    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book II)]
    [October 31, 2002]
    [Pages 1939-1944]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks in South Bend, Indiana
    October 31, 2002

        The President. Thank you all. Thanks for coming. I'm glad I came.
    I'm glad I came back. The last time I was here, the Fighting Irish were
    1-0. This time, they're 8-0. Seems like you ought to keep inviting me
    back. [Laughter] I know this for sure: The next time I come back, with
    your help, Chris Chocola is going to be the
    next United States Congressman.
        I'm traveling this country, and I can tell you, the American spirit
    is alive and well, the spirit of people understanding that to be an
    American means you've got to serve something greater than yourself. The
    spirit of America says that we're willing to sacrifice for our freedoms.
    And the spirit of America says that you take nothing in democracy for
    granted. You see, if you're eligible to vote, you have an obligation to
    vote. That's what the spirit of America calls for.
        You have an obligation to our country; you have an obligation to
    democracy itself. So I'm here to--in South Bend to urge Republicans and
    Democrats and independents, people who don't care about political
    parties, to do your duty and to go to the polls, to assume your
    responsibility as an American and go to the polls. And by the way, I've
    got a suggestion when you get in there: Chris Chocola is the right man for the job.
        I want to thank Congressman Steve Buyer for
    being here--thanks for coming, Steve--I want to thank Mark
    Souder for coming--two of the fine
    Congressmen in the United States Congress for joining us. I want to
    thank those who are running statewide, the candidates who are up here
    with us who are out asking for your vote. I want to thank Todd
    Rokita, running for secretary of state. I want
    to thank Connie Nass, running for auditor. And I
    want to thank Tim Berry, who's running for State
    treasurer. I want to thank them for their dedication to the great State
    of Indiana, and I want to thank you for your service to your community.
        I want to say something about Sarah--that
    would be the next Congressman's wife. I appreciate her taking on this
    task. I know something about what it takes to put a family through a
    political process. It requires a strong partner, somebody who believes
    in the country as much as the candidate does. And I'm here to tell you
    Sarah Chocola is going to be a great Congressman's wife.
        And speaking about great wives, Laura sends
    her love, and she sends her best. She's doing great. A lot of people in
    the country now understand why I asked her to marry me. A lot of them
    are still wondering why she said yes. [Laughter] But she's learned she
    can make a huge difference in the lives of our citizens. She cares
    deeply about the capacity of every child in America to read. She is a
    fabulous First Lady, and she is--[applause].
        I want to thank all the good folks here who are active in the
    political process. You call them grassroots activists. Those are the
    people who are willing to put up the signs, the people willing to make
    the phone calls, the people who can really determine the outcome of an
    election. I want to thank you for what you have done, and I want to
    thank you for what you're going to do

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    Friday and Saturday and Sunday and Monday, and that is find the good
    folks in this community who want good government and get them to vote
    for Chris Chocola next Tuesday.
        You can make a difference in the campaign. You can actually
    determine the outcome. So when you go to your houses of worship or your
    coffee shops or your community centers, put out the word. And remember
    there are some discerning Democrats who live up here, people who know
    the difference between a shrill voice and a solid voice. There are good
    independents up here, people who want somebody to represent them who
    will bring honor and dignity to the office. There are people who
    understand it makes sense to have somebody who has been an entrepreneur
    serving in the United States Congress, somebody who has actually met a
    payroll, somebody who knows what it means to put people to work and to
    take risks. So when you're putting out the word, don't just keep it
    narrowed to just a few. Put out the good word that you've got a good
    man running for the United States Congress.
        And if it helps, you tell them the President wants him standing by his side in Washington, DC, too. I need
    somebody from this district whose vote I can count on. I don't need to
    be worrying about somebody who's running a focus group or a poll. I need
    a solid United States Congressman up there, who will support me in
    making America a stronger and safer and better place for every citizen.
        In order to make sure America is a better place, we need to do
    something about our economy. We had some good news today--we had some
    good news today. The third quarter was--showed positive growth. And
    that's positive. That's good news. We're making progress. But so long as
    somebody's looking for work and can't find a job, says to me we've got a
    problem. And I need people in the Congress who understand how to create
    jobs. The role of Government is not to create wealth. The role of
    Government is to create an environment in which the small business can
    grow to be the big business, in which the entrepreneur can flourish.
        And part of creating that environment means to understand how the
    Tax Code works. If you want your small-business person to flourish, you
    let them keep more of their own money. If 70 percent of new jobs are
    created by small-business owners, seems like it makes sense to me, if
    you're worried about job creation, to let the small-business person have
    more money in their pocket so they can reinvest, so people can find
    work.
        Here's what we believe: If you let a person have more of their own
    money, they're likely to demand a good or a service. And when they
    demand a good or a service in the marketplace, somebody is going to
    produce the good or service. And when somebody produces the good or
    service, somebody is more likely to find work. The tax relief plan we
    passed happened at the right time. I need a Congressman who will join me
    in making the tax cuts permanent.
        A good, strong America is an America that's got a good education
    system. I appreciate Chris' vision on
    education. We share the same vision. We want to have high standards for
    every child. We believe in local control of schools. We're going to
    challenge the soft bigotry of low expectations, and we're going to hold
    people to account. See, if you believe every child can learn, like we
    do, then it makes sense to start asking the fundamental question, can
    every child read and write and add and subtract? And if so, I promise
    you we'll praise the teachers. And for the teachers out there, thanks
    for what you do. But you'd better have you a Congressman who understands
    that when you find children trapped in schools that won't teach and
    won't change, you've got to challenge the status quo. No child should be
    left behind in the State of Indiana.
        Chris understands that we must keep our
    commitments, must keep our commitments

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    on Social Security and must keep our commitments on Medicare. See,
    medicine has changed; it's modern. Medicare isn't. Medicare--medicine
    is, with new technologies and new discoveries, is advancing. Medicare is
    stuck in the past. In order to modernize Medicare--I look forward to
    working with Chris to do so, and a modern Medicare system includes
    prescription drugs for every senior.
        No, there's a lot we can do together. But the most important job
    we're going to have to do together is to make sure that our homeland is
    protected, is to secure the homeland from further enemy attacks. No,
    we'll work on the economy together, and we'll work to make sure every
    child is educated. We'll make sure the health care system is relevant.
    There's a lot we can do, but our number one priority will be to protect
    you, because there's an enemy out there which hates America. They hate
    what we stand for, and we're not changing what we stand for. We love
    freedom.
        Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
        The President. And we've got to be realistic about it. We've got to
    be clear-eyed. We need somebody from this district who will be realistic
    about the threats we face. See, we can't just hope for the best in the
    new world we live in. We can't see the world the way we would wish it
    would be. We've got to see the world the way it really is, and it's a
    dangerous world. There's still an enemy that lurks out there that--
    they're killers. That's the only way I can describe them. They're
    nothing but a bunch of coldblooded killers, and so we've got to do
    everything we can here at home to protect you.
        And we are. There's a lot of good folks at the Federal level and the
    State level and the local level working hard--listen, anytime--we
    understand the stakes now, and anytime somebody is thinking about doing
    something to America and somehow we're reading their thoughts or reading
    their mail, we're moving on them. We're disrupting them. We're denying
    them. We absolutely refuse to let these terrorists have their way. We're
    going to do everything we can to shut down--to shut down their capacity
    to hurt us.
        And that's why I went to Congress and asked them to help--join me in
    creating a Department of Homeland Security. It seemed like to me that
    when you've got over 100 agencies in Washington, DC, involved with the
    homeland security, that you ought to focus their attention with one
    agency so that we can set a clear priority and, if need be, change
    cultures within these agencies so that the direction is clear and the
    priorities are clear.
        And the United States House of Representatives joined in my quest to
    have a Department that would function well, but it's stuck in the
    Senate. See, it got stuck in the Senate before they went home to
    campaign. They couldn't get it out because they were trying to extract
    too high a price from me. They wanted me to give up a right that every
    President has had since John F. Kennedy, the right and the capacity to
    suspend certain work rules in the name of national security.
        In other words, if the Senate had their way, I would have the
    capacity to be able to--I would have more flexibility with the
    Department of Agriculture to deal with national security concerns than I
    would with the new Department of Homeland Security. Here we are at war,
    and they want to take away the capacity for the President to be able to
    better protect the American people. I need to be able to move the right
    people to the right place at the right time to protect you, and I'm not
    going to accept a lousy bill out of the United Nations Senate.
        I'm here to tell you the best way to protect America is to hunt the
    killers down, one at a time, and bring them to justice. And that's what
    we're going to do. That's what we're going to do. I need somebody in
    Congress who is a cold-eyed realist, who

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    understands the stakes, somebody who understands that history has called
    our country into action. We've got to protect the future for our
    children. And therefore, the best way to do that is to get on the hunt
    and not tire, stay steady and strong.
        I went to the Congress and asked them to give me a good defense
    bill, and fortunately, they did. It's the largest increase in defense
    spending since Ronald Reagan was the President. There's two messages in
    that bill. There's two messages I want to send to the world: One,
    anytime we put our troops into harm's way, they deserve the best pay,
    the best training, and the best possible equipment. We owe that to our
    troops, and we owe that to the loved ones of our troops.
        And by the way, for those of you who have got relatives in the
    military, you can tell them this: I'm confident in their abilities; I'm
    proud of their service; and we're going to use them to win the war on
    terror.
        And the second message that we delivered with the defense bill is
    that we're in this deal for the long haul. See, there's not a calendar
    on my desk in the Oval Office that says, by such-and-such a date we're
    quitting. That's not America. When it comes to the defense of our
    freedom, when it comes from doing our duty to future generations of
    America, there is no quit in America. It doesn't matter how long it
    takes, my fellow Americans. It doesn't matter what the cost. We will
    defend the freedom of the United States of America.
        And we're making progress. Sometimes it's hard to tell we're making
    progress. Some of the old vets will tell you, in the old days, you could
    measure progress by the number of tanks you destroyed or the number of
    enemy aircraft that were shot down out of the sky. This bunch we're
    fighting, they don't have tanks. They're the kind who hide in caves,
    kind of move around the dark corners of some of the cities in the world,
    and then send youngsters to their suicidal deaths. That's the kind of
    people they are.
        See, there's a huge difference between us and them. They don't value
    life. We value life. We say, ``Every life is precious. Everybody counts.
    Everybody in the whole world has got worth.'' But we're after them. It
    doesn't matter how dark the cave is or what corner of the world they're
    trying to hide in; we're after them, one at a time. That's the way this
    war is going to be fought, and that's the way it's going to be won.
        We've got a lot of good folks working with us, because the doctrine
    still stands: Either you're with us, or you're with the enemy. Slowly
    but surely, we're dismantling them. And it's going to take a while--it
    just is going to take a while. We've probably hauled in a couple of
    thousand of them; like number weren't as lucky. In either case, these
    groups are not threats to us. The other day a guy popped up, and he was
    going to be the 20th hijacker. He popped
    his head up. He's not a problem to the United States of America. Slowly
    but surely, we're hauling them in.
        It's important to be realistic about the threats we face. It's
    important to understand it's a dangerous world. It's also important to
    understand the stakes have changed since September the 11th. When I was
    a youngster--kind of when I was an older guy too--we thought oceans
    could protect us. That's what we thought. If there was a conflict or a
    threat overseas, we had the luxury, because of two great oceans, to pick
    and choose our fights. If we wanted to help, we would. If it was a
    direct threat, we could decide. If there was an indirect threat, we
    could decide to get involved, not--but oceans protected us.
        That's changed. And America must understand that has changed. And
    therefore, threats that in the past may not have seemed overly
    significant all of a sudden become significant, like the threat to
    America in Iraq. Saddam Hussein is a threat
    to our country. He can't stand what we believe in. He doesn't like
    America. He doesn't like our friends. He's a man who

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    told the world he would have no weapons of mass destruction, and yet, he
    does. And not only that, he's used weapons of mass destruction. He's
    used them against his neighbors, and he's used them against his own
    people.
        For 11 years, he's deceived and denied
    the world, and he's a threat. He's a threat. If he were to team up, like
    we think he's trying to do, with one of these terrorist networks, he
    would be able to use a weapon of mass destruction on America and leave
    no fingerprints behind. We've got to be clear-eyed about our
    responsibilities and the threats we face.
        So I went to the United Nations. See, I hope that body can be
    effective to deal with the new threats that we face, that freedom-loving
    people face. I told them that ``For 16 resolutions this guy has ignored you, and we want you to be successful. We
    want you to be able to keep the peace, so do something about it.'' We
    also sent the message to Saddam Hussein--I'm saying it again right now--
    ``You said you wouldn't have weapons of mass destruction. Disarm. Do
    what you said you would do.''
        But if the United Nations won't act, won't fulfill their
    responsibilities to keep the peace, and if Saddam Hussein will not disarm--their choices, by the way--the United
    States of America, in the name of peace and in the name of freedom, will
    lead a coalition and disarm Saddam Hussein.
        And I believe, by remaining strong and tough and firm, that we can
    achieve peace. You've just got to know, amongst all the talk about
    getting them and war and all that, that my vision is for a peaceful
    world. And I believe we can achieve it. I do. It requires this country
    to be steady and resolved. It requires us to remember that freedom isn't
    an American gift; it's God-given. It's got to remember the values that
    we hold dear of being steady and resolved.
        The evil done to America, the evil done to this country, is going to
    yield some incredible good, I believe. Not only abroad can we achieve
    peace--and I mean in parts of the world where they've quit on peace.
    Remember, we believe everybody has worth; everybody counts; everybody
    matters. We want children to grow up in a peaceful world. That's why,
    when we went into Afghanistan, we went in not as conquerors but as
    liberators. And thanks to the United States of America, many young girls
    now go to school for the first time. Those values we hold dear are
    important values. Everybody counts.
        And here at home we can have a better America as well. See, while we
    worked for our security and safety, we can also work to make sure this
    country is a better place for everybody. There are pockets of despair in
    America. Amongst our plenty, people hurt; people are lonely; people need
    help. And the role of Government is a limited role. We can hand out
    money--which we do; sometimes we're pretty good at it. We can repair
    systems when they're broken. But what Government cannot do is put hope
    in people's hearts or a sense of purpose in people's lives. That happens
    when a fellow American puts their arm around somebody in need and says,
    ``I love you. I love you.''
        You know, I don't know what was going through the enemy's mind when
    they hit us. They probably thought that the national religion was
    materialism, that we were so self-absorbed and selfish that after 9/11
    we'd take a step back and maybe file a lawsuit or two. They just didn't
    understand. They didn't understand our strength, our resolve, that when
    it comes to freedom, we're plenty strong. But when it comes to
    compassion, we're really decent people.
        No, I believe out of the evil done to America can come a country in
    which the American Dream is known to everybody who lives here, in which
    people who hurt can find salvation and hope. Today I had the honor of
    meeting Dick McCloskey. He's a man who lost a
    daughter on 9/11 in New York. He's a man, and along with his family, has
    dedicated himself to work

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    at the Center for the Homeless. He's a guy who knows what I know, that
    we can change America, one heart, one soul at a time and that each of us
    has a responsibility--each of us has a responsibility as an American to
    help people in need.
        The American spirit is more than just keeping the peace and
    defending the homeland. The American spirit was embodied on Flight 93,
    that day when people were flying across the country. They heard the
    plane was going to be a weapon. They told their loved ones goodbye. They
    said a prayer. A guy said, ``Let's roll.'' They drove the plane in the
    ground, to serve something greater than themselves in life.
        That's the American spirit, serving something greater than yourself.
    No, the enemy had no idea, when they attacked us, they attacked the
    greatest nation, full of the finest people, on the face of this Earth.
        Thank you for your concern about our country. Thank you for
    supporting Chris. May God bless you, and may
    God bless America.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:10 p.m. at the South Bend Regional
    Airport. In his remarks, he referred to Chris Chocola, candidate for
    Indiana's Second Congressional District, and his wife, Sarah; Ramzi bin
    al-Shibh, an Al Qaida operative suspected of helping to plan the
    September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, who was captured in Karachi,
    Pakistan; and President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.