Remarks at a fundraiser for senatorial candidate Greg Ganske in Cedar Rapids

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, April 22, 2002

April 15, 2002

Thank you all very much. Thank you all. Please be seated. Well, Greg, thank you very much for that warm introduction. I want to thank you all for the warm welcome. I'm here because I want Greg Ganske to become the next United States Senator from Iowa.

I'll never forget that I ended up where I am because of the good folks in Iowa. It all started here. And I want to thank many of you who--I want to thank you all so very much for making this, Greg tells me, the largest fundraiser in Iowa history. I want to thank you all very much for supporting Laura and me. I want to thank those of you involved in the grassroots politics in Iowa for all your hard work, for the phones you dial and for the envelopes that you stuff. I want to thank you all for working hard to make our country as great a country as it can possibly be.

It is an honor to be back in Iowa. I'm only sorry that First Lady Laura Bush didn't come with me. Like Ganske, we both married above ourselves. [Laughter] I appreciate Corrine Ganske. I appreciate her patience. I appreciate her willingness to work with Greg to ensure that he becomes the next United States Senator from Iowa. I was most impressed that Ganske's mother-in-law came. [Laughter] That's a good sign. [Laughter]

I want you to know that I am incredibly proud of Laura, just as proud of Laura as Greg is of Corrine. She has brought a lot of calm and steadiness to our country. You know, when I asked her to marry me, she was a public school librarian. She didn't particularly care for politics. She wasn't all that thrilled to be around politicians. But people in America are now beginning to realize why I asked her to marry me. A lot of folks are still somewhat concerned as to why she said yes. [Laughter] But I want you to know that she is doing a fabulous job, and I'm really proud of her.

I want to thank Greg's colleague Jim Leach for being here tonight. Jim Leach is one of the true class acts of the United States Congress. He still reminds me that he was a fine wrestler in high school and college but not nearly as good as Dan Gable, and I want to thank Dan Gable for being here as well tonight, too. I know Greg is proud to call you friend and supporter, and I know Iowa is proud to call you son. And they're also proud of Cael Sanderson and his incredible accomplishments as one of the finest college athletes ever. Cael, thank you for being here tonight as well.

I know that two former Governors are here, friends of mine, people who distinguished themselves when they held the high honor of being Governor of Iowa, and that's Terry Branstad and Bob Ray. I want to thank you all for coming.

I know that Ron Corbett is here, and I appreciate Ron helping Greg, and I appreciate him being the president of the Cedar Rapids Chamber of Commerce. And Chuck Larson, the chairman of the Republican Party, he's doing a fantastic job on behalf of the Republicans in Iowa.

But most of all, I want to thank Greg for his willingness to run for the Senate. You know, Washington, DC, needs people like Greg who care more about getting things done than trying to be as shrill as they possibly can be. Washington, DC, needs people of accomplishment, people who are not interested in needless partisan fighting but who put America--and Iowa, in this case--foremost in their agenda. And that is Greg Ganske.

I was here today at General Mills, and I want to thank that fine company for their hospitality and remind people that April 15th, today, can actually be called tax relief day. [Laughter] I came to Iowa, and I laid out a tax relief plan in Des Moines, Iowa--it's the first place that I talked about it. And I said, "If you give me a chance to be the President, I look forward to taking your message to Washington, DC." And that is, first of all, that the money we're dealing with is not the Government's money; it's the people's money.

I said as plainly as I could, "If you give me a chance to be the President, I'm going to work with whoever will listen, to make sure people have got plenty of money, their own money in their pockets, so they get to make the decisions as what to do with their own money." And thanks to people like Greg Ganske, we delivered on that promise. Tax relief was incredibly important not only to working families in America; tax relief came at the right time. Our economy was beginning to grind down. Our economy was slowing down too much.

And people in Washington, people like Ganske and Leach and others, understand that when you let people keep their own money, they will spend. And when they spend on goods and services, somebody is going to produce those goods and services. And when somebody produces those goods and services, it means jobs for the working people. Thank goodness we cut the taxes on the American people when we did.

And part of that tax relief not only deals with the marriage penalty--because Greg and I and others, believe we ought to promote families and promote marriage--part of it recognizes the--many in Iowa are struggling to raise children. Single moms is--the toughest job in our country is being a single mom. And we increased the child credit.