Subscribe to Breaking News
Loading ...McCain accepts GOP nomination vowing to change Washington
09.04.2008 11:49pm EDT
(Minneapolis, Minnesota) John McCain, a POW turned political rebel, vowed Thursday night to vanquish the “constant partisan rancor” that grips Washington as he launched his fall campaign for the White House. “Change is coming,” he promised the roaring Republican National Convention and a prime-time television audience.
To repeated cheers from his delegates, McCain criticized fellow Republicans as well as Democratic rival Barack Obama as he reached out to independents and disaffected Democrats.“We were elected to change Washington, and we let Washington change us,” he said of the Republicans who controlled Congress for most of the past 15 years.
As for Obama, he said, “I will keep taxes low and cut them where I can. My opponent will raise them. I will cut government spending. He will increase it.”
Before McCain’s speech, the climax of the final night of the party convention, delegates awarded the vice presidential nomination to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the first female ticketmate in Republican history.
“She stands up for what’s right and she doesn’t let anyone tell her to sit down,” McCain said of the woman who has faced intense scrutiny in the week since she was picked.
“And let me offer an advance warning to the old, big-spending, do-nothing, me-first, country-second Washington crowd: Change is coming,” McCain declared.
He and Palin were departing their convention city immediately after the Arizona senator’s acceptance speech, bound for Wisconsin and an early start on the final weeks of the White House campaign.
McCain, at 72 bidding to become the oldest first-term president, drew a roar from the convention crowd when he walked out onto the stage lighted by a single spotlight. He was introduced by a video that dwelt heavily on his time spent as a prisoner of war in Vietnam and as a member of Congress, hailed for a “faithful unyielding love for America, country first.”
“USA, USA, USA,” chanted the crowd in the hall.
McCain faced a delicate assignment as he formally accepted his party’s presidential nomination: presenting his credentials as a reformer willing to take on his own party and stressing his independence from an unpopular President Bush - all without breaking faith with his Republican base.
He set about it methodically.
“After we’ve won, we’re going to reach out our hand to any willing patriot, make this government start working for you again,” he said, and he pledged to invite Democrats and independents to serve in his administration.
He mentioned President Bush only in passing, as the leader who led the country through the days after the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
And there was plenty for conservative Republicans to cheer - from his pledge to free the country from the grip of its dependence on foreign oil, to a vow to have schools answer to parents and students rather than “unions and entrenched bureaucrats.”
A man who has clashed repeatedly with Republicans in Congress, he said proudly, “I’ve been called a maverick. Sometimes it’s meant as a compliment and sometimes it’s not. What it really means is I understand who I work for.
“I don’t work for a party. I don’t work for a special interest. I don’t work for myself. I work for you.”
Let me understand the math here. There are 100 Senators and one VP in the Senate; there are 435 Representatives in the house. This does not count all their paid servants. There is one President with veto power. At best, we might have two people, “Maverick” McSame as Prez, and “Witch McPilin” in the Senate who are going to change the 230+ year old culture that has been established in Washington.
2 versus 532.
I think I see a real disconnect here, and certainly a couple of people who will make the culture come into a worse gridlock than we currently have or had with Clinton when the government came to a screetching halt in the 90’s. Even with veto power, a McSame president will probaly just alienate himself with either party when he tries to stop the insanity that goes on there anyway.
Perhaps with “O’bama” and a Democratically controlled Congress (and at least 61 in the Senate, if you please) we might see some legislation come to pass which would help the vast majority of Americans, including those Republicans who votes against them.
I take the later any day to the wild A$$ idiots the Republicans nominated this year.
Anyone care to see the math differently and provide a different but better analysis with it?
Quasi, your math and analysis looks pretty good to me.
costs are very high in the USA now, the average middle class American wiil struggle harder against higher Obama taxation, the little man won’t be able to afford higher taxation under Obama
and the super-rich won’t be effected.
I want neither McCain nor Obama, but am voting for Obama to get mr rights and to BIden’s long experience in defense and foreign policy. I want Biden for President not Obama.
Anybody watching the stock market? It was down another 2.99% yesterday. If it keeps dropping like this, and 401K plans dwindle to nothing, we are looking at the biggest generation of impoverished retirees since the Great Depression. Why isn’t this being addressed by the candidates?
To Karen:
…
The rich want your stocks, bonds, 401K, IRA, your savings and your house . It is all part of the “remove-the-middle-class” strategy originated with Ronald Reagan and the Republicans in the 1980’s. I am beginning to believe that they are inflitrating the Democrats to subvert their causes and make both major parties the same. Several Republicans are running as Democrats this year; be sure to watch who you vote for, and do your research before voting. There were two in my district in the primary.
CNN headline this morning: “Unemployment soars.” Did anyone note how much time Senator McCain spent on: unemployment, people losing their homes to foreclosure, the befouled environment, people without healthcare, children without adequate food OR healthcare, seniors eating cat food and having to choose between paying for their medications and keeping the electricity turned on, ending the war in a swift and sane manner, adequate healthcare for returning veterans, assistance for military families living below the poverty level, the crumbling US infrastructure, etc. etc. etc. THOSE are the changes we need, not a bunch of self-satisfied wealthy white war profiteers roaring with approval whenever a speaker mocked the first African-American candidate for President. The veil over THAT particularly nasty brand of racism was patently transparent. We need CHANGE; we DON’T need Senator McCain.
Bud Clark
San Diego
The speech by MCCAIN was not what Ireally expected to hear. First I have never hears such a heart wrenching tale of humble beginnings in my life. He appears to have been raised in an atmosphere of complete allegiance to the American way and with God’s blessings. His mom was there on stage with him baking apple pies while someone, I’m not sure who, was busy bringing in flour and of course driving a Chevrolet. Then he goes to the future and his pow status in Vietnam that changed him so that he just knew he had to be president someday. And now we’re in the now and he has all these great things he will do to bring America back to the world power to which we’re entitled. I could barely see the tv for all my tears, the crowd in attendance sure was yelling and crying. Except for a few who were yawning and ready to go gety another cocktail or coffee. It was funny watching the young woman protester who sdmehow managed to get in there. The crowd was told to pay no attention, Ithink she was selling lottery pull tabs without a license. I give him a c- for all the promises he came up with, nothing new as they go. The balloons didn’t seem to want to join in the celebration either. Abig group family picture at end with that woman and her unwed daughter, assorted hanger ons, and the old time repubs on stage. Then it was past the 11:00 news start and they had to say goodnight so we could get 15 minutes of commercials before the talking heads could tell us what he said. Did I miss anything? Peace
Yes, John has “scars” and guess what - so does everybody else on the planet in one form or another. The physical ones, those are the most obvious but not the most destructive. Psycological and emotional scars run deeper and cause far greater destruction. Heck, physical scars can be very effectively treated - unless of course, you flaunt them shamelessly as a badge of courage (a truly dignified person would not make such grand notice of them). But what of the psycological scare that the Republican Party has managed to create for so many people? The people who have lost their homes have scars. The people who can’t afford college in order to pursue their life’s ambitions have scars. The people who don’t have medical coverage have scars (often physical as well). The destruction of our planet’s natural resources has left it with scars. The GLBT people whose potential cannot be realized because of Republican backed laws have scars. John McCain wants me to view his scars as evidence that he should be president of our country. Well, John - if you hadn’t chosen to belong to and be supported by a party that does such much scarring itself - you might have made a compelling case for yourself. But you DID chose a party that scars so many people itself and so… your using your own scars to illicit support or empathy or whatever merely comes across as desparate and self-serving.