hateful. The only way to protect the
American people is to stay on the offense and defeat them overseas so we do
not have to face them here at home. (Applause.)

But it's important to understand the nature of this war. This is more than
just a military conflict. This is the decisive ideological struggle of the
21st century. Some would like to assign this war to something as simple a
law enforcement. That shows a lack of understanding of the nature of the
enemy. Law enforcement means we wouldn't use all assets at our disposal to
protect the American people. This is an ideological struggle, and it's the
struggle of the century. And it's the struggle in which we must prevail,
for the sake of our children and our grandchildren.

On the one side of this struggle are those who believe in freedom and
moderation, the right of people to speak, the right of people to worship
freely -- one of the great privileges in America, isn't it? I'm proud as
the President to be able to say you're equally American if you're Jew,
Muslim, Christian, agnostic, atheist -- we're all equally American. And one
of the great treasured rights of our society is for people to be able to
worship freely.

On this struggle are those who believe in the universality of liberty. I
personally believe there's an Almighty, and I believe that one of the great
gifts of that Almighty to every man, woman and child on the face of the
Earth is the desire to live in freedom. (Applause.)

And on the other side of this ideological struggle are those who are driven
by tyranny and extremism, the right of a self-appointed few to impose their
fanatical views over the rest of us. And that's the struggle. And it's
important that our fellow citizens understand that struggle.

We didn't ask for this war, but we will answer history's call with
confidence. And it's important to have members of the United States Senate
who understand the call of history and are willing to stand strong in the
face of an enemy who is relenting [sic]. That's the challenge of the 21st
century.

As I told you, we'll stay on the offense. As well, I made it clear that if
you harbor a terrorist, you're just as guilty as the terrorist, and you're
an enemy of the United States, and you will be held to account. In other
words, this is a war in which nation states aren't necessarily in the
league, as previous wars, in, but they provide safe haven for. It's
important when the President speaks he means what he says. I spoke clearly
to the world that if you harbor a terrorist, you're equally as guilty as
the terrorist. The Taliban didn't take our word seriously. And thanks to a
fantastic United States military, along with allies, we removed the
Taliban. We upheld doctrine; we freed 25 million Afghan citizens, and the
world is better off. (Applause.)

A lesson of September the 11th is that when this nation sees a threat, we
must take it seriously, before it fully materializes. If there is a threat
we must recognize that threat and deal with it before it comes home to hurt
us. You know, the tendency in any difficult situation is for some to want
to forget the lessons, put the past behind and think about a more
comforting future. And I can understand that. As a matter of fact, part of
my job is to assure the American people that we understand the threat, and
that people should go on about their lives. Let us worry about it. That's
why I've asked to make sure we have all the tools necessary to protect the
American people -- tools like the Patriot Act, which Orrin helped get
passed. Tools like the capacity to listen to an al Qaeda phone call. If
they're calling in the United States, we want to know why, so we can
protect the American people. (Applause.)

I saw a threat in Iraq. As a matter of fact, members of both political
parties in the United States Congress saw the same threat. Nations around
the world saw the threat. And the threat was a tyrant who brutally murdered
thousands of his own citizens; a tyrant who had invaded his neighbors; a
tyrant who had used weapons of mass destruction on his people; a tyrant who
previous administrations had declared a state sponsor of terror; a tyrant
who, when the world spoke through the United Nations, ignored the world. I
think when the world speaks it must mean what it says. And so we gave the
tyrant one last chance to disclose and disarm, or face serious
consequences. It was his choice to make. The world is safer, the Iraqi
people are better, the cause for liberty is more advanced because Saddam
Hussein is no longer in power. (Applause.)

Iraq is the central front in the war on terror. Osama Bin Laden has made
that clear. Zawahiri has made that clear. He's the number two man in al
Qaeda. Their mission is to drive us out of Iraq in order to achieve safe
haven, safe haven from which to launch further attacks against moderate
elements in the Middle East, safe haven from which to plan and plot attacks
against the United States of America. They're not going to succeed.

There are powerful forces inside Iraq that, to me, causes me to be
optimistic, starting with the Iraqi people themselves. You know, last
December seems like an eternity, particularly to those of us in political
office. But that's not too long in the march of history, is it? Last
December, 12 million Iraqis, in defiance of terrorists and killers and
suicide bombers, said loud and clear, "We want to be free. We want a
government of, by, and for the people."

And since then, under a constitution that is one of the most modern
constitutions ever in the Middle East, a unity government has formed; a
government desirous of responding to the people; a government working hard
to reject the extremists who want to stop the advance of democracy and
freedom. This is a tough war. It's a tough war because the enemy will use
any tactic to cause the Iraqis to split apart, or any tactic trying to
drive the United States out of the Middle East. We must persevere. We must
continue to work with this democratically elected government of Iraq. We
must continue to give their army the skills necessary to fight. And we must
stay on the hunt for terrorist elements, which we are doing. We'll succeed
in Iraq, and when we do, this country will be more secure.

I understand there's a debate, and, of course, there should be a debate. I
mean, I welcome debate in our society. One of the great things about
America is people can go into the public square and express themselves
openly without fear of the state. That's what we welcome. In these 2006
campaigns, there will be a lot of debate. There will be people -- good
people, decent people, patriotic people -- who say, now is the time to
leave Iraq, and they are wrong. (Applause.)

If we leave before Iraq can defend itself and govern itself and sustain
itself, this will be a key defeat for the United States of America in this
ideological struggle of the 21st century. If we leave before this young
democracy has its roots firmly in place, so that an example of liberty
flourishes in a region that's so desperate for something other than a
society that's caused resentment and hopelessness, if we leave it will
embolden the enemy. The enemy has said this is the front in the war on
terror. That's what they have proclaimed. They'll become even more bold. If
we leave before the job is done, we'll help create a terrorist state in the
heart of the Middle East that will have control of huge oil reserves. If we
leave before the job is done, this country will have no credibility. People
will look at our words as empty words. People will not trust the judgment
and the leadership of the United States. Reformers will shrink from their
deep desire to live in a free society. Moderates will wonder if their voice
will ever be heard again. If we leave before the job will be done, those
who sacrificed, those brave volunteers who sacrifice in our United States
military will have died in vain. And as General Abizaid has said, if we
leave before the job is done -- if we leave the streets of Baghdad, the
enemy will follow us to our own streets in America. (Applause.)

The stakes are high. I believe the only way we can lose is if we leave
before the job is done. That's what I believe. I'm making decisions based
upon the recommendations of commanders on the ground. I want to assure you,
polls and focus groups will not decide the Iraq policy in the global war on
terror. (Applause.) And when we win, and when we achieve our stated
objectives, it will be a major defeat for the terrorists in this global war
on terror. It will strengthen the spread of democracy in the Middle East.
Imagine what the example of a democratic Iraq, a country that has adopted a
democracy based upon its history and its traditions, imagine the signal it
will send to those reformers in Iran, or those hopeful Palestinians that
say, some day we want a state to live in peace with our neighbor Israel.
When we succeed in Iraq, we'll have created a valuable ally in the global
war on terror.

I don't know if you remember this, but recently I had the honor of -- and
privilege of taking my friend, the Prime Minister of Japan, to Graceland --
Elvis's place. (Laughter.) I've never been to Graceland. I thought it would
be fun to go, but more importantly, he wanted to go. See, he was an Elvis
buff. (Laughter.) I also thought it would send an interesting message that
I hope helps explain the stakes of this ideological struggle we're in. Can
you imagine somebody after World War II saying, I predict one day an
American President will be going to a singer's home with the Prime Minister
of Japan? They'd have thought the guy was off his rocker. Isn't it
interesting that a son of a Navy torpedo fighter who fought the Japanese
with all his soul and all his might, like many of your relatives did, flew
down on Air Force One with the Prime Minister of the former enemy? I think
it is. And I think it's an historical lesson that we all can learn
something about.

And by the way, when we were on the plane, guess what we talked about --
how we can work together to keep the peace. We talked about North Korea. We
talked about what it meant for Japan to send a thousand troops into Iraq to
help this young democracy fight off the ideologues of hate. We talked about
our HIV/AIDS initiative in Africa. We talked about building roads in
Afghanistan. I found it incredibly interesting that I was able to sit down
with the Prime Minister of a former enemy and talk about the peace.
Something happened between 41's time in the U.S. Navy and 43's time talking
with the Prime Minister of Japan. Japan adopted a Japanese-style democracy.

Liberty has the capacity to transform enemies into allies. One of these
days, American Presidents will be sitting down with duly elected leaders of
the Middle East, and they will be talking about keeping the peace. And this
generation will be able to say, the world was safer for our children and
grandchildren. (Applause.)

And this Senator understands the stakes, and I'm proud to serve with him.
Both of us are honored to be able to say we're laying the foundation of
peace for generations to come.

He also understands this, that the more money you have in your pocket, the
more you're going to save, invest, and spend, and the better our economy
does. The classic debate in Washington, D.C. really centers around this:
Who best to spend your money, you or the government? Senator Hatch and I
believe you can spend it better than the government, and therefore we
strongly believe -- (applause) -- and that's why, when things got tough,
economically tough, we cut the taxes on everybody who paid taxes. And it
worked. This economy of ours is strong. Pro-growth economic policies work.
And the way to make sure this economy remains strong is to make the tax
relief we passed a permanent part of the tax code. (Applause.)

The unemployment rate is 4.8 percent. Since August of 2005, we've created
more than 5.5 million new jobs. Productivity is high. The economy has grown
now for 35 straight months. It has added jobs for 35 straight -- your
unemployment rate, Governor, congratulations, is 3.4 percent. People are
working. (Applause.) Productivity is high. That's good -- we're a
productive society. We're constantly trying to improve. Entrepreneurship is
strong. Minorities are owning businesses. Home ownership has been high. I
mean, this is a productive period of time for the American people. It's
because our philosophy works -- cutting taxes, trusting people with their
own money, makes sense.

And you know what else happens? It increases revenues for the treasury. You
know, there's been a lot of talk about the deficits, and there should be.
We're concerned about the deficit. As a matter of fact, I said to the
Congress, join us in being fiscally responsible about how we spend the
people's money, and we can cut that deficit. The deficit is going to be cut
in half, not by 2009, but by 2008, because pro-growth economic policies
work. The best way -- and by the way, in Washington, you'll hear them say,
well, in order to balance the budget, we need to raise more revenues. But
that's not the way it works in Washington. Yeah, they'll raise revenues,
they'll increase your taxes, but they will figure out new ways to spend
your money. The best way to balance the budget it to keep taxes low and be
fiscally responsible with the taxpayers' money. And that's what we're
doing. (Applause.)

Orrin said, "Keep it short." I obviously didn't listen very carefully. I
want to work with him to make sure this country becomes less dependent on
foreign sources of oil. It's in our economic interests that we become less
dependent on foreign sources of oil, and it is in our national security
interests. And so, therefore, we will continue to spend money wisely on new
technologies.

We're big believers in the nuclear power industry's capacity to make sure
that we protect the environment with renewable sources of energy. I see
automobiles being driven by batteries that can drive the first 40 miles on
electricity. I know we got clean coal technologies that will eventually
work. It's the calling of our time to make sure that we do smart things
with our money to enable us to diversify away from oil from countries,
particularly those countries that don't like us. I look forward to working
with Orrin to make sure that we remain competitive by spending money,
wisely spending money on research and development both at the federal level
and at the private level, which is why we need to make permanent the
research and development tax credit. (Applause.)

I look forward to working with Orrin and other members of the United States
Senate to once and for all do something about junk lawsuits, particularly
those that are running good doctors out of practice. (Applause.) People
worry about the cost of health care. One way to deal with the cost of
health care is to get rid of these junk lawsuits.

It's one thing, if you got a problem, to have your day in court. But these
junk lawsuits -- you see, when I first got to Washington, I said, well, the
states can figure it out, Governor, you know, you all write your own laws.
And then I realized the defensive practice of medicine costs you, the
taxpayers, about $28 billion a year. Docs and providers providing
unnecessary services in order to defend themselves against junk lawsuits
cost the federal government, because of Medicaid, Medicare, and veterans
health benefits, about $28 billion. I came to the conclusion, therefore,
this is a federal problem that requires a federal solution.

Congress passed -- the House passed a good piece of legislation. I'm going
to continue to work with Senators Hatch and Bennett to get good legislation
out of the United States Senate to make sure health care is available and
affordable for folks all across the United States of America. (Applause.)

And speaking about health care, you did a fine job of training my Secretary
for Health and Human Services -- Leavitt. (Applause.) He's doing a great
job. He really is. And he said he's down there -- somebody said he was
fishing with him recently. So when you see him again, tell him to get back
to work. (Laughter.)

Finally, I want to say something about the judiciary. I've had no stronger
ally than Orrin Hatch in making sure that we appoint judges who know the
difference between being a judge and a legislator. (Applause.) One of my
most important responsibilities is to make sure we have people on the
federal bench who strictly interpret the Constitution, and not use the
bench from which to legislate. And I had the honor of naming two members of
the Supreme Court -- and I took my time, and I looked at a lot of good
folks, and I came up with some fine names. And thanks to the support and
leadership of Senator Orrin Hatch, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice
Sam Alito now sit on the bench, and the United States is better off for it.
(Applause.)

He just told me, if I didn't end, he's going to make me listen to one of
his songs. (Laughter.) Actually, the man has got some talent. (Laughter.)
And he's a great songwriter, but not as good a senator -- as he is a
senator. And that's saying a lot. You've got a fine man in the United
States Senate in Orrin Hatch. (Applause.) He's decent, he's honorable, he
gets the job done. I thank you for supporting him. Send him back to
Washington, and Utah and America will benefit -- continue to benefit from
his service.

I thank you for the warm welcome here. It's been such a joy to come back to
your beautiful state. May God bless you all. (Applause.)

END 11:31 A.M. MDT

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