Feb. 22 / Administration of George W. Bush, 2004 Remarks at a Dinner for the Nation’s Governors February 22, 2004 Good evening. Welcome to the White gether. We’ve taken vital steps to secure House. Laura and I are honored to host our homeland, and I want to thank the so many of our friends and new acquaint- Governors for their hard work. I’m going ances. The Nation’s Governors were the to continue to work with you to fulfill our guests at our first official state dinner al- solemn duty to protect the American peo- most 3 years ago today. It’s great to see ple. so many of those same Governors with us We share responsibility as well to en- tonight. It’s kind of like being with mem- hance the entrepreneurial spirit so that our bers of your family. Right, Jeb? [Laughter] economy continues to grow and people can I appreciate the fact that the Vice Presi- find work; work together to make sure dent is with us. I oftentimes say Dick Americans can gain affordable access to Cheney is the finest Vice President our health care; to make sure every child learns country has ever had. Mother always says, to read and write and add and subtract. ‘‘Wait a minute.’’ [Laughter] I want to We’ve made good progress. We’ll continue thank the former Governors who are in my to meet our obligations in future years. Cabinet, Tommy Thompson and John I’ve got great confidence in America be- Ashcroft, Tom Ridge, who is not with us cause I believe in the strength of the Amer- tonight, and the newest member of my ican people. I’ve got great confidence in Cabinet, Mike Leavitt. our Nation’s Governors because you rep- I want to welcome the Nation’s new resent your State’s highest ideals and you Governors, Barbour and Fletcher, Kernan, hold your people’s trust. Blanco, Walker, Tulafono, and It’s a pleasure to host you all here. And Schwarzenegger. [Laughter] Last time I now I’d like you all to join me in a toast was with Governor Schwarzenegger, it to the Governors of the United States. dawned on me that we have some things in common. We both married well. [Laugh- NOTE: The President spoke at 8:12 p.m. in ter] We both have trouble with the English the State Dining Room at the White House. language. [Laughter] We both have big bi- In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Jeb Bush ceps. [Laughter] Well, two out of the three. of Florida; Gov. Haley Barbour of Mis- [Laughter] sissippi; Gov. Ernie Fletcher of Kentucky; In the past 3 years, our country has faced Gov. Joseph E. Kernan of Indiana; Gov. some great challenges. We’re still at war. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Louisiana; The war on terror is a new kind of war Gov. Olene S. Walker of Utah; Gov. Togiola in which every American is threatened and Tulafono of American Samoa; and Gov. Ar- every level of government must work to- nold Schwarzenegger of California. Remarks to the National Governors Association Conference February 23, 2004 Well, that’s it? Okay. [Laughter] Always [Laughter] Laura and I really enjoyed that. love to get a short introduction. Hope you Thanks for coming. It was a lot of fun. all cleaned the room up after last night. Everybody seemed pretty well behaved. I 250 1 2005 11:38 Dec 19 2006 Jkt 201942 PO 00000 Frm 00250 Fmt 1240 Sfmt 1240 E:\HR\OC\201942A 009 201942A Administration of George W. Bush, 2004 / Feb. 23 don’t know about Coach, but yes, I know, and their offices of emergency prepared- it’s hard to take him out. ness. I’m glad members of my Cabinet are Ridge is doing a good job, from my per- here. Obviously, the more communications spective. He’s taken on a tough assignment. we can have about issues that worry you, I see Governor Rendell is nodding his the easier it is for us to solve problems. head. You trained him well. But he’s taken Governors are problem-solvers, and so is on a tough assignment, to bring together the President. Our jobs are to identify diverse agencies under one roof and have problems and deal with them, and the best it function smoothly not only here in Wash- way to do so is in the spirit of cooperation. ington but in the field. And we’ll continue That’s sometimes hard in Washington, I to work and make sure that the Office of readily concede. This is not a town that Homeland Security enables you to do your thrives upon cooperation, like most State job better. capitals. But we’ll continue to work hard There’s talk about the PATRIOT Act. to help you, because by helping our Gov- Let me just tell you it needs to be re- ernors, we really help our people. That’s newed, and I’ll tell you why. Prior to the the job of a President. PATRIOT Act, the CIA and the FBI couldn’t communicate on matters of intel- Yesterday in my toast, I said the war ligence. And yet, we’re fighting a war on terror goes on, and it does. I wish I against individuals and killers that can hide could report otherwise, but that’s not a true in our communities, hide in dark parts of assessment of the world. We are chasing the world, hide in caves, and we need to Al Qaida. We’re dealing with rogue nations be able to communicate. It makes no sense and proliferation, but the war still goes on. not to have the tools available to chase And as a fellow Commander in Chief, it’s these terrorists down. So you’ll see me ac- important for you to know that. And there- tively pursuing renewal of the PATRIOT fore, it’s essential that we continue to co- Act, so not only can we do our job, the operate on matters of homeland security. Federal Government, but people in the We’ll have a robust budget in front of State and local level can too—do so as well. the Congress, and we expect it to be The Joint Terrorism Task Force in your passed. Tom, evidently, has met with you community require cooperation—inter- all to talk about ways to make sure that agency cooperation. It’s essential they have the flow of money is expedited from the the tools necessary to find these people Federal Government to the State govern- and bring them to justice. That is our sol- ments to the local governments. And that’s emn call in this, the beginning of the 21st essential. And I appreciate that he has con- century. After all, the most important job vened a conference of Governors and may- of anybody in office is to protect the people ors and local responders to make sure that of our country, which means we got to we all do our jobs well. That’s the purpose stay on the offense when it comes to deal- of the meeting. ing with Al Qaida, and we got to be wise I will tell you, the response to emergency about dealing with threats before they be- and/or threats has been, from my perspec- come imminent or fully materialize. That’s tive, really good. Governor Easley and Gov- the—to me, those are the lessons of Sep- ernor Warner of Virginia had to suffer tember the 11th, 2001. It changed the cal- through a devastating act of nature. But culation as to how you analyze and deal the response between the Federal Govern- with threat. ment and the State governments and the We are on the hunt for Al Qaida. You local governments was more seamless than just got to know that there’s a lot of brave ever, and I want to thank the Governors people searching them out. And I view the 251 ug 31 2005 11:38 Dec 19 2006 Jkt 201942 PO 00000 Frm 00251 Fmt 1240 Sfmt 1240 E:\HR\OC\201942A 009 201942A Feb. 23 / Administration of George W. Bush, 2004 hunt for Al Qaida as part of the war on continue the progress toward a more free terror. And it requires all assets, intel- society. ligence assets and military assets, to chase And in Iraq, obviously, I made a tough them down and bring them to justice. And choice. But my attitude is, is that the les- we’re doing pretty good—better than pretty sons of September the 11th mean that we good. If Al Qaida were a corporation, mid- must be clear-eyed and realistic and deal dle management has been brought to jus- with threats before they fully materialize. tice. And that’s important for you to know. I looked at the intelligence and came to We can take comfort about the progress the conclusion that Saddam was a threat. we’re making. But we’ve got a lot more The Congress looked at the same intel- to do, and so we’ll just stay on the hunt ligence, and it came to the conclusion that here in—out of Washington, DC. Saddam Hussein was a threat. The United As you know, I laid out some doctrine Nations Security Council looked at the in- that said, ‘‘If you harbor a terrorist, you’re telligence, and it concluded that Saddam just as guilty as the terrorist.’’ And it’s very Hussein was a threat.