[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
[February 23, 2006]
[Pages 336-344]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at a Reception for Congressional Candidate Chris 
Chocola in Mishawaka, Indiana
February 23, 2006

    Thank you all very much. Please be seated. Thanks for the warm 
welcome. I have grown to admire Chris Chocola a lot because he is a 
person who does in office what he said he would do during campaigns. He 
is a honest, decent, down-to-earth, practical man who deserves to be 
reelected to the United States Congress.
    Chris is a rising star in the House of Representatives. And when you 
find a rising star, it makes a lot of sense to keep him serving you. So 
I want to thank you all for recognizing talent when you see it. Thank 
you for backing this good man for his reelection. Thank you for coming 
today to give me a chance to say loud and clear, Chris is the right 
person for the Second Congressional District of Indiana.
    And like me, he married well. [Laughter] It's great to see Sarah--and Caroline and 
Colin. You know, being in politics is hard on 
your family. But it sure does help when you, in my case, marry a good 
wife, and in Chris's case, marry a good wife too. And

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there's nothing better, by the way, in the political arena than going 
back home after a day when maybe some sharp elbows were flying, to a 
family that loves you more than anything. I think it's important to have 
somebody in the United States Congress who places his faith and his 
family as a priority in his life. And that's certainly what your 
Congressman Chris Chocola does. And I can't thank you enough for backing 
him.
    I want to thank Bethel College for letting us come by; I want to 
thank your president, Steve Cramer. And I want 
to thank the students. I know there's some students listening to this 
speech--one, I'll try to keep it short so you can get back to class. 
[Laughter] And two, please take politics seriously. In our society, all 
of us have a duty to participate. And one way you participate is when 
elections come around, you go to the polls and do your civic duty by 
voting. Now, I hear too often, ``My vote doesn't count.'' Your vote 
counts. And by the way, when you go into the booth, vote for him.
    I want to thank all the organizers of this event. It's not easy to 
organize an event that has been this successful of this size. And so, 
for all of you who have worked so hard, thanks for taking time to 
support Chris. I want to thank Jack Hiler, 
former Member of the United States Congress, who is the chairman of 
Chris's campaign. I want to thank Murray Clark, 
the chairman of our Republican Party of the State of Indiana. The 
attorney general, Steve Carter, is with us. 
General Carter, thank you for coming. Appreciate you taking time out. 
Most of all, thank you for being here.
    Before I get to my speech, I do want to thank the mayor, Jeff 
Rea. Jeff, thanks for coming. He gave me the 
key to the city. [Laughter] My only advice, Mr. Mayor, is pave the 
roads. [Laughter] And I know you will. [Laughter] I asked him, I said, 
``Do you like being mayor?'' He said, ``I love serving the people.'' And 
I don't see how you can be in public office if you don't love serving 
the people.
    Chris loves serving the people of this district. Every time I'm with 
him, he's talking about the people of the Second Congressional District. 
He says, ``I'm concerned about things; I'm worried about the small-
business owner,'' or, ``I want you to understand, Mr. President, how 
important Humvee is.'' I said, ``I understand the importance of Humvee; 
you don't have to tell me that.'' [Laughter] He's talking about--all the 
time, talking about people who live here. And the reason why is because 
he cares about people. It's one thing to be espoused in policy; it's 
another thing to have, deep in your heart, the desire to help people 
help themselves.
    One of the things about why I like working with Chris and people in 
Congress is that we're there for a reason. Some people in Washington 
just want to say, ``Well, I held the office.'' But that's not why Chris 
ran. He didn't need to run. He is a successful small-business owner. 
Pleased to report he and I are not lawyers. For all your lawyers out 
there, that's all right. We need them. But we got plenty of them in 
Washington, DC. [Laughter] Seems like it makes sense to have somebody 
that knows how to run a business representing this important 
congressional district.
    We're living during historic times. I wish I could report to you 
that the war on terror was over, but it's not. It's--these are serious 
times that require serious thought and serious purpose in order to do 
our most important duty, which is to protect the American people.
    You know, my buddies in Texas, they come up to the White House quite 
frequently. And after they get over their initial shock that I'm there--
[laughter]--they then ask me, ``What's it like to be President of the 
United States?'' And the best way to give a job description is it's--I 
make a lot of decisions. I'm a decisionmaker. And some of the decisions 
that--you'll see them; they're visible; they're big decisions. And some 
of them you'll never see. And I want to share with you the rationale as

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to why I made some of the decisions I've made, decisions that Chris has 
been strong to support for the good of the country.
    My thinking about the world changed on September the 11th, 2001. You 
just got to know that, so that when you see me talking about why we're 
doing things we're doing for the country, just keep in mind that on that 
day, I vowed that I would use everything in my power to protect the 
American people; that I recognized the nature of the war we were in, and 
I recognized the nature of the enemy.
    Let me talk about the enemy right quick. These are people who have 
no conscience, but they do have a philosophy. These aren't isolated 
cases of people that are acting out their anger. These are folks who 
have espoused an ideology that is the exact opposite of the United 
States of America. Perhaps the best way to describe their thinking is to 
remind you what life was like under the Taliban for people in 
Afghanistan. Life under the--in Afghanistan said that if you were a 
young girl you had no chance, no hope. As a matter of fact, you would 
never get educated. Life under the Taliban in Afghanistan said if you 
don't ascribe to the way we think about religion, you're subject to 
penalty--harsh penalty often, sometimes execution. In other words, 
there's no sense of freedom, no sense of individualism. It's all this 
kind of darkness prescribed by a few. It's totalitarianism at its worst.
    They've made it clear their intentions. When the enemy speaks, you 
better have people in Congress and in the White House who takes their 
word seriously. See, some in Washington would like to look at the world 
the way they want it to be; our job is to look at the world the way it 
is and try to work to make it better.
    And so the enemy has said, ``Don't worry, America is soft and weak, 
and all we've got to do is use the one weapon we have, which is the 
capacity and willingness to kill innocent life, and they will lose their 
nerve.'' And the reason they want us to retreat from the world is 
because they want to find safe haven again from which they can plot and 
plan and attack and kill.
    I told you September the 11th changed my frame of reference, changed 
my thinking. I am never going to give any quarter whatsoever to the 
enemy. We will stay on the hunt. We will be on the offense. And we will 
protect the American people by defeating them overseas so we do not have 
to face them here at home.
    That's why it's important to have Members of Congress who understand 
that when we put any person in harm's way, he or she deserves the best 
training, the best equipment, the best support possible. Chris Chocola 
has been a strong backer of the men and women who wear the uniform of 
the United States of America.
    I also recognize that if the enemy were able to find safe haven, 
that would make this country less secure. And so I put out a doctrine 
early on in this war, the first war of the 21st century--by the way, I 
wish I wasn't talking about war. No President ever says, ``Gosh, I hope 
there's war.'' For those of you who are young here, I want you to know 
what I'm leading to is how to keep the peace and do my job that you 
expect me to do, which is to prevent the enemy from attacking again.
    See, when I grew up, oceans would protect us. At least that's what 
we thought. You might remember the fifties and sixties. We'd see a 
threat overseas, and we were teenage kids and just didn't need to worry 
about it, did we, because oceans were there to protect us. That all 
changed on September the 11th. And so I've talked--two things to the 
American people--one, we've got to deny the terrorists safe haven; and 
secondly, we've got to deal with threats before they fully materialize.
    In the old days, a threat could be there, and we could pick and 
choose, decide whether or not we needed to deal with it or not. That's 
no longer the case in the 21st century. And so I said to the people of 
Afghanistan, ``You give up bin Laden;

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give up Al Qaida,'' because they were providing safe haven. I said, ``If 
you harbor a terrorist, you're equally as guilty as the terrorists.'' 
And when the President speaks, he better mean what he says. And I meant 
what I said, and they didn't give up Al Qaida, and we routed the 
Taliban, and 25 million people now live in freedom.
    We saw a threat with Saddam Hussein. I 
wasn't the only person who saw the threat. The United States Congress 
saw the threat; Republicans and Democrats saw the same threat. The 
United Nations Security Council saw the same threat. The entire world 
saw that Saddam Hussein was a threat. He'd attacked his neighbors; he 
attacked U.S.--was attacking U.S. airplanes; he had used weapons of mass 
destruction; he had destroyed thousands of his own citizens. There are 
mass graves in Iraq because of his brutality. He was a threat. It was 
his choice to make: Disclose, disarm, or face serious consequences. He 
made the wrong choice. The world is better off without Saddam Hussein in 
power.
    And I want to thank Chris for his strong support in this war on 
terror. It's important to have people who are clear-eyed in this battle. 
It's important never to send mixed signals to our troops in combat. It's 
important not to play politics with the issue of war and peace. And I 
appreciate his strong stand. That's not easy, by the way. I understand 
that. Nobody wants to go around bragging about being strong in a war. 
But he is. And you just got to know, it's vital to have this kind of 
strength in the Halls of Congress as we implement a plan for victory.
    We have one option, and that is to achieve our victory. And we have 
such a plan, and it starts with making sure that we deny a safe haven to 
the terrorists in Iraq. We got a plan that, on the one hand, says that 
democracy can help heal old wounds. And the Iraqi people have stood up 
three times in the past 13 months and made it clear to the whole world 
that they want to live in democracy. Over 11 million people voted in the 
face of terror. Their voices loud and clear, ``We reject terrorism; we 
reject the dark view of the Al Qaida that want to use them as a safe 
haven.''
    And if you want to know how tough Al Qaida is, just look at--we 
don't know exactly who made the bombing of this incredibly important 
holy shrine in Iraq, but whoever did it is trying to stop the advance of 
freedom, because their ideology of darkness cannot stand the light that 
freedom brings to people around the world. The United States of America 
strongly condemns the destruction of a holy site. I firmly believe that 
whoever did this is not a religious person but an evil person. And I 
praise the leaders in Iraq who have urged for calm and who continue to 
make sure that Iraq stays on the road to democracy.
    The second part of our strategy is to train the Iraqis so they can 
take the fight to the enemy. One of the interesting things early on in 
this war in Iraq, they started bombing these recruiting stations. So the 
first question I asked our commanders on the ground was, are you having 
any problem finding recruits? And the answer was, absolutely not. The 
people of Iraq want to be free, and we're training people to help them 
secure their freedom. And as the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down. 
Troop decisions will not be made by politicians in Washington, DC, but 
by commanders on the ground. And we've got a plan for victory, a victory 
we will achieve.
    In the long run, the way to lay the foundation of peace for our 
children and grandchildren and defend the United States of America is 
the spread of liberty. I know some have questioned whether or not it 
made sense, in my second Inaugural Address, to put a goal for the 21st 
century to be the eradication of tyranny. I can't imagine anybody 
questioning whether or not we should work to eradicate tyranny. Part of 
my decisionmaking process is based upon this principle and belief: I 
believe there's an Almighty; I believe that freedom

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is a gift from the Almighty; I believe everybody, deep in their soul, 
desires to be free. And therefore, you should not be surprised--I 
wasn't--when eleven million Iraqis said, ``I want to be free.'' Freedom 
is the best way to achieve peace in the long run.
    If you look at our history, we had--a lot of your relatives have 
died in wars on the continent of Europe. And yet, because democracy 
spread in Europe, Europe is now whole, free, and at peace. My dad fought the Japanese. I'm sure some of your 
relatives did as well. They were the enemy of the United States of 
America in a brutal war. And yet today, I sit down at the table with 
Prime Minister Koizumi of Japan talking 
about how to keep the peace.
    And what's the lesson to be learned? The lesson is this: That when a 
country adopts a democracy in their own style, reflecting their own 
history and their own traditions, they become a peaceful nation. 
Democracies do not war; democracies yield the peace. And someday, a duly 
elected leader from Iraq is going to be sitting down with an American 
President talking about how to keep the peace, and our children and 
grandchildren are going to be better off.
    I want to talk about another decision I made that you've been 
reading about in the newspapers. Right after September the 11th, 2001, I 
called in people who have the responsibility of helping to protect this 
country. We've got some really fine people, by the way. Really good 
people on the frontlines of fighting off these terrorists. See, if you 
don't believe we're not at war, then I can understand why people were 
concerned about my decision with the NSA. But we are at war; there's an 
enemy that still lurks.
    I spend every morning thinking about--at least every morning 
thinking about how to protect you. That's what you asked me to do; 
that's my job. It's really important for people in this country to know 
that the Government is working as hard as they can to protect the 
American people so you can go about your business. It's hard to be a 
risk-taker if all you think about is war. See, you've hired a lot of us 
to think on your behalf.
    And so I called in those on the frontline. I said, can we do 
anything more to protect the American people? What can we do? General 
Mike Hayden of the NSA is one fine public 
servant--came back, he said, ``Mr. President, I think we can do a better 
job of picking up communications from an enemy before they attack so we 
can possibly respond.'' Mindful of that recommendation and mindful of 
the fact that I took the oath of office that said I will defend the 
Constitution and the laws of the United States--I called in the lawyers. 
I got a lot of them. [Laughter] I said, is what General Hayden 
recommended legal? Do I have the legal authority as the President of the 
United States to put this in practice--because it made a lot of sense, 
his recommendation. He said, ``Mr. President, we have the capacity to 
listen to Al Qaida or suspected Al Qaida and their affiliates in making 
phone calls from outside the United States, inside the United States and 
vice versa.''
    It seemed to make sense to me that if somebody associated with the 
enemy is making a call inside the country, that it would be helpful to 
know why, in order to protect the American people. Lawyers came back and 
said, ``You got the authority, Mr. President.''
    I then went and said, well, gosh, if we do go forward, I know 
there's going to be some consternation in the Halls of the United States 
Congress. So we briefed people responsible for intelligence and the 
leadership in both bodies, in both political parties. Just like my buddy 
in Texas said, ``If you're trying to pull one over on them, why are you 
briefing the Congress?'' [Laughter] ``If you're doing something illegal, 
why did you call the Congress in and lay it for them to fully understand 
what we're doing to protect the American people?''

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    I wanted to share that with you. I think it's important for you to 
know why I make decisions. I'm confident what I'm doing--the decision I 
made is the right decision. If Al Qaida is calling in the United States, 
we want to know why.
    We're also making decisions about how to keep this economy growing. 
One thing the people of this district ought to do is judge whether or 
not Chris's votes on creating an environment for capital to flourish is 
working or not. He said, look--he and I agree the role of government is 
not to create wealth but an environment in which small businesses can 
flourish, in which people can realize their dreams, in which capital 
moves more freely, so that people can find work.
    And our plan is working. This economy of ours has been through a 
recession, an attack, a war, and corporate scandals, major storms last 
year, and high energy prices, and we grew at 3.5 percent. The national 
unemployment rate is 4.7 percent. We've added 4.7 million new jobs over 
the past 24 months--or a little longer than--2\1/2\ years. Productivity 
is at an alltime high. More people own a home today than ever before in 
our Nation's history. More minorities own a home today than ever before 
in our Nation's history.
    Our progrowth economic policies are working, and it starts with 
keeping your taxes low. Cutting taxes was the right thing to do. And if 
we don't permanently keep these tax cuts in place, you're going to have 
a tax increase. And raising taxes is the wrong way to cause this economy 
to continue to grow.
    I'm proud to have somebody like Chris who understands that when you 
have more money in your pockets to spend and save and invest, the 
economy grows. I've heard it--I'm sure you've heard all the talk in 
Washington. They said, ``Look, we need to balance the budget, and 
therefore, let's raise the taxes.'' That's not how Washington works. 
They're going to raise your taxes, and they're going to figure out new 
ways to spend your money. That's how Washington works. The best way to 
balance the budget is keep taxes low, grow the economy, and be wise 
about how we spend your money.
    And I appreciate Chris's support of fiscal austerity, and he does a 
good job. Every program sounds like a brilliant program in Washington, 
but you got to set priorities with the people's money, and that's what 
we're doing. We're on a plan to cut the deficit in half by 2009, but the 
toughest deficit of all is the unfunded liabilities inherent in Medicare 
and Social Security.
    And I recognize some of them in Washington don't want to touch that 
issue. By the way, it's a problem for both Republicans and Democrats. 
Sometimes if the issue looks too tough, the easiest thing to do is head 
for the hills. That's not the way Chris thinks. On Air Force One today, 
he said, ``Mr. President, are you serious about continuing to discuss 
how to fix Social Security and Medicare?'' And I said, ``Absolutely, 
Chris.'' He understands what I know. Our job is to confront problems and 
not pass them on to future Presidents and future Congresses. And I 
intend to continue working with Chris on Social Security and Medicare 
reform.
    You know, there's always a series of choices in Washington, DC, and 
I understand there's still uncertainty in the economy. And I understand 
why. There's a lot of changeover with new jobs, and you got some folks 
here in this district that lost work. And this troubles our fellow 
citizens, and it troubles me, and it troubles Chris. And we have a 
choice to make during this period of uncertainty, and that is whether or 
not we become protectionists and isolationists, or whether or not we're 
confident about the capacity of the United States to continue to lead 
the world's economy. And I'm proud to have a partner who ascribes to the 
latter philosophy.
    Our view is this: We shouldn't fear the future because we intend to 
shape the future. And you shape the future with good

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tax policy and good spending policy. You shape the future with good 
legal policy. We got too many junk lawsuits making it hard for people to 
invest capital. We need legal reform in the United States of America if 
we intend to lead the world economy.
    We intend to shape the future by encouraging research and 
development so this country remains the leading exporter and developer 
of new technologies. We're going to shape the future by changing our 
energy habits. I understand when an oil guy--I'm a guy from Texas--
stands up and says, ``We're addicted to oil,'' it caused people to take 
a second look. But I'm going to tell you something: Being addicted to 
oil puts us in an economic bind as well as a national security bind. And 
I intend to do something about it.
    I'm glad to have a partner with Chris. We're going to spend money 
wisely--your money wisely on research and development so we can develop 
advanced new batteries, so you can plug in your car at night and be able 
to drive 40 miles on electricity, not using a drop of gasoline. We're 
going to continue to expand the use of ethanol. It makes sense, by the 
way, to use research and development--your dollars for research and 
development to figure out ways to burn--better ways to burn corn and 
wood chips and saw grass. I want it so the American agriculture sector 
is providing energy for United States automobiles, not unstable parts of 
the world providing energy for U.S. automobiles.
    We've got an aggressive agenda. We believe in things. We're 
optimistic people. We believe in our philosophy, and we know you've sent 
us to Washington to produce results. And one of the really important 
areas, I know, for people in this part of the world is to make sure 
health care is available and affordable, particularly if you're a small-
business owner. Everywhere I go small-business owners say, ``It's tough 
for me to stay in business because I'm having trouble with my health 
care costs.'' And that's dangerous for the United States. Two-thirds of 
all new jobs in the United States are produced by small-business owners, 
and so we got to do something about it.
    I want to warn you, however, that there is a philosophical debate in 
Washington, and I would very--listen very carefully to the rhetoric 
during a political campaign. The debate is this, whether or not we 
should encourage market forces to help set price, or whether or not the 
Federal Government ought to be setting price. I strongly do not believe 
the Federal Government ought to be running our health care system, and 
neither does Chris Chocola. We believe that we ought to strengthen the 
doctor-patient relationship, bring transparency to pricing and medicine, 
encourage the development of information technology so medicine is 
modern.
    In order to make sure health care is available and affordable, we've 
got to do something about these lawsuits--not necessarily in Indiana--
but around the country that are running good docs out of business and 
running up the cost of medicine for the taxpayers.
    We have passed what's called health savings accounts. It's a great 
new vehicle to add market pricing into medicine and to put doctors and 
patients in charge of medicine. I strongly urge people who have run the 
small businesses to take a look at health savings accounts. And I look 
forward to working with Chris to make health savings account more 
acceptable and more available as an important antidote to those who want 
to federalize health care.
    I do want to talk about one aspect of health care that is a Federal 
responsibility, and that's Medicare. When I got to Washington, DC, I 
decided to do something about a health care system that had become 
stagnant and old as a result of Federal bureaucracies making decisions. 
I'll give you an example. The Government would pay your taxpayers' 
money--your money to help a person with an ulcer surgery. It may cost 50 
grand; I don't know what ulcer surgeries

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cost. Fortunately, I haven't had one. But it costs a lot. But wouldn't 
pay a dime for the prescription drugs to prevent the ulcer surgery from 
happening in the first place. That seemed like the system was a little 
old to me and stale.
    If you make a commitment to somebody, you got to make the commitment 
of excellence. And so I worked with Congress, Congressmen like Chris, to 
modernize Medicare, to provide a prescription drug benefit for our 
seniors. The Medicare modernization bill not only introduced HSAs but it 
gave seniors different options from which to choose. It's amazing what 
happens when you interject a sense of competition into a system. Do you 
realize that when we first analyzed the prescription drug benefit for 
seniors, they thought it was going to cost about $35 a month for the 
seniors? Because of competition, it's down to less than $28 a month. 
Competition works. Trusting people to make decisions works. Modernizing 
Medicare is an important, vital thing to have done. The Medicare bill I 
signed, that Chris supported, is going to make medicine for our seniors 
modern, and it's been necessary to do.
    Good public policy is more than just talking about economic issues 
or cultural issues which matter to the United States as well. I'm proud 
to have a partner in promoting a culture of life in the United States of 
America. Banning partial-birth abortion was an important bill I signed 
and sends a signal that the United States of America should value all 
life in all forms.
    The true strength of the United States of America is not our 
military strength or our economic strength, but it's the--the strength 
lies in the hearts and souls of our citizens. I am always astounded at 
the social entrepreneurship that takes place all around our country. I'm 
impressed by the thousands who have joined the armies of compassion to 
help bring hope where there's hopelessness and love where there's a lack 
of love.
    Chris and I understand that the role of government is limited, and 
it's a fact that governments don't love. Governments can dispense law 
and justice but not love. And therefore, one of the most important 
initiatives of my tenure as your President has been to promote the 
Faith-Based and Community-Based Initiative, which recognizes governments 
should welcome people of faith in helping to solve the intractable 
problems of our society. We should not fear faith in America. We ought 
to say to those who want to love their neighbor just like they'd like to 
be loved themselves, ``You should have equal access to Federal money, so 
long as you're helping to meet a Federal need.'' And we have a lot of 
need when it comes to saying to a brother or sister who's lost, ``I love 
you. What can I do to help you?''
    I've probably been going on a little too long. I hope the food's not 
getting cold. [Laughter] But I do tell you I'm proud to be here. I'm 
honored to stand by this good man. He's a fine, fine person and a great 
Member of the United States Congress who ran for a reason. And today I 
hope I can share some of the reasons why both he and I are proud to 
serve our country. I hope you can get a sense of philosophy behind why. 
We're not making up our minds based upon polls or focus groups. We're 
making up our mind based upon a philosophy and what we think is right 
for all the people of this country.
    Please send him back to the United States Congress. He's necessary. 
He's important, and he's doing a fantastic job for the people of the 
Second Congressional District.

Note: The President spoke at 12:30 p.m. at Bethel College Indiana. In 
his remarks, he referred Sarah Chocola, wife of Representative Chris 
Chocola, and their children, Caroline and Colin; Indiana State Attorney 
General Steve Carter; Mayor Jeffrey L. Rea of Mishawaka, IN; Usama bin 
Laden, leader of

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the Al Qaida terrorist organization; and former President Saddam Hussein 
of Iraq.