Category — John McCain

NOW WE SEE why the liberal establishment has been trying for the last few days to destroy Sarah Palin. She is a threat to their hopes to take the White House this year, a threat to their broader claims to speak for youth, for women, and for the future, and a threat to their attempt to control the high ground in the culture war. After her stunning success last night, some in the liberal media may retire from the ring for a while.

But this is the energy election. It will determine our future peace and prosperity. And Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has the energy answer: Our abundant country can produce more energy at lower cost if government gets out of the way.

There is nothing unusual about Republican Clarence McKee’s criticism of Democratic
presidential candidate Barack Obama. “He’s not ready to be president of the United States because he lacks wisdom,” said McKee on Tuesday. He added that Sen. John McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, “has more experience and leadership abilities than Barack Obama.” What runs counter to conventional political wisdom is that McKee, a Florida delegate to the Republican
National Convention this week, is black.

He was on the losing side of the biggest public opinion issue of the day. The former naval aviator had staked his political fate on his faith that a new commander with a new strategy and more combat troops could pull Iraq out of a death spiral. That was at a time when Hillary Clinton was telling Gen. David Petraeus that his report on progress in
Iraq required “the willing suspension of disbelief.” When Barack Obama declared at the Senate hearing with Petraeus, “The time to end the surge and to start
bringing our troops home is now, not six months from now.” Even formerly strong proponents of the war in the Republican Party were bending to public opinion polls
and looking for an exit. McCain stood firm. “I would rather lose a campaign than lose a war,” he said at a campaign stop in California.
Against long odds — very long odds — McCain will accept his party’s nomination for president at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night in St. Paul.

“The great thing about John McCain is even if you don’t agree with him, and I don’t agree with him on
every issue, you know where he’s coming from,” said Healy, resident scholar at the McCormick Freedom
Museum and membership director for Chicago Young Republicans. “What I trust about him is, even when I
don’t agree with him, he’s doing what he thinks is right.” . . .
They may be smaller in numbers, but there are younger voters out there like Healy anxious to pour
considerable energy behind McCain’s campaign.

John McCain’s years in a Vietnamese prison camp forged connections with soldiers that
are paying dividends as he enters the final stage of his campaign for president. Fellow prisoners, including some who now live in Maryland, have become outspoken advocates of the Arizona senator, sharing McCain’s life story at a convention designed in part to impress undecided voters who may not be well-versed in the candidate’s background. “We drew our strength from each other,” Everett Alvarez Jr., a resident of Potomac who was held in
captivity longer than all but one serviceman, said yesterday. “Those are the same principles that John
McCain practices now. He always maintains service to country over self.”

Palin has six years of executive experience as mayor of Wasilla and two years of executive experience as governor of Alaska, for a total of eight years of executive experience.

Delegates at the Republican National Convention this week got a laminated card listing their party’s principles. The top item, ahead of the economy, national security and fiscal accountability: “energy independence and lower gas prices.” The marquee billing reflects the Republicans’ push to make energy their hallmark campaign issue for the
first time in decades as they attempt to put aside internal rifts over oil drilling and climate change and focus on tapping voters’ anxiety over high gasoline prices. Arizona Senator John McCain — who will officially become the Republican presidential nominee at the St. Paul, Minnesota, convention — is betting that an aggressive push for more drilling will give his party the edge over Democrats who are lukewarm about or opposed to new domestic oil exploration.

John McCain’s presidential campaign today released its latest television ad, entitled “Alaska Maverick.” The ad highlights Governor Sarah Palin’s record of taking on the special interests in Alaska and bringing reform and change. While Barack Obama talks about change, Governor Sarah Palin has actually done it. The ad will air in key states.

After suspending political activities for a day in anticipation of Hurricane Gustav,
Republicans led by President Bush last night inaugurated their truncated national convention by
celebrating nominee John McCain’s record of military service and political independence. “If the Hanoi Hilton could not break John McCain’s resolve, you can be sure the angry left never will,”
Bush told the convention by satellite from the White House. “He’s not afraid to tell you when he disagrees. Believe me, I know.” In the most forceful speech of the evening, former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson said McCain was “the kind of character that civilizations from the beginning of history have sought in their leaders. It’s
pretty clear there are two questions we will never have to ask ourselves, ‘Who is this man?’ and ‘Can we trust this man with the presidency?’ “

“Barack Obama has never governed a city, never governed a state, never governed an agency, never run a military unit, never run anything. Sarah Palin has been a mayor. She’s been a governor. She has a record of reform. She has a record of leadership. She’s run a budget.” – Mayor Rudy Giuliani

Today, Governor Sarah Palin met with First Lady Laura Bush and Cindy McCain in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

In Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. John McCain has found a fellow maverick to be his running mate — one who can help bring the right kind of reform to Washington. Ms. Palin, like Mr. McCain, has a strong record of battling the status quo, restoring accountability and effectiveness to government, and working to secure energy independence, root out corruption and curb wasteful spending.

In Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. John McCain has found a fellow maverick to be his running mate — one who can help bring the right kind of reform to Washington. Ms. Palin, like Mr. McCain, has a strong record of battling the status quo, restoring accountability and effectiveness to government, and working to secure energy independence, root out corruption and curb wasteful spending.

The choice of Sarah Palin, the Alaska governor, was stunning, to say the least, even a few days later. Clearly, McCain sees in Palin something of himself, the maverick willing to challenge the party establishment and the reformer capable of reaching across party lines to serve the larger interest. Whatever the flaws in the selection, the McCain message couldn’t have been more plain in choosing the first woman for a Republican ticket: He intends to shake up Washington.

U.S. Sen. John McCain’s campaign announced that its New Jersey and New York Regional Headquarters will serve as collection centers for donations and supplies to aid the residents of the Gulf Coast who have been affected by Hurricane Gustav . . . “Like all Americans, we are closely monitoring Hurricane Gustav and are deeply concerned about the
safety and well-being of the residents in the Gulf States,’ said McCain Regional Campaign Manager Dom Fiorilli. “Among the many actions taken by the campaign to assist residents in affected states, we have decided to open up our Woodbridge headquarters as a collection center for Gustav relief efforts.’

John McCain is a coward, a liar and a “wise-ass.” He’s made enough mistakes to fill a book. A slow learner, he’s largely beyond the age of self-improvement. He is, in short, one flawed human being. And that’s McCain describing himself.
“I don’t know why he’s that way,” Roberta McCain, the Arizona senator’s 96-year-old mother, says of the sometimes improbably high standards he sets for himself. “At some point, you just have to accept realities.” McCain, who will be formally nominated this week by the Republican Party to run for president, can be as
tough on others as he is on himself . . . Demanding. Impatient. Scornful of convention. Self-righteous. Quick to condemn. Unsparingly candid. Those words come to mind in sizing up McCain. Courageous, resilient, charming and irreverent apply to him as well.

Media detectives seeking clues to the real John McCain have been tracing a well-worn path to the Naval Academy campus in Annapolis.
That’s where McCain exhibited early signs of leadership, though not in a traditional way. He was the unlikely ringleader, more than half a century ago, of a group that came to be known as the Bad Bunch. McCain led fellow middies on forays over the wall that surrounds the academy grounds, to local bars outside the seven-mile limit where they could drink legally and to other party sites. As a former classmate was quoted as saying, “Being on liberty with John McCain was like being in a train wreck.”

John McCain made low-key visits here and in Ohio on Monday while his aides expressed confidence that the Arizona senator will be able to accept the Republican presidential nomination as
scheduled this week in St. Paul.
“Our primary hope is that the storm (Hurricane Gustav) will pass safely and without too much destruction,” said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds. “We have hopes our program will be re-activated to discuss John
McCain’s reform agenda.”

New Hampshire residents stood by John McCain in two presidential primaries and now at the 2008 Republican National Convention, he’s standing by them. Not only has he given them front-row floor seats next to the delegation from his home state of Arizona,
but he’s also given them prime accommodations in the convention’s headquarters hotel in downtown
Minneapolis. The state’s 37 delegates also got a breakfast visit Monday from Doug McCain, the
nominee-in-waiting’s oldest child. “I’m not by nature a real political person; this is the only political campaign I’ve been involved with in my life and probably will be the only campaign I’m ever involved with in my life,” said McCain, an
American Airlines pilot from Virginia Beach, Va.

Mrs. Cindy McCain and Members of the McCain Family to Participate in ONE Campaign Service Event in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Mr. Obama is great at talking about change; and the idea that our next president must rise above today’s trench-warfare politics to bring real change to our nation’s policies is a commendable ideal. But what America needs is a leader who is prepared to make reform a central part of bringing real change not just to Washington, but to the institutions and policies that shape the very nature of our lives. That leader, that quintessential reformer is Sen. John McCain.
Mr. Obama is great at talking about change; and the idea that our next president must rise above today’s trench-warfare politics to bring real change to our nation’s policies is a commendable ideal. But what America needs is a leader who is prepared to make reform a central part of bringing real change not just to Washington, but to the institutions and policies that shape the very nature of our lives. That leader, that quintessential reformer is Sen. John McCain.

I am so proud to standing next to Mrs. Bush as we work together to extend our support to relief efforts in the gulf.

Today, the 2008 Republican National Convention launched the first day of its Hurricane Gustav Relief Effort.