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Skriven 2006-03-27 23:35:14 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0603275) for Mon, 2006 Mar 27
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President Makes Remarks at Friends of Conrad Burns Reception
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 27, 2006

President Makes Remarks at Friends of Conrad Burns Reception
The Madison Hotel
Washington, D.C.



6:07 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Senator, thank you. I kind of like being on the same
platform as Senator Burns because he makes me sound like Shakespeare.
(Laughter.) I like a plain-talking fellow. The good thing about Conrad
Burns is you know where he stands. That's why the people of Montana respect
him and they like him. And I'm here to urge the good people of the state of
Montana to send him back to the United States Senate. (Applause.)

I appreciate Phyllis. Phyllis, it's great to see you. Conrad married well.
(Laughter.) So did I. And Laura sends her love to both you all. It was neat
to meet daughter Keely and son Garrett, daughter-on-law Kate. But right
before we came on, the Senator wanted me to make sure I understood how
brilliant and beautiful his granddaughter Ella is. That says something
about the man. He's got his priorities straight. He cares deeply about his
family. He understands the importance of family in our society. And I
appreciate your priorities, Senator.

By the way, he also loves Montana. Every time I see him he says, I want you
to remember the great state of Montana. He cares deeply about the people
there and he knows the state about as well as anybody could possibly know
it. He's traveled the state. He tells people what's on his mind. He is --
he's a down-to-earth guy. And the people of Montana have got to understand
he can get some things done here in Washington, D.C. No, there's a lot of
eloquent folks in this town, but it's sometimes short of doers and people
who can accomplish some things. I'm here because Senator Burns can get some
things done for the good of the people of Montana and the people of the
United States of America. (Applause.)

I thank Congressman Denny Rehberg for being here, as well. He's a good,
down-to-earth guy, too. And he's serving the great state of Montana with
class and dignity. He is the -- he's the leader of the Montana
congressional delegation. (Laughter.)

I appreciate Senator Kit Bond. Senator Bond, from Missouri, is here
tonight. It's nice of him to come by. (Applause.) It's good of you to honor
your old buddy, and I'm proud to -- I recently said hello to former Senator
Don Nickles from Oklahoma. Don, thank you for coming here, as well.
(Applause.) Montana has elected some fine people -- no finer person than
Mark Racicot, who I've gotten to know really well, and I appreciate you
being here, Governor. Thanks for coming. (Applause.)

Karl Ohs, who is the Chairman of the Republican Party, and Sherri is with
us -- Republican Party of Montana, that is. I appreciate you being here,
Mr. Chairman. Thanks for coming. (Applause.) I want to thank John Greene
who is the Finance Chair. Thank you all for listening to John's admonition
to support this good man. Long word -- he's trying to show off here for the
folks of Montana. (Laughter.)

I particularly want to thank the International Union of Painters and Allied
Trades for endorsing Conrad Burns tonight. The Painters' General President,
Jimmy Williams, is here. Jimmy, thank you for supporting this good man I'm
proud you're here. There's Jimmy over there. (Applause.)

We've got a -- we've got a lot to do in this country. We're in -- we're
going through historic times, and it's important to have people in the
United States Senate who understand the stakes, understand the world in
which we live. It's important to have clear-eyed realists working with the
administration to lay the foundation for peace. It's really easy to be out
there talking about the world the way you'd like it to be. But we can't
afford that luxury because we're in a war against some terrorists who would
like to harm America again.

Our -- over my time -- my remaining time here and the time that Senator
Burns will have here after he's reelected, we'll be working on making sure
that we accomplished our most important objective, and that is to protect
the American people from further harm. I know some probably think that,
well, this war on terror is isolated to a few angry individuals that got
lucky on September the 11th. That's not how I look at the world, and that's
not how Conrad Burns looks at the world. After that attack, I vowed that
I'd use everything in our national -- everything we could, all our national
assets, to do our most important job, and that is defend the American
people, which means we better have some people in the United States Senate
who understand the best way to defend the American people is to stay on the
offense against an enemy who would do us harm, to defeat an enemy overseas
so we do not have to face them here at home. (Applause.)

I appreciate people standing up and supporting the President when he
enforced this doctrine. I said to the world, if you harbor a terrorist,
you're equally as guilty as the terrorist. And the Taliban didn't take us
seriously. So for our own national security, and for liberating others, we
sent a mighty coalition into Afghanistan to free the people of that
country, and at the same time, secure our own. And Conrad Burns stood
strong when it came to the liberation of Afghanistan, and I want to thank
you for your support.

I want to thank you for your support in Iraq. Iraq is the central front --
(applause) -- Iraq is the central front in the war on terror. And one of
the lessons of September the 11th is that when this nation sees a threat,
we must take the threat seriously before it -- before it materializes.

And I saw a threat in Saddam Hussein. But it wasn't just me who saw the
threat. Members of the United States Senate from both political parties saw
the same threat. My predecessor saw the threat. Members of the House of
Representatives from both political parties saw the threat. Fifteen members
of the United Nations Security Council saw the threat. And the United
Nations Security Council said to Saddam Hussein, disclose, disarm, or face
serious consequences. It was his choice to make. He chose war. And the
world is better off without Saddam Hussein in power. (Applause.)

And we need people in the United States Senate who understand the stakes in
this theater of the war on terror. The enemy cannot defeat us. They cannot
defeat us militarily. The only thing they can do is to use their terror
tactics to shake our will. And I'm enjoying working with a United States
Senator like Conrad Burns whose will cannot be shaken because of the
actions of thugs and assassins. The United States of America will
accomplish our mission. There will be a democratic Iraq that is able to
defend itself, sustain itself, and become an ally in the war on terror.

In order to achieve that objective, we must have senators who support our
men and women in combat, and Conrad Burns does. And we must have senators
who will not -- who will not -- lose their nerve in the face of these
terrorist attacks. Conrad Burns is such a man. (Applause.)

I believe liberty and freedom are universal. So does Senator Burns. We
believe that there is an Almighty, and the Almighty's gift to each man and
woman on the face of this Earth is freedom. The United States of America
was formed on the natural rights of men and women. And it should not
surprise us when 11 million Iraqis went to the polls in defiance of
terrorists and car bombers and assassin and says, we want to be free. A
free Iraq -- a free Iraq will help lay the foundation of peace for
generations to come.

I like to remind people about this interesting fact of history. My dad --
18-year-old kid -- raised his arm and said, I want to volunteer to defend
the United States of America against the Japanese. What I find interesting
is that some 60 years later, his son, the current President, sits down with
the Prime Minister of Japan talking about keeping the peace. We talk about
North Korea; we talk about how proud I am that the Japanese have committed
forces to help bring security to the people of Iraq so their democracy can
develop. Japan is an ally. Japan is a friend in peace.

And what happened between then 18-year-old George H.W. and 59-year-old W.
--(laughter) -- standing here? What happened was, the Japanese adopted a
Japanese-style democracy. History has proven people want to be free, and
democracies yield to peace. And I believe 30 or 40 years from now an
American President will be up here talking -- will be talking to people and
they'll be looking back at this moment in history and say, thank God that
people like Senator Conrad Burns and Chairman John Warner of the United
States Senate, and Senator Kit Bond were wise enough to understand about
the power of liberty to transform nations into allies, and they'll be
keeping the peace with democratically elected leaders in the broader Middle
East, starting with Iraq.

These are the stakes. We're laying the foundation of peace, and it's
important to have members of the United States Senate who can look beyond
the short-term, who have got a strategic view of the world in which we
live. And Conrad Burns has that view. Proud to stand with you in laying
that foundation. (Applause.)

Here at home we've been through a lot together. We've had a recession,
we've had a stock market correction, we've had corporate scandals, we had
an attack on our nation, we went to war to defend ourselves, we had major
natural disasters, we had rising energy prices. But we acted. We put
pro-growth economic policies in place. We believe that when people have
more money in their pockets to save, or to spend, or to invest, the economy
benefits. And so we cut the taxes on the hardworking people of America, and
our economy is strong and it's getting stronger.

People say here in Washington, oh, well, these tax cuts didn't make a
difference. I can remember all the dire predictions when the debates went
on about the ability for taxes to help revitalize our economy and overcome
the obstacles we went through. Not Conrad Burns. He understood the basic
principle of trusting people with their own money. Today our economy has
grown to 3.5 percent. We have 4.8 percent unemployment nationwide. We've
added over 5 million jobs in the last two-and-a-half years. Productivity is
up, home ownership is at an all-time high, small businesses are
flourishing. The tax cuts we passed are working. (Applause.)

And now the people of Montana are going to be facing a decision as to
whether or not they want their taxes to go up, or stay low. You see, the
Democrat Party showed its true colors during the tax debate. Time in and
time out, they voted against cutting the taxes on the American people. And
now you hear them talking about, well, we need to raise taxes to balance
the budget. Conrad and I know better. We've been in Washington long enough
to understand how Washington works. Yes, they'll raise your taxes, but they
will figure out new ways to spend your money. To keep this economy strong
we must make the tax relief permanent. And I'm proud to have Conrad Burns
on the side -- (applause.)

There are a lot of things we need to do during my -- the rest of my time
here, and for Conrad's time as a reelected senator, starting with making
sure we get off foreign oil. In order to make sure this country is
competitive over the next 30 to 50 years, in order to make sure we remain
the economic leader of the world, we have got to be wise about our energy
policy.

Conrad reminded me walking in here that we've got plenty of coal in the
great state of Montana. And that's why I'm such a strong supporter of clean
coal technologies, to make sure we can use that coal in environmentally
friendly ways, and get us off Middle Eastern oil. (Applause.)

But that's just the start. We got to change how we fuel our automobiles. I
want it to be said that when there's a good soy crop out of Montana, we got
more biodiesel available for people to use in their automobiles. I want it
to be said that when there's a good soy crop out of Montana, we've got more
biodiesel available for people to use in their automobiles. I want it to be
said, when we have a technological breakthrough, which we're close to
getting to, that we can use sawgrass grown in the state of Montana to help
grow -- to help produce ethanol so we become less dependant on Middle
Eastern oil. I want it to be said that this country is imaginative in our
use of technology to make us less dependent for economic security, as well
as national security.

And Conrad Burns understands that. The people of Montana need to put him
back in the United States Senate to join us in making sure we have energy
independence. (Applause.)

One of the things that's important for the people of Montana to understand
is you better have somebody here in Washington who's effective when it
comes to representing the farmers and ranchers. You know, a lot of times
you get the big talkers running for office, but they get here to Washington
and they're unable to deliver. I'd suggest the voters of Montana pay
careful attention to the record of this United States Senator when it comes
to representing the basic industries and the small business owners and the
hardworking people of the state of Montana.

I remember when I went to Billings and we sat around and talked to those
farmers and ranchers about the threats to their industry and about the
opportunities. Conrad was there, he was talking their language. They didn't
need a dictionary or a Roget's Thesaurus to figure out what he was saying.
(Laughter.)

He's the kind of person the people of Montana need here. They need somebody
who's steadfast when it comes to defending the country; who's wise about
how we spend your money; who understands that the money we spend is your
money, not the government's money; who understands good tax policy can keep
this economy growing; who knows we've got to have a good, wise energy
policy; and who can speak the language of the farmers and the ranchers
right here in Washington, D.C.

I'm proud to stand by this man. I strongly urge the people of Montana to
reelect Conrad Burns to the United States Senate. (Applause.)

END 6:24 P.M. EST

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