[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 36 (Monday, September 9, 2002)]
[Pages 1505-1511]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Dinner for Congressional Candidate Chris Chocola in South 
Bend

September 5, 2002

    Thank you all very much for that warm welcome. And thank you for 
that kind introduction, ``Congressman.'' [Laughter] I'm proud to come 
back to my alma mater. Well, that is, my honorary alma mater. [Laughter] 
I'm proud to come back to support Chris Cacho--Chocola. [Laughter] He's 
a fine man. You're lucky he's running for Congress. The people of this 
district need to send him to Washington, DC.
    I want to thank you all for coming. I appreciate your support of 
Chris. I want to thank those who organized this dinner. I thank John 
Hiler, who's campaign chairman. I want to thank Father Scully from one 
of the greatest universities in America, that is Notre Dame. I 
appreciate Doc Bowen. I asked him if he wanted to be called Secretary or 
Governor. He said, ``Governor.'' I said, ``I understand that.'' 
[Laughter] Former Congressman Bud Hillis is here. A current Congressman, 
Steve Buyer, is here, and I appreciate Steve coming. He's been a strong 
ally in the United States Congress. Brose McVey, who is running for 
Congress from the Indianapolis area, is with us today. And Brose, thank 
you for running for Congress, and sure hope you win. I appreciate Jim 
Kittle, who's the chairman of the party.
    But most of all, I appreciate all the grassroots activists who are 
here. I want to thank you for supporting this good man. I want to thank 
you for what you have done, but most importantly, I want to thank you 
for what you're going to do, and that is turn out the vote. We need him 
in the United States Congress.
    Chris Chocola is a man of faith and family. He's got good, solid 
Indiana values. He married above himself--[laughter]--and so did I. 
[Laughter] I love the story that's told about Chris sitting there 
yelling at TV screen on Sunday morning. Sarah finally said, ``If you get 
so agitated at screaming at the TV screen about all the opinions being 
made, why don't you start talking to voters instead? Why don't you go 
out and ask for the vote and serve your country?'' And thankfully, he 
said yes. I appreciate a good wife who stands by her husband, who is 
willing to work to see the best interests of this district are 
represented in Washington, DC.
    I also love the fact that they place high priority on their 
children. There's nothing more important than having people in 
Washington, DC, who understand that their most important job is to be a 
good mom and a good dad. And you've got that in the Chocola family.
    I had the honor of shaking some hands a little earlier. And more 
than one person, Chris, said they wished Laura were here. You drew the 
short straw. [Laughter] By the way, she's doing great. When I married 
here, she--we were both raised in Midland, Texas, for starters. And the 
truth of the matter is, when we met and married, she wasn't very 
interested in politics and wasn't too keen on politicians. Now she's the 
First Lady of the United States, and she's doing a fabulous job.

[[Page 1506]]

I'm proud of the way she has set an example. I'm proud of her calm 
demeanor in the face of crisis. I'm proud to call her wife. I love her 
dearly, and I wish she were here.
    I like Chris because not only is he a good, honest fellow, he 
doesn't need polls to tell him what to believe, doesn't need to run a 
focus group to figure out what's in his heart, but he's also run a 
business. I've spent a little time in Washington now, and I can assure 
you, we need more people in the Nation's Capital who have met a payroll.
    See, the entrepreneurial spirit is so incredibly important in 
America, and we need to--people need--we need people in Washington who 
understand that spirit. In this case, you've got a person who has helped 
build a small business to--I guess you'd call it a medium-size business. 
A lot of people would call it a large business when they understand this 
business employs over a 1,000 people.
    See, what we need in Washington is people who understand the role of 
Government when it comes to enterprise. And the role of Government is 
not to create wealth. The role of Government is to create an environment 
in which the entrepreneur can flourish, in which small businesses can 
grow to be big businesses, in which America's producers can flourish. 
And that starts with creating a tax environment that is hospitable to 
growth and jobs.
    I suspect in this campaign you're going to find a difference of 
opinion about taxes. I'll give you our opinion. In the midst of slow 
times, economic times--and we're in slow economic times. As a matter of 
fact, history will show that the first three quarters of my 
administration--during the first three quarters of my administration, we 
were in recession. And it's then that it's best to stimulate economic 
growth and job creation by letting people keep more of their own money. 
Here's the difference of opinion in Washington, and you're beginning to 
hear it creep into the dialog. Some want to get rid of the tax cuts. 
Some want to raise taxes in the midst of a recession. That's the 
absolute wrong policy. Some want to raise tax when we've got slow 
economic times. That's the wrong policy.
    The textbook we read from says, if you let a person keep more of 
their own money, you will enhance the demand for goods and services. And 
if somebody demands an additional good or service, somebody is going to 
produce that good or a service. And when somebody produces that good or 
a service, somebody is more likely to find work. What we're interested 
in is stimulating the entrepreneurial spirit of America, stimulating 
small-business growth, so people in America can find work.
    And one of the issues we're faced with is this--because of a quirk 
in the law, this tax relief plan that we have passed is going to expire 
in 10 years. I admit that's kind of hard to explain. That's tough to 
explain in Crawford, for example, when you tell them, ``We'll get you 
tax cuts, but we're going to take it away from you.'' The Senate rules 
have it that after 10 years the tax relief that we passed go away. And 
that's bad for America. See, it's hard to plan when there's uncertainty 
in the Tax Code.
    There's also some good social policy in the Tax Code. We mitigate 
the harm of the marriage penalty. We believe that the Tax Code ought to 
encourage marriage, not discourage marriage. And one of the very 
important features of this bill, besides rate reduction, which is good 
for job creation, is that this bill puts the death tax on the road to 
extinction. The death tax is bad for Indiana farmers. It's bad for 
Indiana businessowners. It's bad for Indiana, period. And we need a 
Congressman who is willing to join me to make sure the tax cuts are 
permanent.
    No, the economy is not like it should be. And we've made pretty good 
progress in Washington. We need people up there who understand the 
responsibility that comes with running a business. In this country, we 
expect people to tell the truth. We don't want people cooking the books. 
We don't want people fudging the numbers in order to try to get ahead. I 
had the honor of working with both Republicans and Democrats to sign the 
most comprehensive corporate reform since Franklin Roosevelt was the 
President. My attitude is, if you cheat the American people, if you 
cheat the taxpayer, if you cheat your

[[Page 1507]]

employees, we're going to hold you accountable. No more easy money in 
America, just hard time for those who betray the trust.
    I appreciate so very much Chris' understanding of the need to make 
sure that every child--every child in America--gets a good education. 
There is a debate that rages in America about public schools, and there 
should be. Here's our attitude: Every child can learn. We believe it's 
essential to raise standards and raise the bar, to challenge the soft 
bigotry of low expectations. We believe it's important to trust the 
local people to chart the path to excellence for every child. See, we're 
strong backers of local control of schools. We understand the people who 
care more about the children of South Bend, Indiana, are the people who 
live in South Bend, Indiana. And therefore, we should empower them--
empower them to make sure that the public education meets the high 
standards. So local control of schools is a cornerstone of good 
education policy. We should never federalize education in America.
    And thirdly, we believe in holding people accountable. You see, if 
you believe every child can learn--in other words, if you're willing to 
set high standards--then you want to know whether or not that's taking 
place. If you believe every child in America can learn, it's essential 
that we insist that we measure to determine whether they are learning.
    We want to know whether or not our children can read and write and 
add and subtract, and the only way to do that is to insist that States 
which receive Federal money develop accountability systems so parents 
and concerned citizens understand exactly that which is taken place. And 
when we find children trapped in schools which will not teach and will 
not change, as a society we must demand something better, because there 
is no second-rate children in America. Every child should be educated, 
and no child should be left behind.
    And I hope the Second District sends somebody up to Washington who 
is strong on national defense, somebody who understands the challenges 
we face, somebody who is willing to join me in insisting that Congress 
adequately fund our military. I say that because the most important 
challenge the next Congress will have is to join me in protecting our 
homeland. Economic security is vital, but I believe our economy is going 
to right itself and grow. The ingredients for growth are there: low 
interest, low inflation, high productivity amongst our workers, the 
entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well and recovering.
    The biggest challenge is the homeland security. Our biggest 
challenge is to make sure that the enemy doesn't hit us again. And 
they're out there. That's the reality of the world in which we live. The 
battlefields of the past have shifted. The battlefield can now be here 
in America, as we learned tragically. And there is still a group of 
people out there, nothing but a bunch of coldblooded killers, by the 
way, that hate America. And they hate us because we love freedom. I want 
you to tell your kids that the reason there is an enemy that wants to 
strike America is because this great country, this great land loves 
freedom. We love the fact that people can worship freely in America. We 
love the fact that people can speak their mind. We love a free press. We 
love everything that freedom offers, and we're willing to defend it at 
all costs. The more we love freedom, the more the enemy hates us. And 
that's why we've got to protect the homeland.
    And there's another interesting characteristic of these people. They 
don't value human life, and we do. Every life is precious in America. 
Everybody counts. Everybody has worth, no matter what their status. And 
the enemy doesn't think that way. And so long as we adhere to those 
values, and so long as they're running around, we've got a problem here 
at home. And we're going to deal with it. We're going to deal with it in 
a way that protects our Constitution. It's a sacred document, as far as 
I'm concerned. And we're going to do it in an intelligent way.
    You need to know there's a lot of fine people working hard to 
protect America right now. Anytime we get a hint, anytime we get a 
lead--our antennae, by the way, are much more sensitive now than they 
were prior to September the 11th, obviously. We're aware of the new 
battlefield. And so we're moving on these hints and these leads, and 
we're disrupting, and we're after them here at home.
    I went to Congress and asked the Congress to help me protect our 
homeland by setting

[[Page 1508]]

up a Department of Homeland Security. When I first laid out the 
initiative, some of our folks were a little concerned that I was trying 
to create big Government. I readily concede my slogan wasn't, ``Don't 
vote for me. I'm for big Government.'' But I do want our Government to 
work. I want it to, particularly now that we're threatened. I want it to 
do what you want it to do, to do everything we can to effectively 
protect our homeland. So I sent up a comprehensive package to Congress 
to take all the agencies involved with homeland security--and there's 
over 100 of them in Washington--and put them under one umbrella, so that 
we can have the right focus and the right priority in this agency.
    To tell you how Washington thinks, however--the House, by the way, 
responded well, and I want to thank Steve for his vote. But in the 
Senate, they're debating the issue, and they're trying to micromanage 
the process. There's a little confusion as to--over who is the executive 
branch and who is the legislative branch. The legislative branch wants 
to try to run how we run our operation. And that's unacceptable, and 
I'll give you an example.
    In order to protect America better, we must do a better job of 
securing our borders. We've got to know who's coming into America, what 
they're bringing into America, and whether they're checking out when 
they say they're going to leave America. We've got three different 
agencies on our borders. We've got the INS and the Border Patrol and the 
Customs agency, all of which have got important duties, none of which do 
a very good job of working together. They wear different uniforms. 
They've got different strategies sometimes.
    For the sake of homeland security, the Senate must give this 
President and future Presidents the ability to move people to the right 
place at the right time in order to disrupt the enemy. They should not 
micromanage the process. They've got to worry more about the American 
people and less about the special interest that roams the Hall of the 
United States Senate.
    There's no doubt in my mind Steve would be with us in that spirit. 
He understands management, and he understands priority. The reason I say 
we need people in Congress up there to--who understand the new world 
we're in and are willing to support our military, is because the best 
way to secure the homeland is to hunt the killers down, one person at a 
time, and bring them to justice. And that's exactly what the United 
States is going to do.
    They hide in caves. See, this is a different kind of war. And part 
of my responsibilities as your President is to remind people about the 
realities that we face in America. One of the realities is, is that 
these people hide in caves. They find the darkest cave they can find, 
and then they sell--send their youngsters or young folks to their 
suicidal deaths. They don't have tanks. They don't have munition 
factories. They've got determination and hatred in their hearts. They've 
got suicidal killers. And so we've got to run them down, no matter where 
they are, one by one.
    I sent a significant increase in the defense budget up to Congress. 
It's the largest increase since Ronald Reagan was the President. I did 
so because I wanted to send two messages. One, anytime we send our 
troops into harm's way, they deserve the best pay, the best equipment, 
and the best possible training. You need a Congressman from this 
district who understands that. I also sent a second message to friend 
and foe alike, and that is, this country will stay the course no matter 
how long it takes to defend freedom, that we're in this for the long 
haul, that we understand the stakes and we value our liberty and we're 
going to defend our country for the sake of our children and our 
children's children.
    And we're making some pretty good progress. Sometimes you see what 
happens; sometimes you don't. This is one of these kind of wars where 
things happen, and you just don't know about it. But I bet we have 
hauled in over a couple of thousand of these people. I say ``we''; it's 
not only ourselves but our friends and allies. And they're still hitched 
up. They're still anxious to help, because they understand the stakes. 
Probably a like number weren't as lucky, but we're seeking justice 
around the world.
    It's important for our youngsters to understand this about our 
country as well--when we say something, we've got to do it. When

[[Page 1509]]

we say something, we do what we say. When we told the world that if you 
harbor a terrorist, you're just as guilty as the terrorist, and we mean 
it. And Afghanistan and the Taliban found out exactly what the United 
States of America was talking about.
    We went to that country not to conquer anybody but to liberate 
people. This great Nation liberated people from the clutches of one of 
the most barbaric regimes in history. And now, thanks to America and our 
friends and allies, young girls go to school for the first time--many 
young girls go to school for the first time in their lives.
    We've got a lot of work to do. Once we get them on the run, we 
intend to keep them on the run by denying them sanctuary or training or 
finances or camps. Once we get them moving, we're going to keep them 
moving until we bring them to justice. And it's going to take awhile, 
just is. But the price is worth it. I know the nature of the enemy. No 
matter what it takes, no matter what the cost, we owe it to history, we 
owe it to our children's freedom to be tough and strong and to pursue 
the killers.
    I started a debate in Washington yesterday that is a very important 
national debate. It's a debate that we must have. It's a debate about 
our future and about peace, and it's a debate about Saddam Hussein. I 
want Congress involved in this debate. Tomorrow morning I'm going to 
call the leaders of China and Russia and France to talk about how to 
make the world more peaceful and more secure. I'm going to meet with 
Prime Minister Blair Saturday night, Prime Minister Chretien on Monday, 
all aimed at building a consensus and talking about a true threat that 
faces our country.
    There is nothing more threatening than to have weapons of mass 
destruction in the hands of somebody who hates America and hates 
freedom. There's doubt in people's mind; I understand that. But there 
should be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has invaded two countries in 
recent history. There should be no doubt that he's totally defied the 
international community. You see, he agreed to disarm, and he's totally 
defied that--what he agreed to. Where I come from, if you say you're 
going to do something, people expect you to do it. I expect him to do 
it.
    There's no doubt that he has killed his own people. He's poisoned 
his own citizens at times. He has used chemical weapons on others. 
There's no doubt in my mind that we should allow the world worst leaders 
to hold America hostage, to threaten our peace, to threaten our friends 
and allies with the world's worst weapons. I'm a patient man. We've got 
a lot of tools at our disposal. But I'm going to act on this premise, 
that freedom is precious, and we owe a free society to our children and 
our children's children.
    The enemy struck a great country. You know, they must have ignored 
reality when they hit us, or they were operating on false premises, such 
as, this country is so materialistic and selfish, so feeble in our 
strength, so shallow in our beliefs that after September the 11th we 
might have filed a lawsuit or two, but that's all we were going to do. 
But they learned--they learned something about this country. They 
learned about our character and our fiber and our beliefs. Out of the 
evil done to America is going to come some good. They couldn't have 
possibly realized that, because they didn't understand who they were 
hitting. Out of the evil they have done to us--a tragic, tragic day in 
our history, September the 11th--will come peace.
    If we stay steadfast and strong, if we're willing to delineate 
between good and evil, if we're willing to continue to work with others 
to protect freedom, we can achieve peace. We can achieve peace not only 
for our own citizens, but since we value all human life and everybody 
matters, we can achieve peace in parts of the world that have quit on 
peace.
    No, they hit us, but they roused a mighty spirit in this country, 
and they've given us a chance to seize the moment, to define history, to 
define our history as a peaceful history. It's going to be some steep 
climbing for awhile. We've got some high hurdles. But I want you to tell 
the young ones that the aims of this country, the aims of this great 
country is to achieve peace.
    And here at home, we've got to recognize that in the midst of our 
wealth and prosperity, there are pockets of despair and hopelessness, 
people wondering whether or not

[[Page 1510]]

the American Dream is meant for them. My attitude is, when one of us 
suffers, all of us suffers. But I believe we now have a chance to 
rectify that, to make our country hopeful for every citizen, because I 
know what the spirit of America is all about, and I know what's taking 
place in community after community after community. After September the 
11th, many of our citizens took a step back to assess that which is 
important in life. Many of our citizens understand to fight evil, you do 
so by loving your neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself; 
that it's the collective acts of kindness and goodness that take place 
in our society on a daily basis that stands strong against the evil done 
to America and paints the true face of a compassionate country.
    I recognize, and I hope you do, that there is a role for Government. 
And Government can hand out money, and sometimes we do a pretty good job 
of it. But what Government cannot do is put hope in people's hearts or a 
sense of purpose in people's lives. That is done when a loving citizen 
puts his or her arm around a despairing American, and says, ``I love 
you. What can I do to help you? How can I teach you to read? What is it 
I can do to make your life more hopeful?''
    See, one person can't do everything in America, but one person could 
do something. And each of us must be that one person doing something to 
stand tall in the face of evil. And that's what's happening here in 
America. All across our country there are churches and synagogues and 
mosques working miracles of change in people's lives. There are people 
who, on a daily basis in America, feed those who hunger, provide shelter 
for those who need shelter, teach values to our children.
    No, the enemy hit us, but they didn't realize what was going to 
happen. They didn't realize that we're going to do whatever it takes to 
defend our freedom. Nor did they realize that this country is going to 
emerge a stronger and more compassionate land.
    The culture of our country--I first ran for Governor, and one of the 
main reasons why was because I wanted to be a small part of a cultural 
change in America. I felt it was incredibly important for the future of 
this country to be a part of a change of a culture from one which had 
said, ``If it feels good, do it, and if you've got a problem, blame 
somebody else.'' My hopes and dreams still exist for a culture which 
says, ``Each of us are responsible for the decisions we make in life.''
    If you're fortunate enough to be a mom or a dad, you're responsible 
for loving your child with all your heart and all your soul. If you're 
living in South Bend, Indiana, you're responsible for the quality of 
education in your neighborhood. You're responsible for helping a 
neighbor in need. You're responsible for the quality of life around you. 
If you're running a corporation, you're responsible for telling the 
truth. This responsibility era is beginning to take place.
    There's--an amazing event happened on September the 11th that helps 
define what I'm talking about. It defines that concept of serving 
something greater than yourself in life. It was on Flight 93, when some 
of our fellow citizens were flying across the country. They had heard 
from cell phones, generally from their loved ones, that the plane that 
they were on was going to be used as a weapon. And a lot of them on that 
airplane told their loved ones goodbye. They spoke about love. They said 
a prayer. One guy said, ``Let's roll,'' and they served something 
greater than themself in life by taking that plane into the ground.
    This country is a fabulous country because of that spirit. You see, 
there's a new patriotism in America, a new sense of responsibility to 
something greater than ourselves. There's no doubt in my mind that out 
of the evil done to America will come incredible good, will come peace 
and a compassionate tomorrow, because this is the greatest nation on the 
face of the Earth, full of the greatest people.
    May God bless you all. Thank you for coming. And may God bless 
America.

Note: The President spoke at 5:55 p.m. at the Century Center. In his 
remarks, he referred to former Gov. Otis R. ``Doc'' Bowen of Indiana; 
Rev. Timothy R. Scully, executive vice president, University of Notre 
Dame; Sarah Chocola, wife of candidate Chris Chocola; President Saddam 
Hussein of Iraq; Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom; and 
Prime Minister Jean

[[Page 1511]]

Chretien of Canada. Mr. Chocola is a candidate for Indiana's Second 
Congressional District.