Remarks by the Vice President at a Reception for the Republican Party of Virginia...

Remarks by the Vice President at a Reception for the Republican Party of Virginia Commonwealth Gala

RICHMOND, Va.--(Business Wire)--
Greater Richmond Convention Center

5:49 P.M. EDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you. A reception like that almost makes
me want to run for office again. (Laughter.) Almost, almost.
(Laughter.) But thanks for that welcome.

I want to thank all of our state party officials here, and of
course, especially our chairman, John Hager -- or as all America knows
him, the father of the groom. (Laughter and applause.) And I bring
greetings to one and all from the father of the bride, President
George W. Bush. (Laughter and applause.)

I also want to thank John's wife, Maggie, as well as our
highest-ranking Republicans in the state office -- Lieutenant Governor
Bill Bolling, here with his wife Jean Ann, and of course Attorney
General Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen. Bob McDonnell. (Applause.)

And I appreciate the hard work of everybody who put this event
together. I have the greatest respect of all of you who have come to
Richmond for the Republican State Convention. You're the heart and
soul of the party. And with your support, we'll build a strong
foundation for Republican victories come November.

It's an honor, as well, to be joined by several members of the
Virginia delegation -- Thelma Drake, Rob Wittman, Randy Forbes, Eric
Cantor. (Applause.)

As some of you may know, I served in the House for more than a
decade, representing Wyoming. Wyoming only has one congressman.
(Laughter.) It's a small delegation. (Laughter.) But it was quality.
(Laughter.) After being elected five times I assumed I was pretty well
known throughout the state, but that wasn't necessarily the case.
During my last campaign for Congress -- I always remember campaigning
in a little farming community at Torrington down along the
Wyoming-Nebraska border. I walked to one old cowboy leaning with his
back up against a tree and cowboy hat pulled down over his eyes. I
reached out and grabbed him by the hand and said, "Hi, I'm Dick
Cheney. I'm running for Congress, and I'd like your vote." He said,
"You got it. That fool we got in there now is no damn good."
(Laughter.) I'm confident that's not going to happen to any member of
the Virginia delegation. (Laughter.)

And also, of course, this November, Virginia will be electing a
successor to an outstanding public servant, a colleague and friend of
mine, John Warner. Senator Warner is one of the great Americans -- a
World War Two veteran, Secretary of the Navy, legendary chairman of
the Senate Armed Services Committee. He's been a superb U.S. senator
-- and the only proper way to replace him is with a new Republican
from his state of Virginia. (Applause.)

And, of course, looking to the fall campaign, I'll be there with
all of you to make sure that we elect John McCain the 44th President
of the United States. (Applause.)

President Bush and I look forward to helping our candidates, up
and down the ticket, throughout this very important election year. And
the stakes are high. Whether the issue is the economy, or energy, or
the federal courts, or national security, the right answers are coming
not from the Democrats, but from the Republicans.

Right now, with the economy going through a rough patch, some in
Washington view it as an excuse to expand the size and scope of the
federal government. Republicans believe that when Americans are facing
tough times, the first thing we should do is let them keep more of
their own money. (Applause.) That is why the President proposed and
signed a stimulus package with immediate, direct relief to the
American taxpayer.

Both parties came together on the stimulus package. And as a
result, families are going to find it a little easier to pay their
bills. Yet as we look down the road, there's still a lot more work to
be done on taxes. Without action by Congress, most of the Bush tax
relief of the last seven years will be taken away. If that happens,
the death tax, which is being phased out right now, would suddenly
return, at rates that top out at more than 50 percent. Taxes would go
up on capital gains and dividends. The tax rate for every single
income tax bracket would be increased. For taxpayers in the lowest
bracket, the rate would increase by 50 percent. And the child tax
credit would drop from $1,000 to $500 per child. The overall effect
would be average increases of $1,800 a year in the tax bills of some
116 million Americans.

This is going to be one of the major dividing lines between the
two parties in this election year -- and we need to make sure that
every voter in the country knows about the difference. Remind your
friends that whenever they hear Democratic politicians pledging to get
rid of the Bush tax cuts, what they're promising is a major tax hike
for working families. And they wouldn't have to move a muscle to do
it, because under the law the tax cuts will simply expire a few years
from now. That means it's all the more critical to elect a Republican
Congress to make the tax cuts permanent -- and a Republican President
to sign them into law. (Applause.)

Americans are legitimately concerned about energy as well, because
everyone's paying higher prices at the pump. Our administration has
worked with the Congress and the private sector to try to increase the
efficiency of cars and trucks, to promote alternative fuels. But
that's not enough to meet the needs of the country; we also have to
produce more oil and gas inside the United States. (Applause.)

The problem up in Washington is a lot of our Democratic friends,
who year after year have tried to stand in the way of increased energy
production. The plain truth is we can produce a lot more energy in
America, and we can do it in an environmentally friendly way. In fact
the Commonwealth of Virginia has asked the administration to take
steps that would permit natural gas production in an area 50 miles off
the coast. We're willing to help, but the Democratic Congress has left
in place rules that prevent us from moving forward. So those valuable
American resources continue to be ignored. And it's not just crude oil
or natural gas production that's being held up. Amazing as it may
sound, we have not built a new refinery in the United States in 30
years -- so now we have to import larger and larger amounts of refined
gasoline. Republicans believe more of that refining ought to be done
right here in the United States, at American refineries, by American
workers. (Applause.)

You and I belong with the party of limited taxes, limited
government, and free enterprise. We understand that government exists
not to be the people's master but rather their servant. (Applause.) We
understand the Constitution and the separation of powers -- and that
is why we believe in putting good judges on the bench like John
Roberts and Sam Alito. (Applause.)

Above all, ladies and gentlemen, we believe in protecting the
United States of America -- defending our security, our values, and
our way of life. President Bush has never lost sight of that
responsibility. And for that reason, many Democrats who believe in a
strong defense have stood by the President in the war on terror. Four
years ago at the Republican National Convention in New York, our
keynote speaker was Senator Zell Mill -- Zell Miller of Georgia -- a
lifelong Democrat. Senator Miller spoke passionately about a
Democratic Party that has lost its bearings on national security; a
party that regards our own country as a negative force in the world.
Senator Miller said, quote, "Motivated more by partisan politics than
by national security, today's Democratic leaders see America as an
occupier, not a liberator." And he added a thought that no citizen of
this country should ever forget: "Never in the history of the world
has any soldier sacrificed more for the freedom and liberty of total
strangers than the American soldier. (Applause.) Our soldiers don't
just give freedom abroad, they preserve it for us here at home."

Yet another Democrat of national standing has been appalled by the
direction his party has taken on national security. Senator Joe
Lieberman of Connecticut is a statesman whose Democratic credentials
could not be more impeccable -- after all, he ran against me for Vice
President in 2000. (Laughter.) Yet in his most recent campaign, Joe
was targeted for political extinction by his fellow Democrats. One by
one, they turned their backs on him. Joe's old running mate, Al Gore,
abandoned him. His Connecticut colleague and best friend in the
Senate, Chris Dodd, campaigned against him. In a tough political
fight, Joe Lieberman was dropped by his own party simply because of
his firm stand in the war on terror -- a stand he has consistently
held, in good times and bad.

In an article last week, Joe Lieberman wrote about the Democratic
Party that he grew up in. It was, he said, "A party that was
unhesitatingly and proudly pro-American, a party that 1/4 understood
that either the American people stood united with free nations and
freedom fighters against the forces of totalitarianism, or that we
would fall divided." That's the way it used to be. But today, Senator
Lieberman points out, the Democratic Party is "further to the left
than it has been 1/4 in the last 20 years." He finds no evidence that
the party leadership will stand up to the left wing -- and so Joe has
proudly endorsed our nominee, John McCain. (Applause.)

As I said earlier, the stakes are high in this election. We're in
the midst of a war against a determined enemy -- an enemy that showed
its face and did great harm to this country on September 11th, 2001.
After the attacks of that day, President Bush told the nation to
prepare for a struggle that would not be easy, or brief, or
predictable in its course. He pledged never to grow tired in his own
work as leader of the country and Commander-in-Chief of our Armed
Forces. He has honored that pledge in full. (Applause.)

Since 9/11, our administration had to make a lot of tough
decisions on national security. As a result, the enemies of our
country have been kept off balance. I don't think the terrorists put
up their feet after 9/11 and said, "Well, let's not hit the United
States again in '01, '02, '03, '04, '05, '06, or '07." They wanted to
hit us. They planned on it. They tried to do it. But they failed.
(Applause.) Going more than six and a half years without another 9/11
is no accident. It's an achievement. (Applause.) The credit goes to
some very dedicated Americans in intelligence, law enforcement, and
our military; vital new laws enacted by the Congress; and strong
leadership by the President of the United States.

From the beginning, we've understood that this war is also a
battle of ideas. So when we confronted terror states and outlaw
regimes, we didn't just remove the dictators and leave the people to
their fate. We've stood with them to build institutions of freedom and
democracy -- the very institutions that overcome the ideologies of
hatred and murder. The work goes on -- and our strategy in Iraq, with
a surge of operations that began more than a year ago, is succeeding.
The only way to lose this fight is to quit. That would be an act of
betrayal and dishonor -- and it's not going to happen on our watch.
(Applause.) Two months ago I was in Iraq and spoke to several thousand
Americans deployed there. Our men and women are dedicated to victory.
And I remember the strong response the troops gave on one point in
particular -- when I said we're going to get this job done right, so
that another generation of Americans doesn't have to go back and do it
again. (Applause.)

Against that background, this election year poses one fundamental
question on national security: Who is serious about fighting and
winning the war on terror, on every front? And the choice is going to
be very clear. On one side is the Democratic Party -- led by the likes
of Senator Harry Reid, who said more than a year ago that the war is
lost. A Democratic Party whose leaders in Congress permitted a vital
surveillance law to expire, leaving the United States more vulnerable
to terrorist attack. A Democratic Party that operates in tandem with
MoveOn.Org, a fringe group that ran a full-page ad in the New York
Times attacking the character and the courage of General Dave
Petraeus. A Democratic Party that has, in Joe Lieberman's word,
"kowtowed" to the opinions of the far left rather than challenging
them.

On the other side of this divide is the Republican Party -- whose
leaders have supported the war on terror, regardless of what the polls
say or the pundits declare. A Republican Party whose presidential
nominee has served this nation with courage, a nominee committed to
victory for freedom's cause, a nominee who speaks of idealism, and
backs it up with good judgment, consistency, a record of achievement,
and genuine American heroism.

Faced with that choice, and with the options laid out clearly
before them, there's no doubt in my mind the American people are going
to choose Republican leadership on November 4th. (Applause.)

In a little over seven months, we'll turn our responsibility over
to our successors. But this evening, ladies and gentlemen, with much
yet to do at home and abroad, President Bush and I remain grateful for
the opportunity to serve this nation. We're grateful to all of you,
and to people across Virginia, for the fine support you've given to us
and to the Republican Party. In the months ahead, with an economy to
strengthen and a war to fight, we'll stay focused on the business of
the people, and we'll come to a strong finish. With your help, we'll
leave our jobs in good hands. And thanks to your energy and
commitment, the Commonwealth of Virginia and the nation will have
strong, principled, dedicated Republican leadership far into the
future.

Thank you very much. (Applause.)

END 6:06 P.M. EDT

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