Based on the draft released early this evening, it seems that John McCain will be making an appeal beyond the Republican base tonight:
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - John McCain, a POW turned political rebel, vowed Thursday night to vanquish the “constant partisan rancor” plaguing the nation. “Change is coming” to Washington, he promised the Republican National Convention as he launched his fall campaign for the White House.
“I will reach out my hand to anyone to help me get this country moving again,” McCain said in remarks prepared for the a prime time address. “I have that record and the scars to prove it. Senator Obama does not,” he said of his rival for the White House, Sen. Barack Obama.
McCain also invoked the five years he spent in a North Vietnamese prison. “I fell in love with my country when I was a prisoner in someone else’s,” he said. “I was never the same again. I wasn’t my own man anymore. I was my country’s.
A fine sentiment, perhaps, but the thing about the phrase “Country first” that bothers me is that everytime I hear it, I think that “Freedom Second” isn’t far behind.
Nationalism and individual liberty are not compatible.
Feel free to comment away. I won’t be able to watch the speech tonight, and commentary will be non-existent until sometime on Sunday.
September 5th, 2008 at 10:13 am
I guess I understand McCain with this speech, but I can’t say I really identify with him. “Stand up and fight” says he.
I think the politics of the country is going wrong, but my answer to that is to vote. I, and I imagine many others, am reasonably content and not that interested in spending much of my life trying to make things incrementally better.
September 5th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Yes, i dont think there was one mention of freedom or liberty at the RNC. But lots of militarism, interventionist policies and safety and security…you know what Ben Franklin said…
September 5th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
McCain once said, “But I would rather have a clean government than one where quote First Amendment rights are being respected that has become corrupt. If I had my choice, I’d rather have the clean government.”
If he ever takes the oath of office for President to “protect and defend the Constitution,” will he have one hand on the Bible while the other has two crossed fingers?