Good Job Senator McCain... (seriously!)
By mbecker908 Posted in War — Comments (22) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Full disclosure, I still won't vote for McCain. However, he did a great job today with his speech on Iraq. Fred Barnes just characterized it as "hard but not over the top" and I think that's a very good description.
The proof is in the pudding, Harry Reid was literally speechless, hopefully YouTube will put up the video of Senate Majority Leader making a complete fool of himself. Again. Obama wasn't speechless but I couldn't make heads or tails of what the heck he said. At this point, I haven't heard from Hillary or Edwards.
Thank you Senator McCain, you did a great job today. And our family is praying for your family and your Marine Corps son. Tell him to stay safe and if he deploys to not come home early.
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UPDATE
From the guys at Powerline the $64,000 part of McCain's speech follows...
What struck me upon my return from Baghdad is the enormous gulf between the harsh but hopeful realities in Iraq, where politics is for many a matter of life and death, and the fanciful and self-interested debates about Iraq that substitute for statesmanship in Washington. In Iraq, American and Iraqi soldiers risk everything to hold the country together, to prevent it from becoming a terrorist sanctuary and the region from descending into the dangerous chaos of a widening war. In Washington, where political calculation seems to trump all other considerations, Democrats in Congress and their leading candidates for President, heedless of the terrible consequences of our failure, unanimously confirmed our new commander, and then insisted he be prevented from taking the action he believes necessary to safeguard our country's interests. In Iraq, hope is a fragile thing, but all the more admirable for the courage and sacrifice necessary to nurture it. In Washington, cynicism appears to be the quality most prized by those who accept defeat but not the responsibility for its consequences.Before I left for Iraq, I watched with regret as the House of Representatives voted to deny our troops the support necessary to carry out their new mission. Democratic leaders smiled and cheered as the last votes were counted. What were they celebrating? Defeat? Surrender? In Iraq, only our enemies were cheering.
Emphasis is mine.
I think it's pretty obvious why Harry was speechless.
You can see for yourself--the full text is available at http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/04/remarks_as_prepared_fo...
BTW, I think it is interesting to note that the Left is immitating the Right's usual descriptions of McCain as motivated solely by political expediency. I won't say that he doesn't sometimes play politics for politics sake BUT I think Senator McCain is showing once again here that he often puts principle over politics. The example is especially stark when we're talking about the GWOT but I think it extends to his stances on other issues as well. Agree with him or not, he is not the political whore that many make him out to be. He's showing his true colors here by standing up for Victory in Iraq!
count him out of this race. He just picked up 4 major endorsements.
"Former U.S. Secretaries Of State Pledge Support To McCain
McCain's Strength In Foreign Affairs Earns Him Powerful Endorsements"
http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/PressReleases/917e1ec1-8f60-4b5...
a youtube on the comments section and also on the entry section on this REDSTATE site. I would really like to know how my brother has Masters degree in computer science and he couldn't figure it out. Thank you
McCain is still a very liberal Republican, one who constantly changes his views because he will do anything to be elected President. He is still the Senator who is so far to the left that Kerry begged him to be Democratic vice presidential candidate, and who co-sponsored so much legislation with Ted Kennedy and other Democrats that in 2002 Harry Reid publicly courted him to switch parties.
McCain is just doing his duty, supporting the war. It is also politically self-serving for him to do it, because flip flopping and turning against the war would destroy McCain's presidential chances, not help them.
Just a side note -- but I find it a bit odd that users can edit original blog posts, but can't edit their own replies. I've made HTML errors before and would be happy to fix them myself...if I could.
I've also found myself making meaningful typos or grammatical errors that I'd like to fix.
McCain may buck the party line on some issues. Look at the issues where he breaks with the GOP--he is joined by prominent party conservatives--Pres. Bush on immigration, Fred Thompson on campaign finance reform, etc. NOW I admit that when he does buck the party line he does it with gusto BUT that does not make him OR these positions liberal Republican he is NOT! Giuliani is a liberal Republican. You can't say that a Senator with a high lifetime rating from the ACU is a LIBERAL. I can buy the label "moderate" but liberal is just inaccurate.
liberal on the Abortion issue than the majority of Republicans.The rest of his record is not liberal at all although some try to claim that he is for gay marriage that is simply incorrect. McCain is more of a maverick
"During my lifetime, all our problems have come from mainland Europe, and all the solutions from the English-speaking nations across the world." - Thatcher
I respect everyone's Republican candidates and opinions. This is why I called McCain a liberal:
The McCain record:
Amnesty - LIBERAL - Co sponsor with Ted Kennedy
Judicial appointments - LIBERAL - Leader in forming the "Gang of 14" which prevented conservative judicial appointments
War - LIBERAL - Worked with Democrats to pass terrorist bill of rights (torture) legislation tying the hands of US interrogators
War - LIBERAL - Opposed the Swift Boat Veterans
Overall - LIBERAL - Liberal Republicans gave McCain the "Chaffee" award last November (NO KIDDING - Link below)
http://www.redstate.com/stories/congress/the_republican_main_street_part...
Overall - LIBERAL - John Kerry asked John McCain to be his DEMOCRATIC vice presidential running mate
Campaign spending - LIBERAL - One of the fathers of campaign finance / censorship legislation making criticism of senators illegal
Tax cuts - LIBERAL - Voted against every Bush tax cut. Last month told an anti-tax group he has "nothing in common" (quote below)
McCain was 1 of only 2 Repubs. (Lincoln Chafee) to vote against 2001 Bush tax cut; 1 of only 3 Repubs. who voted against 2003 Bush tax cut (Chafee, Snowe)
Global warming - LIBERAL - Supported Al Gore's book, voted for legislation
Vs. Christian leaders - LIBERAL - Called Pat Robertson & Jerry Falwell "agents of intolerance", equated with Farrakan & Sharpton
Abortion - LIBERAL - McCain in 1999 said didn't want Roe overturned. Then flip flopped once he ran for President.
Patient Bill of Rights - LIBERAL - Co-sponsor with Ted Kennedy
Overall co-sponsor of Democrat legislation - LIBERAL - (See below) Time magazine: "For months JOHN MCCAIN has been the Democrats' favorite co-sponsor on everything from a patient's bill of rights to gun control. TED KENNEDY and JOHN EDWARDS like him so much that they have been urging the maverick to switch sides. "
Americorps - LIBERAL - Co-sponsor with Ted Kennedy
Personality - DISHONEST - FLIP FLOPPER http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=express&s=chait051402
Gun Control - LIBERAL - Has voted for gun control legislation and co-sponsored with Democrats. voted against repeal of Clinton & other gun legislation
Government spending - LIBERAL - favors a few cosmetic "earmark" cuts, but has voted for nearly every liberal entitlement program
Gay Rights - LIBERAL - Voted with Democrats and against Republicans on same sex marriage amendment; for gay marriage amendment his state's voters rejected
This is another flip-flop issue where he says whatever it will take to win the presidency this year
Party loyalty - AGAINST REPUBLICANS - Was looking at switching parties in 2002
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-na-goptax9apr09,0,73082...
Sen. John McCain, whose tensions with social conservatives have become a drag on his presidential campaign, is finding himself at war with another vocal element of the Republican Party's base: economic conservatives who favor tax cuts.
McCain's votes against President Bush's tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 infuriated them. He is being pressed to explain why he broke with an element of the Bush agenda that most of them consider an unqualified success.
In one exchange last month, McCain criticized a prominent anti-tax group called the Club for Growth, saying he wasn't sure what he and the group had in common. In response, the group demanded that McCain apologize for his tax votes, and it added in an Internet video, "We're not sure what we have in common either."
http://www.aolelectionsblog.com/2007/02/05/is-mccain-for-or-against-tax-...
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101010604-128089,00.ht...
For months JOHN MCCAIN has been the Democrats' favorite co-sponsor on everything from a patient's bill of rights to gun control. TED KENNEDY and JOHN EDWARDS like him so much that they have been urging the maverick to switch sides. Though McCain has declined, he thought about it long enough to prompt a dinner invitation from the President last week. The shift in power only enhances his stature. "This move makes John McCain the de facto Republican leader in the Senate," says a top Republican operative.
http://www.ndol.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=115&subid=145&contentid=251751
http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=express&s=chait051402
For one thing, journalists love the character-driven analysis of McCain, which focuses on his courage and frankness. McCain loves it, too, since it gives him appeal across ideological lines. An ideological reading of McCain cuts against this narrative, because it suggests that his views have changed and that he has swallowed certain views out of political expediency (which is obviously true).
McCain represents their ideal type: a politician who will speak his mind and work with the other party to do America's business. My article suggested that this image of McCain is essentially a lie. He is not engaged in cross-party compromises, he has simply adopted the Democratic view on most issues.
http://www.gunowners.org/mccaintb.htm
http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=S0061103&type ...
Wow! I've seldom seen a more rambling, simplistic description of events! (Did you really just say that AmeriCorps is "Liberal"?) I hardly think that John McCain's refusal to serve as Senator Kerry's VP as evidence that he's liberal.
Obama is using McCain as a whipping boy to raise his stock on the left...and it's working. Must be infuriating that some skinny, never wore the uniform, law "professor" is pontificating to Senator McCain on military strategy.
McCain and Obama is exactly what we need right now. The contrast is what the people need to see. It will expose the defund crowd and having to quote McCain may take some of the left slant off. Look what it does to Hillary. The war is her weak suit. She will either have to join in or watch Obama walk off with the far left.
...Senator McCain has the Democrats, and their cowardice, pegged.
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"Perdicaris alive, or Rasuli dead!" - Theodore Roosevelt, 1904
... but this shows why if McCain does win the GOP nomination, I'd definitely want him as President over any likely Democratic candidate.
I second what has been said above. Don't count McCain out just yet -- this is a man who sat in a cell in North Vietnam for years on end, tortured every day. People will never forget what he went through for his country, and what he's doing now is just as brave. He's standing up for what he believes is right and just--when so few want to hear it--and he's making people believe in our mission, our troops, and that if we try hard enough, victory is still ours! Viva McCain!
Blogging at Blogs4McCain.com
I'm still leaning Rudy.
...and perhaps give a little info about what was in the speech itself?