US Features
McCain vows 'change,' chastises own party
By Frank Fuhrig and Chris Cermak Sep 5, 2008, 11:04 GMT
Republican Candidate for President John McCain and his wife Cindy McCain wave to supporters after McCain delivered his acceptance speech on the floor of the Republican National Convention at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA, 04 September, 2008. EPA/SHAWN THEW
St Paul, Minnesota - John McCain touted his military service and reform record in seeking to reclaim the mantle of change from his Democratic opponent in a speech accepting the Republican Party's presidential nomination on Thursday.
McCain blistered his own party for having 'lost the trust of the American people' in recent years through corruption scandals and partisan politics. The Republicans lost control of Congress in 2006 after controlling the legislative branch for most of the previous 12 years, and Republican George W Bush is nearing the end of his eight-year presidency with approval ratings at historic lows.
'Let me offer an advance warning to the old, big spending, do-nothing, me-first, country-second crowd: change is coming,' McCain thundered.
The Arizona senator, who has a long reputation as a maverick within his own party during 26 years in Congress, mimicked many of the anti-establishment themes that have been the cornerstone of Democratic nominee Barack Obama's presidential campaign.
But McCain argued that he was the candidate with proven ability to shake up Washington and bring opposing politicians together, in an attempt to rebuff Democratic arguments that he would continue Bush's unpopular policies.
Despite his audience of party loyalists, McCain was blunt about the failings of a party whose Congressional majorities suffered a series of corruption scandals before losing both the Senate and lower House in 2006.
'I fight to restore the pride and principles of our party,' he said. 'We were elected to change Washington, and we let Washington change us. We lost the trust of the American people when some Republicans gave in to the temptations of corruption. We're going to change that.'
Mike Bayham, a New Orleans, Louisiana, delegate and state committeeman, said that McCain was 'dead on' to rebuke the 'lethargic leadership' that squandered the Republican majority in Congress in the 2006 by-elections.
'It's true,' Bayham said. 'We paid a heavy price for it. We lost a lot of seats in Congress.'
McCain alluded to his record of working with Democrats, often in defiance of Republican leaders - on such issues as campaign finance or immigration reform - with his more than five years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.
'I will reach out my hand to anyone to help me get this country moving again,' he said. 'I have that record, and the scars to prove it. Senator Obama does not.'
McCain said that his naval career and years in captivity had taught him the pain of war, and he promised to use diplomatic and economic policy in addition to military force to defeat US enemies.
'I hate war. It is terrible beyond imagination,' he said. 'I'm running for president to keep the country I love safe and prevent other families from risking their loved ones in war as my family has.'
Soon after McCain began speaking, a heckler high up in the arena began shouting, revealing a sign that read 'McCain votes against vets' on one side and 'You can't win in occupation' on the other.
Conventioneers drowned out the disruption with chants of 'USA.' After the protester was removed, an orange-shirted volunteer drew cheers from the crowd by ripping the sign into pieces, even using his teeth to open a tear in the stiff cardboard.
McCain was preceded by his wife, Cindy, on the final night of the Republican National Convention in St Paul, Minnesota. Cindy McCain praised her husband as a military hero, dedicated father, a reformist and independent thinker.
'If Americans want straight talk and the plain truth, they should take a good close look at John McCain ... a man who served in Washington without ever becoming a Washington insider,' she said.
McCain spoke of his career as a Navy fighter pilot who was shot down, captured and tortured, a personal story highlighted throughout the convention, which had the theme of 'country first.'
'I fell in love with my country when I was a prisoner in someone else's,' McCain said. 'I was never the same again. I wasn't my own man anymore. I was my country's.'
McCain voiced 'admiration' for Obama and avoided harsh attacks on the Illinois senator. But he took one jab - without naming Obama - that recalled Republican criticism of the Democratic nominee as a presumptive, celebrity politician.
'I'm not running for president because I think I'm blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save our country in its hour of need,' McCain said.
McCain's speech ended with confetti and balloons dropped from the ceiling, a tradition of US political conventions. Waist-deep in balloons on the delegate floor, some women used their sharp heels to start popping the obstructions.
As cleanup began in the ice hockey arena, workers began destroying the balloons using their own car keys, in the absence of sharp objects inside the convention, which was secured by the US Secret Service.
Obama had earlier accused Republicans of failing to address issues that matter to voters.
'They've had a lot to say about me, but they haven't had anything to say about you,' Obama, a four-year senator from Illinois, said at a Pennsylvania rally. 'You haven't heard a word about how we're going to deal with any aspect of the economy that is affecting you and your pocketbook day-to-day.'
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Older Talkback
page: 1
very light...
reason to vote republican; Sarah Palin. She could blitz Obama with accomplishment and experience any day of the week. She's sharpening her barracuda teeth right now to win this thing.
The reason to vote is both. Johnny is, for all purposes, as honest as any politician can be about his life and positions, whether you agree with him or not. His record speaks for itself. His experience is the best of any candidate in the last three elections, of ANY candidate.
Sara has some pretty good credentials as well, but John is the real reason.
A week ago, most Americans had never heard of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Now, following a Vice Presidential acceptance speech viewed live by more than 40 million people, Palin is viewed favorably by 58% of American voters. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 37% hold an unfavorable view of the self-described hockey mom. ...
The new data also shows significant increases in the number who say McCain made the right choice and the number who say Palin is ready to be President. Generally, John McCain’s choice of Palin earns slightly better reviews than Barack Obama’s choice of Joe Biden.
Perhaps most stunning is the fact that Palin’s favorable ratings are now a point higher than either man at the top of the Presidential tickets this year. As of Friday morning, Obama and McCain are each viewed favorably by 57% of voters. Biden is viewed favorably by 48%.
Mc Cain nearly goofed it, on his trip to Israel he was pressed by the Zionist's for their support to pick that draft dodging turncoat Lieberman,
However on his return from Israel senior republican's said they would'nt attend the convention if McCain went with Lieberman.McCain wisely switched from Lieberman. hence the chick with the nice legs who is also a good speaker.LUCKY MOVE.
...you never really beleived that old chestnut about Lieberman, did you?
All warfare is based on deception.
Can you imagine McCain, with all the problems on the right, charging he guns with Lieberman at his side, completely alienating the Conservative base? I think not, George. After all, you don't really think successful apparatachicks like Karl Rove cannot add two and two, do you?
No, McCain is, undeniably, a warrior. He correctly waited to see what his enemies were going to do, prepared for any contingency and had a plan to counter it. The average move would be to pick an old Party conservative like a Cheney guy, or an Olympia Snowe Republican.
You thought McCain was just an average old man too like all the others, right?
McCain wanted to sweep kick Obama to the legs. Palin did. She's a heart attack for them. She's the normal mom that just has them sh-tting themselves. She out-qualifies the dem presidential nominee, a glaring picture of how the party f--ked up, every moment. This is why they descended onto the talk show libnazi softball league the next day, to discredit her. Wormy little men with talking points and shifty eyes....too bad it's backfiring.
Motherhood...it's a bitch. Pick on a mom, or her kids, and you're scum.
You thought McCain was just an average old man, too, like all the others, right?
How many people really believe McCain had the final decision in picking the VP??? LOL
'How many people really believe McCain had the final decision in picking the VP??? '
So who was it, idiot? Elvis?
Probably SP - just ask him. Not Elvis, but close. Don't think for a minute the Republican guard wouldn't be right there picking the people to choose from,that Mc had the supreme decision, and according to all reports, Palin wasn't at the top of McCain's list.
..I'd have to say the proof was in the pudding!
..and you all thought McCain was just another tired old man....
Did you know we produce the finest warriors in the world at our military academies? Have you ever heard that politics is just a form of war? Have you ever heard that all warfare is based on deception?
L o L
58% of people view Palin favorably? I don't know where they're getting their statistics, but even the bible thumpers I work with don't think she's a good choice. She has no experience, refuses to talk about anything other than Obama bashing, her religion, her agenda for OUR children and their schooling (removing science and teaching christianity), anti gay rights, anti women's rights, shall I go on? She's just a gimmick, and our country is effed up the backside if those two old fashioned, dark ages zealots get ahold of us. Aren't we supposed to be moving forward? All Palin and her partner in crime want to do is go backward.
how so many people are on the Palin bandwagon just because she's able to throw her weight around - she apparently has always gotten her way - and acts like she's on a caffeine fix all the time. I think everyone needs to slow down and take a good look at these candidates and what they propose to do if elected. I hate to say that if Palin happened to have been butt ugly with like family, she wouldn't have generated as much attention as she supposedly has - think about it!
In her game-changing convention speech, Sarah Palin took a swipe at Obama for having been nothing more in his life than a ‘community organiser’.
This prompted the Obama campaign to issue a pained defence of community organisation as a way of promoting social change ‘from the bottom up’. The impression is that community organising is a worthy if woolly and ultimately ineffectual grassroots activity. This is to miss something of the greatest importance: that in the world of Barack Obama, community organisers are a key strategy in a different game altogether; and the name of that game is revolutionary Marxism.
The seditious role of the community organiser was developed by an extreme left intellectual called Saul Alinsky. He was a radical Chicago activist who, by the time he died in 1972, had had a profound influence on the highest levels of the Democratic party. Alinsky was a ‘transformational Marxist’ in the mould of Antonio Gramsci, who promoted the strategy of a ‘long march through the institutions’ by capturing the culture and turning it inside out as the most effective means of overturning western society. In similar vein, Alinsky condemned the New Left for alienating the general public by its demonstrations and outlandish appearance. The revolution had to be carried out through stealth and deception. Its proponents had to cultivate an image of centrism and pragmatism. A master of infiltration, Alinsky wooed Chicago mobsters and Wall Street financiers alike. And successive Democratic politicians fell under his spell.
His creed was set out in his book ‘Rules for Radicals’ – a book he dedicated to Lucifer, whom he called the ‘first radical’. It was Alinsky for whom ‘change’ was his mantra. And by ‘change’, he meant a Marxist revolution achieved by slow, incremental, Machiavellian means which turned society inside out. This had to be done through systematic deception, winning the trust of the naively idealistic middle class by using the language of morality to conceal an agenda designed to destroy it. And the way to do this, he said, was through ‘people’s organisations’.
www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/2073071/revolution-you-can-believe- in.thtml
Thirteen years after Alinsky died, some of his former students hired Barack Obama to a $13,000 a year job as a community organizer in South Chicago. In a few years he became very proficient in the Alinsky Method of community organizing and became an instructor and teacher of the Alinsky Method to other community organizers.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Alinsky
???Sep 9th, 2008 - 19:21:26
58% of people view Palin favorably?
sp4 - beats me...do they? Libnazis just crap all over polls...I suspect it is her normalness...everyone knows a Palin...working on the PTA, the Alter Society, etc., and like her or not, you DO respect them, or suffer...this is her persona and the dems have seen this movie before...and ithe ending is not good.
I don't know where they're getting their statistics, but even the bible thumpers I work with don't think she's a good choice.
sp4 - interesting because who WOULD they choose? Are they catholics like Biden and Pelosi, in name only? What kind of bible thumpers are they...southern democrats?...Eastern catholics?...certainly not evengelists.
She has no experience,
sp4 - She's not running for president Professor and, from what I can see of Obama the boy-king, you, apparantly, do not require any for THAT job, either! Besides, go see who the last 6 or so, presidents were and what THEIR last job was before they wnet to the White House....not a community organizer...by the way, whatever did he actually organize...?...get back to us on that one...you can have Obermanns job!
refuses to talk about anything other than Obama bashing,
sp4 - and she's really good at it, correctly pointing out she actually has more experience than Obama...I'll admit, still not saying much...but her strategy is brutal: just tell the truth.
her religion,
sp4 - someone asked to know more about about herself, now it's wrong to answer? See why they're losing?
her agenda for OUR children and their schooling (removing science and teaching christianity),
sp4 - never said anyhting like that, refuted in the press by retractions.
anti gay rights,
sp4 - never said anything like that either, refuted in the press.
anti women's rights,
sp4 - hard to sell since liberal women, like Geraldine Ferraro have spoken on behalf of her crucifixion by folks like..well....yourself...and the glaring fact that the dems just flushed a woman candidate with 18 million votes for a guy who got fewer votes than Palin did for Mayor of Buttf--k, AK...
shall I go on?
sp4 - no, that's OK, you've embarrassed yourself enough already.
She's just a gimmick,
sp4 - Yes, a standing Governor, like Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Roinald Reagan, GW Bush...shall I go on? That full feeling in your rectum is my whole foot...
and our country is effed up the backside if those two old fashioned, dark ages zealots get ahold of us.
sp4 - versus a boy-king neophyte, chosen simply because he's black and a lifetime obstructionist, libnazi, plagerizing apparatachick, who has made a career of stoping progress in the senate.
Aren't we supposed to be moving forward?
sp4 - flushing unqualified neophytes, held up for worship like a by-god in a Buddhist ritual IS going forward. We call it progress. Progress is change + improvement.
All Palin and her partner in crime want to do is go backward.
sp4 - Yes, after watching the pathetic performance of Obama on O'Reilly, see sawing all over the board on taxes, you could elect Jimmy Carter again and have a better chance of going forward. Honestly, this Obama guy makes me almost want Bill Clinton back.
No, professor, pick up your entrails and put them back in your abdomen. I have skewered enough for one day. We're actually hoping for more Palin bashing. You'r edoing it all for us.
SP is so full of himself and has appointed himself as chief commenter on this site as the supreme Republican/Catholic. AND THAT doesn't make ME wrong! Let's see how old McCain carries on after slamming the Republican Party and this administration IF he gets to the White House. It was funny to see the rather confused look on his face as he watched Palin talk to a group the other day, like he was wondering what was going to come out of her mouth next and not sure what his role was supposed to be.
I love you sanctimonious creatins on the right. The only thing your 'girl' has said ended up being mostly crap. It is really funny that women jump right on the band wagon just because the woman they are supporting has a bigger set of bal*s than the men and would throw their rights under the bus quicker than a mad doberman. You guys are a joke, I hope the dems not only take the presidents race but gets 60 senate seats. Then you neo-con nuts will have a lot to chew on.
Can't wait to hear her answer some real questions. There are lots to ask.
People are forgetting McCain is the front runner here and not Barracuda. Wonder if he feels he's getting lost in the shuffle?
page: 1
newsandverseSep 5th, 2008 - 11:17:35
NOMINATE IS ENOUGH
NEWSWIRE--The Republican National convention has ended.
As delegates don't capture me,
And speakers seldom rapture me,
I've wandered some, as my attention'll do:
Tonight, I'm thrilled the network news
Will reach beyond two-party views,
And give to me, my unconventional due.
www.newsandverse.com
Light verse, ripped from the headlines
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