This call to action that ended John McCain's acceptance speech at the RNC moves me to tears:
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.
Thank you, and God bless you, and God bless America.
John McCain is the first Presidential nominee I can remember who has asked me to fight for what might be called "The Idea of America." Most politicians just rattle off a bunch of promises of things their administration will give you, never pausing to consider that those goodies are not theirs to give. But, this . . . this was even better than JFK's "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." This was heart-thumping, palm-sweating, spine-tingling, jump-up-off-the-couch-and-cheer-with-the-convention-crowd good.
Now, I'm finally excited about John McCain for who he is; not merely excited about the Sarahcuda (though, I am admittedly still very much stoked about her as well).
Senator McCain, I accept your challenge. I will fight with you.
It's interesting. After McCain's speech, and hearing his history, this should be a no-contest presidential race. He has earned his place at the top of the ticket. I still don't see what others see in Obama, especially living in Illinois, with its ugly Democratic politics and dirty Democratic officials (and, to be fair, some ugly and dirty Republicans, too).
ReplyDeleteMcCain would probably have gotten my vote before the speech, and his choice of Sarah Palin. But now there's little chance anyone will sway me from it.
I'd like to think that we could create a "new" Republican party that is socially conservative, fiscally conservative and progressive in matters of taxation . . . could this be its start?