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Ärende: Press Release (0610193) for Thu, 2006 Oct 19
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Remarks by the President at Sherwood-Pennsylvania Victory Committee
Reception
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 19, 2006

Remarks by the President at Sherwood-Pennsylvania Victory Committee
Reception Keystone College
La Plume, Pennsylvania


2:04 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. Please be seated. I'm glad to be
back again. Thanks for welcoming me. I am pleased to be here with Don
Sherwood. He is the right man to represent the people of the 10th
congressional district from the state of Pennsylvania. (Applause.)

He has got a record of accomplishment. He has been a strong supporter of
those brave men and women who wear our nation's uniform. He has been a
supporter of the Tobyhanna Army Depot. He's a strong supporter of
Pennsylvania's dairy farmers. When it came time to make sure highway money
was available for Pennsylvania, he did his job that you expect him to do.
He's a person who has been working hard to increase jobs here in this part
of the world. He's worked to cut taxes on the working people. He
understands it's important to keep the people of the district safe. I
strongly believe the people of this part of Pennsylvania need to send Don
Sherwood back to the United States Congress. (Applause.)

And I'm glad Carol is here with us today. (Applause.) I read Carol
Sherwood's letter to the citizens of this congressional district. I was
deeply moved by her words. Carol's letter shows what a caring and
courageous woman she is. I'm delighted to be here with Carol and their
daughter, Maria. Thanks for coming. (Applause.)

I am not Sherwood's first choice to be here at the fundraiser. (Laughter.)
Both he and Carol wanted Laura to come. (Laughter.) But she sends her very
best to the Sherwoods, and she, like me, strongly believes Don Sherwood
ought to be reelected to the United States Congress. (Applause.)

I want to thank Dr. Ned Boehm, the President of Keystone College.
(Applause.) And Regina. (Applause.) Regina told me she broke her foot
playing golf. (Laughter.) In two-and-a-half years I'm going to try that out
myself. (Laughter.) But thank you very much for letting us use this
facility on this beautiful campus, and thanks very much for being involved
in higher education. I appreciate your leadership and I know the people of
this part of the world do, as well.

I thank very much Rob Gleason, who's the chairman of the Republican State
Committee for Pennsylvania; and Bob Asher, who is the national
committeeman. The reason I bring up these folks is that a lot of politics
depends upon the capacity of the grassroots to do their job. So, first I
want to thank you very much for raising the money, filling the hat. It's
important for Don Sherwood's campaign to be able to advertise, and he will
continue to do so. But in order for him to win we got to turn out the vote.
And so, for those of you who are involved with grassroots politics, I want
to thank you in advance for what you're going to do to get people to the
polls come November.

I also want to thank my friend, Bill Scranton, who's with us today. Bill
and Maryla are fine citizens of this part of the world, and I'm proud to
call him friend. I really want to thank you for being here. Thanks for
coming. (Applause.)

It's a big campaign coming up, and I like being out on the campaign trail
because I like sharing with the people what I believe. And I'm looking
forward to working with Congressman Sherwood the next time Congress
convenes in -- not in a lame-duck session. We got a lot to do. One thing we
got to do is make sure we become less dependent on foreign sources of oil.
You know, I understand the price of gasoline is dropping, but that should
not obscure the fact that we have a national security problem when it comes
to relying upon oil from parts of the world that don't like us.

And so I want to continue to work with Congressman Sherwood to make sure we
promote new technologies, new ways to power our automobiles. I envision a
day when ethanol becomes more widespread, where Pennsylvania farmers are
actually providing the fuel necessary to run our cars. For the sake of
economic security, and for the sake of national security, we must continue
to diversify away from foreign sources of crude oil. (Applause.)

No, we'll work together on issues like health care. I appreciate the fact
that he was a strong supporter of Medicare modernization. For the seniors
who are on prescription drugs here in this part of the district, they
understand that this new Medicare bill is a good bill. No longer do poor
seniors have to choose between medicine and food thanks to people like
Congressman Don Sherwood.

But as this campaign gets closer to the stretch, you will hear a lot of
rhetoric and a lot of partisan charges coming from the other side. Their
goal is to distract you from the two main issues in this campaign. And they
are these: Which party will keep your taxes low and which party will take
the steps necessary to defend the United States of America? (Applause.)

My administration, our party and Don Sherwood have clear records on both
these issues. Let me first start with taxes. Republicans have a clear
philosophy: We believe that the people who know best how to spend your
money are the people that earn that money, and that is you. The Democrats
believe that they can spend your money better than you can. So we worked
hard to ensure that the working families in this district and all around
the country kept more of their paychecks when we enacted the largest tax
cuts since Ronald Reagan was President of the United States. (Applause.)

Our record is clear, and so is the record of the Democrats in Washington,
D.C. When we cut taxes for everybody who pays income taxes, the Democrats
voted against it. When we reduced the marriage penalty, Democrats voted
against it. When we cut taxes on small businesses, Democrats voted against
it. When we lowered taxes for families with children, the Democrats voted
against it. We put the death tax on the road to extinction; the Democrats
voted against it time and time again. When the Democrats had a chance to
deliver tax relief for the American people, they voted no. This is a party
that is genetically hostile to tax relief. (Laughter and applause.)

With every vote they have cast, they make clear to the American people
higher taxes are part of the congressional Democrats' DNA. When we passed
tax relief over the Democrat objections in 2003, the minority leader in the
House called it a tragedy, and predicted it would not create jobs or grow
our economy.

And here are the actual facts: the tax cuts we passed put more than a
trillion dollars in the hands of American workers and families and small
businesses and farmers, and the American people have used that money to
fuel a strong and growing economy. The United States' economy is the envy
of the industrialized world. (Applause.)

Since overcoming the recession, the terrorist attacks, war, hurricanes,
corporate scandals, this economy has had 37 straight months of job growth,
since August of 2003. And since that day, we've added 6.6 million new jobs.
The national unemployment rate is low. The pro-growth economic policies
that Don Sherwood supported have made this economy strong, and we intend to
keep it growing. (Applause.)

As well, because of growing our economy, which increases tax revenues into
the federal Treasury, and being wise about how we spend your money, we met
our goal of reducing our federal deficit in half three years ahead of
schedule. (Applause.) Democrats may call this a tragedy; we call it
success. (Applause.)

And now you're going to hear that same old, tired, rhetoric; Washington
Democrats talking about how they're going to raise taxes only on the rich.
You know, they say they're for fairness and they're for tax relief for the
middle class. But we've heard this before, and the American people
shouldn't be fooled by this kind of rhetoric.

You might remember, back in 1992, the Democrats campaigned on a tax cut for
the middle class. They won, but when they took office, the middle class tax
cut they promised turned out to be the largest tax increase in American
history. The moral of the story is that when you hear Democrats talk about
fairness, there's a pretty good chance they're going to try to get in your
pocket and raise your taxes.

There is no doubt in my mind that the key issue in this campaign, as far as
domestic politics is concerned, is who is going to keep your taxes low, and
who will raise your taxes. The Republican Party and Don Sherwood will make
sure the working people have more money in their pocket. (Applause.)

Our most important job is to protect America. The most important job of the
federal government is to use all our assets to protect the American people
from an attack. We are still under threat. I wish I could report otherwise.
I wish I could tell you everything was fine in the world and the enemy
wasn't around that would come and try to harm us again. But I wouldn't be
doing my job if I reported that. An enemy still plots and plans to attack
the American people. These people are nothing by cold-blooded killers.
They're not religious people. I don't believe religious people kill
innocent men, women, and children. I believe the President must call these
people what they are: They are evil. And our most important job is to
protect the American people from further attack.

You can't negotiate with these people. You can't hope to have a treaty with
these people. The best way to defend America from an attack is to defeat
them overseas so we do not have to face them here at home. (Applause.)

There are major differences between the political parties on the issue of
how best to protect the American people. You know, the enemy has got to be
right once, and we've got to be right 100 percent of the time to protect
you.

And that's why I thought it was very important to institute a program that
would enable our professionals at the Central Intelligence Agency to
question people that we captured on the battlefield in order to be able to
gain information necessary to do our most important job, which is to
protect the American people.

And recently we had a vote on a program in the House of Representatives.
When it came time to stand up and be counted, Don Sherwood voted to support
the professionals at the CIA. And that cannot be said for most of his
Democrat colleagues in the House. The American people must understand that
nearly 80 percent of the House Democrats voted to take away this vital
tool, which is necessary to protect the American people from further
attack.

The other clear example is the Patriot Act. This good bill tore down the
wall that made it impossible for law enforcement and intelligence to share
information. I know that's hard for you to believe, that when intelligence
had information they couldn't share it with those who were responsible for
protecting you. But that's what happened. Over time there was a wall. And
so I called for the Congress to pass the Patriot Act that enabled us to
share information so we could break up terrorist cells, which we have -- in
California, in Texas, in New Jersey and Illinois and North Carolina, Ohio,
New York, Virginia and Florida. The tools inherent in the Patriot Act have
been vital and necessary to enable us to do our job, which is to protect
the American people from further attack. When this important piece of
legislation came up for reauthorization, Congressman Don Sherwood supported
this vital law, but more than 75 percent of the House Democrats voted to
block it.

There's a fundamental difference of opinion all across the nation about
which party understands the stakes in this war on terror. After 9/11, I
decided it was essential that if al Qaeda or an al Qaeda affiliate was
making a phone call into the United States of America we needed to know
why, in order to be able to do our job and protect you. Recently, this bill
came up for a vote in the United States Congress. The United States
Congressman from the 10th congressional district of Pennsylvania voted to
support our professionals who are doing everything we can to protect you.
But almost 90 percent of the House Democrats voted against it.

Rarely has a single series of votes summed up the difference between the
two parties so clearly. If the House Democrats had their way, the Patriot
Act would have expired, the CIA interrogation program would have been shut
down, the Terrorist Surveillance Program would have been discontinued. And
that is the record the Democrats have to run on, and it is no record to be
proud of in a time of war. We Republicans understand that we must give our
professionals all the tools necessary to protect the American people.
(Applause.)

Iraq is an important issue in this campaign. I strongly believe that Iraq
is a central front in the war on terror. Oh, I know some of them in
Washington are saying Iraq is a diversion from the war on terror. That's
not what Osama bin Laden thinks. That's not what the number two man in al
Qaeda thinks, Mr. Zawahiri. It's important to listen to the words of the
enemy. Both of those men have said that it's just a matter of time for
America to lose her nerve and to leave Iraq. And that's what they want to
do, so they can have a safe haven from which to plot and plan and to attack
America again.

These extremists are bound by a common ideology of hate, and their
objective is to establish that ideology throughout the Middle East. Their
objective is to topple moderate government. Their objective is to use
energy as a resource to bring the West to its knees. And Iraq is a central
part in this war against them.

On this question, the Democrats have been all over the place. Most leading
Democrats argue we should pull our troops out of Iraq -- some, right away;
others, in just a few months, even if the terrorists have not yet been
defeated. Others recommend moving our troops to an island some 5,000 miles
away. Nineteen House Democrats introduced legislation that would cut off
all funds for our troops in Iraq. All these proposals have one thing in
common: they would have our country quit in Iraq before the job is done.
For the sake of the security of the United States of America, we must
defeat the enemy in Iraq. For the sake of world peace, for the sake of
peace for our children, we must not let the extremists have their way in
this vital front in the war on terror. So America will stay, we will fight,
and we will win in Iraq. (Applause.)

This summer, we saw what happens when a Democrat rejects his party's
doctrine of cut and run. Senator Joe Lieberman, a three-term Democrat from
Connecticut, supports completing the mission in Iraq, supports victory in
Iraq. And for taking this stand, he was purged from his party. Think about
what that means. Six years ago, the Democrats thought Joe Lieberman was
good enough to run for Vice President of the United States. Now, because he
supports victory in Iraq, they don't think he's fit to be in their party.
There's only position in the Democrat Party that everybody seems to agree
on: If you want to be a Democrat these days, you can be for almost
anything, but victory in Iraq is not an option.

The stakes in this war couldn't be higher. The security of the United
States is at stake, and we have no illusions; it's tough, the fighting is
tough, because an enemy understands what a defeat in Iraq would mean for
their ambitions. We are a nation at war, and we must do everything in our
power to win that war.

Our goal in Iraq is clear and unchanging. Our goal is victory. What is
changing are the tactics we use to pursue that goal and defeat our enemies.
In Iraq, we face adversaries who are brutal and they are sophisticated. Our
commanders on the ground are constantly adjusting to stay ahead of the
enemy. We have a strategy that allows us to be flexible and to adapt to
changing circumstances. We will continue to make the changes necessary to
support our troops, and to support those 12 million people in Iraq who want
to be free, and to support the new democracy in Iraq that represents the
unity of that country. There is one thing we will not do. We will not pull
out our troops from Iraq before the terrorists are defeated. We will not
pull out before Iraq can govern itself, sustain itself, and defend itself.

I'm going to make it clear to the American people what a policy of retreat
would mean. Retreating from Iraq would allow the terrorists to gain a new
state -- new safe haven to replace the one they lost in Afghanistan.
Retreating from Iraq would dishonor the service of our brave men and women
who have sacrificed in that country and have given their lives in that
country, which would mean their sacrifice would be in vain. Retreating from
Iraq would crush the hopes of the millions of people who just simply want
to live in peace, if America were to retreat. Retreating from Iraq would
embolden the terrorists and make our country more vulnerable to new
attacks. If we were to leave Iraq before the job is done, the enemy would
follow us here to America.

We know this, because that's what the terrorists tell us. Osama bin Laden
states that early American withdrawal from places like Beirut and Somalia
are proof that the United States does not have the stomach to stay in this
fight. The terrorists are trying to wait us out. They're hoping we will
lose our nerve and retreat in disgrace. If we were to follow the Democrat's
prescriptions and withdraw from Iraq, we would be fulfilling Osama bin
Laden's highest aspirations. There can be legitimate disagreements on the
best way to win this war, and there are. But we should at least be able to
agree that the path to victory is not to do precisely what the terrorists
want.

The stakes in this war are high, and so are the stakes in this election. I
want to tell you -- I want you to imagine what the House of Representatives
would look like if the Democrats get their way this November. The Chairman
of the House Ways and Means would be a Congressman who suggested cutting
off funding for our troops in Iraq.

The Speaker of the House, the official third-in-line for the presidency,
would be a Congresswoman who voted against renewing the Patriot Act,
against creating the Department of Homeland Security, against removing
Saddam Hussein from power, against continuing the terrorist surveillance
program, and against questioning terrorists in the CIA program. The Speaker
would be a Congressman who has called liberating 25 million Iraqis a
grotesque mistake. The Speaker would be a Congressman who said, catching
Osama bin Laden would not make America any safer. No wonder she says this
election should not be about national security. (Laughter.)

Given the Democrats' record on national security, I understand why they
want to change the subject. I don't want to change the subject. I'm going
to keep talking about the subject until Election Day. The most important
job of the government is to protect you. (Applause.)

We'll win. We will protect the American people by staying on the offense.
There's just a different attitude in Washington, if you really listen
carefully to the debate. Some believe that we should respond after attack.
I understand the consequences of attack, and so do you. We must take
threats seriously before they fully materialize.

We got a fantastic group of men and women who wear our uniform. They are
motivated, they are skilled, and Don Sherwood and I will make sure they
have all the tools necessary to protect the American people. (Applause.)

And we have one other asset at our disposal to protect the American people,
and that is the power of liberty. You know, there's an interesting debate
in the world about whether or not liberty is universal or not. I believe it
is. I believe there's an Almighty and I believe a gift of the Almighty to
each man and woman and child in this world is the desire to be free. That's
what I believe. I'm not surprised when 12 million people defied car bombers
and said, we want to live in a land of liberty.

You know, I was amazed that they defied the car bombers, but I'm not
surprised, because I believe everybody wants to be free. I believe people
have a deep desire to live in peace. And I know that liberty can help yield
the peace we want for generations to come. We're in an ideological struggle
between those of us who love liberty and extremists who can't stand the
thought of liberty. And it's the call of our generation. It's the challenge
of our time. But I have great confidence that our generation will rise and
meet the challenge like previous generations of Americans.

You know, I was reminded of that, and one of my favorite stories to share
with our fellow citizens is my trip down to Memphis, Tennessee, to Elvis's
place, with former Prime Minister Koizumi. He was sitting Prime Minister at
the time. People say, why did you go down there? I say, well, I had never
been to Elvis's place, and I thought it would be kind of fun to go down
there. Koizumi wanted to go to Elvis's place because he's an Elvis fan. But
I also wanted to tell an interesting story about the power of liberty to
our fellow citizens.

See, I find it very interesting that an 18-year-old George H.W. Bush
volunteered to fight the Japanese. After all, they were the sworn enemy of
the United States of America. And then his son is on an airplane, Air Force
One, flying down to Memphis, Tennessee, talking about the peace; talking
about how we can work together to convince the leader in North Korea to
give up his nuclear weapons ambitions; talking about why it was important
for Japan to have a thousand troops helping that young democracy in the
heart of the Middle East.

See, Koizumi understands what I know, that democracy will be a defeat to an
ideology of hatred in the long run. I found it interesting that my dad
fought the Japanese, and his son is talking about the peace with the Prime
Minister of the former enemy. Something happened, and what happened is
Japan adopted a Japanese-style democracy. Democracies yield the peace we
all want. Some day, an American President will be sitting down, talking
about the peace with duly-elected leaders in the Middle East, and
generations of Americans will be better off. That's the stake in the
elections. (Applause.)

These are the stakes in this election. I want to thank you for supporting
Don Sherwood. I want to thank you for being involved in the process. Now go
out and turn out the vote, and he's going to win.

May God bless you, and may God bless our country. (Applause.)

END 2:34 P.M. EDT

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