BUSH SPEAK

President Bush’s speech in Charleston on Thursday covered issues from the economy and jobs to homeland security and the war in Iraq. Here are some excerpts:

On the nation’s economy:

“This country went through a recession. And as we were coming out of the recession, we got attacked. And make no mistake about it, that attack hurt our country’s economy...

“And as we began to recover from that, we discovered that some of our fellow citizens forgot what it meant to be a responsible citizen. In other words, they didn’t tell the truth. They didn’t tell the truth to their employees, and they didn’t tell the truth to their shareholders. And that affected the confidence of our economy...

“And then, of course, there were the uncertainties of war. That affected the economy.”

On jobs in South Carolina:

“One of the things I know about your great state is this is a state full of decent, hard-working, honorable people. You’ve got a great work force in the state of South Carolina ...

“Yet, the state has got economic challenges. Even though the unemployment rate is down, it’s still too high. Many factory workers in textile and apparel have faced layoffs.

“But there are new jobs being created, and the challenge at all levels of government is to make sure that people are trained for jobs which actually exist.”

On the USA Patriot Act:

“The Patriot Act imposes tougher penalties on terrorists and their supporters. We want to send a clear message to people, that there will be a consequence. For years we’ve used similar provisions, provisions that are now in the act, to catch embezzlers and drug traffickers. What’s in the Patriot Act today is nothing new; we’ve been using these provisions in the past. If the methods are good enough for hunting criminals, they’re even more important for hunting terrorists. The Congress needs to extend the Patriot Act.”

On tracking down terrorists:

“We’re running down al Qaeda, we’re finding them where they hide. For our own security, we’re bringing them to justice. Nearly two-thirds of the al Qaeda leaders have been captured or killed. And we’re chasing the rest of them. There is no hole deep enough to hide from America.”

On the war with Iraq:

“We know Saddam Hussein had the capability to produce weapons of mass destruction. He had the scientists and technology in place to make those weapons. We know he had the necessary infrastructure to produce weapons of mass destruction ... We know he was developing the delivery systems, ballistic missiles that the United Nations had prohibited. We know Saddam Hussein had the intent to arm his regime with weapons of mass destruction, because he hid all those activities from the world until the last day of his regime.

“And Saddam Hussein had something else — he had a record of using weapons of mass destruction against his enemies and against innocent Iraqi citizens. Knowing what I knew then, and knowing what I know today, America did the right thing in Iraq.”