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Skriven 2006-10-04 23:31:42 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0610047) for Wed, 2006 Oct 4
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Remarks by the President at Bob Beauprez for Governor and Colorado
Republican Party Reception
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 4, 2006

Remarks by the President at Bob Beauprez for Governor and Colorado
Republican Party Reception
Inverness Hotel and Conference Center
Englewood, Colorado



1:27 P.M. MDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for coming. (Applause.) I appreciate those kind words
-- Governor. (Applause.) I'm proud to be here with Bob Beauprez. I've
gotten to know him quite well. See, we both served in Washington, D.C.
together. (Laughter.) He is a straight thinker. He is a clear thinker. He's
a person who understands that as the chief executive officer of a state,
that you have to have a vision and the capacity to make decisions necessary
to achieve that vision. There's no doubt in my mind he'll make a great
governor for the state of Colorado, and I thank you for supporting him.
(Applause.)

And there's no doubt in my mind Claudia will make a fine first lady for the
state of Colorado. (Applause.) I know something about first ladies.
(Laughter.) I'm a fortunate man that Laura said yes when I asked her to
marry me. We're both West Texans. At the time I can promise you neither of
us dreamt that I'd be President and she'd be First Lady. As a matter of
fact, if she thought at that time -- (laughter.) Thankfully, she is our
First Lady and I know I'm not objective, but I feel like she's doing a
fabulous job on behalf of the American people. (Applause.)

It's important to have -- to be able to follow somebody in office who's
done a good job. See, Beauprez is going to be a fine governor, and one of
the reasons he's going to be a fine governor is he's following another fine
governor, and that's Bill Owens. (Applause.) I appreciate Bill's
leadership; I appreciate his steadfast adherence to principles. I'm proud
to be with Bill and my friend, Frances, today, and I want to thank you both
for serving your state. (Applause.)

I appreciate Lieutenant Governor Jane Norton, and Mike Norton, for joining
us. Thank you all for coming. (Applause.) I am proud to be here with a fine
United States Senator in Wayne Allard, and his wife, Joan. Thank you all
for serving and thanks for joining us. (Applause.)

Colorado is going to lose a really fine Congressman in Joel Hefley. I'm
proud to call Joel a friend. He brought honor and dignity to the office of
United States Congressman. He represents the folks of Colorado Springs and
the area with a lot of class. I appreciate him coming today, and I'm
honored also to be here with Lynn. Thank you both for coming. (Applause.)

I want to thank the State Attorney General, John Suthers, and Janet for
joining us today. Thank you for serving. I thank State Treasurer Mike
Coffman and Cynthia for joining us today, proud you both are here.
(Applause.) By the way, just in case you might forget, Mike is running for
Colorado secretary of state. (Applause.) And in case the people of Colorado
forget, he is a United States Marine -- (applause) -- who, when this nation
called, served with distinction in this battle against these terrorists.
Mike, I want to thank you very much. Proud to have been able to call you
commander-in-chief. (Laughter.) For me to call -- as Commander-in-Chief,
call you proud Marine. (Laughter.)

I want to thank Commissioner Janet Rowland -- Mesa County -- and Lance --
candidate for lieutenant governor. Thanks for coming, Janet. (Applause.)
Bill Armstrong is with us. Bob Martinez is with us. John Elway is with us.
Bruce Benson is with us. I'm proud everybody is here. Thanks for
contributing.

I do want to remind you, however, that campaigns are more than just raising
money. It helps, don't get me wrong. (Laughter.) But the next governor is
going to need your help turning out the vote. I know what it means to have
a grassroots organization in Colorado working on one's behalf. Many in this
room worked on my behalf to help me become the President. I want to thank
you for what you've done and encourage you to support Bob Beauprez and turn
out that vote come November. And while you're doing it, make sure we get
these congressional candidates back in office, too. (Applause.)

Before I talk about some of the issues, I do want to talk about an event
that just recently occurred here in Colorado, in Bailey, Colorado. I know a
lot of Americans, and I know a lot of folks in Colorado express our deepest
sympathy to the folks in that good community about the tragic loss of Emily
Keyes. She died one week ago of an unspeakable act of violence. It wasn't
necessary. We join her family in prayer. We extend our deepest sympathies
to those good people.

This next week I have asked Attorney General Al Gonzales and Secretary of
Education Margaret Spellings to convene a meeting of leading experts and
officials to determine how the federal government can help state and local
folks deal with these shootings and the tragedies. Look, we wanted to make
us certain around the country that the schoolhouse is a safe place for
children to learn. And so I'm looking forward to the results of that
meeting, how we can facilitate help, and how we can help these communities
heal and recover from the tragic events like those that have taken place in
three states over the past couple of weeks. May God bless Emily's family.

Speaking about education, when I was the governor of Texas I used to say
this: I said, education is to a state what national defense is to the
federal government. Education is by far the most important priority for
state government, as far as I'm concerned. And I know the next governor
feels the same way. I appreciate Bill Owens' approach to education and I'm
looking forward to continuing to work with Bob Beauprez. And here's the
approach: We're setting high standards. We believe every child can learn to
read and write and add and subtract. And we're willing to measure to
determine whether or not each school is educating each child. (Applause.)
And we measure early so we can correct problems early, so that the people
of Colorado will be able to say, no child is being left behind in the state
of Colorado when it comes to public education. (Applause.)

I know that a governor can set the tone for a state. Your Governor has set
the tone for the state, and your next governor must set the tone. And the
tone for a state is, one, it's a safe place to live; two, the schools are
worthy of the dollars being spent; and three, this is a good place for
people to invest so people can find work. A governor has the capacity to
say loud and clear to risk-takers and people looking at your state, please
come and invest in the state of Colorado. Please come to this state of
entrepreneurial dreams. I know that Bob Beauprez will be able to do this
because I worked with him to help overcome a recession, and a corporate
scandal, and a terrorist attack on the United States, war, two hurricanes,
and high energy prices. And yet, our economy is the envy of the
industrialized world. (Applause.)

Our people are working. The unemployment rate is low in the state of
Colorado. Productivity is up; small businesses are on the rise. I've always
felt it's important for the state and the nation to be able to say,
entrepreneurs welcome here. The role of government is not to create wealth,
but to create an environment in which the entrepreneurial spirit can
flourish. And so when it came time to overcome the economic obstacles we
faced, I went to the United States Congress, spoke directly to people like
Bob Beauprez, and said, why don't we cut the taxes on everybody who is
paying taxes? Why don't we let the people have more of their own money in
their pocket so they can save, invest, and spend?

Pro-growth economic policies work. This economy is on the run -- on the
rise. And this is an issue in this national campaign. It really is. The
issue is the Democrats get control of the Congress, they're going to have
their hands on your wallet. (Laughter.) They'll be running up your taxes,
make no mistake about it. The best way to keep this economy growing is to
make the tax cuts we passed permanent, and to make sure Republicans control
the House and the Senate. (Applause.)

The most important job of government in this day and age is to protect you.
It is a vital call for those of us who serve in Washington, or in state
government. The reason I say that is because we're at war with an enemy
that still wants to inflict harm. I wish I could report differently to you,
but that's not my job. See, my job isn't to paint a picture the way we'd
like it to be; my job, in order to protect you, is to travel this country
and explain to people exactly what's at stake. And what is at stake is your
security and our freedoms, because there's a group of cold-blooded killers
bound together by a common ideology that wants to strike us again.

I think about this every day, as your President. I resolved after 9/11 that
we would use all assets at our disposal to do the most important job for a
federal government, and that's to protect the American people. And the best
way to do that is to stay on the offense against these people, and defeat
them overseas so we do not have to face them here at home. (Applause.)

And that's exactly what we're doing. There's some incredibly brave people
working on your behalf -- great intelligence officers, people in diplomatic
corps, and people who have volunteered to wear the uniform of the United
States of America. And the job of us in Washington, D.C. -- of those of us
in Washington is to make sure that these brave men and women have all that
is necessary to do the job we have asked them to do. And we will continue
to do just that. (Applause.)

This offense against these terrorists is waged in different fronts and in
different ways. And the current front, the most visible front against the
killers who would do harm in the United States is in Iraq. And there's a
difference of opinion. I believe that we must achieve victory in Iraq to
make sure America is secure. Democrats in Washington believe Iraq is a
distraction from the war on terror. These are decent people and they're
patriotic people -- they just happen to be wrong people. (Laughter.)

If you don't believe me, if people in Colorado are doubtful about whether
Iraq is important to the security of the United States, I would hope they
would listen to the words of Osama bin Laden, or the number two man in al
Qaeda, Zawahiri, both of whom have proclaimed loud and clear that Iraq is
essential to their plans. See, they believe America is week and if they can
kill enough innocent people we'll retreat. That's precisely what they want.
They want us to leave the Middle East so they can establish safe haven from
which to plot, plan and attack again. They want to get their hands on oil
reserves so that when they demand the free world to capitulate and there is
resistance, they can wreak economic havoc. And into this mix of hatred
comes a country that wants to have a nuclear weapon that has made their
ambitions clear.

This is the world we face today. If America were to retreat, if we were to
cut and run, if we were to abandon our friends and allies, 30 years from
now, historians will look back -- the country will look back, and say, what
happened to them? What happened to the people in charge of providing
security for the United States of America? How come they couldn't see the
threat to future generations of Americans? I want you to know I clearly see
the threat we face today, and I clearly see the threat we face in years to
come. The United States of America will stand with those who long to live
in freedom. We will support those moderates who stand in opposition to the
extremists. We will keep the pressure on the enemies of freedom. We will
help Iraq become a democracy that can sustain itself, defend itself, and
govern itself, which will be yet another blow to al Qaeda and the haters.
The United States of America will not retreat. We will achieve victory in
Iraq. We will have done our duty for a generation of Americans to come.
(Applause.)

After 9/11, I recognized this fact -- that we must be right a hundred
percent of the time to protect you, and the enemy only has to be right one
time. And that's the challenge we face. It really is. It's a daunting
challenge. The challenge is made easier, by the way, by keeping these folks
on the run. It's a lot harder to plot and plan if you're hiding in a cave,
or you're moving around the world. And that's why a chief part of our
strategy is to keep the pressure on. But I also recognized that I needed to
call upon Congress to help us develop tools, so that those on the front
line of protecting you could do so.

One of the tools was given to folks through the Patriot Act. There was an
extensive debate on the Patriot Act, and it's an important debate. But it's
important for you to know that prior to the Patriot Act, intelligence
officials and law enforcement officials could not exchange information.
Now, this is a different kind of war. In the old days, you could measure
success based upon the number of aircraft that were flying, or the number
of ships that were sailing. But no longer. See, in this war we have to find
people -- find their intentions and bring them to justice before they come
and hurt us again. In other words, we're not isolated or immune from the
attacks. That's the lesson we learned on September 11th.

And so I decided to work with Congress to tear down these barriers. And
right after 9/11, everything went fine. As a matter of fact, in the United
States Senate, the vote was 98 to 1. And then something happened, because
when it came time to renew the act, Senate Democrats filibustered -- that's
Washington, D.C.-speak for talking until the bill dies. As a matter of
fact, the Senate Minority Leader openly bragged in the press that "We
killed the Patriot Act," as if that's some kind of noble gesture in the
middle of a war against killers and terrorists. He was asked by a reporter
whether killing the Patriot Act was really something to celebrate, and he
answered loud and clear, "Of course, it is."

Eventually we overcame the filibuster and I signed the renewal of the
Patriot Act. But the reason I bring this story up, as people are getting
ready to go to the polls, people from both political parties and people not
affiliated with a political party, they must understand there is a
different attitude in Washington, a different mind-set between the two
political parties about the threats we face. I strongly believe that we've
got to give our folks the tools necessary to protect you. In this case,
Senate Democrats, key members of the Democrat Party tried to kill a bill
that would have given people the tools necessary to protect you.

I think it's important for us to understand the intentions of the enemy,
understand what they're thinking and what they're saying. And that's why I
instructed the National Security Agency to establish what is called the
Terrorist Surveillance Program, to track communications between someone
overseas making a phone call into the United States, someone we know is al
Qaeda and/or al Qaeda affiliate. People say, well, how do you know? Well,
sometimes in the -- pick people up on the battlefield that we know is al
Qaeda or an al Qaeda affiliate, they might have some information in their
possession. Take, for example, if they had a phone number in the United
States, I think it makes sense for us to understand why somebody might be
calling that phone number if the most important job is to protect you,
which it is. See, let me put it in plain talk: If al Qaeda is making a
phone call into the United States, we want to know why they're making the
call, where they're making the call, and what they intend to do.
(Applause.)

People talk good in Washington, see. They say, we're going to do everything
we can to protect you. Then, all of a sudden, the vote comes along which
helps clarify the difference of opinion. And so when it came time for
legislation to provide additional authority for the Terrorist Surveillance
Program, 177 members of the -- Democrat members of the House of
Representatives voted against listening in on terrorist communications. We
just have a different point of view. And this is an issue in this campaign.
It's an issue on how best to protect the United States. Our most important
job is to get information so we can protect you before an attack comes. It
is no longer acceptable to respond to an attack after it happens. The
lesson of 9/11 is we must take threats seriously now, and deal with them in
order to protect the men and women of the United States.

I felt it was very important that we have the capacity to interrogate
people once we have captured them on this battlefield in the war on terror.
And we've captured a lot of key operatives, people that we think were
intimately involved in the planning, people we suspect was involved in the
planning of these attacks -- a man named Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi
Binalshibh, Abu Zabeda -- these are people that we believe, we suspect were
involved with planning the 9/11 attacks, and we captured them. And I
thought it made sense to have a program that enabled our professionals in
the CIA to see whether or not we could learn information about what they
knew. If you're at war, and you capture somebody -- one of the key
commanders, it's in the interests of the country that we find out what
they're thinking.

And I'm going to tell you point-blank, this program worked. Let me give you
some of the data that we learned, some of the information. As a result of
the information from the interrogations, the CIA helped break up -- we
helped break up a cell of Southeast Asian terrorist operatives that had
been groomed for attacks inside the United States. Information gained meant
we were able to act to protect you. The program helped stop an al Qaeda
cell from developing anthrax for attacks against the United States. The
program helped stop a planned strike on a U.S. Marine camp in Djibouti. It
helped prevent a planned attack on the U.S. consulate in Karachi. It helped
foil a plot to hijack passenger planes and fly them into Heathrow and
London's Canary Wharf. In other words, we gained information that enabled
us to do the job you expect us to do.

Were it not for the information gained from the terrorists questioned by
the CIA, our intelligence community believes that al Qaeda and its allies
would have succeeded in launching another attack against the United States.
That's the measured judgment of those professionals that we call upon to
protect you.

The program is a vital program to protect the United States. And last week
Congress held a vote on the future of this program. Again, it was another
clarifying moment. It was a chance for the American people to see which
party would take the means necessary to protect the American people. In the
House of Representatives, 160 Democrats, including the entire Democrat
leadership, voted against continuing this program.

I want our fellow citizens in Colorado of both political parties and those
not affiliated with a political party to think about that vote. Nearly 80
percent of the House Democrats want to stop a program that has provided
invaluable intelligence that has saved American lives. There is a
fundamental difference of opinion on how to best defeat the terrorists and
to protect the American people. The good news is, for Colorado, you don't
have to doubt where Bob Beauprez stands. (Applause.)

By the way, it just wasn't the House Democrats that voted against the bill,
so did the Senate Democrats -- 32 Democrats, including every member of
their Senate leadership save one, voted to kill this vital program.

I'm going to continue to campaign as hard as I possibly can and remind
people about the facts, because I understand the threats we face. This
isn't a political issue, this is an issue of national security, to make
sure that we give those on the front line of fighting the war on terror all
the tools, all the support, all that is necessary to protect the American
people. (Applause.)

You know, those votes and the comments that you hear out of Washington
really reflect a different attitude and mind-set about how to protect you.
Democrats take a law enforcement approach to terrorism. That means America
will wait until we're attacked before we respond. That is a pre-September
the 11th, 2001 mind-set. That won't work. It's just not going to work. The
best way to do our duty is to stay on the offense, is to respond to
intelligence and information, is to bring people to justice so they can't
attack in the first place. And the best way to protect a generation of
Americans that are counting on us, that are counting on this generation to
do the hard work -- like many generations before us were called to do -- is
to stay on the offense and, at the same time, spread liberty.

You know, recently, I had an amazing experience. I went to Elvis's place
with Prime Minister Koizumi. You should have been there. (Laughter.) I went
because I'd never been there. I went because Prime Minister Koizumi wanted
to go there. (Laughter.) And I went because I wanted to tell you a story. I
find it ironic that I was traveling to Elvis's place, particularly since my
dad and many of your relatives, -- my dad, as an 18-year-old Navy fighter
pilot -- fought the enemy, Japan. They were the sworn enemy. And it was a
bloody war. A lot of people lost their lives. It was a war ended by a
horrific bombing -- one tough decision for a President to have to make.
And, yet, here we were 60 years later, old George W. and Prime Minister
Koizumi, flying down to Elvis's place. (Laughter.)

But let me tell you what made the story even more amazing -- was that on
the way down we were talking about keeping the peace. We were talking about
North Korea. We were talking about the fact that Prime Minister Koizumi had
committed a thousand of his troops to help a young democracy in the heart
of the Middle East succeed. He knows what I know: We're in the middle of an
ideological struggle between good and evil, between moderation and
extremism, between those who just want to live in peace and those who want
to kill in the name of an ideology of hatred. He understands that.

We talked about how nations must respond to pandemic like HIV/AIDS, and I
assured him the United States of America will continue to take the lead to
help alleviate suffering. We talked about helping the young democracy in
Afghanistan. I thought it was amazing, when I thought back about the same
experience my dad, as a young man, had with the Japanese. Something
happened between 41's time in the Navy and 43's time in the presidency. And
what happened was Japan adopted a Japanese-style democracy. And the lesson
is, liberty can convert enemies into allies. Some day an American President
will be sitting down with duly elected leaders in the Middle East, talking
about how to keep the peace. And a young generation of Americans will be
better off.

Those are the stakes. Thanks for helping. God bless. (Applause.)

END 1:56 P.M. MDT

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