For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 31, 2002
Remarks by the President at West Virginia Welcome
Charleston Civic Center
Charleston, West Virginia
6:48 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. I'm glad I came.
(Applause.)
Thanks for your invitation and thank you all for coming. Thanks
for your interest in our great country. I'm here to tell you that the
American spirit is alive and well in West Virginia, and it's alive and
well -- (applause) -- it's alive and well all across the country. It's
a spirit which says that we've got the fortitude to defend our
freedoms, that we've got the compassion to help a neighbor in need.
It's a spirit which says we understand the stakes ahead of us and we
will do whatever it takes to defend our freedom.
And part of the American spirit means that our citizens must do
their duty. In a democracy, it depends upon the participation of our
citizens. So I've come to this great state to urge all the citizens of
West Virginia, Republicans and Democrats, people who don't give a hoot
about a political party -- (applause) -- to do your duty, to do your
duty and to go to the polls next Tuesday.
And I've got a strong suggestion. I've got an idea about how to
make sure West Virginia remains a strong state. I've got an idea on
how to make sure that West Virginia sends the best to the United States
Congress. And that is to send Shelley Moore Capito back to the
Congress. (Applause.)
I want to thank all the candidates who are here. I want to thank
the good folks who put their name on the ballot who are working hard.
I particularly want to pay homage to Jay Wolfe, the Republican
candidate for the United States Senate. (Applause.)
I want to thank all the grassroots activists who are here. You're
the good people who work hard to get these candidates elected. You're
the good folks who help me win, and you're the good folks who are going
to help Shelley Moore go back to the United States Congress.
(Applause.) She can't win without you. So over the next couple of
days, when you're going to your coffee shops or your houses of worship,
or your community centers, tell your fellow citizens they have an
obligation to go to the polls. Don't worry about talking to some of
these Democrats. There's plenty of Democrats in this state who
understand Shelley Moore Capito has done a great job. (Applause.)
Round up the vote. Round up the vote and work hard. She needs
your help. And there's a good reason to send her back to the United
States Congress. First of all, she's an independent person,
representing an independent state. She's smart, she's capable, she
brings class to the office. (Applause.) She loves her family.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: I love you, George.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. I appreciate so very much her husband
Charlie -- his patience, his support of Shelley Moore. He is a really
fine husband. She married well, and so did I. (Applause.) One of
Laura's favorite members of Congress is Shelley Moore Capito. She's
got good judgment, Laura does. (Applause.) Most of the time.
(Laughter.) Some of her friends questioned her judgment when there I
was on bended knee, she said, yes, I'll marry you. (Laughter.) Thank
goodness she did say yes. She is a great First Lady for our country.
(Applause.)
Now, there's a lot of reasons besides Shelley Moore's character
that we need her in the United States Congress. She's an effective
person. She can get things done. She's a breath of fresh air. She
doesn't -- her demeanor is such, she doesn't represent that stale, old
politics, where you get ahead by trashing somebody. See, she's got a
vision. She knows what she wants to do and she knows our great country
has got some challenges. And I look forward to continuing to work with
her to meet those challenges.
One of the biggest challenges we have is to make sure people can
find work in America. We had good news today on the quarterly growth.
But so long as somebody is looking for work and can't find a job, we've
got to continue to stress job creation. (Applause.) We've got to do
what's right. We've got to do what's right by our people to make sure
they can find a job. I want people being able to put food on the
table.
I'm optimistic. We've overcome some pretty steep hurdles already.
After all, the economy has gone through a recession. We withstood some
serious terrorist attacks. And yet we're still strong, and we're
moving forward. But we won't rest. (Applause.) We won't rest until
people can find work.
Shelley Moore Capito and I understand the role of small business in
our society. It's important to have somebody in Congress who
understands that. She serves on the Committee for Small Business.
See, we understand most new jobs are created by entrepreneurs and small
business owners. Seventy percent of new job creation, it comes from
the ingenuity and hard work of our small business sector. And
therefore, growth policy ought to be directed toward small businesses.
One thing to make sure small businesses grow is to make sure they have
more money in their pocket. That's why the tax relief plan we passed
makes eminent sense for job creation. (Applause.)
That tax relief plan was good for small businesses and job
creation, and it is good for West Virginia citizens as well. Over the
next 10 years, that relief plan, if it stays intact, will provide you
all $5.5 billion. Now, I want you to understand, Shelly and I
understand, we're not talking about the government's money. See,
that's the difference of attitude with some of them in Washington.
They say, oh, we're spending the government's money, or we're giving
the government's money back to the people. It's your money to begin
with. (Applause.)
That tax relief plan was important because when you have more money
in your pocket, you're more than likely to demand an additional good or
a service. And when you demand a good or a service in the marketplace,
somebody is going to produce the good or a service. And when somebody
produces that good or service, somebody in West Virginia or around
America is more likely to find work. I need people in the United
States Congress who understand this and are willing to make the tax
cuts permanent. (Applause.) And make no mistake about it, that
somebody in West Virginia is Shelley Moore Capito. (Applause.)
There are other things we can do in Congress to get people
working. We need terrorism insurance. We want our hard-hats working.
We want the people who are wearing those hard hats building those
buildings. And therefore the Congress needs to work with the
administration to make sure there's terrorism insurance to get billions
of dollars of construction programs going again. And, by the way, the
bill must reward the hardworking Americans, the hard-hats, and not
America's trial lawyers. (Applause.)
I appreciate -- I appreciate working with Shelley on a key issue
for West Virginia and America, and that's an energy plan. It's about
time this country had an energy plan. That's good for not only job
security but national security. We need an energy plan which
encourages conservation, works on renewables. We need an energy plan
that's realistic. We need an energy plan that understands the
importance of coal and clean coal technology. (Applause.)
We need an energy plan that not only helps people find work, but an
energy plan that makes us less reliant on foreign sources of crude
oil. (Applause.)
No, there are some things that Congress can do and there's
something Congress has done to help the economy. Not only did the
terrorists attack us, which hurt the economy, we had a slight problem,
more than a slight problem, a significant problem with some of the
people running corporate America. See, they thought they could lie,
fudge the numbers, and get away with it.
We sure did, we passed the best corporate reform bill since
Franklin D. Roosevelt was the President. Shelley Moore Capito was by
my side passing that law, and there's a new signal we're sending: No
more easy money in America, just hard time. (Applause.)
We've got the foundation for growth. And we'll continue to work
together to make sure people can find work. We also got to work
together to make sure our health care systems work. Medicare is a key
issue. The Speaker found one of the best there is, and put her on as
the vice-chairman of the Speaker's prescription drug task force, and
that's your congresswoman. (Applause.) You see, medicine has
changed. Medicine has changed because of technology and new
discoveries. Medicare hasn't changed. Medicine is progressive;
Medicare is stuck in the past.
For the sake of a good future for our citizens, we must make sure
Medicare is modern, and that means prescription drug benefits for our
seniors. (Applause.) And Shelley Moore Capito led the way in the
House of Representatives on this key issue.
And there's another key issue facing health care. We want our
citizens to be able to have affordable health care. And there must be
doctors available. One of my big concerns is the medical liability
situation around the country. Listen, we want our people to be able to
get to the courts if they've got a claim. Everybody ought to be able
to go to the courts if they have a claim. But the problem is frivolous
and junk lawsuits are driving doctors out of business, and are running
the price of medicine up. (Applause.)
And Shelley Moore Capito understands the need for medical liability
reform for the good of West Virginia patients, so health care is
affordable and health care is accessible.
And one other issue we worked on, I'm real proud of her work, and
that is to make sure our schools are great. We passed one of the most
meaningful education reform packages in a long, long time. Thanks to
Shelley Moore's hard work, the West Virginia schools will receive $330
million of federal money this year. (Applause.)
But we did something else. We passed power out of Washington
because we believe in local control of schools. But we also were
willing to challenge the soft bigotry of low expectations. We've set
high standards and high expectations. We expect the best for every
single child who lives in America. We'll praise success. But when we
find children trapped in schools which will not teach and will not
change, we will demand that the status quo changes. No child shall be
left behind in America. (Applause.)
No, I appreciate working with Shelley Moore Capito on these key
issues, and we'll continue working together for the good of the country
and for the good of West Virginia. There's one big issue that we're
going to work together on as well. Overriding all the concerns I've
just outlined is one big issue, and that is to protect America. That's
our most important job, is to protect you and your families from
further attack. And there's still an enemy out there lurking around.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Go get 'em!
THE PRESIDENT: And they're motivated. They're motivated because
they hate us, and they hate us because of what we love. We love
freedom and we're not going to change. (Applause.)
And so, in order to make sure we do a good job -- and, by the way,
there's a lot of good people working on your behalf right now, at the
federal level and the state level and the local level. We got the
message about this enemy. We're aware they're there, we're aware of
their hatreds. We know that they're different from Americans because
they don't value innocent life, and we say every life is precious.
Everybody counts. Everybody has worth. (Applause.)
So we understand, and any time we get a hint that somebody is
thinking about doing something to America, we're moving on it. Any
time we get any evidence that somebody is trying to do something to
this great country, we're going to move, we're going to deny, we're
going to disrupt -- everything within our power and within the United
States Constitution to do our solemn duty, which is to protect the
American people.
And that's why I went to the United States Congress and asked them
to join with me in the creation of a department of homeland security,
so we can better protect the homeland, so we can get the agencies
involved with homeland security to work together, to set as their
priority your protection, and if need be, to work together to change
cultures, so that the number one priority is in fact the protection of
the homeland.
Shelley Moore Capito supported my version of the bill in the
House. It got stuck in the United States Senate. And let me tell you
why, because the United States Senate wanted to take away a power every
President has had since John F. Kennedy -- every President since
Kennedy has had the capacity to suspend some work rules in order -- for
the sake of national security. Presidents have had the capacity to
say, well, this is in our nation's interest, therefore certain work
rules must be scrapped for the good of the country.
Secondly, I need the flexibility and the ability to put the right
people at the right time at the right -- I don't need a book this thick
of bureaucratic rules written by special interests in Washington.
(Applause.) I appreciate Shelley's support on this key issue. But I
want you all to know that the best way to protect America, the best
homeland protection is to chase the killers down, one person at a time,
and bring them to justice. (Applause.) And that's what we're going to
do.
I want to thank the Congress for sending a defense bill to my desk
that was the largest increase in defense spending since Ronald Reagan
was the President. (Applause.) I asked for that increase for two
reasons, and I want to share them with you. I believe strongly that
any time we put one of our youngsters into harm's way, any time our
military goes into harm's way, they deserve the best pay, the best
training, and the best possible equipment. (Applause.) We owe that to
our soldiers and we owe that to the loved ones of our soldiers.
And secondly, the message we sent with that defense bill is this --
and it's important for you to hear this, it's important for our enemy
to hear this, and our friends to hear this -- it doesn't matter how
long it takes to defend America, we will defend our country.
(Applause.) There's no calendar on my desk, in that great Oval Office
-- there is no calendar on my desk that says, by such and such a date,
we're hauling it in.
That's just not the way I think, and I know it's not the way
America thinks. We have a duty and an obligation to defend our
freedoms. We have an obligation to the youngsters coming up to make
sure our society is a free society. We have an obligation to defend
the innocent. We have an obligation to bring justice to those who
murder Americans. That's our obligation, and it's an obligation we
will keep. (Applause.)
Shelley understands, like I know, this is a different kind of war.
Some great veterans here with us today, they remember the days when you
could judge progress against an enemy by the number of tanks that you
destroyed, or the number of airplanes you shot down, or the number of
ships you sunk. This enemy doesn't have tanks, they don't have ships.
They hide in caves. They live in -- they kind of ooch around --
(laughter) -- the dark corners of the world, and send youngsters to
their suicidal deaths. They're fanatics. They're motivated out of
hate. They only way to treat them is like they are, cold-blooded
killers, and run them down. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A!
THE PRESIDENT: It is important for our countrymen to understand,
therapy won't work. (Laughter.) And that's why we put together this
coalition of freedom loving countries, to disrupt them, to cut off
their money, to put the spotlight on them in these caves. The doctrine
that says, either you're with us or you're with the enemy still
stands. (Applause.)
And we're making good progress on this different kind of war.
Sometimes you'll see it on your TV screens, sometimes you're just not
going to know about it. But slowly but surely, we're rounding them
up. We've hauled in over a couple of thousand of them. Like number
weren't as lucky. Either case, neither group is a threat.
One of them popped his head up the other day, the 20th hijacker.
He's not a problem to America anymore, either. (Applause.)
It's important for us to be steady and determined to succeed,
because, you see, the stakes have changed. I can see a lot of folks my
age out there that remember the day when oceans protected us. If there
was a conflict somewhere around the world, we felt pretty good at home,
because the oceans were able to protect the homeland. But on September
the 11th, on that tragic day, history changed. We now have got the
battlefield here at home, and therefore it's very important for us to
be clear eyed and realistic. We can't look at the world the way we
hope the world would be. We must look at the world the way it is. We
must see threats for what they are.
And there's a true threat to America and our friends and allies in
Iraq. Saddam Hussein -- Saddam Hussein is a man who told the world
that he would have no weapons of mass destruction. He deceived the
world. For 11 long years, he has deceived and denied the truth. This
is a man who not only has weapons of mass destruction, a man who was
close to have a nuclear weapon at one time, a man who has used weapons
of mass destruction on his own people, and in his neighborhood. This
is a man who hates America and hates our friends. This is a man who
has defied the United Nations 16 times. Sixteen times the United
Nations has said, disarm like you said you were going to, and 16 times
he thumbs his nose.
So I went to the United Nations. I said, I want you to succeed as
a body. It's important for you to succeed, it seems like to me, when
we face new threats to freedom, new threats to countries such as
America. We want you to succeed. We want you to be an effective
body. We don't want you to be the League of Nations, an empty debating
society. They have a choice to make as to whether or not they want the
United Nations to be effective. We of course want them to be.
Saddam Hussein has a choice to make. We've made it clear that
nobody likes war, nobody likes what could happen during war. But for
the sake of peace, Mr. Hussein, get rid of your weapons. You said you
wouldn't have them, get rid of them.
The other day the United States Congress stood strong and spoke
with one voice. And here's our message: If the United Nations is
incapable of disarming Saddam Hussein, and if Saddam Hussein will not
disarm, then the United States, for the sake of peace, for the sake of
freedom, the United States will lead a coalition of nations and disarm
Saddam Hussein. (Applause.)
We have a chance -- we have a chance because of what the enemy did
to us to lead the world to peace. See, out of the evil done to America
is going to come some incredible good, because this is a really strong
nation. I don't know what went through their mind, what they were
thinking about when they attacked America. They probably thought our
national religion was materialism, that we were so self-absorbed and
selfish that after September the 11th we might file a lawsuit or two.
(Laughter.)
But they learned -- they learned something about America, something
you know and I know, that when it comes to the defense of our freedom,
when it comes to fighting for things we hold dear, there's nothing is
stopping this great nation. (Applause.)
No, we're not only a great nation militarily, we're a great nation,
period. I want you to remind your youngsters that in the first theater
of the first war of the 21st century, we went into an impoverished
country, Afghanistan, not to conquer anybody, but to liberate people.
We believe every life counts, everybody is precious. We understand
freedom is not American given, it is God given. And we believe in
freedom for all people. (Applause.)
I believe out of the evil done to America is going to come some
great good, starting with peace. Amidst all the talk of war, I have a
vision for peace. I want America to be at peace. I want there to be
peace in parts of the world that have given up on peace -- peace in the
Middle East and peace in South Asia.
No, if we remain strong, diligent and focused, as we rout out
terror and deal with some of the world's dictators that want to harm us
or our friends with weapons of mass destruction, we can achieve peace
and lasting peace. And here at home, we can have a better America.
Here at home, we have a chance to take an assessment of what's
important in life. A lot of people have done that. September the 11th
was a shock to our systems. A lot of people took a step back, and
said, what is life all about, what can I do to help, what can I do to
help fight evil? And my answer is, do some good. If you want to fight
evil, love your neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself.
(Applause.)
There are people who hurt in America. Amongst our plenty, there
are people who hurt. There's addiction and loneliness and
hopelessness. There are people when you say, American Dream, they go,
I don't understand what you mean. So long as any of us hurt, we all
hurt, as far as I'm concerned. But we've got to remember the
limitations of government.
We talked about ways government can improve people's lives.
Government can hand out money, but government can never put hope in
people's hearts or a sense of purpose in people's lives. That happens
when a fellow citizen finds somebody who hurts, somebody in need, and
puts their arm around them and says, I love you, brother or, I love
you, sister. (Applause.)
Part of the American spirit is not only to defend our freedoms, but
part of the American spirit is to work to eradicate the problems that
face our society, one heart, one soul, one person at a time.
And it's taking place here. Today I met John Wells, Jr., from
right here from your -- right here from West Virginia. For 30 years
he's been active in youth organizations. He's been involved in Boy
Scouts, he worked for the YMCA. You see, if you want to change
America, it doesn't take much. Oh, you can mentor a child, which is a
way to change America, you can help a shut-in, you can run a Girl Scout
troop. You can do anything to help somebody realize their potential,
and that there's love and there's compassion in the world.
The American spirit calls upon each of us to serve something
greater than ourself in life. Perhaps the most vivid example of that
spirit and why it's alive and how it's alive today happened on Flight
93. I'm sure you remember. People were flying across the country.
They were told that their plane was being used as a weapon. They were
on their cell phones. They told their loved ones they loved them and
good-bye. They said a prayer. One guy said, let's roll. They drove
the plane into the ground to save life. They served something greater
than themselves. (Applause.)
No, the American spirit is alive and well. It's strong, which
allows me to boldly predict that out of the evil done to America is
going to come a more peaceful world and a more hopeful America. And I
say that with absolute certainty, because America is the greatest
nation, full of the most decent people on the face of this Earth.
Thank you for coming tonight. May God bless you, and may God bless
America. (Applause.)
END 7:20 P.M. EST
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