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Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds
Davenport, Iowa

12:07 P.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming. Thank you, all. Mr.Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I'm here to remind the good people of thiscongressional district that Jim Nussle is not only a fine man who caresdeeply about the citizens of Iowa, but it's in your best interest tomake sure that Jim Nussle is reelected to the United States Congress.(Applause.)

Any time -- any time you introduce a candidate as "Mr. Chairman,"that ought to tell you something about whether or not you want a changeor not. You see, when you've got somebody who's honorable and decentand full of integrity as the Chairman, you need to keep him, it's inyour interests. It's not only in your self interest, it's in theinterest for your state. And I'm here to tell you it's in the interestof the United States of America to make sure this good man is reelectedto the Congress. (Applause.)

I know him well. I've seen him under fire. I've seen people putimmense pressure on him to change, to forget why he got elected in thefirst place. He's steady as a rock. He's a loyal ally. He's a strongAmerican. He has earned the right to get reelected. Don't make amistake; this district shouldn't make a mistake. When you've got agood one, you make sure you keep him. And Jim Nussle is a good one andit's in your interests you keep him.

Jim, I'm proud to be by your side and I urge the people of thisdistrict to send you back to Washington, D.C. (Applause.)

I want to thank Karen Nussle for standing by Jim's side. It'simportant to have a -- in this business we're in, it's important tohave somebody stand by your side. (Laughter.) We both married aboveourselves. (Laughter.) I wish Laura were here with me. She's back inthe White House, but I can't tell you how proud I am of the job she'sdoing. I want to thank you for holding up the Laura book.(Laughter.) Yes. (Applause.) I haven't read it yet, but it better sayshe's one of the finest women God's ever produced. (Laughter.) Ifthey're interested in the truth they know that she's doing a great jobas the First Lady, and she sends her best to all the good friends ofours here in the state of Iowa. (Applause.)

It's good to have met Sarah and Mark Nussle, Jim's children. It'sgood to have met his mother. I asked Ms. Laura Nussle whether or notMark -- I mean, Jim was still listening to her. She said, about halfthe time. (Laughter.) I said, well, that's about as much time as Ilisten to mine, too. (Laughter.)

It's great to have the Nussle family here. I'm also honored to betraveling today with a great United States senator. I emphasize"great" because he's worked hard on behalf of the citizens of Iowa.When he was the Chairman of the Finance Committee, something that Idearly hope happens again soon, he made a huge difference for ourcountry. And that's, of course, Chuck Grassley. (Applause.)

I'm also honored to be traveling today with a fine United Statescongressman, a gentleman, a really bright citizen of our country,somebody who cares deeply about America, and that's Jim Leach.(Applause.) In case some of you all are not in Nussle's district, butin Leach's district, it's really important to send him back, too.(Laughter.) He's a fine man, brings a lot of integrity and class. Andso does the next United States senator from the state of Iowa, andthat's Greg Ganske. (Applause.)

I appreciate you being here, Greg. He's a hard worker. He's goingto make a fine senator. I look forward to working with both he andSenator Grassley on working on the interests of the citizens of Iowa,but more importantly, the interests of the citizens of the entirecountry. That's the way these two men think.

I'm proud to be here with a Congressman -- a state senator now,soon to be a Congressman named, Steve King. Steve, thank you forcoming today. (Applause.) Oh, hi, Steve. I appreciate Chuck Larson,who is the Chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa for coming.(Applause.) Good to see you, Chuck.

I want to thank all of you who have come to help Jim. This is ahuge turnout. It's a good sign, it seems like to me. But I also wantto thank those of you who are working the grassroots here in the stateof Iowa. I want to thank you for what you have done, and asimportantly, what you're going to do, which means turn out the vote.

You see, all this stuff helps, these rallies help. But the mostimportant thing is to turn out the vote; is to find your neighbors,when you go to your coffee shops or your churches, or your communitycenters, you've got to pass the word -- pass the word that people needto participate in the process; and as they start to head toparticipate, tell them about the qualities of the man that we'resupporting here today. Grassroots politics makes a huge difference inthe outcome of these races. And so for those of you who are willing tovolunteer your time and to lick the envelopes and make the phone callsand stick the signs in the ground, thanks. Just get ready, get youruniforms on. (Laughter.) We're coming down the stretch. We need yourhelp.

Chairman Nussle is the head of the budget. The House passed abudget. The Senate can't pass a budget. That says something about hisleadership. It's important to have a budget in Washington, becausewithout a budget, there is a tendency to overspend. (Laughter.)Without a budget, every idea sounds like a brilliant idea. Withoutsome kind of constraint on the appropriations process in Washington, asthey might say in this part of the world, somebody is liable to go hogwild. (Laughter.)

And sometimes those somebodies who go hog wild forget whose moneythey're spending. Nussle and I understand this, when it comes tospending the money in Washington, it's not the government's money wespend, it's your money, it's the people's money. (Applause.)

And Jim understands that, and so do I. And that's why we're goingto have to have some budget restraint. In order to make sure oureconomy -- the foundation of economic growth doesn't crumble, we've gotto make sure there is budget restraint in Washington. We've got plentyof money up there. We can fund our priorities. The thing I appreciateabout this Chairman's leadership is he has a clear vision of how to getback to a balanced budget.

And that's important for you. It's important to have a leader upthere who understands that. He also understood what I understood, inthe face of a recession, you've got to let the people have their ownmoney. You see, if you're worried about jobs like we're worried aboutjobs, the best way to help the economy recover is to trust the peoplewith their own money. And so we cut the taxes on the people, peoplehave more money to spend -- and when you spend it, somebody is going toproduce a good or a service to meet your demand. And when they dothat, somebody is more likely to find work.

Our tax relief plan came at the right time in American history, andI'm proud of the work Jim did, I'm proud of the work Chuck Grassley andJim Leach and Greg Ganske did. And now, for the sake of thehard-working people of Iowa and for the sake of the farmers andranchers in this part of the world, we need to make sure the tax reliefis permanent and the death tax is forever extinguished. (Applause.)

You listen to these debates in these congressional campaigns in theSenate race, they're going to use every excuse in the book to take thetax relief away -- that's a tax increase, as far as I'm concerned. Andone thing you don't do in the midst of an economic slow-down is raisethe taxes on the people. If you're interested in job creation, ifyou're interested more about spending a person's pocketbook rather thanthe government's pocketbook, you let the people keep their own money.And Jim Nussle understands that.

He also understands the importance of education. We passed areally good education bill. It's one that sets high standards, thatsays that every child can learn. It challenges what I call the softbigotry of low expectations. See, we understand if you lower the baryou get bad results. If you have expectations that are something otherthan excellent, if you have mediocre expectations, you'll getmediocrity out of your school systems.

As well, Jim and I understood, as do the other members of the Iowadelegation, that the place to enhance educational excellence is totrust the local people. See, we understand the people of Iowa caremore about the children in Iowa than bureaucracies in Washington, D.C.do. So this bill passed power out of Washington. (Applause.)

And finally, we finally began to say in America that if you takefederal money you need to show us whether or not our children arelearning to read and write and add and subtract. See, if you believeevery child can learn, the next question is, well, are the childrenlearning to read and write? If you believe that, then you want to askthe question and you want to know. And if they are, then we ought topraise the teachers in school districts that are meeting this highstandards. But if not, we need to teach children early. Because Jimand I understand there's no second-rate children in America. No childshould left behind -- be behind in this country. (Applause.)

Jim mentioned a very important issue and that is Medicare. See,the Medicare system is an important system. Really important we get itright. Medicine has changed; Medicare hadn't. And one of the thingsthat Jim Nussle is on the -- is leading in Congress -- I mean, leading-- is to make sure that there's a level playing field for Iowaseniors. He and Chuck Grassley, Greg Ganske and Jim Leach spent a lotof time on this issue, and they understand that they need to work withCongress to get it done. I'm proud of the leadership of Jim Nussle.I'm proud of the leadership of Chuck Grassley and Greg Ganske and JimLeach. These fine Iowa citizens know there's a problem and they'reworking with both parties to solve the problem. If you want theproblem solved, you better make sure that this man is reelected to theUnited States Congress. (Applause.)

Nussle is a friend of the farmer, and so am I. I understand goodagricultural policy is important for the economy of our country. Ialso want us an energy bill that includes a strong renewable section inthe energy bill, which means ethanol. But also, Jim understands what Iunderstand, that if you're good at something, you want to promote it.And since we're the best farmers in the world, we ought to be doingeverything we can to sell our farm products around the world. And Iappreciate so very much his strong support for a trade bill that willbe good for the Iowa farmers. (Applause.)

And Greg, I appreciate your support on a trade bill that will begood for the Iowa farmers. Same with you, Senator, and CongressmanLeach as well. It's an important piece of legislation I signed. And Ipromise you, I'm going to use this legislation to open up markets, soour farmers can make a living.

Finally, I appreciate Jim Nussle's understanding that we're --we've got a problem with an enemy that hates us; that he clearly seeslike I see that there is a true threat to our freedoms. People say,well, you know -- I'm sure youngsters say, well, why would somebodywant to hurt America? And the answer is, because we love freedom. Theanswer to those youngsters who wonder why we're at war is, because theyhate us, because we love something precious. The more we love ourfreedoms, the more they hate us, and that's just reality of the 21stcentury.

You see, we love the idea of people being able to worship freely,to worship an almighty God the way they want to worship an almightyGod. We welcome that, we treasure that, we hold that dear, and theenemy hates that idea. (Applause.)

We believe in open debate, we believe in freedom of the press. Welove our freedom in America. And nobody is going to take it away fromus, no matter how hard they try. See, we're in a new era here in thisworld. It used to be we thought there was two oceans that separate usfrom an enemy. And we learned differently. We learned that there areno oceans which can protect us.

We used to think that war was a measurement of tanks and artilleryand airplanes and ships. This is a new war. It's the kind where theenemy hides -- the leadership of the enemy hides in caves, and sendtheir youngsters to their suicidal death. They kind of move around inthe shadows of big cities in some countries, and hide, and then strikehard. It doesn't require a lot of weaponry for them to be successful,because they're cold-blooded killers. They're nothing but a bunch ofcold-blooded killers.

A major difference between this great country, this decent,compassionate land, and the people we're hunting down, is we valuelife. We say, every life is precious, everybody counts, everybodymatters in this country. (Applause.)

Our most important job is to protect the homeland. Our mostimportant job is to do everything in our power to make sure that you'resafe, that the enemy is unable to take innocent life again. And it's abig job, because we're a big country. But we're making progress, we'remaking good progress at home.

We've got a lot of people on alert. We've got a lot of hardworkingAmericans running down every lead. If we get a hint that somebodymight be thinking about doing something, you need to know we're actingon it, within the confines of the United States Constitution, I mightadd. We believe in our freedoms and we're going to protect ourfreedoms. But we're running down every single -- every single lead.And we're getting a lot of leads, we are.

The other day, as you know, the country went on a higher status ofalert, for a reason -- the noise level began to gin up. A lot ofpeople are working hard to protect you. I've asked the Congress tojoin me -- I want to thank the House of Representatives for hearingthat call -- to join me in the creation of the department of homelandsecurity so we could better coordinate the government agencies involvedwith your protection.

Prior to September the 11th they would be worried about differentthings than the Coast Guard, or different things than the BorderPatrol. Now the number one priority for these agencies is yourprotection. And, therefore, they ought to work under one agency. AndI also need, in order to protect you better, the flexibility to movepeople from one place to another in order to respond to the needs ofthe enemy. (Applause.)

The House heard that, and I want to thank Jim for his vote. I wantto thank Ganske and Leach for their votes. It looks like to me theSenate is heading down the wrong path. I hope not, but it may be. Yousee, they want to micromanage the process. They're more interested inspecial interest in Washington, as opposed to your interest, which isprotecting the homeland. I expect there to be a bill on my desk soon,and I expect there to be a bill that gives me the flexibility -- andfuture Presidents the flexibility -- necessary to do everything we canto protect the American people from an enemy which hates. (Applause.)

The best strategy, and only strategy, to defend the homeland is tochase the killers down, one at a time, and bring them to justice. It'sif they're in a cave, we head into a cave. If they're in some shadowyneighborhood, we'll finally put the spotlight on the shadowyneighborhood. It doesn't matter where they hide, we're after them, oneperson at a time. (Applause.)

And we're making good progress. We're making good progress. Theother day I'm sure you picked up your newspapers or saw on your TVsthat we captured the guy that thought he wanted to be the 20thhijacker. I want to thank the Pakistani government for cooperatingwith U.S. personnel to bring this person to justice. This guy is justanother killer, and we got him. He, along with several thousand otherswe have gotten. And another like number hadn't been quite so lucky,they weren't got -- they were gotten the ultimate way. Slowly butsurely, we're dismantling a terrorist network which wants to do moreharm on America.

And I want to thank those of you who have got a relative in theUnited States military. My, we have got a fabulous United Statesmilitary. (Applause.)

I asked our Congress for an increase in defense spending -- asignificant increase in defense spending, because my attitude is this:any time we put our youngsters into harm's way, they deserve the bestpay, the best training and the best possible equipment. (Applause.)

I also wanted to send a message to friend and foe alike that we'rein this deal for the long haul, and when it comes to the defense of ourfreedoms, this mighty country is going to stay the course; that we'renot going to forget what happened on September the 11th; that we'resteadfast and resolved because we believe in peace. We owe it to ourchildren to make the world more secure, that freedom has a chance andthat it's a peaceful tomorrow, that's what we owe it to them.

It's going to be a rocky hill at times getting to that piece.There's some threats out there that we have to deal with. The otherday I gave a speech at the United Nations, delineating one of theclearest threats we face. See, we've got a man in that part of theworld who agreed to disarm, agreed to pay compensation to the victimsof the horrible crimes he committed, agreed not to harbor terrorists --and he's broken every single agreement.

For 11 long years he has stiffed the world community. I went tothe United Nations and said, either you can be relevant in the world ornot, your pick. We want you to be a part of keeping the peace. Wewant you to be strong. (Applause.)

But I also had another message -- we the world cannot let theworld's worst leaders harbor and develop the world's worst weapons.This tyrant must be dealt with, for the sake of our children and ourchildren's children. We owe it to the world to show strength andresolve and leadership. (Applause.)

This country is a great and strong country. Witness the fact thatwhat happened after 9/11. Instead of being cowed by these terrorists,we rose up in mighty indignation. But we also did something else, andit's happening all across Iowa and all across America. Peopleunderstand that in order to fight evil, you can do so by loving yourneighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself.

In community after community, citizens understand there's adifferent calling to patriotism today, that a patriot is more thansomebody who just puts his hand over his heart. A patriot is alsosomebody who wants to make the community in which they live a moredecent and honorable place, a more compassionate place. In the midstof our plenty, there are people in America who hurt.

There are pockets of despair and hopelessness. And government canhand out money, and frankly we do a pretty good job of it. But what itcannot do is put hope into people's hearts or a sense of purpose inpeople's lives. That's done when a citizen puts his or her arm aroundsomebody who hurts, and says: I love you, what can I do to help you?Can I mentor you? Can I teach you to read? As a shut-in, what can Ido to make your day a brighter day? No, my call to the Americanpeople, if you want to join the war on terror, is to love yourneighbor, is to help somebody.

Flight 93 -- I had the honor of going to the site and hugging thefamilies of the 40 who were on that airplane. Flight 93, it's theflight where people flying across the country heard the plane was goingto be used as a weapon. They called their loved ones on cell phones,and told them: I love you. They told -- one of them said, let's --they said a prayer, a guy said: let's roll. They took the plane intothe ground to serve something greater than themselves in life.

It's an example of what is happening in America, where peopleunderstand serving something greater than self is a part of being acomplete American. (Applause.) I call upon all of you all -- my callto our fellow Americans is, when you find hurt, be a part of healing;and recognize that while you can't do everything, you can do somethingto help change America, one heart and one soul and one conscience at atime.

No, the enemy hit us, they hit us. But out of that terrible daycan come some good. There's no doubt in my mind, if America remainsstrong and steadfast, we can achieve peace -- can achieve peace forthis generation and for future generations to come.

And the enemy hit us, and out of the evil done to America that dayis going to come a more compassionate and decent and hopeful America,because they hit the greatest nation, full of the finest people on theface of the earth.

Thank you all for coming. May God bless. God bless America.Thank you, all. (Applause.)

END 12:33 P.M. CDT

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