you can read the transcript of jmac’s speech here. i have to say there were moments that were very compelling.
though i had heard it from others many times, i cried like a baby as he told his own POW story. when he explained his life of service and that it was while there in a 6×4 ft box - broken teeth, broken limbs, beaten, scarred, tortured - that he fell in love with his country because “my country saved me,” that did it for me. he may be an old guy but he’s my old guy.
“The first political convention I ever attended was when my mom was pregnant with me in 1984 and the Republican Party nominated Ronald Reagan for a second term as President,” Meghan McCain writes. “I have been on political stages and in campaigns since before I could walk or talk. If there is one thing I have learned, it is that it is difficult to establish your identity and independence as the son or daughter of a politician.
“When I was 14 years old,” she continues, “a reporter questioned my father about me having a hypothetical abortion, had I been pregnant at 14. This reporter’s question single-handedly changed my life. This story comes up in almost every profile written about me and in almost every interview.
“It’s a rough go being the son or daughter of a politician,” she writes. “I have not known Bristol Palin very long, but there is a certain kinship I feel to her as I do other political daughters such as Chelsea Clinton, Jenna and Barbara Bush and Mary Cheney. You can’t fully understand it unless you have lived it. So I just wanted to let it be known that I support Bristol and the entire Palin family.”
it’s the sound of the air being sucked right out of the obamamessiah’s campaign. after just a few hours on the “mountaintop” his campaign is literally yesterday’s news. this morning jmac chose gov. sarah palin of alaska (nicknamed “barracuda” on the high school bball team) as his running mate. she is a reformer, a maverick, a patriot.
a mccain/palin ticket is exactly what the gop needs. you can go here to read a bio i did on sarah for rightpundits.com. and team obama? putting down middle americans again by saying this and more:
“the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency.”
since when did the obama camp value experience? obama’s foreign experience consists of living in indonesia for 4 years and a child and visiting pakistan for 3 weeks in college.
during the entire primary campaign, obambi kept telling us that his judgment overruled his lack of experience. but now, all of a suddenly, it doesn’t? sarah palin has the executive experience that obama lacks. she has spent her time in politics actually accomplishing reform and challenging the political machine in her own party. did obama do that? no. in fact there’s very little evidence that shows obama did much of anything but prepare to run for national office.
for a political machine that values “nuance,” this was a really dumb statement put out by team obambi. they look petty and childish. but then we knew that about them didn’t we?
h/t for the nifty mccain/palin button on the top to my cotillion sister,caltechgirl.
UPDATE: you knew i had to add this! thanks for the tip lisab!
it’s pretty remarkable that the woman who used the term “vast right wing conspiracy” would suddenly become our best friend - at least for this campaign season. LOVE this new mccain ad. turn up your sound.
REMEMBER: tonite is hillary’s big night at the convention. i am sure all the oxygen will be sucked out of the room. but it will make for great tv i bet.
hey, i admit i’ve called jmac alot of things myself but he’s not a cheater. this whole charge of a violation of the “cone of silence” is a crock. and the mccain camp has responded.
anyone who watched the event on saturday couldn’t help but notice that obama was clearly destroyed by his own lack of experience and substance. none of the questions were cheap shots. none of the questions were really unexpected. both candidates knew the general questions that were going to be asked. it was simply more evidence that you take away obama’s teleprompter and his adoring, fainting fans and he is empty and vague and soft.
it’s really quite a shame that this empty-suited crybaby - a mere creation by a democratic party and so desparate to win - cannot conduct himself more appropriatedly.
what we saw saturday night was a contrast in 2 men and the winner was evident. no wonder obama doesn’t want to do townhalls with mccain.
UPDATE 1: oh and hey since there is such a lively debate happening over this in the comments section, i thought i would throw alittle red meat on the fire….
UPDATE 2: as a courtesy to our friends on the nutroot left who question the “cross in the sand” story jmac told at the saddleback forum, sister toldjah explains some stuffs way better then i could. check her out.
UPDATE 3: seems the nutroots who claimed that jmac ripped the “cross in the sand” story from alexander solzhenitsyn are indeed wrong. you can see the proof here. however i am sure this either will not satisfy them or they will simply move on to some other manufactured outrage.
over the weekend, mccain went to sturgis for the famous motorcycle rally in which thousands and thousands of people go every year. and they wanted to hear what he had to say…
it’s good that he prefers hearing a bunch of harley riders cheering for him at the base of mt. rushmore than a bunch of germans under a statue dedicated by hitler. check it out:
STURGIS, S.D. - Thousands of motorcyclists greeted Republican presidential candidate John McCain with an approving roar Monday as he sought blue-collar and heartland support by visiting a giant motorcycle rally.
“As you may know, not long ago a couple hundred thousand Berliners made a lot of noise for my opponent. I’ll take the roar of 50,000 Harleys any day,” McCain said, referring to Democrat Barack Obama’s recent visit to the German capital…McCain played to a crowd that paused for a veterans salute. He criticized Obama for supporting a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq while opposing efforts to reduce record-high energy prices.
McCain also criticized Congress for adjourning for a five-week recess without approving a new energy plan.
“Tell em’ to come back and get to work,” McCain said, yelling into the microphone. “When I’m president of the United States, I’m not going to let them go on vacation. They’re gonna become energy independent.”
cindy chimed in, too.
His wife, Cindy, also paid tribute to the crowd, saying: “I’d like to thank all of you for your support of our troops, and here’s why: I’m many things in my life, and one thing I’d like to be is your first lady. But more importantly, I’m Jack McCain’s mother and Jimmy McCain’s mother, one in the U.S. Navy and another one in the Marine Corps, an Iraqi vet.”
and what was obambi’s response to mccain’s comments that he wants us to “drill here, drill now?” as usual it was somthing perfectly stupid:
Barack Obama mocked John McCain’s call to “drill here and drill now” this morning in eastern Ohio.
“‘I want to drill here, I want to drill now.’ — I don’t know where he was standing,” Obama laughingly told a Youngstown, OH crowd. “I mean, I think he was in a building somewhere.”
take away the man’s prepared speech or teleprompter and he really is the village idiot.
here is team obama’s response to the ad…it’s called “proud of that ad.”
weak obambi, weak.
UPDATE: here is a link to an article about the background and history of Barack Obama. It’s called “The Obama Nation” and its already on the NYT bestsellers list! Buy it, read it.
so all last week we heard rumors that john mccain would be announcing his choice for vice presidential running mate very soon and my thought was that it was just that — a rumor — necessary to try to blunt all of the buzz obambi was getting on his magical media tour. but according to this report, jmac has his short list shortened to 6 potentials and they are:
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty;
Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell;
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney;
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin;
U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn; and
Former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge.
and of course i have some thoughts!
boo on lieberman and ridge — nice but not conservative.
boo on powell — though i have always admired him, i think he has played a disloyal game of politics since leaving the white house even to the point of allowing rumors to spread that he might be obambi’s running mate. i don’t like that.
palin and pawlenty — both have merit. they would definately jazz up jmac’s anemic campaign - palin more so i think. i wouldn’t MIND them but i am not thoroughly convinced that they are conservative enough for me. but i don’t count, mccain does. i do prefer palin over pawlenty.
romney — i couldn’t hardly stand during the primary but i think he earned my respect as time went on. i also think he’s smart and not afraid to come out swinging as demonstrated a few times on the stump for mccain. i also would trust him to be president if something happened to mccain while in office. i can’t say that about any of the others sadly.
all i know is that mccain needs to hit a homerun with his choice and i don’t know at this point in the game who realistically that would or could be so i think palin. newt says no more boring white guys. maybe he is right. my preferred candidate and running mate aren’t in the mix but since it’s the weekend, i’m going there:
hey, it’s summer and flip flops are all the rage - especially during an election year! no doubt about obambi’s flip flops here on the gay marriage issue… and then there is his flip flop here on welfare reform.
and to be fair, mccain has had his flip flops as well. i guess for at least today, i like what that wonderful sage Mark Steyn says…
so what if john mccain spent more then 5 years in the hanoi hilton being tortured. no big deal. what else has he done to qualify himself to be president?
well according to barack obama surrogate, general wesley clark, not much.
clark showed up yesterday on “Face the Nation” with bob schieffer. he attacked mccain’s military service saying that he was “untested and untried”. can you believe that? after schieffer pointed out the mccain had: 1) commanded the largest naval air squadron, 2) had honorably endured over 5 years of torture as a POW in vietnam, and 3) had been on the senate armed services committee since obama was in college, schieffer asked clark how he could claim that mccain was “untested and untried”.
here are some of the low-lights of what clark’s response was:
“Because in the matters of national security policy making, it’s a matter of understanding risk, it’s a matter of gauging your opponents and it’s a matter of being held accountable. John McCain’s never done any of that in his official positions. I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands of millions of others in the armed forces as a prisoner of war. He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee and he has traveled all over the world. But he hasn’t held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded wasn’t a wartime squadron. He hasn’t been there and ordered the bombs to fall. He hasn’t seen what it’s like when diplomats come in and say, `I don’t know whether we’re going to be able to get this point through or not. Do you want to take the risk? What about your reputation? How do we handle it publicly?”
at which point, bob schieffer — after a stunned moment — pointed this out to wesley clark:
SCHIEFFER: “I have to say, Barack Obama has not had any of those experiences either, nor has he ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down. I mean…”
wow. so let’s point out a few things about wes clark’s man, barack obama:
in “the matter of national security policy making.” barack obama hasn’t ever done anything.
in the matter of gauging your “opponents”, obama wants to meet with them without preconditions despite having no national-security, military, or diplomatic experience.
barack obama hasn’t been on the senate armed services committee.
barack obama hasn’t had any executive experience.
barack obama hasn’t commanded anything, in wartime or not.
barack obama hasn’t dealt with diplomats in any capacity at all.
barack obama hasn’t ordered the bombs to fall, although to be fair, he has associated himself with someone who has — william ayers, the unrepentant terrorist from chicago. h/thotair
every claim clark made is more fitting for the ill-prepared and non-experienced obama then mccain! any so-called experience that barack obama sites as preparation to the presidency can’t stand a candle to john mccain’s. if the obama stategy is to demean and belittle mccain’s military service, it might get rave reviews from far left moonbats but regular Americans will be appalled at these attacks against a man who’s whole life has been in public service. obama surrogates have attacked mccain on his age, his mental state, his bravery, and his honesty. now this. just another flaw in the exceptional “judgement” of obama and another example of the “change” obama promises to bring. what a crock.
everyone who reads my blog regularly knows i disagree with a number of mccain policy points and that he gives me heartburn occasionally but i never have questioned his lifetime of experience to lead this country.
UPDATE: wesley clark goes under “the bus.” that didn’t take long.
Barack Obama just delivered a speech on patriotism in Independence, Mo., hometown of what was once America’s most powerful haberdasher, and offered a mild rebuke to Wesley Clark, who took on John McCain’s military record the other day in rather scorching terms.
And just to make it clear, an Obama spokesman sent out this brief statement as Obama was speaking: “As he’s said many times before, Senator Obama honors and respects Senator McCain’s service, and, of course, he rejects yesterday’s statement by General Clark.”
why didn’t obambi condemn it yesterday when it was made? and by the way, wesley clark? not sorry.
UPDATE 2: have you seen this? in light of wes clarks’ foot-in-mouth moment, this is even more hilarious. turn up your sound and enjoy!
photo: sweasle
