 "Photo: Matt Norris")
GRAPEVINE - Roads were shut down Wednesday and residents living in nearby apartments between Dooley and Ruth Wall Roads were warned not to look out of their windows Wednesday. School busses from Grapevine-Colleyville ISD formed a perimeter around the site where President George W. Bush was scheduled to land. No one was going to get a glance of the president on his way to the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center.
On his way for summer vacation on his Crawford ranch, the president stopped at the American Legislative Exchange Council's 32nd annual meeting. The conservative organization of 2,400 members, mostly legislators, recognized the president with their highest honor, the Thomas Jefferson Freedom Award. The last recipient of the award was former President George H. W. Bush.
Texas Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, introduced the president and thanked ALEC for upholding the conservative principles in the country and believing in Jeffersonian principles of peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations.
Addressing a room of nearly 2,000 conservative supporters, Bush applauded congress members on legislative victories in energy and trade and urged continued efforts toward the appointment of Supreme Court nominee John Roberts and the passage of immigration laws after the August recess.
Among "recent successes," Bush ensured the crowd that the economy is growing at increasing levels - the highest in 20 years. "Our tax relief plan is working," Bush said. "Tax cuts stimulated economic vitality and growth across the country. We need to work together and make sure we are wise about how we spend that money; we need to spend in a fiscally sound way."
Promoting "fiscally sound spending," Bush said the U.S. needs to use the recourses it has in order to cease reliance on other countries for oil - something he said should have been done 10 years ago.
"We've got plenty of coal in America. We're now spending the money to make sure we burn it wisely, so that we can protect our environment," Bush said. "Hydrogen power is a source of power that is going to allow us to diversify over time."
The president said he will sign a comprehensive energy bill next week encouraging conservation and domestic production and a "fiscally responsible" highway bill next Wednesday in Illinois.
Bush said he was proud of "getting things done," including signing the Central America Free Trade Agreement bill on Tuesday and the No Child Left Behind Act.
"We've got too many young African-American kids who aren't reading at the proper grade level, relative to Anglo kids," Bush said.
Bush said the achievement gap is narrowing because of good teachers, leadership, the No Child Left Behind Act, and support of faith-based and community initiatives.
Recently signing legislation and praising Congress, Bush said he hopes there will be more on his desk when he returns, noting the confirmation of Roberts, the continued debate on social security and immigration laws.
"Our obligation is to secure the borders," Bush said. "We've got to make sure we have a focused strategy to prevent people, goods, drugs, whatever, being smuggled in this country."
Bush said a way to protect the border is recognizing people are crossing the border in search of work.
"It seems rational to me that there ought to be a way to let somebody come and do jobs Americans won't do," he said. "I'd rather [the] Border Patrol look for terrorists."
Reiterating that the U.S. is at war with a "ruthless enemy," the president again stated there are no plans to instate a timetable to bring the troops out of Iraq. He said that as the Iraqis step up, the American troops will step down.
"It makes no sense for the commander-in-chief to put out a timetable," Bush said. "If we put out a timetable, the enemy would adjust their tactics."
Yesterday 14 marines were killed in Iraq, the most since the Iraq war began in March 2003.
Honoring the men and women abroad, Bush said the thoughts and prayers of the American people are with them.
"What you're seeing on your TV screens today is the work of brave soldiers and diplomats and coalition partners, spreading democracy, defeating a hateful ideology with an ideology of hope, an ideology that has got a clear vision for a better tomorrow for all its citizens," Bush said. "We've seen this work before, and we have prevailed."
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