By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Friday, September 05, 2008 4:20 PM PT
Election '08: Does Barack Obama owe his meteoric rise to an Israeli-hating adviser to a Saudi billionaire? Why did a race-baiting mentor to the Black Panthers favor this yet unknown community organizer?
In her stunning national political debut as the Republican candidate for vice president, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin described Obama as a man who had written two memoirs but no significant laws or reforms. So how did this unaccomplished community organizer rise to fame and fortune? He had some interesting help.
We know he's a Harvard graduate and was editor of the Harvard Law Review. Less known is the story of how he got into the prestigious Ivy League university. As Newsmax's Kenneth Timmerman reports, he was helped by a letter written by Percy Sutton, former Manhattan borough president and a credible candidate for mayor of New York in 1977.
In an interview earlier this year on New York's all-news cable channel NY1, the 88-year-old Sutton made some interesting revelations about his relationship with the young Obama. He told NY1 reporter Dominic Carter on "Inside City Hall" that he was introduced to Obama by a friend raising money for him. The friend asked Sutton to write a letter in support of Obama's application to Harvard law school.
"The friend's name is Dr. Khalid al-Mansour, from Texas," Sutton said. "He is the principal adviser to one of the world's richest men. He told me about Obama."
Sutton recalled that al-Mansour said, "There is a young man that has applied to Harvard. I know that you have a few friends up there because you used to go up there to speak. Would you please write a letter in support of him?" Sutton did.
According to Timmerman, "At the time Percy Sutton, a former lawyer for Malcolm X and a former business partner of al-Mansour, says he (al-Mansour) was raising money for Obama's graduate school education (and) al-Mansour was representing top members of the Saudi Royal family seeking to do business and exert influence in the United States."
One of those Saudi royals was Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a nephew of Saudi King Abdullah. He was the Saudi prince who offered to donate $10 million to help New York rebuild after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. After the prince publicly suggested (as Obama's pastor, Jeremiah Wright, did recently) that U.S. policies brought on the attacks, then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani told Prince Alwaleed where he could deposit his check.
Dr. Khalid Abdullah Tariq al-Mansour, born Donald Warden, is another interesting fellow from Obama's past. He himself is a graduate of Harvard and has been a guest lecturer there. His writings and statements reveal him to be an ideological clone of the Rev. Wright, who married Barack and Michelle and baptized their children.
In his 1995 book, "The Lost Books of Africa Rediscovered," al-Monsour alleged that America was plotting genocide against black Americans. The first "genocide against the black man began 300 years ago," he said at a book-signing in Harlem, while a second "genocide" was on the way "to remove 15 million black people, considered disposable, of no relevance, value or benefit to the American society."
Al-Mansour told an audience in South Africa that "the Palestinians are treated like savages," something our worst ex-president, Jimmy Carter, as well as Wright might agree with. He has accused Israeli Jews of "stealing the land the same way the Christians stole the land from the Indians in America."
When he was known as Donald Warden, according to the Social Activism Project at the University of California at Berkeley, al-Monsour was the mentor of Black Panther Party founder Huey Newton and his associate, Bobby Seale.
California Congresswoman Barbara Lee entered an official statement of appreciation of Warden and his Black Panther colleagues for their role in founding a radical group known as the African-American Association into the Congressional Record of April 23, 2007.
What did this radical extremist see in young Barack Obama that he would seek to sponsor and perhaps finance Obama's education? Obama says he paid his way solely through student loans. How did they meet? Where did the money he raised come from? Now that we know who the father of Bristol Palin's baby is, maybe the mainstream media will have time to find out.
Despite a three-day weekend, the Buzz was buffeted by hurricanes, the Republican National Convention, and slap shots over Sarah Palin. Still, life slogged on, football season started, and zucchinis went to great lengths. Let's put political differences aside and take a look back at what else got readers abuzz with the most popular and (mostly) apolitical stories this week.
In a World Where Farewells Are Hard to Say Three men known best for their voices passed on this week: movie-trailer basso profundo Don LaFontaine, good ol' boy country-singer Jerry Reed, and "Peanuts" animator Bill Melendez. Besides numerous queries for LaFontaine's soundboards, voice clips, and salary, the Minnesotan was remembered for his rare on-camera work in a Geico ad. Mourners reminisced about Atlanta-born Reed's music, recurring "Smokey and the Bandit" role, and defining hit "Amos Moses." Last but not least, Mexican-born Melendez worked closely with Charles M. Schulz to bring his "Peanuts" comic strip to TV, and notably provided the barks and chirps of Snoopy and Woodstock. To all, a fond sendoff.
Two Who Didn't Get Away ... and One Who Did After months of sordid investigations, angry denials, and a roughed-up process server, searches soared again after Kwame Kilpatrick ended his reign as Detroit's "Hip-Hop Mayor" with a plea deal for obstructing justice. The Detroit Free Press chronicled his glory days and explained how his flaws symbolized the Motor City itself.
While he got four months, former D.C. lobbyist Jack Abramoff got four years, and was quite poetic at his sentencing. He declared himself a "broken man" whose "name is the butt of a joke, the source of a laugh and the title of a scandal." Yes, a book is coming. Meanwhile, the FBI doubled the reward for the capture of elusive Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger, age 79 but still on the run.
Power Through Body Language and Napping All the talk about leading the country may have helped InsideCRM get those approving votes for its meticulous leadership training on how to command respect through body language. The blog gives do's ("spread weight evenly on both feet") and don'ts (excessive blinking), explaining what impressions each gives off. Readers perhaps tuckered out by the exercises went for power napping and this dreamy roundup of sleeping pods.
Finally, Fatherhood in the Buzz ... • Tiger Woods had to bow out after the U.S. Open, but the break gives the golfer time to prepare for his second child. Wife Elin Nordegren is due in late winter. • David Spade proved his surname wrong, after news emerged he was the father of a Playboy Playmate's daughter. Impressed searchers vaulted the comedian's buzz up 650%.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bills' Comment: I was saddened to hear about the deaths of Mr. LaFontaine and Mr. Reed. Thank you for your contributions while you were with us. Both of you will be missed.
David Spade a father? What the f**k? I hope the baby looks more like her mother, especialy since she is a former Playboy Playmate. Insert any other comments here.
One question that kept coming up last night on MSNBC was if Gov. Palin really could bring pro-choice Hillary voters into the McCain camp. It's safe to say that the MSNBCers were from from optimistic about it, to the point of downright sarcasm. However, if Palin really can't reach out to these women, why is Sen. Obama putting out an abortion ad? Here's the text:
OBAMA: I'm Barack Obama, candidate for president, and I approved this message.
VAL BARON: As a nurse practitioner with Planned Parenthood, I know abortion is one of the most difficult decisions a woman will ever make. I'm Val Baron. Let me tell you: If Roe v Wade is overturned, the lives and health of women will be put at risk. That's why this election is so important. John McCain's out of touch with women today. McCain wants to take away our right to choose. That's what women need to understand. That's how high the stakes are.
ANNCR: As president, John McCain will make abortion illegal. McCain says quote, "I do not support Roe v. Wade. It should be overturned." And listen to McCain's answer on Meet the Press:
RUSSERT: "A constitutional amendment to ban all abortions. You're for that?" McCAIN: "Yes, sir."
VAL BARON: We can't let John McCain take away our right to choose. We can't let him take us back.
ANNCR: Paid for by Obama for America.
MSDNC may scoff about Palin bringing some Hillary supporters to the McCain side, but putting out this ad certainly seems to indicate that Obama is worried about appealing to women voters. I mean, who else would they vote for? We report, you decide.
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Wednesday, September 03, 2008 4:20 PM PT
Iraq War: We interrupt coverage of Bristol Palin's pregnancy to announce that the U.S. has turned over control of Iraq's wild, wild west to Baghdad. Memo to Barack Obama: Soon you will have nothing left to surrender.
On Monday, while Democrats waited to see if Hurricane Gustav would be another Katrina and the GOP juggled its convention schedule, U.S. commanders formally returned responsibility for security in Iraq's Anbar province to the Iraqi Army and police.
Maybe you missed it. The New York Times Web page had three stories on Bristol Palin. The Washington Post's online magazine, Slate, is running a "Name Bristol Palin's Baby" contest. And Us Weekly has "Babies, Lies and Scandal" on its cover.
Victory in Iraq can't compete in an environment where Bristol's boyfriend is more thoroughly investigated than Obama's lifelong association with Weather Underground terrorist William Ayers.
The media prefer to ignore how wrong Obama was on the major foreign policy issue of the Bush years. He opposed the war and the surge. He supported cutting off funding. He sponsored a bill to have U.S. troops withdraw in defeat by March of this year, their sacrifice in vain. His policies would have led to a humanitarian and strategic disaster.
"I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence," he said in 2007. "In fact, I think it will do the reverse." When confronted by ABC News with the success of the surge, asking if he would have supported it knowing what he knows now, Obama's answer was "No."
He also tried to explain away the progress in Iraq, implying it was mere coincidence that it happened during the surge. Obama spoke of "a combination of political factors inside of Iraq that then came right at the same time as terrific work by our troops."
Well, it was the "terrific work of our troops" that provided the security umbrella under which Sunnis and Shiites could reconcile and turn their wrath on the jihadists and not each other.
The extra troops allowed a take-and-hold strategy that convinced Iraqis that America wouldn't cut and run. It would later be called the "Anbar Awakening."
In 2006, al-Qaida in Iraq declared Baqouba to be the capital of the Islamic State in Iraq, and said it controlled both Anbar and Diyala. In January 2007, CNN's Michael Ware described Ramadi, a city of 500,000 and Anbar's capital, as "the true al-Qaida national headquarters."
Anbar province was once considered lost. More than a thousand Americans died there, a quarter of our total casualties. Anbar's second city, Fallujah, was the scene of the biggest battle of the war, in which nearly 100 Americans died, with 500 wounded. That was then. This is now.
Monday's ceremony was actually a formality. Since April, the Iraqi army and police have operated independently in Anbar with the primary responsibility for insurgency and crime.
The victory parade down Ramadi's main street Monday saw American soldiers watching from the sidelines, wearing neither body armor nor helmets, not even carrying their weapons.
"Not in our wildest dreams could we have imagined this," said Mowaffak al-Rubaie, the Iraqi national security adviser, who flew in from Baghdad. "Two or three years ago, had we suggested that the Iraqis could take responsibility, we would have been ridiculed, we would have been laughed at."
On Tuesday, General David Petraeus had another surprise, announcing that U.S. troops might be leaving Baghdad as early as next summer. Another defeat for the defeatists.
We love the smell of victory in the morning. Barack Obama, call your office.
Thank you all very much. Tonight, I have a privilege given few Americans -- the privilege of accepting our party’s nomination for President of the United States. And I accept it with gratitude, humility and confidence.
In my life, no success has come without a good fight, and this nomination wasn’t any different. That’s a tribute to the candidates who opposed me and their supporters. They’re leaders of great ability, who love our country, and wished to lead it to better days. Their support is an honor I won’t forget.
I’m grateful to the President for leading us in those dark days following the worst attack on American soil in our history, and keeping us safe from another attack many thought was inevitable; and to the First Lady, Laura Bush, a model of grace and kindness in public and in private. And I’m grateful to the 41st President and his bride of 63 years, and for their outstanding example of honorable service to our country.
As always, I’m indebted to my wife, Cindy, and my seven children. The pleasures of family life can seem like a brief holiday from the crowded calendar of our nation’s business. But I have treasured them all the more, and can’t imagine a life without the happiness you give me. Cindy said a lot of nice things about me tonight. But, in truth, she’s more my inspiration than I am hers. Her concern for those less blessed than we are - victims of land mines, children born in poverty and with birth defects - shows the measure of her humanity. I know she will make a great First Lady.
When I was growing up, my father was often at sea, and the job of raising my brother, sister and me would fall to my mother alone. Roberta McCain gave us her love of life, her deep interest in the world, her strength, and her belief we are all meant to use our opportunities to make ourselves useful to our country. I wouldn’t be here tonight but for the strength of her character.
My heartfelt thanks to all of you, who helped me win this nomination, and stood by me when the odds were long. I won’t let you down. To Americans who have yet to decide who to vote for, thank you for your consideration and the opportunity to win your trust. I intend to earn it.
Finally, a word to Senator Obama and his supporters. We’ll go at it over the next two months. That’s the nature of these contests, and there are big differences between us. But you have my respect and admiration. Despite our differences, much more unites us than divides us. We are fellow Americans, an association that means more to me than any other. We’re dedicated to the proposition that all people are created equal and endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights. No country ever had a greater cause than that. And I wouldn’t be an American worthy of the name if I didn’t honor Senator Obama and his supporters for their achievement.
But let there be no doubt, my friends, we’re going to win this election. And after we’ve won, we’re going to reach out our hand to any willing patriot, make this government start working for you again, and get this country back on the road to prosperity and peace.
These are tough times for many of you. You’re worried about keeping your job or finding a new one, and are struggling to put food on the table and stay in your home. All you ever asked of government is to stand on your side, not in your way. And that’s just what I intend to do: stand on your side and fight for your future.
And I’ve found just the right partner to help me shake up Washington, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. She has executive experience and a real record of accomplishment. She’s tackled tough problems like energy independence and corruption. She’s balanced a budget, cut taxes, and taken on the special interests. She’s reached across the aisle and asked Republicans, Democrats and Independents to serve in her administration. She’s the mother of five children. She’s helped run a small business, worked with her hands and knows what it’s like to worry about mortgage payments and health care and the cost of gasoline and groceries.
She knows where she comes from and she knows who she works for. She stands up for what’s right, and she doesn’t let anyone tell her to sit down. I’m very proud to have introduced our next Vice President to the country. But I can’t wait until I introduce her to Washington. And let me offer an advance warning to the old, big spending, do nothing, me first, country second Washington crowd: change is coming.
I’m not in the habit of breaking promises to my country and neither is Governor Palin. And when we tell you we’re going to change Washington, and stop leaving our country’s problems for some unluckier generation to fix, you can count on it. We’ve got a record of doing just that, and the strength, experience, judgment and backbone to keep our word to you.
You know, I’ve been called a maverick; someone who marches to the beat of his own drum. 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.
I’ve fought corruption, and it didn’t matter if the culprits were Democrats or Republicans. They violated their public trust, and had to be held accountable. I’ve fought big spenders in both parties, who waste your money on things you neither need nor want, while you struggle to buy groceries, fill your gas tank and make your mortgage payment. I’ve fought to get million dollar checks out of our elections. I’ve fought lobbyists who stole from Indian tribes. I fought crooked deals in the Pentagon. I fought tobacco companies and trial lawyers, drug companies and union bosses.
I fought for the right strategy and more troops in Iraq, when it wasn’t a popular thing to do. And when the pundits said my campaign was finished, I said I’d rather lose an election than see my country lose a war.
Thanks to the leadership of a brilliant general, David Petraeus, and the brave men and women he has the honor to command, that strategy succeeded and rescued us from a defeat that would have demoralized our military, risked a wider war and threatened the security of all Americans.
I don’t mind a good fight. For reasons known only to God, I’ve had quite a few tough ones in my life. But I learned an important lesson along the way. In the end, it matters less that you can fight. What you fight for is the real test.
I fight for Americans. I fight for you. I fight for Bill and Sue Nebe from Farmington Hills, Michigan, who lost their real estate investments in the bad housing market. Bill got a temporary job after he was out of work for seven months. Sue works three jobs to help pay the bills.
I fight for Jake and Toni Wimmer of Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Jake works on a loading dock; coaches Little League, and raises money for the mentally and physically disabled. Toni is a schoolteacher, working toward her Master’s Degree. They have two sons, the youngest, Luke, has been diagnosed with autism. Their lives should matter to the people they elect to office. They matter to me.
I fight for the family of Matthew Stanley of Wolfboro, New Hampshire, who died serving our country in Iraq. I wear his bracelet and think of him every day. I intend to honor their sacrifice by making sure the country their son loved so well and never returned to, remains safe from its enemies.
I fight to restore the pride and principles of our party. 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 lost their trust when rather than reform government, both parties made it bigger. We lost their trust when instead of freeing ourselves from a dangerous dependence on foreign oil, both parties and Senator Obama passed another corporate welfare bill for oil companies. We lost their trust, when we valued our power over our principles.
We’re going to change that. We’re going to recover the people’s trust by standing up again for the values Americans admire. The party of Lincoln, Roosevelt and Reagan is going to get back to basics.
We believe everyone has something to contribute and deserves the opportunity to reach their God-given potential from the boy whose descendents arrived on the Mayflower to the Latina daughter of migrant workers. We’re all God’s children and we’re all Americans.
We believe in low taxes; spending discipline, and open markets. We believe in rewarding hard work and risk takers and letting people keep the fruits of their labor.
We believe in a strong defense, work, faith, service, a culture of life, personal responsibility, the rule of law, and judges who dispense justice impartially and don’t legislate from the bench. We believe in the values of families, neighborhoods and communities.
We believe in a government that unleashes the creativity and initiative of Americans. Government that doesn’t make your choices for you, but works to make sure you have more choices to make for yourself.
I will keep taxes low and cut them where I can. My opponent will raise them. I will open new markets to our goods and services. My opponent will close them. I will cut government spending. He will increase it.
My tax cuts will create jobs. His tax increases will eliminate them. My health care plan will make it easier for more Americans to find and keep good health care insurance. His plan will force small businesses to cut jobs, reduce wages, and force families into a government run health care system where a bureaucrat stands between you and your doctor.
Keeping taxes low helps small businesses grow and create new jobs. Cutting the second highest business tax rate in the world will help American companies compete and keep jobs from moving overseas. Doubling the child tax exemption from $3500 to $7000 will improve the lives of millions of American families. Reducing government spending and getting rid of failed programs will let you keep more of your own money to save, spend and invest as you see fit. Opening new markets and preparing workers to compete in the world economy is essential to our future prosperity.
I know some of you have been left behind in the changing economy and it often seems your government hasn’t even noticed. Government assistance for unemployed workers was designed for the economy of the 1950s. That’s going to change on my watch. My opponent promises to bring back old jobs by wishing away the global economy. We’re going to help workers who’ve lost a job that won’t come back, find a new one that won’t go away.
We will prepare them for the jobs of today. We will use our community colleges to help train people for new opportunities in their communities. For workers in industries that have been hard hit, we'll help make up part of the difference in wages between their old job and a temporary, lower paid one while they receive retraining that will help them find secure new employment at a decent wage.
Education is the civil rights issue of this century. Equal access to public education has been gained. But what is the value of access to a failing school? We need to shake up failed school bureaucracies with competition, empower parents with choice, remove barriers to qualified instructors, attract and reward good teachers, and help bad teachers find another line of work.
When a public school fails to meet its obligations to students, parents deserve a choice in the education of their children. And I intend to give it to them. Some may choose a better public school. Some may choose a private one. Many will choose a charter school. But they will have that choice and their children will have that opportunity.
Senator Obama wants our schools to answer to unions and entrenched bureaucracies. I want schools to answer to parents and students. And when I’m President, they will.
My fellow Americans, when I’m President, we’re going to embark on the most ambitious national project in decades. We are going to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries that don’t like us very much. We will attack the problem on every front. We will produce more energy at home. We will drill new wells offshore, and we’ll drill them now. We will build more nuclear power plants. We will develop clean coal technology. We will increase the use of wind, tide, solar and natural gas. We will encourage the development and use of flex fuel, hybrid and electric automobiles.
Senator Obama thinks we can achieve energy independence without more drilling and without more nuclear power. But Americans know better than that. We must use all resources and develop all technologies necessary to rescue our economy from the damage caused by rising oil prices and to restore the health of our planet. It’s an ambitious plan, but Americans are ambitious by nature, and we have faced greater challenges. It’s time for us to show the world again how Americans lead.
This great national cause will create millions of new jobs, many in industries that will be the engine of our future prosperity; jobs that will be there when your children enter the workforce.
Today, the prospect of a better world remains within our reach. But we must see the threats to peace and liberty in our time clearly and face them, as Americans before us did, with confidence, wisdom and resolve.
We have dealt a serious blow to al Qaeda in recent years. But they are not defeated, and they’ll strike us again if they can. Iran remains the chief state sponsor of terrorism and on the path to acquiring nuclear weapons. Russia’s leaders, rich with oil wealth and corrupt with power, have rejected democratic ideals and the obligations of a responsible power. They invaded a small, democratic neighbor to gain more control over the world’s oil supply, intimidate other neighbors, and further their ambitions of reassembling the Russian empire. And the brave people of Georgia need our solidarity and prayers. As President, I will work to establish good relations with Russia so we need not fear a return of the Cold War. But we can’t turn a blind eye to aggression and international lawlessness that threatens the peace and stability of the world and the security of the American people.
We face many threats in this dangerous world, but I'm not afraid of them. I'm prepared for them. I know how the military works, what it can do, what it can do better, and what it should not do. I know how the world works. I know the good and the evil in it. I know how to work with leaders who share our dreams of a freer, safer and more prosperous world, and how to stand up to those who don't. I know how to secure the peace.
When I was five years old, a car pulled up in front of our house. A Navy officer rolled down the window, and shouted at my father that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. I rarely saw my father again for four years. My grandfather came home from that same war exhausted from the burdens he had borne, and died the next day. In Vietnam, where I formed the closest friendships of my life, some of those friends never came home with me. I hate war. It is terrible beyond imagination.
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. I will draw on all my experience with the world and its leaders, and all the tools at our disposal - diplomatic, economic, military and the power of our ideals - to build the foundations for a stable and enduring peace.
In America, we change things that need to be changed. Each generation makes its contribution to our greatness. The work that is ours to do is plainly before us. We don’t need to search for it.
We need to change the way government does almost everything: from the way we protect our security to the way we compete in the world economy; from the way we respond to disasters to the way we fuel our transportation network; from the way we train our workers to the way we educate our children. All these functions of government were designed before the rise of the global economy, the information technology revolution and the end of the Cold War. We have to catch up to history, and we have to change the way we do business in Washington.
The constant partisan rancor that stops us from solving these problems isn’t a cause, it’s a symptom. It’s what happens when people go to Washington to work for themselves and not you.
Again and again, I’ve worked with members of both parties to fix problems that need to be fixed. That’s how I will govern as President. I will reach out my hand to anyone to help me get this country moving again. I have that record and the scars to prove it. Senator Obama does not.
Instead of rejecting good ideas because we didn’t think of them first, let’s use the best ideas from both sides. Instead of fighting over who gets the credit, let’s try sharing it. This amazing country can do anything we put our minds to. I will ask Democrats and Independents to serve with me. And my administration will set a new standard for transparency and accountability.
We’re going to finally start getting things done for the people who are counting on us, and I won’t care who gets the credit.
I’ve been an imperfect servant of my country for many years. But I have been her servant first, last and always. And I’ve never lived a day, in good times or bad, that I didn’t thank God for the privilege.
Long ago, something unusual happened to me that taught me the most valuable lesson of my life. I was blessed by misfortune. I mean that sincerely. I was blessed because I served in the company of heroes, and I witnessed a thousand acts of courage, compassion and love.
On an October morning, in the Gulf of Tonkin, I prepared for my 23rd mission over North Vietnam. I hadn’t any worry I wouldn’t come back safe and sound. I thought I was tougher than anyone. I was pretty independent then, too. I liked to bend a few rules, and pick a few fights for the fun of it. But I did it for my own pleasure; my own pride. I didn’t think there was a cause more important than me.
Then I found myself falling toward the middle of a small lake in the city of Hanoi, with two broken arms, a broken leg, and an angry crowd waiting to greet me. I was dumped in a dark cell, and left to die. I didn’t feel so tough anymore. When they discovered my father was an admiral, they took me to a hospital. They couldn’t set my bones properly, so they just slapped a cast on me. When I didn’t get better, and was down to about a hundred pounds, they put me in a cell with two other Americans. I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t even feed myself. They did it for me. I was beginning to learn the limits of my selfish independence. Those men saved my life.
I was in solitary confinement when my captors offered to release me. I knew why. If I went home, they would use it as propaganda to demoralize my fellow prisoners. Our Code said we could only go home in the order of our capture, and there were men who had been shot down before me. I thought about it, though. I wasn’t in great shape, and I missed everything about America. But I turned it down.
A lot of prisoners had it worse than I did. I’d been mistreated before, but not as badly as others. I always liked to strut a little after I’d been roughed up to show the other guys I was tough enough to take it. But after I turned down their offer, they worked me over harder than they ever had before. For a long time. And they broke me.
When they brought me back to my cell, I was hurt and ashamed, and I didn’t know how I could face my fellow prisoners. The good man in the cell next door, my friend, Bob Craner, saved me. Through taps on a wall he told me I had fought as hard as I could. No man can always stand alone. And then he told me to get back up and fight again for our country and for the men I had the honor to serve with. Because every day they fought for me.
I fell in love with my country when I was a prisoner in someone else’s. I loved it not just for the many comforts of life here. I loved it for its decency; for its faith in the wisdom, justice and goodness of its people. I loved it because it was not just a place, but an idea, a cause worth fighting for. I was never the same again. I wasn’t my own man anymore. I was my country’s.
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. My country saved me. My country saved me, and I cannot forget it. And I will fight for her for as long as I draw breath, so help me God.
If you find faults with our country, make it a better one. If you’re disappointed with the mistakes of government, join its ranks and work to correct them. Enlist in our Armed Forces. Become a teacher. Enter the ministry. Run for public office. Feed a hungry child. Teach an illiterate adult to read. Comfort the afflicted. Defend the rights of the oppressed. Our country will be the better, and you will be the happier. Because nothing brings greater happiness in life than to serve a cause greater than yourself.
I’m going to fight for my cause every day as your President. I’m going to fight to make sure every American has every reason to thank God, as I thank Him: that I’m an American, a proud citizen of the greatest country on earth, and with hard work, strong faith and a little courage, great things are always within our reach. Fight with me. Fight with me.
Fight for what’s right for our country.
Fight for the ideals and character of a free people.
Fight for our children’s future.
Fight for justice and opportunity for all.
Stand up to defend our country from its enemies.
Stand up for each other; for beautiful, blessed, bountiful America.
Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight. Nothing is inevitable here. We’re Americans, and we never give up. We never quit. We never hide from history. We make history.
Late one afternoon, walking down a dusty, rural road, a family approached - a mother with a yellow jug of water on her head and a baby swaddled across her back.
She was following two young children, who were playfully spinning an old bicycle wheel with a stick.
The children came over and greeted me.
The older child said, "My name is America."
I said, "America? I love your name, that's where I'm from.
How did you get your name... "America?"
Glancing up at his mother with pride, the boy explained, "My mom named me 'America' because an American doctor saved our lives the day I was born.
"Without America, I would not be alive."
There are millions of other children around the world like "America," thanks to the volunteer spirit of everyday citizens and Republican leadership that made this cause a priority.
This medical diplomacy transforms hearts and minds and revolutionizes how people of the world see us.
Health is the foundation for strong families and for prosperous societies. Health builds trust, and health bridges divides.
That's why America's investment in medical diplomacy is a long-term investment in national security.
Health is a currency for peace.
I'm proud to tell you that it was a Republican president and a Republican-led Congress that launched our nation's historic initiative to fight AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis in the world's poorest countries - the greatest global health commitment in history.
Has it made a difference? Oh yes! In just six years, the number of Africans on life-saving treatment jumped from 50,000 to over 2 million! The incidence of malaria has been slashed by two-thirds in some countries. Today, 20 million more children are in school.
But much work remains to be done.
HIV/AIDS continues to hollow out entire generations of people at the prime of their lives. It's easy for people to lose hope.
And when they do, the vacuum is filled with desperation, instability, and - yes, the seeds of terrorism.
John McCain understands that health diplomacy can be a powerful antidote to terrorism.
John McCain knows you don't go to war with someone who has saved the life of your child.
Six weeks ago, Cindy McCain and I were in the small, central African country of Rwanda, a country where, in 1994, an extremist government slaughtered over a million people in the worst human catastrophe since the Holocaust.
In a meeting with local leaders, I asked who in the room was actually in Rwanda at the time of the genocide.
Few raised their hands - but Cindy McCain did.
You see, at a time when most of the world looked away, Cindy was there, on the ground - with medical relief, a huge heart, and open arms.
Through more than 50 similar medical missions, Cindy McCain has brought comfort to those in anguish, serving as America's most passionate ambassador for peace.
John McCain understands that entrepreneurship and sustainable economic growth bloom where there is democracy, accountability, and free markets.
Using innovative new institutions like the Millennium Challenge Corporation, he will make certain that U.S. aid will not be squandered by corrupt foreign governments, or wasted by inefficient bureaucracies.
It will go to the people in need.
John McCain understands that health and responsible international assistance are core components of our strategy for national security.
They become the foundation for enduring peace.
John McCain understands that we can be the generation to make extreme poverty... history.
John McCain will lead with compassion and urgency to save lives, to show America's greatness, and to spread peace through health, one child at a time, for a better, safer world... for us all.
God bless you, and God bless the children of the world.
Remarks As Prepared for Delivery: Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty
How do we measure the content of a person's character? How do we recognize their fitness to serve?
Barack Obama gives a good speech.
But the best sermons aren't preached, they're lived.
John McCain's whole life is a testimony to service, duty, courage and common sense. John McCain has walked the walk, and he has always put our country first!
When he showed guts and courage as a Prisoner of War, John McCain put our country first!
When he stood up to special interests, and fought against earmarks and pork-barrel spending in Congress, John McCain put our country first!
When he saw the need to change strategy in Iraq and boldly called for the surge, John McCain put our country first!
When he responded to our energy crisis with an all-of-the-above energy plan, John McCain put our country first!
And when John McCain is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, we know he will always put our country first!
We've seen in this man the very best our country has to offer.
I recently traveled with John to Iraq, a nation whose destiny he helped change.
I saw first-hand how he loves and admires our troops.
And I saw how they love and admire him.
They know how he personally understands the costs of war.
They also know how committed he is to doing whatever it takes to ensure they come home with honor and victory.
We live in a dangerous world.
With John McCain as President, there will be no misunderstanding about where America stands and what we stand for.
John McCain is tough -- but he's also compassionate. I've gotten to know John, and I can tell you he is a Purple Heart recipient with a heart of gold.
He understands the concerns of everyday Americans like you and me.
What I like to call "Sam's Club Republicans."
These voters are on a tight budget.
They're looking for value and accountability at the store. And they're looking for value and accountability from their government.
John McCain connects with Sam's Club voters.
He gets it.
He will force government to live within its means, just like families do.
He knows that small businesses are the job growth engine for our country.
He knows the last thing they need is MORE taxes.
John also understands that health care costs are budget busters for too many American families.
He'll provide help but will put consumers and their doctors in charge, not the federal government.
John also knows it's getting tougher for us to afford to fill-up at the pump.
His energy plan is classic McCain - bold and aggressive.
In this time, we don't need a president who can just read a poll or momentarily thrill a crowd.
We don't need rhetoric or empty promises.
We need a president who has the integrity and courage to make the tough choices so America will be stronger and safer.
John McCain is a friend of mine, a colleague and an inspiration.
He comes from the Teddy Roosevelt wing of the Republican Party.
Bold and aggressive.
Given to action more than words. That's the way John lives.
From the halls of the Naval Academy, to the hole of the Hanoi Hilton -- from confronting cancer to making history with his Vice Presidential selection -- John McCain lives for something bigger than himself.
It's not about him... it's about us and taking that difficult path that has always been required for this nation to be what it was meant to be.
This is the most powerful nation in the history of mankind.
We have liberated more nations, invested more in research and development, cured more diseases, fed more people, produced more technology, explored more, and saved more lives than any other nation in history.
These accomplishments are all the product of our greatness.
The source of our greatness has always been the American People, who have lived for something bigger than they are.
In this historic nation, John McCain is a history maker, and with selecting Sarah Palin, a history breaker. But that's not what I like most about John McCain.
What I like is that he does what he tells you he'll do... even if it hurts him.
He's always working to make the team around him better and give the glory to them. Last week in Denver, the other party was encouraging us to "believe." They told America over and over, "Yes we can." But when you look at the past two years with Democrats controlling the House and Senate, all we've seen is, "NO we can't."
They said we can't reach energy independence by finding new sources of oil and gas in our own country.
We can't cut spending.
We can't have a health care system run by doctors and patients instead of a federal bureaucracy.
They say we can't win the war in Iraq.
While the other side may say "yes we can" and then votes "no you won't" -- John McCain says "yes we will."
Are we going to achieve energy independence with conservation, renewables, biofuels, and new domestic production of oil and gas?
Yes we will.
Are we going to develop more nuclear energy, clean coal technology, and the wind energy we need to generate the power to keep our nation running?
Yes we will.
Are we going to have a health care system that works for patients and doctors and not for a bureaucracy?
Yes we will.
Are we going to cut taxes and reform the tax code to improve this economy?
Yes we will.
Are we going to give love and respect to the unborn child, regardless of whether that child has Down syndrome or is born into poverty?
Yes we will.
Are we going to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of Iran?
Yes we will.
Are we going to win in Iraq?
Yes we will.
Are we going to keep America a shining city on a hill full of hope and optimism?
Yes we will.
Ladies and gentlemen, I believe in American exceptionalism.
That this is a special land and that to whom much is given much is required.
We are blessed to be a blessing.
But for America to fulfill its God-given destiny, we need leaders to help take us there.
Leaders who deny themselves the pleasures of the moment to pursue the joy of serving others.
John McCain is one of those leaders.
You know, John McCain is easy to understand.
He loves America and feels a duty to his very core to serve this nation he so loves.
So when John McCain stands up on the west side of the Capitol to take the oath of office as the 44th President of the United States ...
He will put his left hand on the bible and raise his right hand about this high.
He can't raise it any higher because of the broken bones he suffered in Vietnam serving his country and standing up for his men.
I don't know about you, but where I come from that's called true grit.
He'll give that same level of commitment, courage and true grit to being President of the United States of America!
May God so bless us; and may God continue to bless the United States of America!!
Remarks as Prepared for Delivery: Former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge
Thank you. Tonight I speak to you with a grateful heart and enormous pride.
I speak to you as one friend about another.
About a proven leader... a world statesman... an untiring and effective public servant. I speak to you about a warrior...who has sometimes stood alone... or shown the way... in fighting for the most vulnerable of our citizens... for the country he so dearly loves... and for the founding principles we all so deeply cherish.
I speak to you about a friend - who was first pointed out to me - in the same way he is proudly pointed out wherever he goes today - "That's John McCain."
John and I have been friends for 26 years.
Both of us got elected to Congress in 1982 and both of us are Vietnam veterans.
Some might say that is our common bond. For certainly the Vietnam experience is a uniting one. But I would also say that our friendship blossomed over many a laugh as we told jokes that only we thought were funny.
Over many a moment boasting about our children.
And over many a conversation about our country and the world in which we both feel so privileged to live and to serve.
It was only a little more than a year ago - in August of 2007 - that I drove to John's office to offer an encouraging word.
You all remember that time.
It was really rough going for the campaign. Some were ready to count John out.
Some questioned his resolve.
Some wondered and waited for the white flag of surrender.
Having rehearsed my pep talk... I walked into John's office... put my arm around him... and asked, "Hey - how are you doing?"
He paused for a moment.
From his shoulders came a quick shrug.
Then he looked at me and said, "Tom, you and I both know I've been through worse."
We sat down... he spread some papers across a table... and said, "NOW - let me tell you how I think we can win."
He talked strategy... a way forward... next steps.
And later I would leave my friend's office thinking what I share with you tonight - "That's John McCain."
Where some people see adversity, John McCain accepts a challenge.
Where some people see a crisis, John McCain creates an opportunity.
Where some people see defeat, John McCain pursues victory.
John knows - the purpose of elections is not merely to win.
You run to win... but you win to govern.
So who of our two candidates is the most qualified to govern the freest, strongest, most blessed nation on Earth?
Who but John McCain understands that America's security and prosperity will - now and forever more - be tied to the security and prosperity of the rest of the world?
Who but John McCain has the experience... the sheer will... the steady hand... and the informed judgment to advance our economic and political interests during these perilous 21st century times? And who but John McCain - and only John McCain - can negotiate from a position of strength and proven ability - because he's already earned the trust... respect... and admiration of our friends and allies around the world? And I suspect he has the attention of those who would oppose us.
Now more than ever we need a leader who fits the times - not a candidate who merely thinks it's his time to lead.
For the consideration before us is not about who can take a 3 a.m. call.
It's about who has answered the call throughout his life.
It's not about building a record.
It's about having one.
It's not about talking pretty.
It's about talking straight.
The challenge of our times is not simply to change.
The challenge of our time is to leave nothing to chance.
More than 230-plus years ago, a group of leaders - some people called them mavericks - dared to think differently, dared to act boldly and dared to believe its future leaders would preserve, honor and protect the great land of the free.
Today - we have a leader - some people call him a maverick - who for his country, has put his life on the line.
Who for his country, leads with his conscience.
Who for his country, has worked to preserve, honor and protect the great land of the free.
That's John McCain.
John dares to think differently, to act boldly and to put country before self.
He dares to believe that we are all called to serve as long as we call ourselves free.
He dares to embrace the founding principle that our responsibility to one another extends from a national crisis to an individual need - from nation to nation - community to community - in this, the greatest community ever formed.
So may we rise to the occasion, to the moment, to the vision of our Founding Fathers.
May we summon ourselves to our best efforts and call this maverick forward.
Let us elect a man who has firmly and unequivocally laid out his vision of where this country can go.
Who offers a better way...a better day...and a greater say - for all who call this great country home.
That's John McCain.
Let us elect a public servant who refuses to think in terms of red versus blue - but only in terms of red, white and blue.
That's John McCain.
An artful leader... a diplomat... a tenacious legislator.
Say it with me!
That's John McCain!
Someone who speaks truth to power, truth to the American people, and rises above politics to get things done.
That's John McCain.
A consensus builder, a reformer - the patriot who always puts his country first.
That's John McCain!
A Reagan conservative...an optimist...
America's go-to guy.
That's John McCain!
That's John McCain.
That's John McCain.
I am so very proud to say... 'that is my friend - John McCain.'
The next president of the United States.
The next Commander-in-Chief.
Ready to lead.
Ready to serve.
Ready to deliver.
God bless you, John.
God bless you all.
And may God continue to bless our brave troops who serve our country so well.
Mr. Chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens: I am honored to be considered for the nomination for Vice President of the United States...
I accept the call to help our nominee for president to serve and defend America.
I accept the challenge of a tough fight in this election... against confident opponents ... at a crucial hour for our country.
And I accept the privilege of serving with a man who has come through much harder missions ... and met far graver challenges ... and knows how tough fights are won - the next president of the United States, John S. McCain.
It was just a year ago when all the experts in Washington counted out our nominee because he refused to hedge his commitment to the security of the country he loves.
With their usual certitude, they told us that all was lost - there was no hope for this candidate who said that he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war.
But the pollsters and pundits overlooked just one thing when they wrote him off.
They overlooked the caliber of the man himself - the determination, resolve, and sheer guts of Senator John McCain. The voters knew better.
And maybe that's because they realize there is a time for politics and a time for leadership ... a time to campaign and a time to put our country first.
Our nominee for president is a true profile in courage, and people like that are hard to come by.
He's a man who wore the uniform of this country for 22 years, and refused to break faith with those troops in Iraq who have now brought victory within sight.
And as the mother of one of those troops, that is exactly the kind of man I want as commander in chief. I'm just one of many moms who'll say an extra prayer each night for our sons and daughters going into harm's way.
Our son Track is 19.
And one week from tomorrow - September 11th - he'll deploy to Iraq with the Army infantry in the service of his country.
My nephew Kasey also enlisted, and serves on a carrier in the Persian Gulf.
My family is proud of both of them and of all the fine men and women serving the country in uniform. Track is the eldest of our five children.
In our family, it's two boys and three girls in between - my strong and kind-hearted daughters Bristol, Willow, and Piper.
And in April, my husband Todd and I welcomed our littlest one into the world, a perfectly beautiful baby boy named Trig. From the inside, no family ever seems typical.
That's how it is with us.
Our family has the same ups and downs as any other ... the same challenges and the same joys.
Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge.
And children with special needs inspire a special love.
To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters.
I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House. Todd is a story all by himself.
He's a lifelong commercial fisherman ... a production operator in the oil fields of Alaska's North Slope ... a proud member of the United Steel Workers' Union ... and world champion snow machine racer.
Throw in his Yup'ik Eskimo ancestry, and it all makes for quite a package.
We met in high school, and two decades and five children later he's still my guy. My Mom and Dad both worked at the elementary school in our small town.
And among the many things I owe them is one simple lesson: that this is America, and every woman can walk through every door of opportunity.
My parents are here tonight, and I am so proud to be the daughter of Chuck and Sally Heath. Long ago, a young farmer and habber-dasher from Missouri followed an unlikely path to the vice presidency.
A writer observed: "We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty, sincerity, and dignity." I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised Harry Truman.
I grew up with those people.
They are the ones who do some of the hardest work in America ... who grow our food, run our factories, and fight our wars.
They love their country, in good times and bad, and they're always proud of America. I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town.
I was just your average hockey mom, and signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids' public education better.
When I ran for city council, I didn't need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and knew their families, too.
Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown.
And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves.
I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities. I might add that in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening.
We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.
As for my running mate, you can be certain that wherever he goes, and whoever is listening, John McCain is the same man. I'm not a member of the permanent political establishment.< br> And I've learned quickly, these past few days, that if you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.
But here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion - I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country. Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reasons, and not just to mingle with the right people.
Politics isn't just a game of clashing parties and competing interests.
The right reason is to challenge the status quo, to serve the common good, and to leave this nation better than we found it.
No one expects us to agree on everything.
But we are expected to govern with integrity, good will, clear convictions, and ... a servant's heart.
I pledge to all Americans that I will carry myself in this spirit as vice president of the United States. This was the spirit that brought me to the governor's office, when I took on the old politics as usual in Juneau ... when I stood up to the special interests, the lobbyists, big oil companies, and the good-ol' boys network.
Sudden and relentless reform never sits well with entrenched interests and power brokers. That's why true reform is so hard to achieve.
But with the support of the citizens of Alaska, we shook things up.
And in short order we put the government of our state back on the side of the people.
I came to office promising major ethics reform, to end the culture of self-dealing. And today, that ethics reform is the law.
While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor's office that I didn't believe our citizens should have to pay for.
That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay.
I also drive myself to work.
And I thought we could muddle through without the governor's personal chef - although I've got to admit that sometimes my kids sure miss her. I came to office promising to control spending - by request if possible and by veto if necessary.
Senator McCain also promises to use the power of veto in defense of the public interest - and as a chief executive, I can assure you it works.
Our state budget is under control.
We have a surplus.
And I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending: nearly half a billion dollars in vetoes.
I suspended the state fuel tax, and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress.
I told the Congress "thanks, but no thanks," for that Bridge to Nowhere.
If our state wanted a bridge, we'd build it ourselves. When oil and gas prices went up dramatically, and filled up the state treasury, I sent a large share of that revenue back where it belonged - directly to the people of Alaska.
And despite fierce opposition from oil company lobbyists, who kind of liked things the way they were, we broke their monopoly on power and resources.
As governor, I insisted on competition and basic fairness to end their control of our state and return it to the people.
I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history.
And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly forty billion dollar natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence.
That pipeline, when the last section is laid and its valves are opened, will lead America one step farther away from dependence on dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart.
The stakes for our nation could not be higher.
When a hurricane strikes in the Gulf of Mexico, this country should not be so dependent on imported oil that we are forced to draw from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
And families cannot throw away more and more of their paychecks on gas and heating oil.
With Russia wanting to control a vital pipeline in the Caucasus, and to divide and intimidate our European allies by using energy as a weapon, we cannot leave ourselves at the mercy of foreign suppliers.
To confront the threat that Iran might seek to cut off nearly a fifth of world energy supplies ... or that terrorists might strike again at the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia ... or that Venezuela might shut off its oil deliveries ... we Americans need to produce more of our own oil and gas.
And take it from a gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska: we've got lots of both.
Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America's energy problems - as if we all didn't know that already.
But the fact that drilling won't solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all.
Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we're going to lay more pipelines ... build more nuclear plants ... create jobs with clean coal ... and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal, and other alternative sources.
We need American energy resources, brought to you by American ingenuity, and produced by American workers. I've noticed a pattern with our opponent.
Maybe you have, too.
We've all heard his dramatic speeches before devoted followers.
And there is much to like and admire about our opponent.
But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform - not even in the state senate.
This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word "victory" except when he's talking about his own campaign. But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed ... when the roar of the crowd fades away ... when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot - what exactly is our opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet? The answer is to make government bigger ... take more of your money ... give you more orders from Washington ... and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world. America needs more energy ... our opponent is against producing it.
Victory in Iraq is finally in sight ... he wants to forfeit.
Terrorist states are seeking new-clear weapons without delay ... he wants to meet them without preconditions.
Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America ... he's worried that someone won't read them their rights? Government is too big ... he wants to grow it.
Congress spends too much ... he promises more.
Taxes are too high ... he wants to raise them. His tax increases are the fine print in his economic plan, and let me be specific.
The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes ... raise payroll taxes ... raise investment income taxes ... raise the death tax ... raise business taxes ... and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars. My sister Heather and her husband have just built a service station that's now opened for business - like millions of others who run small businesses.
How are they going to be any better off if taxes go up? Or maybe you're trying to keep your job at a plant in Michigan or Ohio ... or create jobs with clean coal from Pennsylvania or West Virginia ... or keep a small farm in the family right here in Minnesota.
How are you going to be better off if our opponent adds a massive tax burden to the American economy? Here's how I look at the choice Americans face in this election.
In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers.
And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.
They're the ones whose names appear on laws and landmark reforms, not just on buttons and banners, or on self-designed presidential seals.
Among politicians, there is the idealism of high-flown speechmaking, in which crowds are stirringly summoned to support great things.
And then there is the idealism of those leaders, like John McCain, who actually do great things. They're the ones who are good for more than talk ... the ones we have always been able to count on to serve and defend America. Senator McCain's record of actual achievement and reform helps explain why so many special interests, lobbyists, and comfortable committee chairmen in Congress have fought the prospect of a McCain presidency - from the primary election of 2000 to this very day.
Our nominee doesn't run with the Washington herd.
He's a man who's there to serve his country, and not just his party.
A leader who's not looking for a fight, but is not afraid of one either. Harry Reid, the Majority Leader of the current do-nothing Senate, not long ago summed up his feelings about our nominee.
He said, quote, "I can't stand John McCain." Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps no accolade we hear this week is better proof that we've chosen the right man. Clearly what the Majority Leader was driving at is that he can't stand up to John McCain. That is only one more reason to take the maverick of the Senate and put him in the White House. My fellow citizens, the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of "personal discovery." This world of threats and dangers is not just a community, and it doesn't just need an organizer.
And though both Senator Obama and Senator Biden have been going on lately about how they are always, quote, "fighting for you," let us face the matter squarely.
There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you ... in places where winning means survival and defeat means death ... and that man is John McCain. In our day, politicians have readily shared much lesser tales of adversity than the nightmare world in which this man, and others equally brave, served and suffered for their country.
It's a long way from the fear and pain and squalor of a six-by-four cell in Hanoi to the Oval Office.
But if Senator McCain is elected president, that is the journey he will have made.
It's the journey of an upright and honorable man - the kind of fellow whose name you will find on war memorials in small towns across this country, only he was among those who came home.
To the most powerful office on earth, he would bring the compassion that comes from having once been powerless ... the wisdom that comes even to the captives, by the grace of God ... the special confidence of those who have seen evil, and seen how evil is overcome. A fellow prisoner of war, a man named Tom Moe of Lancaster, Ohio, recalls looking through a pin-hole in his cell door as Lieutenant Commander John McCain was led down the hallway, by the guards, day after day.
As the story is told, "When McCain shuffled back from torturous interrogations, he would turn toward Moe's door and flash a grin and thumbs up" - as if to say, "We're going to pull through this." My fellow Americans, that is the kind of man America needs to see us through these next four years.
For a season, a gifted speaker can inspire with his words.
For a lifetime, John McCain has inspired with his deeds.
If character is the measure in this election ... and hope the theme ... and change the goal we share, then I ask you to join our cause. Join our cause and help America elect a great man as the next president of the United States.
As much as I appreciate the opportunity to speak tonight, I really was originally hoping for the slot on Thursday called the acceptance speech. But I am delighted to speak on behalf of my 2nd choice for the Republican nomination for President, John McCain -- a man with the character and stubborn kind of integrity that I want in a President.
I grew up at a time and in a place where the civil rights movement was fought. I witnessed first hand the shameful evil of racism. I saw how ignorance and prejudice caused people to do the unthinkable to people of color not so many years ago.
So, I say with sincerity that I have great respect for Senator Obama's historic achievement to become his party's nominee -- not because of his color, but with indifference to it. Party or politics aside, we celebrate this milestone because it elevates our country.
But the Presidency is not a symbolic job, and I don't believe his preparation or his plans will lift America up.
Obama was right when he said this election is not about him, it's about YOU.
When gasoline costs $4 a gallon, it makes it tough if you're a single mom to get to your job each day in the used car you drive. You want something to change.
If you're a flight attendant or baggage handler and you're asked to take a pay cut to keep your job, you want something to change.
If you're a young couple losing your house, your credit rating, and your American dream, you want something to change.
John McCain offers specific ideas to respond to this need for change. But there are some things we never want to change -- freedom, security, and the opportunity to prosper.
Barack Obama's excellent adventure to Europe took his campaign for change to hundreds of thousands of people who don't even vote or pay taxes here.
It's not what he took there that concerns me. It's what he brought back. Lots of ideas from Europe he'd like to see imported here.
Centralized governments may care for you from cradle to grave, but they also control you. Most Americans don't want MORE government -- they want a lot less.
Abraham Lincoln reminded us that a government that can do everything FOR us can also take everything FROM us.
I really tire of hearing how the Democrats care about the working guy as if all Republicans grew up with silk stockings and silver spoons. In my little hometown of Hope, Arkansas, the 3 sacred heroes were Jesus, Elvis, and FDR, not necessarily in that order.
My own father held down two jobs, barely affording the little rented house I grew up in. My Dad worked hard, lifted heavy things, and got his hands dirty. The only soap we had at my house was Lava.
Heck, I was in college before I found out it wasn't supposed to hurt to take a shower.
I'm not a Republican because I grew up rich, but because I didn't want to spend the rest of my life poor, waiting for the government to rescue me.
John McCain doesn't want the kind of change that allows the government to reach deeper into your paycheck and pick your doctor, your child's school, or even the kind of car you drive or how much you inflate the tires.
He doesn't want to change the very definition of marriage from what it has always meant throughout recorded human history. It is not above John McCain's pay grade to grasp the simple fact that human life begins at conception, and he is committed to protecting it.
Maybe the most dangerous threat of an Obama presidency is that he would continue to give madmen the benefit of the doubt. If he's wrong just once, we will pay a heavy price.
John McCain will follow the fanatics to their caves in Pakistan or to the gates of hell.
What Obama wants to do is give them a place setting at the table.
John McCain is by far the most prepared, experienced, and tested Presidential candidate. Thoroughly tested.
When John McCain received his country's call to service, he didn't hesitate, and he didn't choose the easy path. He sat alone in the cockpit, taking off from an aircraft carrier to fly in unfriendly skies, knowing he might not make it back.
And one day, he didn't make it back. He was shot down and captured. He was brutally tortured.
He could have eased his own pain and even cut short his imprisonment by uttering a few simple words renouncing his country. But he loved his country and knew that to return with honor later was better than to return without it now.
Most of us can lift our arms high in the air to signify that we want something. His arms can't even lift to shoulder level, a constant reminder that his life is marked not by what he wants to receive, but by what he's already given.
Allow me to tell you about someone who understands this type of sacrifice better than anyone.
On the first day of school in 2005, Martha Cothren, a teacher at Joe T. Robinson High School in Little Rock, was determined that her students would not take their education or their privilege as
Americans for granted. With the principal's permission, she removed all the desks from her classroom. The students entered the empty room and asked, "Mrs. Cothren, where are our desks?" "You get a desk when you tell me how you earn it," she replied.
"Making good grades?" asked one student.
"You ought to make good grades, but that won't get you a desk," Martha responded.
"I guess we have to behave," offered another.
"You WILL behave in my class," Mrs. Cothren retorted, "but that won't get you a desk either."
No one in first period guessed right. Same for second period.
By lunch, the buzz was all over campus... Mrs. Cothren had flipped out ....wouldn't let her students have a desk. Kids had used their cell phones and called their parents.
By early afternoon, all 4 of the local network TV affiliates had camera crews at the school to report on the teacher who wouldn't let her students have a desk unless they could tell her how they earned it. By the final period, no one had guessed correctly.
As the students filed in, Martha Cothren said, "Well, I didn't think you would figure it out, so I'll have to tell you."
Martha opened the door of her classroom. In walked 27 veterans, some wearing uniforms from years gone by, but each one carrying a school desk.
As they carefully and quietly arranged the desks in neat rows, Martha said, "You don't have to earn your desks…these guys already did.
They went halfway around the world, giving up their education and interrupting their careers and families so you could have the freedom you have.
No one charged you for your desk. But it wasn't really free. These guys bought it for you. And I hope you never forget it. "
I wish we all would remember that being American is not just about the freedom we have. It's about those who gave it to us.
Ladies and Gentlemen, John McCain is one of those people who helped buy the freedom that we enjoy and the school desks we had.
It's my honor to do what I can to help him have a desk that he has earned one in the Oval Office.
Remarks As Prepared for Delivery: Former Governor Mitt Romney
For decades, the Washington sun has been rising in the east - Washington has been looking to the eastern elites, to the editorial pages of the Times and the Post, and to the broadcasters from the coast.
If America really wants change, it's time to look for the sun in the west, cause it's about to rise and shine from Arizona and Alaska!
Last week, the Democrats talked about change. But let me ask you -- what do you think Washington is right now, liberal or conservative? Is a Supreme Court liberal or conservative that awards Guantanamo terrorists with constitution rights? It's liberal! Is a government liberal or conservative that puts the interests of the teachers union ahead of the needs of our children? -- It's liberal!
Is a Congress liberal or conservative that stops nuclear power plants and off-shore drilling, making us more and more dependent on Middle East tyrants? -- It's liberal!
Is government spending - excluding inflation - liberal or conservative if it doubles since 1980? -- It's liberal!
We need change all right - change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington -- throw out the big government liberals and elect John McCain!
It's the same prescription for a stronger economy. I spent 25 years in the private sector. I've done business in many foreign countries. I know why jobs come and why they go away. And I know that liberals don't have a clue.
They think we have the biggest and strongest economy in the world because of our government. They're wrong. America is strong because of the ingenuity and entrepreneurship and hard work of the American people.
The American people have always been the source of our nation's strength and they always will be!
We strengthen our people and our economy when we preserve and promote opportunity. Opportunity is what lets hope become reality.
Opportunity expands when there is excellence and choice in education, when taxes are lowered, when every citizen has affordable, portable health insurance, and when constitutional freedoms are preserved.
Opportunity rises when children are raised in homes and schools that are free from pornography, promiscuity and drugs; in homes that are blessed with family values and the presence of a father and a mother.
America cannot long lead the family of nations if we fail the family here at home!
Liberals would replace opportunity with dependency on government largesse. They grow government and raise taxes to put more people on Medicaid, to take work requirements out of welfare, and to grow the ranks of those who pay no taxes at all. Dependency is death to initiative, risk-taking and opportunity.
It is time to stop the spread of government dependency to fight it like the poison it is!
It's time for the party of big ideas, not the party of Big Brother!
Our economy is under attack. China is acting like Adam Smith on steroids, buying oil from the world's worst, and selling nuclear technology. Russia and the oil states are siphoning more than 500 billion dollars a year from us in what could become the greatest transfer of economic wealth in history. This is no time for timid, liberal empty gestures.
Our economy has slowed down this year and a lot of people are hurting. What happened? Mortgage money was handed out like candy, speculators bought homes for free - when this mortgage mania finally broke, it slammed the economy. And stratospheric gas prices made things even worse.
Democrats want to use the slowdown as an excuse to do what their special interests are always begging for: higher taxes, bigger government and less trade with other nations.
It's the same path Europe took a few decades ago. It leads to moribund growth and double-digit unemployment.
The right course is the one championed by Ronald Reagan 30 years ago, and by John McCain today. It is to rein in government spending and to lower taxes, for taking a weed-whacker to excessive regulation and mandates, for putting a stop to tort windfalls, and to stand up to the Tyrannosaurus appetite of government unions!
It is to pursue every source of energy security, from new efficiencies to renewables, from clean coal to non-CO2 producing nuclear, and the immediate drilling for more oil off of our shores! And I have one more recommendation for energy conservation -- let's keep Al Gore's private jet on the ground!
Did you hear any Democrats talk last week about the threat from radical, violent Jihad? Republicans believe that there is good and evil in the world. Ronald Reagan called-out the Evil Empire. George Bush labeled the terror-sponsor states the Axis of Evil.
And at Saddleback, after Barak Obama dodged and ducked every direct question, John McCain hit the nail on the head: radical violent Islam is evil, and he will defeat it!
Republicans prefer straight talk to politically correct talk!
Republicans, led by John McCain and Sarah Palin, will fight to preserve the values that have preserved the nation. We will strengthen our economy and keep us from being held hostage by Putin, Chavez and Ahmadinejad.
And we will never allow America to retreat in the face of evil extremism!
Just like you, there has never been a day when I was not proud to be an American. We inherited the greatest nation in the history of the earth.
It is our burden and privilege to preserve it, to renew its spirit so that its noble past is prologue to its glorious future.
To this we are all dedicated and I firmly believe, by the providence of the Almighty, that we will succeed.
President McCain and Vice President Palin will keep America as it has always been -- the hope of the world.
As we gather at this moment, many of our friends, families and neighbors have felt the devastating effects of Hurricane Gustav.
Our hearts and prayers are with them at this hour.
Times such as this remind us that we are each called to respond to a cause greater than our own self-interest.
They speak to a truth about America: that when things are tough and the skies are filled with stormy clouds, we turn to each other for comfort, support and leadership.
As mothers and fathers, families and communities begin the difficult work of recovery and rebuilding, we watch with pride and humility as neighbor reaches out to neighbor.
Tonight, we gather not as Republicans, but as Americans.
We are Americans prepared to reach out to each other for a cause greater than ourselves. We recognize that leadership is not often tested in good times, but rather during those times of uncertainty, when ones judgment, strength of character and experiences come together to reassure, to calm and to guide.
For myself, such lessons in leadership were taught to me by a sharecropper's daughter who throughout her life, suffered many hardships.
However, in the throes of the worst of these, she always saw the hope that her children would be better off than she was.
It was partly this relentless focus on the future that enabled her to overcome her circumstances, and to do so with such selfless grace.
My mother Maebell was never discouraged by the trials of the moment, because she knew that they would pass.
Her commitment to making her family strong and giving her children a true sense of the promise of America, stood as an early testament in my life to the ideal of putting family, community, country, above self.
In moments such as this, buffeted by the winds of an uncertain time we need a leader who understands the life lessons of those who sacrifice, who demonstrate the full measure of what it means to be an American.
In times such as these, we need a leader who will work in the public's interest, not clamor for the public's applause, someone who will lead with the common sense of his neighbors and friends.
In times such as these, we need John McCain.
John McCain has never lost faith in the power and ingenuity of the individual to create the legacy of a nation through hard work, self-sacrifice and discipline.
Through his service he reaffirms to the American people his core belief that government should be limited so that it never becomes powerful enough to infringe on the rights of the individual.
That taxes should be kept low so that families can keep more of their hard earned money.
That the ideal of a colorblind society is worth fighting for because each man, woman, and child is an individual and not a member of some hyphenated class or group.
Some just talk about change, but John McCain believes the resiliency of the American people is the real source of the change America needs; and that means putting country first.
So, do you want to put your country first? Then let's change the way we educate our kids.
Let's empower those whose minds are shackled by a poor education with real choices in where they go to school.
So, do you want to put your country first? Then let's change our tax code to confiscate less of our hard earned paychecks so more and more families may actually know what it's like to save for the future.
So, do you want to put your country first? Then let's reduce our dependency on foreign sources of oil and promote oil and gas production at home.
In other words, drill baby drill! And drill now!
So, do you want to put your country first? Then let's make decisions about our security based on what keeps us safe and not on what's politically correct.
So, do you want to put your country first? Then let's win the war on terrorism.
So, do you want to put your country first?
Then let's elect John McCain the next president of the United States!
John McCain has the experience, judgment and character to lead America in a changing world.
It's not just about John McCain's lifetime of selfless service to a nation and its people. It's about his knowing who the enemy is and what to do about them.
It's about his understanding that associations do matter, and that America, though flawed, should not be damned for creating a place so many want to call home.
John McCain knows that mere words about change are not enough to transform this nation or move it further along the road to prosperity and security.
John McCain knows we must empower working families and stand with them against the erosion of our constitutional rights, the corruption of our school systems, the weakening of our families and the taking of human life - born and unborn.
We have been reminded once again of what is best about America and its people.
John McCain himself reminds us that in this hour the partisan labels must fall away because the only label that really matters is "American."
That's appropriate.
That's putting country first.
That's John McCain.
Thank you and god bless.
Remarks As Prepared for Delivery: Mayor Rudy Giuliani
Almost exactly one year ago during a Republican presidential debate in Durham, New Hampshire, I said that if I weren't running for President myself, I'd be supporting John McCain. Well, I'm not, and I do.
Every four years, we are told that this Presidential election is the most important election of our lifetime. This year - 2008 - IS the most important.
This has already been historic. It is the longest Presidential campaign in history. And it sometimes felt even longer.
The American people realize this election represents a turning point. In two months they will decide the future direction of our nation. It's a decision to follow one path or another.
'We the people' - the citizens of the United States - get to decide our next president ... not the media, not Hollywood celebrities, not anyone else.
This is a time for choosing - and to those Americans who still feel torn in this election, I'd like to suggest one way to think about the choice you have to make in 2008:
You're hiring someone to do a job - an important job that involves the safety and security of your family. Imagine that you have two job applications in your hand - with the names and party affiliations taken off the top. They're both good and patriotic men - with very different life experiences that have led them to this moment in history.
You've got to make this decision right. Who would you hire?
On the one hand, you've got a man who has dedicated his life to the service of his country. He's been tested time and again by crisis. He's passed every test.
Even his adversaries acknowledge that he is a true American hero. He loves America as we all do - but he's sacrificed for it as few do. As a young man, he joined the military ... and being a "Top Gun" kind of guy, he became a fighter pilot. He was on a mission over Hanoi when his plane was shot down.
He was tortured in a POW camp, but he refused his captors' offers of early release. Because this is a man who believes in serving a cause greater than self-interest. He came home a national hero.
He had earned a life of peace and quiet, but he was called to public service again, running for Congress and then the Senate as a proud foot- soldier in the Reagan Revolution. His principled independence never wavered. He stood up to special interests, fought for fiscal discipline, ethics reform and a strong national defense.
That's one man.
On the other hand, you have a resume from a gifted man with an Ivy League education. He worked as a community organizer, and immersed himself in Chicago machine politics. Then he ran for the state legislature - where nearly 130 times he was unable to make a decision yes or no. He simply voted "present."
As Mayor of New York City, I never got a chance to vote "present." And you know, when you're President of the United States, you can't just vote "present." You must make decisions.
A few years later, he ran for the U.S. Senate. He won and has spent most of his time as a "celebrity senator." No leadership or major legislation to speak of. His rise is remarkable in its own right - it's the kind of thing that could happen only in America. But he's never run a city, never run a state, never run a business.
He's never had to lead people in crisis.
This is not a personal attack ... .it's a statement of fact - Barack Obama has never led anything.
Nothing. Nada.
The choice in this election comes down to substance over style. John has been tested. Barack Obama has not.
Tough times require strong leadership, and this is no time for on the job training.
It's about who can answer that crisis call - yes, Hillary, at 3:00 in the morning.
Well, no one can look at John McCain and say that he is not ready to be Commander in Chief.
So, our opponents want to reframe the debate. They would have you believe that this election is about 'change versus more of the same.' But that's really a false choice. Because "change" is not a destination ... just as "hope" is not a strategy.
John McCain will bring about the change that will create jobs and prosperity. He will lower taxes so our economy can grow. He will reduce government spending to strengthen our dollar. He will expand free trade so we can be even more competitive. He will lead us toward an America that will be independent of foreign oil by an all-of-the-above approach, including nuclear power and off-shore drilling.
This is the kind of change we need.
And he will keep us on offense against terrorism at home and abroad. For 4 days in Denver and for the past 18 months Democrats have been afraid to use the words "Islamic Terrorism." During their convention, the Democrats rarely mentioned the attacks of September 11.
They are in a state of denial about the threat that faces us now and in the future.
You need to face your enemy in order to defeat them. John McCain will face this threat and lead us on to victory.
Look at just one example in a lifetime of principled stands -- John McCain's support for the troop surge in Iraq. The Democratic Party had given up on Iraq. And I believe, ladies and gentlemen, that when they gave up on Iraq they were giving up on America. The Democratic leader in the Senate said so: "America has lost."
Well, if America lost, who won? Al Qaida? Bin Laden? In the single biggest policy decision of this election, John McCain got it right and Barack Obama got it wrong.
If Barack Obama had been President, there would have been no troop surge and our troops would have been withdrawn in defeat.
Senator McCain was the candidate most associated with the surge. And it was unpopular.
What do you think most other candidates would have done in that situation? They would have acted in their own self-interest by changing their position.
How many times have we seen Barack Obama do that?
Obama was going to take public financing for his campaign, until he didn't.
Obama was against wiretapping before he voted for it.
When speaking to a pro-Israel group, Obama favored an undivided Jerusalem. Until the very next day when he changed his mind.
I hope for his sake, Joe Biden got that VP thing in writing.
John McCain said, 'I'd rather lose an election than a war.' Because that's John McCain.
When Russia rolled over Georgia, John McCain knew exactly how to respond.
Having been to that part of the world many times and having developed a clear worldview over many years, John knew where he stood. Within hours, he established a very strong, informed position that let the world know exactly how he'll respond as President. At exactly the right time, John McCain said, "We're all Georgians."
Obama's first instinct was to create a moral equivalency - that "both sides" should "show restraint." The same moral equivalency that he has displayed in discussing the Palestinian Authority and the State of Israel.
Later, after discussing it with his 300 foreign policy advisors, he changed his position and suggested that the "the UN Security Council," could find a solution. Apparently, none of his 300 advisors told him that Russia has a veto on any UN action. Finally Obama put out a statement that looked ... well, it looked a lot like John McCain's.
Here's some free advice: Sen. Obama, next time just call John McCain.
Like Ronald Reagan, John McCain will enlarge our party. He's the candidate with the real record of bi-partisan cooperation. He's the candidate who can credibly reach out for the votes of Independents and Democrats.
In choosing Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, John McCain has chosen the future. Governor Palin represents a new generation. She's already one of the most successful governors in America - and the most popular. And she already has more executive experience than the entire Democratic ticket. She's led a city and a state. She's reduced taxes and government spending.
And she's actually done something about moving America toward energy independence - taking on the oil companies while encouraging more energy exploration here at home.
Taxpayers have an advocate in Sarah Palin - she even sold the former governor's private plane on E-Bay.
And as a former U.S. Attorney, I am impressed by her success in combating corruption - when she found unethical and illegal behavior among the power- brokers of her own party, she did not hesitate - she acted courageously and independently. That's the kind of reformer we need - she shook up Alaska. She'll shake up Washington.
And we sure need that.
And as we look to the future never let us forget that - when we are at our best - we are the party that expands Freedom. We began as a party dedicated to freeing people from slavery ... And we are still the party that is willing to fight for freedom at home and around the world. We are the party that wants to expand individual freedom and economic freedom ... because we believe that the secret of America's success is not central government, it is self-government. We are the party that believes in giving workers the right to work. The party that believes parents should choose where their children go to school.
And we are the party that believes unapologetically in America's essential greatness - that we are a shining city on the hill, a beacon of freedom that inspires people everywhere to reach for a better world.
So my fellow Republicans and my fellow Americans - over the next 8 weeks, remember that the results of this election are in your hands. You get to determine America's future. You can decide America's direction.
