You know why we're in this fight in Iraq? The end goal is to ensure that in 40 years Jenna and Barbara Bush can escort the future leader of Iraq to Kurt Cobain's house.
You know I -- recently I had an interesting experience. I share this with people all around our country because I want to bring to life that which we are now accomplishing. I went to Elvis' place -- (laughter) -- with the former Prime Minister of Japan. He was the sitting Prime Minister of Japan then. I went. I had never been there. (Laughter.) The Prime Minister wanted to go there. (Laughter.) See, he was an Elvis fan. (Laughter.)
But I wanted to tell an interesting story. It's the story about a family -- my family -- and a story about liberty. My dad fought the Japanese. You've had relatives -- I know people here whose families fought the Japanese. They were the sworn enemy of the United States. It was a bloody conflict. Thousands of people lost their lives. Young kids volunteered to defend their country, just like people are volunteering today to defend our country, and a lot didn't come home.
As a matter of fact, it took us a while to get Japanese -- slurs of Japanese people out of our vocabulary the hate was so bad. I find it interesting that I'm on the airplane flying down to Elvis' place with the Prime Minister of a former enemy talking about the peace, talking about bringing peace to the world. (Applause.) For some of you young ones out there, 60 may seem like a long time. For those of us who are 60, it just seemed like a snap of the fingers. (Laughter.)
Something happened between 18-year-old Navy fighter pilot George H. W. Bush and his President -- and his son, the President, talking about keeping the peace with the Prime Minister of a former enemy. And what happened was, Japan adopted a Japanese-style democracy. Liberty has got the capacity to change hate into hope. Liberty has got the capacity to help change an enemy into an ally. Some day, some day an American President will be sitting down with duly-elected leaders from the Middle East talking about the peace, and a generation of Americans will be better off.
The stakes in this election are high. (Applause.) I ask you to vote for Vern Buchanan. He'll be an ally in making sure your taxes stay low so the economy grows, and an ally in making sure the United States government does everything in our power to protect the American people, and to make sure that a generation of Americans can grow up in peace.
We've got another powerful tool at our disposal, and it's called freedom. I would like to share a story with you about a recent experience I had. Well, it's when I went down to Elvis's place. (Laughter.)
You might remember my guest was the then sitting Prime Minister of Japan. Laura said, why you going down there? I said, because I never been. (Laughter.) By the way, she decided to come, too. Prime minister Koizumi wanted to go because he loved Elvis.
But I wanted to tell a story to the American people about the power of liberty, and I want to share it with you right quick. You see, after the Japanese attacked America, where more people -- by the way, more people died on September the 11th than the attack of Pearl Harbor. When they attacked, a lot of brave Americans, including one George H.W. Bush, volunteered to defend America. (Applause.)
I bet a lot of folks out here had relatives who did the same thing. They said, I volunteer -- I volunteer to protect this country against a mortal enemy. I'm flying down on Air Force One with the Prime Minister of the sworn -- the country that used to be our sworn enemy, talking about keeping the peace. I was talking to him about the fact that Iraq had a thousand troops -- I mean, Japan had a thousand troops in Iraq because he knows what I know: In this ideological struggle, when we find young democracies, which will serve as a major defeat for ideologues who hate, that we got to support them. We talked about convincing the leader of North Korea to give up his nuclear weapon for the sake of peace.
In other words, we were talking about peace. Isn't it interesting, my dad fought the Japanese as a sworn enemy; his son is sitting down with the leader of that country talking about peace. (Applause.) Let me tell you something, liberty -- liberty has got the capacity to change an enemy into an ally. And liberty has got the capacity to change a region of the world that is so desperate for freedom into a place of peace. Some day an American President will be sitting down with duly elected leaders from the Middle East talking about the peace. And a generation of Americans will be better off. (Applause.)
So these are the stakes in this election, and I thank you for giving me a chance to come out and urge you on, to urge you to go to the polls and to take your friends. Find Republicans, discerning Democrats, discerning independents and remind them, if you want more money in your pocket, vote Republican. And if you want a party who will take the steps necessary to protect you today and to protect a generation of Americans coming up, vote for Shelley and vote for Republicans.
I want to share with you right quick a history lesson -- at least, I see it as history; after all, we're on a college campus. (Laughter.) It's the power of freedom. You know, recently, I went to -- with the former Prime Minister of Japan -- he was sitting Prime Minister of Japan then -- down to Elvis's place. Memphis, Tennessee -- I don't know if you've ever been there or not, but -- (applause) -- you have? Well, I like going there. It was interesting. And he really wanted to go there because he liked Elvis. (Laughter.)
But I wanted to tell an interesting story. It's a story about a Navy fighter pilot who, at the age of 18, volunteered, and he said, I want to serve my country because the Japanese have just attacked us. You've got relatives who did the same thing. You've got a grandfather or a father, like I got, who said, I want to fight the Japanese. They were the sworn enemy. Thousands of people lost their lives. This country went to war against an enemy which attacked us.
You know, what's interesting, on the way down from Washington to Memphis, Tennessee, right there on Air Force One, Prime Minister Koizumi -- the Prime Minister of the former enemy of the United States of America -- and I discussed the peace. We talked about the fact that this country had a thousand troops in Iraq to defend the young democracy. He knows what I know. We're in an ideological struggle between people who hate and people who have hope. We've been through ideological struggles before. Freedom wins every time if we -- if we don't lose our nerve.
And that's the lesson I learned from my friend, Prime Minister Koizumi. It's amazing what has happened between when 18-year-old fighter pilot George H.W. Bush fought this -- fought the enemy, and his son is talking about keeping the peace with the same country. And the lesson is liberty has got the capacity to change enemies into allies. And my citizens, liberty has got the capacity to turn regions of hate to regions of hope. Liberty has got the capacity to yield the peace we want.
Someday, an American President will be sitting down with duly elected leaders talking about the -- duly elected leaders from the Middle East talking about the peace, and a generation of Americans will be better off for it. (Applause.)
And so these are the stakes in this election. It's an important election year. And I know Max Burns joins me in saying, thanks for coming out. Thanks for giving me a chance to share what's on my heart and where I want to lead this country. And I thank you for getting ready -- for doing what you're fixing to do, which is to go out of this hall and find fellow Republicans, and discerning Democrats, and reasonable independents, and remind them that if they want more money in their pocket, you vote Republican. And if you want -- and if you want this country to do everything we can to protect you from further attack and lay the foundations for peace, you vote Republican. (Applause.)
I want to share a story with you. I want to share -- if you can stand it, I want to share a story with you. (Applause.) I want to talk about something really powerful that we've got at our disposal. It's called liberty. I don't know if you remember, but recently, I flew down to Elvis' place -- (applause) -- with the then sitting Prime Minister of Japan. People said, why did you go down there? And I said, well, one, I've never been there. (Laughter.) Secondly, he wanted to go there. (Laughter.)
But I also want to tell a story about the power of liberty, and here it is. In the late 1940s, we got attacked. And by the way, more people died on September the 11th than died at Pearl Harbor. And a lot of young Americans -- many of them probably your relatives -- volunteered to fight the sworn enemy, the Japanese. One of them was Navy fighter pilot George H.W. Bush, who at the age -- (applause.) And he fought them with all he had, just like a lot of other brave Americans. Thousands and thousands didn't come home from that war.
And yet, on Air Force One was the Prime Minister of the former enemy and this Navy fighter pilot's son talking about peace. (Applause.) We were talking about the fact that 1,000 Japanese troops were in Iraq helping this young democracy. See, the Prime Minister knows what I know; that the radicals and extremists want to overturn democracy. They want to spread their vision across what's called a caliphate, a vision opposite of what we believe. That's their ambitions. That's their goals. And yet, when we find young democracies, those of us who live in freedom have a duty to support that democracy because democracies yield the peace. (Applause.)
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But I find it interesting that my dad fought the Japanese, and his son is talking about the peace with the Japanese. Something happened, and what happened is Japan adopted a Japanese-style democracy. And the lesson for our fellow citizens is, liberty has got the capacity to transform enemies into allies. Liberty has got the capacity to transform regions of hate to regions of hope. I firmly believe that some day, an American President will be sitting down with duly elected leaders in the Middle East talking about the peace, and a generation of Americans will be better off. (Applause.)
You know that crazy uncle who's got one story he repeats ad nauseum at every family gathering? America Elected him.