Sep 04 2008
Blessed By Misfortune – McCain’s Speech
What is it to be an American? The John McCain I met tonight was incredibly Reaganesque as he reminded us that American pride comes from winning the fight – not from whining for handouts as victims. McCain, through his own riveting personal story of transformation from self centered cocky fly boy to dedicated man of his country, reintroduced himself to America, and reintroduced us to ourselves. The speech was a huge hit. And the comparisons to Obama were striking.
As McCain relays the trauma of his years as a POW one cannot keep running in the back of their mind “and Obama was a community organizer” – which is really killing Obama, who now is trying to compete with Sarah Palin as competent to lead the nation. When you step back from that idiotic battle and look at McCain and his life story you realize how dumb the Obama campaign has been.
And a word of caution to liberal dems like Paul Begala: don’t call John Kerry a war hero any more, he is not in the same league as McCain. We are not 2 digit IQ rubes out here in normal America.
But I titled this post because of the difference between left and right mentality in this country. We all know those things we have had to fight to gain, those times we were tested and succeeded, were the most memorable of our existence. Â Trivial and easy equals forgettable.
Obama and the left want to whine and moan about how hard it all is and how we must ask government to take care of us. Very European. McCain said we can do this if we work together and stand by each other. I have been blessed by misfortune as well (but nowhere at the intensity of McCain), and it reminded me of why the Obama and liberal view of these challenges is all wrong.
McCain has changed the GOP into the party outside the mess in DC and ready to clean it up. The liberals played the useful idiot roles by giving McCain the opportunity to go off speech and use them of an example of why hyper partisanship has destroyed DC. We don’t want purity to party, we want solutions to problems. McCain reminded us we can easily solve the aging and dysfunctional services like education, energy, taxes, security, etc.
While the left wallow in the challenges facing this nation and wring their hands praying for government solutions, McCain said if government and gridlock gets out of the way we could fix them. If the do-nothing Congress would get out of the way we would be building nuclear power plants, drilling for oil here in the US and easing the cost of energy and the reliance on unstable countries. America got their champion tonight.
McCain wants to fix government so we can fix our problems. Obama wants us to hand our problems to the idiots in DC to fix, who got us in this mess in the first place. If that is the frame of the election Obama and the liberals will lose and lose big. We are not crippled by our misfortune – we are now given the opportunity to make things better. No need to wring hands, it is time to roll up our sleeves and join hands – in the middle far away from the hyper partisans.
[…] Strata: Also moved by McCain’s simple love of country, and his humility in confession he was “blessed by misfortune” […]
but are you making light of the role of a ‘community organizer’, whatever that is? I saw Obama today criticizing Palin for ‘poking fun at him being a community organizer’ but at the same time, I’ve seen him answer the question of whether he had been effective as a community organizer by saying ‘he didn’t know’. I still have not seen, either on a conservative or liberal blog, one single thing he accomplished as a ‘community organizer’. If anyone knows if he has ever accomplished anything of substance in any job he’s ever had, please say what it was.
He seems to feel that running for President is an accomplishment, but I’d say, only if he wins.
A very moving transformational story. Honor, great courage, and the desire to bring Americans together as Americans to do our work.
OK, George W. Bush, tho not the story of heroism, hoped to do the same after the rancorous years of Clinton. With a divided, partisan country, he promised to bring us together, work across party lines. He wanted to put the economy back on track, make education accountable to the families, immigration issues (McCain didn’t mention), and I forget the other things. For what ever reason I’m not sure, Jay Rockerfeller and company decided to destroy Bush, and nobody stood up and said enough is enough. Many blame Bush for the big divide, destroying our reputation, our economy, the energy crisis tho his administration worked for months on the same program that is being proposed now. They say that if we just tried to get bin Laden and didn’t quit, and we never went into Iraq, we would be one big happy family. Bull!
So tho I liked the speech, country first, we are at war so a good theme, there is still the big divide. The same wars that the two parties fight every four years.
I guess what really makes me unhappy is that by not honoring what this country has been through in the last 8 years, the difficult decisions that had to be made for all Americans benefit and pretending that George Bush is really the worst president ever, says to me that it is same ol’ same ol’ promises. And buys into the notion that Bush really is the worst, quietly mention his name one time, more praise for his wife then the Commander in Chief. If the republicans will not stand up for Bush, does McCain think the republicans will stand up for him when the shit hits the fan as it surely will. The only good thing is that McCain could win and that is a much brighter future for this country then an Obama presidency. And Sarah Palin could be a very bright light.
An Open Letter to John McCain – Re: Your speech…
Last night, for the first time in almost a year, I was excited about your campaign. Your running mate did an outstanding job introducing herself to the public, showing what the future of Republican politics could be. That single speech did more for y…
[…] clipped from strata-sphere.com […]
kathie… At Quantico [Marine stuff, you know], Sergeant Fabyunkie [sry Sarge.. I am sure I spelled your name wrong] used to tell us… “I don’t train you to die for your country… I train you so the other guy will die for his country.”
yes, I agree… Not quite giving President Bush the honorable mention that [I agree] he deserves is not exactly “honorable” for want of a better word.
However, this election is going to get down and dirty as we go along.
We Republicans are lucky to have our Sarah as the VP pick. The Dems are in a panic and do not know what to do
History will judge President Bush… History will also judge if we choose correctly this time around. Did you not hear Sen. McCain say he was a fighter? Fighters fight to win… They do not give the opponent an opportunity for a free shot. If a burglar breaks in my home with a club, I get out my shotgun. Fight to win… Not for honor.
What am I saying? Dunno exactly if I am putting it right. If I give the Dems an opening with a kudo to Bush and it beats me, have I served my country well?
On a lighter note… I have created the my best blog entry ever… [He stated modestly]
————
See it here only as the ACTUAL next President of the United States accepts the Republican party nomination for President…
Hint: It is not the old guy and [She] is unacceptably cute… and… Maysman has broken his elbow patting himself on the back for being so creative.
http://fuanglada.wordpress.com/
Scroll down… You will know which post it is.
Speech grade:
McCain [B]…
Palin [A+… Is there a grade higher than an A+ ??]
Cindy B+… Everyone else zzzzzzz
The debates will decide who is the next POTUS. Barring someone on either side messing up really badly, they are in a dead heat [I think] with the country waiting for the face to face
confrontations.
Toes..I agree. Don’t give the dems an opening, and history will judge Bush. Who ever follows him will know how painful it must be to make the hard decisions. And the next President will find that when you make one decision it spills over to having to make about 20 more, the next as hard as the first. Not all the decisions are always palatable. I remember McCain criticized Bush after 911 when Bush said we should all go out shopping (I’ll bet the wished he had said that differently). But Bush was trying to run the whole country. A recession was looming, we just lost 3,000 Americans, our intelligence community was in shambles, we had no way to get into Afghanistan but through Pakistan, our economy had just lost a trillion dollars, our military had been decimated through years of down sizing, Americans were terrified, many who had never been through a war, and the national security team was not fully assembled. Any way, I just let it go and hope McCain is successful and Obama doesn’t ever sit in the Oval Office.
y, kathy… My President did not ask me to do one single thing after 9-11. I do not forgive that. Fuanglada and I traveled to New York City and spend a bunch of $$ because RUDY asked us to.
[Had a nice time , too]
The country would have responded to this sort of leadership from President Bush but he failed us on this. No one is perfect.
[…] AJ Strata, The Anchoress, […]
kathie:
McCain did not dis George Bush. He was very complimentary of him. His criticism was not about Bush, but about his fellow Republicans in Congress who have forgotten who they work for.
McCain is not Bush, he is a different man. He has to run on that. If he does not Obama will simply treat him as if he were Bush.
But I did not hear any disrespect. He was kind to both George and Laura Bush.
What was he supposed to do? Spend his acceptance speech talking about someone else?
We are truly fortunate to have a man of John McCain’s character and in my lifetime there has not been anyone more deserving to be POTUS. This is a no brainer, no more discussions or debates need be held, if you need to think it over your brain has already failed you. The fact that he is not endeared by the Washington establishment or the media is a plus. This man can help heal the divide the media has created in this country, the other simply can not.
kathie,
I understand what you are saying. I finally became so furious at most of ‘my party’ over this issue, I quit my hobby as political junkie.
Bush was ruined by the MSM. The same ARMY that almost lost us another war. I lay the credit for Bush’s current position squarely on the Republican Congress and almost all of the OLD big bloggers. They splintered off on their ‘issues’ and lost sight of the picture. Michelle Malkin posted this when Sarah Palin was announced:
“Flashback: You go, girl: Alaska GOP Gov. will sue Bush administration over polar bear listing.”
Bush could not fight off her Katrina slime of “Brownie”. It stuck onto Sen Collins. Neither Congress nor his party fought for him the way they should have. It was all “Bush’s corruption”. The most uncorrupt man I have seen in that office.
I have known from the beginning that I will vote McCain because I am voting against Obama. Now he gave me someone to vote for. Everyone I know gave his speech a B- and Palin’s A+++. If they make it, I think she will demolish the MSM. Then we might stand a chance against our enemies.
Toes,
You may not be able to forgive GWB for not “asking” you to sacrifice for the cause.
But the kinds of sacrifices asked for during WWII were not needed any more and so any such request would have been artificial. Defending the President and chastising the “traitors” would have been helpful. We are to blame for allowing so many lies to become accepted as fact.
Calling McCain Reaganesque – are you kidding? That speech wasn’t half as good as Reagan’s worst speech. As a few people have noted in the comments, the general consensus is that the speech was okay at best. Even some conservatives (for example, the National Review) are saying his speech was flat and uninspiring. He was wooden, basically read straight from the telepromter the whole time and flub a few lines. His speech also lacked a central theme – he was all over the place on the topics. And that whole section about how the GOP lost the trust of the American people, going into a detailed explanation of why – what the hell was that all about? If he comes across the same way in the debates, McCain is in real trouble. The fact that Republicans are more excited about Palin than McCain should tell you all about your candidate.
While I agree that the part about his POW experience was compelling, it is re-run stuff that everyone already knew. Barely a day on the campaign trail goes by without him or his surrogates mentioning that he was a POW. So for independents/moderates (who will decide this election) tuning in, he didn’t provide anything new or explain what he is going to do to bring about his so-called “change”.
What is interesting about his speech is that McCain clearly has staked his candidacy on convincing people he will bring about change. Good luck. If Obama is smart, he can really undermine McCain’s claim of being an agent of change – especially in the debates. McCain has been a Senator for 26 years and leader of the GOP. What the hell has done lately to bring about change? He has sided with Bush on 90% of the issues. While all of you adore Bush, McCain can only convince people he will bring about change if he distances himself from Bush. If he has been unable or unwilling to change his own party through all of these years, why should we all believe that suddenly he’ll do it now? He has even recently flip-flopped on the one signature legislation that gave him the maverick label – ethics reform.
con,
Don’t be so superficial! As Reagan did, he reminded us what it means to be American. His POW experience goes to the question of trust and is relevant.
It’s easy to understand why Dems are afraid of a comparison of resumes. After all, what are the demonstrable results of a street hustler. Community organizers wouldn’t even be an idea in a city where the mayor and local government were functional.
well said Mack.
conguy, you should thank God, as I do, that we had a man with the courage and the will to stand up to evil in the world when the terrorists struck. The right man at the right time. Has Bush made some mistakes, sure, anybody that takes action is going to make some mistakes but we haven’t been attacked repeatedly (as we were during the Clinton years)
Toes, I didn’t have to be asked by the President to make sacrifices, most patriotic Americans didn’t have to be, they know what’s right and wrong. Were some mistakes made in fighting the war, sure, but GW Bush is not a general, he didn’t study war strategy, I’m sure he strongly supported the plans of the generals in how to fight the battles. Thank God Gen Patraeous got there in time.
I’d give McCain a B+ and Palin an Outstanding(whatever letter that is) but if you slept through Guiliani’s and Thompson’s speeches, you missed some good ones. (If Thompson had given speeches during his campaign like he did Wed, he’s be the candidate instead of McCain)