My hearts are with the Jeffcoats right now. That's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking about people whose lives turned upside-down.

I've also thought about the consequences of failure and what it would mean to the American people. If chaos were to reign in the capital of [Iraq] it could spill out to the rest of the country... In other words, this is a war in which, if we were to leave before the job is done, the enemy would follow us here. That's the lesson of September the 11th.

It's in the interest we gain a new ally in the war on terror, in the midst of a part of the world that produced 19 kids that came and killed 3,000 of our citizens.

I believe liberty is universal. I don't believe it is just for the United States of America alone. I believe there is an Almighty, and I believe the Almighty's gift to people worldwide is the desire to be free.

In the long-term, we must remember that freedom is universal, and the best way to defeat an ideology — and make no mistake about it, these extremists believe things — for example, they don't believe you can worship freely. They don't believe you should speak your mind. They don't believe in dissent. They don't believe in human rights.

I can look you in the eye and tell you I feel I've tried to solve the problem diplomatically to the max, and would have committed troops both in Afghanistan and Iraq knowing what I know today.

I based a lot of my foreign policy decisions on some things that I think are true. One, I believe there's an Almighty, and secondly, I believe one of the great gifts of the Almighty is the desire in everybody's soul, regardless of what you look like or where you live, to be free.

I know we're going to have to do something about energy. I aim to be a competitive nation.

Like the ideology of communism, our new enemy is elitist, led by a self-appointed vanguard of Islamic militants that presume to speak for the Muslim masses.

If Zarqawi and bin Laden gain control of Iraq, they would create a new training ground for future terrorist attacks. They'd seize oil fields to fund their ambitions. They could recruit more terrorists by claiming an historic victory over the United States and our coalition.

As election day approaches, we can expect further violence from the terrorists. You see, the terrorists understand what is at stake. They know they have no future in a free Iraq, because free people never choose their own enslavement.

Last month, Marines across the world broke out their dress blues to celebrate the 229th birthday of the Corps. But the men and women of Camp Pendleton's 1st Marine Expeditionary Force marked the occasion a little differently — by fighting the enemies in Iraq.

In the war on terror, you have fought enemies' freedom — freedom's enemies from the caves and mountains of Afghanistan to the deserts and cities of Iraq.

And we began to recover from the attacks on September the 11th because we're a strong people. We're resilient because there's an ownership society, a culture of ownership in America.

I want to remind you right quick what this country has been through, and the challenges this economy had faced over the last three years. First, we went through a recession. That means we were going backwards.

Congress wouldn't act, so I signed an executive order — that means I did it on my own. It says we're going to open up billions of dollars in grant money competition to faith-based charities.

In spite of the fact that we've got large bankrolls and wealth, beyond imagination for many people in the world, in our own society there's darkness and loneliness and addiction and wonder — wonder whether their life is worth anything.

God loves you, and I love you. And you can count on both of us as a powerful message that people who wonder about their future can hear.

I appreciate Charlie Curie here, he's the administration of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services of the Department of Health and Human Services.

I met with Mark Borovitz and Harold Rothstein and Harriet Rosetta. Harriet is married to Mark. Mark is now a rabbi. He was in prison. He was addicted. He told me the story about how the rabbi in the prison got a hold of Mark, and said, "I'm never going to forget you. I love you. I want to help you." And so Mark runs into Harriet, his wife, who has started a — she, too, is a social entrepreneur, by the way, at Beit T'Shuvah. It's a program for addicts. She sees him at the prison. He's kind of a — probably feeling his oats pretty good about that time. She says, fine, why don't you — if you want to do something constructive, why don't you just show up at our program?

I always — always — sometimes say, government can hand out money — and I'm going to talk about some of the money we're trying to hand out — but government can't put hope in a person's heart, or a sense of purpose in a person's life.

These stories are being written every day in America. Every, single day this is happening. We never hear half of them or any — I never, but, you know — I barely hear any of them, but I just know they're happening.

America has got some wonderful citizenry who just refuse to be defeated.

Please know that some of your citizens hurt. Please help them any way you can. The federal government's response is needed and necessary.... The state's response is needed and necessary.

We don't believe that freedom is America's gift to the world. We believe freedom is the God Almighty's gift to each and every person in the world.

September the 11th, 2001 moved this country from grief to action.

I love the story of America, I love the fact that people who started with nothing and have built a fantastic food processing business.

In the last two days, we captured a major terrorist, named Hambali... Hambali was one of the world's most lethal terrorists who is suspected of planning major terrorist operations, including that which occurred in Bali, Indonesia, and other recent attacks. He is no longer a problem to those of us who love freedom.

Before you went in, Iraqis were an oppressed people, and the dictator threatened his neighbors, the Middle East and the world. Today, the Iraqis are liberated people, the former regime is gone, and our nation and the world is more secure.

Al Qaeda is still active, and they're still recruiting, and they're still a threat because we won't cower.

We're helping with the reconstruction and the founding of a democratic government. We're making steady progress in Afghanistan. New roads are being built, medical clinics are opening, there are new schools in Afghanistan where many young girls are now going to school for the first time, thanks to the United States of America.

I was pleased to hear that many of the airports up east are beginning to have flights leave, and that's good.

I think, you know, one of the things we'll have to do, of course, is take an assessment of why the cascade was so significant, why it was able to ripple so significantly throughout our system up east.

Parts of Iraq are still dangerous because freedom has enemies inside of Iraq.

I'm — I've just come from Washington to here, obviously — I'm going down to L.A. I wish I came with my wife. I wish she were with me. She has done a fabulous job. I will see her tonight in Crawford, Texas. Well, she'll be the lump in the bed next to me, since I get in at 1:30 a.m. in the morning. But you drew the short straw. Had she come and spoken, you would have had the long straw. She is a — she's a remarkable person. She has been calm and steady in the face of significant crisis. She can smile, she can listen.

If only I could have heard Johnny Mathis sing, then I would have wished Laura were here again.

Our greatest strength — well, let me — gas prices are coming down, which, by the way, is positive for the American consumer, American people.

We got a recession because we went to war.

For the sake of job growth, let's put those tax cuts we've already got in place, in place today so people can find work.

I know there's people hurting here in Silicon Valley.

We also understand the habits of freedom are more likely to make the world a more peaceful and hopeful place.

I'm off to New Mexico, and after I spend the afternoon in New Mexico, I'll be back in Crawford, Texas, where I'll tell the First Lady of your thanks. By the way, she's doing a fabulous job.

My call to people in this country is that if you want to join on the war on terror, if you want to fight evil, love your neighbor like you'd like to be loved yourself.

[The enemy] can't stand the thought of Republican and Democrat actually getting along.

I believe the enemy has wakened a spirit in this country that understands in order to fight evil, in order to fight evil — that in order to fight evil, you can do so by loving your neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself.

And I picked my neighbor, somebody from Compton, to serve in an incredibly important position, particularly for the folks in this part of the world, and that is to serve as our Secretary of Agriculture. Ann Veneman is doing a fabulous job.

I'm so proud to be here to embrace his candidacy. ...Bill Simon is a proven businessman.

The federal government and the state government must not fear programs who change lives, but must welcome those faith-based programs for the embetterment of mankind.

We can achieve peace — we can achieve peace — by being strong and diligent, reminding people of the great, God-given values that are important to all humanity.

[The evildoers] can't stand the thought of a nation which recognizes that people can worship an Almighty God in different ways.

I think work is incredibly important. Work leads to dignity.

Because of a quirk in the Senate law, all the work that we did reverts back to normal in 10 years, normal being what it was prior to the tax relief. In other words it's kind of hard to explain. But you get tax relief and you don't get tax relief, see. It stays in place for 10 years and then it goes away.

I'm thrilled to be here in the breadbasket of America.

That's what America is about. ...We proudly call you an American. We don't say, show us your birth certificate, how you're born, where you're born.

After all, it is where children from all over America learn to be responsible citizens, and learn to have the skills necessary to take advantage of our fantastic opportunistic society.

See, if we blink, everybody else goes to sleep. History has called us into action. History has laid the mantle of responsibility for peace squarely on our shoulders. I accept that responsibility, and so does the American people.

And I sit there at this fantastic desk, called the H.M.S. Resolute.

I don't have a calendar on my desk, that beautiful desk, that says, by such-and-such a date, you will be finished. That's not how I think.

You see, the President is — can still learn.

If America goes to sleep, the rest of the world is in trouble. If we blink, the rest of the world will close their eyes. So we're not blinking, and we're not going to sleep.

And we can show the world the true face of America, as well. Oh, it's a diverse face, no question about it, which is our strength, not our weakness. But it's a face that can be bound by common goals and common values. It's a face that can stand squarely in the face of evil by the collective acts of people doing good in America.

Reading is the new civil right. Because if you can't read, you cannot possibly be educated, and if you're not educated, you can't succeed. And so in order to make sure — in order to make sure that everybody — and I mean everybody — I don't care how you vote, everybody gets a shot. We've got to make sure that everybody gets educated.

And I — there is a role for government. When we fund programs, we ought not to discriminate against faith-based programs. And we ought not to cause the faith-based program to have to change its mission in order to receive any money. Otherwise it won't be a faith-based program. It will fall into the old government program.

We learned some interesting lessons, that we're now vulnerable at home.

There are a couple of cows waiting for me. You know, when I first got back from Washington, it seemed like the cows were talking back. But now that I've spent some time in Crawford, they're just cows.

Over 50 percent of our energy comes from overseas. Fortunately, a lot of it comes from Canada.

Not over my dead body will they raise your taxes.

I love the story that came out of Michigan about the women of cover, of Muslim faith, who didn't feel comfortable about going to their home.

Anyway, it was an interesting day.

[The evildoers] are hearing from a tolerant nation, a nation that respects Islam and values our many Muslim citizens. They are hearing from a prayerful nation, a nation that prays to an almighty God for protection and for peace.

We're standing amongst the largest trees on Earth, and some of the very oldest. When the Mayflower arrived on the eastern shore of, this continent, the great sequoias were already here. When the seal was fixed on the Magna Carter, the great sequoias were already here. They were here when the Roman Empire fell, and they were here when the Roman Empire rose. And had Christ himself, on, uhh — stood on this spot, he would have been in the shade of this very tree.

I will have a foreign-handed foreign policy.

One of the common denominators I have found is that expectations rise above that which is expected.

The best way to relieve families from time is to let them keep some of their own money.

I was raised in the West. The west of Texas. It's pretty close to California. In more ways than Washington, D.C., is close to California.

It is not Reaganesque to support a tax plan that is Clinton in nature.