John McCain: How I Can Help - My Phone Chat with America's Next President

I spoke with Senator John McCain on a Press/Blogger Call just a few seconds ago.

Senator McCain articulated his position on this issue lately convoluted by political shills:

I'm so proud of Justice Alito. I'm so proud of playing a role in getting his nomination through the United States Senate, he and Justice Roberts. And I've said many times that my nominees as President will be people like Roberts and Alito. They're the role model for what we're going to do when I am President of the United States because I have the greatest admiration for him and Chief Justice Roberts.

My daughter Clare, 13 now. was doing her homework and we talked about one of our neighbors who is battling cancer. "It is really Him, He's sounds like Mr. Cullen or Mr. Rubey. He sounds like all the Dads. '

Clare was thrilled hearing Senator McCain's voice coming through my cell phone and I explained that he was answering questions from all over the country.

My name was called:

I asked Senator McCain how I, a traditionally Democratic voter, could help to reach out to Independents and other Democrats. Once Senator McCain cinches the GOP nomination this election becomes defining moment: Deeds over Rhetoric in America.

Senator McCain emphasized that I help to strengthen the national security issues and vital role we at home play in support of the young men and women directly involved in the War on Islamist Terror. I'll fill in the balance of Senator McCain's words to me with an excerpt from his campaign site ( click my post title for more). I was thrilled to speak with this wonderful man.

If efforts in Iraq do not retain the support of the American people, the war will be lost as soundly as if our forces were defeated in battle. A renewed effort at home starts with explaining precisely what is at stake in this war to ensure that Americans fully understand the high cost of a military defeat. The war in Iraq is at a crossroads and the future of the entire region is at stake - a region that produced the terrorists who attacked America on 9/11 and where much of the world's energy supplies are located. Success is essential to creating peace in the region, and failure would expose the United States to national security threats for generations. Defeat in the war would lead to much more violence in Iraq, greatly embolden Iran, undermine U.S. allies such as Israel, likely lead to wider conflict, result in a terrorist safe haven in the heart of the Middle East, and gravely damage U.S. credibility throughout the world.

The American people also deserve to know that the path ahead will be long and difficult. They have heard many times that the violence in Iraq will subside soon - when a transitional government is in place, when Saddam is captured, when elections are held, when a constitution is in place. John McCain believes it is far better to describe the situation just as it is - difficult right now, but not without hope. The stakes for America could not be higher.

John McCain on Leadership

"Increasing U.S. troop levels will expose more brave Americans to danger and increase the number of American casualties. When Congress authorized this war, we committed America to a mission that entails the greatest sacrifice a country can make, one that falls disproportionately on those Americans who love their country so much that they volunteer to risk their lives to accomplish that mission. And when we authorized this war, we accepted the responsibility to make sure those men and women could prevail. Extending combat tours and accelerating the deployment of additional troops is a terrible sacrifice to impose on the best patriots among us, and they will understandably be disappointed when they are given that order. Then they will shoulder their weapons and do everything they can to protect our country's vital interests in Iraq."



This much I pledge, Senator. God Bless you in your work.

John McCain: A tale of Two Mitties! 'Tis a Far, Far Better Vote for McCain!

'Mitt, Bay and Jeb, send their best. It's over quickly. Tuesday and out! Hey, can we get a job at Staples after all this? Me and Kc here are with you man! Rush says You Rock! Watch your step.'


ALEXANDRIA , VA -- U.S. Senator John McCain's presidential campaign today released a new web ad, entitled "A Tale Of Two Mitts," focusing on Mitt Romney's shifting positions on important issues like abortion, gun control and Ronald Reagan.

As the Orlando Sentinel wrote today, Romney's record of shifting positions "raises doubts about his core beliefs and commitment to principle."

VIEW THE AD HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGur36uVWxA

Script For "A Tale Of Two Mitts" (1:00-Web)

CHYRON: Masterpiece Theatre

CHYRON: A Tale of Two Mitts

CHYRON: On Abortion

CHYRON: MA-U.S. Senate Debate 1994

MITT ROMNEY: I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country.

CHYRON: MA-Gubernatorial Debate 2002

MITT ROMNEY: I will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose, and am devoted and dedicated to honoring my word in that regard.

CHYRON: TV-Interview 2007

MITT ROMNEY: I am pro-life, and favor that legislation.

MITT ROMNEY: You will not see me wavering on that or be a multiple choice. Thank you very much.

CHYRON: MA-U.S. Senate Debate 1994

CHYRON: Republican Presidential Debate 2007

MITT ROMNEY: You can go back to YouTube and look at what I said in 1994. I never said I was pro-choice but, my position was effectively pro-choice. I've said that time and time again.

CHYRON: On the 2nd Amendment

CHYRON: MA-Gubernatorial Debate 2002

MITT ROMNEY: We do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts . I support them.

CHYRON: Speaking in 2007

MITT ROMNEY: I support the 2nd Amendment. I purchased a gun when I was a young man. I've been a hunter pretty much all my life.

CHYRON: Speaking in 2007

MITT ROMNEY: Small, small, uh, varmints if you will.

CHYRON: On Being a Republican

CHYRON: MA-U.S. Senate Debate 1994

MITT ROMNEY: Look, I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush.

CHYRON: On Being a Republican

CHYRON: Campaign Commercial-2007

MITT ROMNEY: It's time for Republicans to start acting like Republicans.

CHYRON: On Being a Republican

CHYRON: MA-U.S. Senate Debate 1994

MITT ROMNEY: I'm not trying to return to Reagan-Bush.

CHYRON: Mitt Romney's Flip-Flops Truly Are Masterpieces

JOHN MCCAIN: I'm John McCain and I approved this message.

CHYRON: Paid for by John McCain, 2008. Approved by John McCain.

John McCain: Florida Surge is Working

While McCain Brain and Blog- Trotter Patrick Hynes is getting carved up by Righties and Lefties on Ankle Biting Pundits, The John McCain Surge is Up in Florida.

I just got this update from Brother Hynes - A tall, muscular chap with instincts of St. Francis, the strength of Paddy Driscoll, and the brains of Samuel Johnson on steroids - which I post below.

Zogby/CSpan/Reuters Tracking (Jan 25-27)
McCain 33 (+3 vs. previous day)
Romney 30 (nc)
Giuliani 14 (+1)
Huckabee 11 (-3)
Paul 2 (-1)

Rasmussen (Jan 27)
McCain 31 (+4)
Romney 31 (-2)
Giuliani 16 (-2)
Huckabee 11 (-1)
Paul 4 (+2)

Strategic Vision (Jan 25-27)

John McCain 27

Mitt Romney 26

Rudy Giuliani 17

Mike Huckabee 15

Ron Paul 5

Undecided 10


Suffolk University (Jan 25-27)
McCain 30
Romney 27
Giuliani 13
Huckabee 11
Paul 4

Quinnipiac (Jan 24-27)
McCain 32
Romney 31
Giuliani 14
Huckabee 13
Paul 3



Click my post title for the on-going McCain-iphobe snarl and drool in its last gasps as John McCain goes on to Victory in Florida!

John McCain: McCain Leads in Florida: Seminoles - Let's Lead with a Leader

Straight talk appeals to all Americans. Long considered, a maverick and a wild card, John McCain's intrinsic qualities of Honor, Honesty, Commitment and Courage struck a chord in voters that was lost on the pundits and pollsters.

John McCain has now taken a slim lead in the polls concerning the Florida GOP Primary and has edged ahead.

Florida voters - let's seal the deal. Tomorrow's Primary Vote may very well be the most historic and nation-changing in our times.

Vote McCain! Vote for America!


Click my post title for the poll news

John McCain: The Best Man is Winning! Americans Win - Even the Goofs Who Hate McCain Win.

Anonymous Bloggers Like Larry here dash to the PC each morning to hack away at their pet enemies - John McCain ( it might also be Capt. Crunch and Rachel Ray -but I will not venture into that part of their cave) - rather than deal with their private demons. Larry's ideas ( for want of a better word) can usually be found in the comment sections. They wedge into polite exchanges between thoughtful people. I give them a sound pants pulling; verbal hinder-binder; poetic bum's rush, only after repeated entries of mean-spirited non-sense directed toward the host.

I went to Catholic Schools all my life and therefore became immune to insults and jibes - been whacked by better, as it were; I can not accept assaults upon people that I like, however.

There are so many websites offering great debate on the issues and the candidates. Some of the very best are listed here:

http://tomroeser.com/ Tom Roeser's balanced but heavily GOP Illinois Site

http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/policy_review/ - Illinois GOP site

http://backyardconservative.blogspot.com/ -Anne Leary's Wonderful, Smart and Balanced site Pro Romney

http://www.azamatterofact.blogspot.com/ - Marston's McCain site

http://www.anklebitingpundits.com/ - Cservative opinion Platform

http://www.cdobs.com/ - Independendent and Diverse Political News and Information platform

In all of these places everyone gets fair treatment - the comments sections are a riot. I take my lumps from solid Romney and Giuliani backers who are smart witty and sincere.

Then there are the goofs - some fire breathing TRUE CONSERVATIVES and Libertarians and the KOS-lite Paulists.

They post constantly and obnoxiously. Gooffs like a foul-mouthed sociopath who calls himself Lawrence and assorted other goofs and ninnies with sock-puppet handles, too gutless to print under their own names:

Here is an example the stuff spewed by this goof:

The attackers can't deal with the issues....
. . .trolls on this blog like Hickey or Nofsinger NEVER deal with with the issues you bring up. They always go on a personal attack. McCain may as well be a Democrat. No wonder the Media is in love with him. For example when Arizona voters including 40% of the voting Hispanic voters supported Prop. 200, McCain opposed it. McCain also voted for ultra liberal judges like Ruth Bader Ginsburg. None of this means anything to Hickey because Hickey is simply not a Republican but a Democratic parasite. The problem is that the Republican party is full of such trolls these days and people like Tom Roeser are believing them and falling in line with them. For example Roeser PRESUMES that McCain will be the nominee. He gets this from filling his mind with the neo-con stuff he reads like the Weekly Standard. I'll bet Tom Roeser's legs go numb as he sits on the toilet and wolfs down the Weekly Standard. By the way the neo-cons supported McCain over Bush in the 2000 campaign. The trolls and the neo-cons will try to shut you but keep it up and go after them!


Posted By: Lawrence
at 1/26/2008 1:42:44 PM

Bughouse Square has moved to Cyber Space!

Lovely piece of work this cowardly louse Lawrence proves himself each utterance - imagine actually knowing this goof, in real life? Yikes. And this dope expects to be taken seriously and 'Demands discussion of the Issues.' You got plenty of them issues, Larry. Cargo holds of loads.

Take them to the water's edge.

Here' the deal. I am backing John McCain. He will win the GOP nomination and the Presidency. Everyone will benefit. Even the loud 'REAL ISSUES!!!'screamers like Hannity, Limbaugh, Lawrence and all of the sock-puppets.

As John McCain told shouters at Townhall Meetings in New Hampshire 'Vote for some one else!' John McCain will do fine. So will America.

Chicago Tribune Endorsement of John McCain

For Immediate Release
Contact: Press Office

Sunday, January 27, 2008
703-650-5550


THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE ENDORSES JOHN MCCAIN

"To hear McCain speak of honor, of duty, is to wake up the echoes of John F. Kennedy urging Americans to ask not what their country can do for them. A President McCain would engage challenges domestic and foreign with the candid conviction that doing what's right may cost us. ... Mitt Romney has the skill set of a superb Treasury secretary. But, thus far, he hasn't convinced us he would be McCain's equal in confronting that dangerous world of 2008. ... [H]is constancy is that of a man grounded in crisp and clear principles that he doesn't exchange for the popular opinion du jour. ... We endorse him confident that as chief executive and commander in chief, he would meet the honorable standards he has set for himself and our country." -- The Chicago Tribune

Excerpts From "For The Republicans: McCain"

Editorial
Chicago Tribune
January 27, 2008

... Many Americans yearn for the holiday-from-history that was the 1990s. The Cold War had ended; the cataclysmic updraft of concrete dust and human DNA hadn't risen from Lower Manhattan .

But there will be no going back. The planet's lone superpower won't again have the privilege of ignoring -- of appeasing with strong words but soft pursuit -- the sworn enemies of this nation and its friends.

One Republican candidate for president dedicated himself to American honor, American duty, long before Sept. 11, 2001. The world of 2008 is the dangerous world John McCain unknowingly spent a military and political career preparing to confront.

To hear McCain speak of honor, of duty, is to wake up the echoes of John F. Kennedy urging Americans to ask not what their country can do for them. A President McCain would engage challenges domestic and foreign with the candid conviction that doing what's right may cost us. Maybe plenty.

His unswerving commitment to victory in Iraq is the likely template. He has never brooked defeatism because the consequences of defeat are so severe. McCain instead urged a troop surge to calm Iraq and, now that it's working, he deflects the credit to the general who executed it. ...

This much we know: If McCain says pork is a battle he'll fight, he'll fight it. And he'll do so in a way that helps Americans understand why Washington 's culture of earmarks -- My constituents first! -- softens us as a nation and dooms our children to debt.

McCain, like his fading opponent Rudy Giuliani, projects rigor. Mike Huckabee, stricken with the ambition of so many former governors with nowhere to go, is out of his depth. Mitt Romney has the skill set of a superb Treasury secretary. But, thus far, he hasn't convinced us he would be McCain's equal in confronting that dangerous world of 2008.

Four years ago, in mulling candidates for president, we wrote that U.S. voters often make choices based on their pet causes and economic interests. But, we said, citizens of a nation at war against genuine global threats don't have that luxury. To reinforce the point we quoted a leader who wasn't on the ballot, John McCain: "So it is, whether we wished it or not, that we have come to the test of our generation, to our rendezvous with destiny. ... All of us, despite the differences that enliven our politics, are united in the one big idea that freedom is our birthright and its defense is always our first responsibility. All other responsibilities come second."

Yes, all other responsibilities come second. McCain was correct -- and we were struck to hear him articulate the very same message to Americans in his victory speech after South Carolina 's primary on Jan. 19.

McCain isn't a repetitive robot. But his constancy is that of a man grounded in crisp and clear principles that he doesn't exchange for the popular opinion du jour.

That constancy, those principles, convince us that John McCain is the best Republican candidate for president in the Feb. 5 Illinois primary. We endorse him confident that as chief executive and commander in chief, he would meet the honorable standards he has set for himself and our country.

Read Entire Chicago Tribune Editorial: "For The Republicans: McCain"

John McCain: Straight Talker and Rush Limbaugh: The Sidney Greenstreet of Loudmouths

Click my post title for McCain and his Conservative critics

Mitt,I couldn't be fonder of you if you were my own son. But, well, if you lose a son, its possible to get another. There's only one Maltese Falcon. MmmmmHa! Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday Morning, January 30th, 2008

John McCain has faced down plenty in his life - including a cascade of conservative critics, as well as the tin-foil hat crowd of Progressives, Libertarians, Trotskyites, and Body Thetans. Large in this body of antagonists is Rush Limbaugh - the Sidney Greenstreet of Loudmouths.

Rush is the litmus test for folks who use the radio waves as their Political Sam's Club: Buy in Bulk, Freeze and Use. Rush got it down. To Rush Mr. Newt was the Lord Xenu of Conservative Doctrine and hung from Gingrich's fanny through the 1990's. 'Mr. Newt' exited politics - stage right - to compose Civil War Novels and treatises on deep political thought.

What's a shill to do? Square pegs stay in square - whadyacall'ems? -holes, I guess and round pegs in the round ones. Keep it simple. stupids! T'aint simple, Rush.

Radio is simple. Has been since Father Coughlin, Aimee Semple-McPherson, Billy Sunday and Nero Wolf. Sidney Greenstreet played Nero Wolf on the old radio. He also played a great villain in old Warner Brothers movies. He was fat, oily, and glib. Like Rush.

Rush has influence as well as political flatulence and John McCain has been his target for a long time. Limbaugh surrogates like Hannity and his Mother Hubbard side-kick Colmes toss vitriol at McCain, like four year old girls with bad arms. But Rush is masterful.

McCain appeals to most Americans, folks who vote Republican and folks who vote Democrat. Most Americans lead complex lives and deal with complex problems. Politics is nothing compared to a sick kid, a daughter on her third deployment to Iraq, a layoff at the newspaper, an evaporating 401(k) Plan, and rising taxes.

Straight talk beats a script every day of the week.

John McCain:Illinois Rally for John McCain February 1st!

To all:

Bring your friends, neighbors and relatives, email all your acquaintances, we want a full house on February 1st, to meet and greet the next President of the United States, Senator John McCain. We will have signs to hand-out, there will be ample parking, the national media will be there. This is the only event scheduled for Senator McCain in Illinois prior to the February 5 primary, so let’s make it a memorable one for this great American Hero.



COME TO A RALLY FOR

SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN



Friday, February 1st

Doors open at 5:00 P.M.

Event starts at 5:30 P.M.



Odeum Sports & Expo Center

1033 N. Villa Avenue

Villa Park, IL

(1/4 mile North of North Avenue/West of Rte. 83)

John McCain: Al Gore Sings Commentary on the GOP Florida Debate!

Vesti la giubba,
e la faccia infarina.
La gente paga, e rider vuole qua.
E se Arlecchin t'invola Colombina,
ridi, Pagliaccio, e ognun applaudirà!
Tramuta in lazzi lo spasmo ed il pianto
in una smorfia il singhiozzo e 'l dolor, Ah!


Ridi, Pagliaccio,
sul tuo amore infranto!
Ridi del duol, che t'avvelena il cor!

Get some more boffo arias at Ankle Biting Pundits! The Best on the Left and the Cream of Right!
Stand Up ! Sit Down! Fight! Fight! Fight!

Vote for John McCain all you Seminoles and Snow Birds! The Funny Stuff ends there Tuesday when the Polls Close!


Al Gore Opera Shot Thanks to Patriot and Patron Frank Nofsinger of the Great State of Connecticut!

John McCain: If Romney Loves McCain, All Americans Can Do the Same! McCain Helped Mitt Turn-Around the Olympics

Hey read it here - From Mitt Romney's brag-book on his Turn-Around of the Olympics.

Click my post title for Mitt's Mad-Love for Senator John McCain - the Next President of the United States.

John McCain: Trash Talk from Scarborough MSNBC: Joe's Squeezing His Little Blackberry!

Morning Joe can Fill it up!

4:20 PM - Thursday, January 24, 2008

Caught Florida former Congressman and MSNBC loudmouth Joe Scarborough saying that it makes him want to 'squeeze his Blackberry' when he reads editorial endorsements of John McCain. Que Hombre!

Not the Blackberry, Joe!

This lightweight is well positioned to shill for Mitt Romney prior to the Florida Primary. With Milky Matthews and Keith Olbermann, MSNBC has a history of anti-McCain antics.

Morning Joe is so mad he could 'squeeze his Blackberry.' Scarborough resigned from Congress a short time before a female aide of his died in his office and then went on to be a TV loudmouth. Some industry. Click my post title for that disturbing story from American Politics Journal.

A . . .With Both Hands fan and reader by the name of Walter G. offered this about the McCain trash talker and his obvious shilling for Mitt Romney:

. . . it's easy to pick up a few points in the polls if you're willing to "make all the promises you have to," like promising the people of Michigan that you'll bail out the Big Three in Detroit, and the people of Florida that you'll sit down with insurance executives to figure out a way to get all Americans to pay for insurance policies for people with beach-front property in hurricane-prone areas.

True, Walter, but Joe never got around to Romney's positions other than his personal wealth and, instead, railed about John McCain being a traitor to all that Morning Joe holds dear - and it makes him want to 'squeeze his Blackberry!'


Only a tool would do violence to another tool.

John McCain: The DNC's Worst Nightmare! I'm a Democrat and I love John McCain!

Here is the script for a new John McCain ad - 'The Democrats Worst Nightmare.'

Hey, Democrats love John McCain - all the Democrat's I talk to in my part of Chicago, anyway. Now, the balloon-heads running the Democratic National Committee - Deano and his Lefty crew - Yes, McCain gives them the Night Terrors.

But, good folks who have long voted the Party of Al Smith, FDR, Harry Truman, JFK, Pat Moynihan, Scoop Jackson and Joe Liberman love John McCain.

Here's the script:

Script For "Democrats' Worst Nightmare" (:30-Web)

CHYRON: What keeps Democrats up at night?

JOHN EDWARDS: John McCain

JOHN EDWARDS: John McCain

HILLARY CLINTON: Senator McCain

JOHN EDWARDS: John McCain

BARACK OBAMA: John McCain

BARACK OBAMA: John McCain

HILLARY CLINTON: John McCain

BARACK OBAMA: John McCain

JOHN EDWARDS: John McCain

DEMOCRAT STRATEGIST BOB BECKEL: The Democrats do not want to run against John McCain.

CHYRON: They don't want to face him

THE WASHINGTON POST'S BOB WOODWARD: If you ask Democrats privately, what do you fear most? The answer is John McCain.

BOB BECKEL: We'd much prefer to run against Romney.

SYNDICATED COLUMNIST ROBERT NOVAK: The Democrats I talk to are really worried about a McCain versus Clinton race.

CHYRON: The only Republican who can beat Clinton or Obama

TALK SHOW HOST LARRY ELDER: When you match McCain up against Barack Obama or against Clinton, he is the only one of the prominent Republican candidates that wins.

BECKEL: It's a nightmare from my standpoint.

CHYRON: John McCain: The Democrats' worst nightmare

JOHN MCCAIN: I'm John McCain and I approve this message.

AD FACTS: JOHN MCCAIN 2008 WEB AD, "THE DEMOCRATS' WORST NIGHTMARE"

John McCain Was "The Real Star" Of Democrat Debate This Week, As His Name Came Up 15 Times During Course Of Night. "The Real Star? The three Democrats were on stage and President Bush was the primary focus of their complaints last night but Republican John McCain took center stage for part of the debate when Edwards predicted that the Arizona Senator will likely become the Republican nominee. Bush's name was mentioned 27 times while McCain's name came up 15 times during the course of the night." (Vaughn Ververs, "Starting Gate: Mud Wrestling Leaves Nobody Looking Clean," CBS News, 1/22/08)

Democrat Strategist Bob Beckel: "The Democrats Do Not Want To Run Against John McCain." "We rooted for Huckabee tonight and we didn't get there. The Democrats do not want to run against John McCain." (Fox News' South Carolina Primary Coverage, 1/19/08)

The Washington Post's Bob Woodward: "If You Ask Democrats Privately, What Do You Fear Most? The Answer Is John McCain." "Let me just point out this: If you ask Democrats privately, what do you fear most? The answer is John McCain. That McCain -- we were talking earlier about transparency and openness, "straight talk," Chris was talking about the important notion, personal characteristic of authenticity. McCain has even something more, and that is -- and this is Democrats talking privately -- moral authority. And with the moral authority of his background, his kind of unflinching backing in the Iraq War, not just of the surge, but at the beginning when McCain diagnosed the problem in the war. We didn't have enough troops from the beginning. And he kept hammering on that. So there's a certain consistency, moral authority, carries a lot of weight." (CNN's "Larry King Live," 1/8/08)

Democrat Strategist Bob Beckel: "We'd Much Prefer To Run Against Romney." "We don't want him [McCain] to have the nomination. We'd much prefer to run against Romney. Certainly prefer to run against Huckabee. And probably our best shot we'd have against Giuliani." (Fox News' South Carolina Primary Coverage, 1/19/08)

Syndicated Columnist Bob Novak: "The Democrats I Talk To Are Really Worried About A McCain Versus Clinton Race." "The Democrats I talk to are really worried about a McCain versus Clinton race. They would love to have Romney in because they don't think he's electable." (Fox News' South Carolina Primary Coverage, 1/19/08)

Talk Show Host Larry Elder: "When You Match McCain Up Against Barack Obama Or Against Clinton , Is The Only One Of The Prominent Republicans That Wins." "It is certainly true that McCain -- when you match McCain up against Barack Obama or against Clinton , he is the only one of the prominent Republican candidates that wins. So he is probably going to be a more formidable candidate ..." (Fox News' South Carolina Primary Coverage, 1/19/08)

Democrat Strategist Bob Beckel: "It's A Nightmare From My Standpoint." (Fox News, 12/3/07)

John McCain: LAISSEZ LE BON TEMPS ROULER ! Eyeeeeiiiiiii! McCain Takes the Louisiana Caucus!

Dat dere's Thibodeaux Hickey operating a Cajun Microwave on Bayou OwnSe'F celebrating John McCain's Winning of the Louisiana Caucus!

Click my Post Title and Dog My Cats for the Official Louisiana GOP announcement!

Crawfish Pie and Etouffe! John McCain Carried the day! My Tante Marie's boys Thibodeaux and Boudreaux Hickey on Bayou OwnSe'f called to say that John McCain's surge has taken the Geat State of Louisiana.

Boudreaux and Thibodeaux went huntin'and got lost in the woods. When Boudreaux began lamentin' dere fate, Thibodeaux said, "You know, I heard that the best thing to do if you get lost is to fire tree shots in da air." So dey did dat, and waited a while. When no rescue party showed up, dey fired tree more shots in da air. Finally, when dere was still no response, Thibodeaux said, "Well, I guess we better fire tree more shots." "OK, if you say so," said Boudreaux. "But somebody better come soon--we about out of arrows!"

Thanks to Spiceycajun.com

www.spiceycajun.com

John McCain: Stormin'Norman & Straight-Talkin' John!

This almost sound like the title to a late 1950's Coasters Hit:

'Stormin' Norman and Straight Talkin' John!'

The man who wiped out Saddam's goons in four days and the man who will lead America in the War on Islamist Terror are in league: General Norman Schwarzkopf has endorsed Senator John McCain.

Click my post Title for this great story!

John McCain _ Fred Thompson Bows Out

This from Chicago Tribune!

At 1:27 PM Fred Thompson dropped out of the GOP Race for the White House! Well done, Senator!

A Real Patriot and Gentleman, Fred Thompson, has served his Nation with his insights and opinions; criticisms and admonitions. Fred Thompson elevated the debate in this race.

John McCain: Hero v. Illinois Same-Old/Same Old GOP - the Folks that Imported Nutty Al Keyes!

This is Mr. Roland Vanderwagon of Nice Streets Terrace, Wasp Hollow SubDivision, Unincorporated Lake/Du Page County - He Has a Cordial Hatred of John McCain and all of His Straight Talk!


This is pretty much the rest of us.












I love the boys and girls at Illinois Review! John, Frannie, Mark, and especially George ! Shoot, a Democrat gets treated better by these folks than on the snarling, humorless Daily Kos wannbee sites here in Illinois.

They provide the editorial and feature ground work for the Progressive Tin-Foil Hat whinners at Illinois Reason - or as I call it No Comment Alley View: If Robin Vagicill or whatever his name is - did not prompt his sock puppets, no one would read that Blog but me - it's amusing and like watching little kids play Ghost and Super Hero: dead serious but harmless.

John McCain still faces an uphill battle against GOP (I AM THE REAL CONSERVATIVE)establishment.

Today my buddy John Ruskin posts a fair question as to John McCain's stand on Tax Cuts - well, kinda fair as John pulled out McCain's response from 2000. Click my post title for the Illinois Review post.

John McCain is a leader who brings together all Americans. My daughter is a McCain delegate - Irish Princess college girl to be sure - and so is Thomas Hayes. Tommy Hayes is an African American Pro Boxer/ Chicago Police Department Candidate - same age as Nora, of the Not-Two-Nickles to Rub Together Hickeys.

Here is my response to What Kind of John McCain will we get - raised by Pal Ruskin:
Brother Ruskin,

This is the John McCain I have come to know and love: ( from Blogs for McCain)

McCain introduced "a slew of cost-cutting amendments. While many of these measures did not pass, they served an important role in shining a glaring light on congressional profligacy. These amendments include:

A 2006 amendment to cut $74.5 million for various agriculture programs[17] A 2006 amendment to cut $6 million for sugarcane growers in Hawaii[18] A 2003 amendment to reduce funding for the Yazoo Basin Backwater Pump Project in Mississippi[19] A 2002 amendment to eliminate $2.5 million for coral reef mapping of the waters off the coast of Hawaii[20] A 1998 amendment to cut $78 million in projects from an emergency supplemental appropriations bill[21] A 1994 motion to kill an amendment to provide $40 million for the conversion of a New York City post office into an Amtrak train station[22]
Senator McCain has also voted against a number of pricey bills, even when most of his colleagues preferred to toe the party line.

These include:

A vote against the 2003 Medicare prescription drug plan[23] A vote against the Farm Security Bill in 2002[24] A vote against the 2005 Highway Bill, one of only four senators to object to the pork-stuffed bill[25] A vote against providing Amtrak with an extra $550 million for the fiscal year 2007[26] A vote against $2 billion in milk subsidies[27] One of fifteen senators to vote for Senator Tom Coburn's (R-OK) amendment transferring $223 million for the "Bridge to Nowhere" to the repair of a Louisiana bridge damaged by Hurricane Katrina.[28] Senator McCain was also one of only thirteen senators to vote for an amendment by Senator Coburn to eliminate $950,000 for a parking lot for the Joslyn Art Museum in Nebraska[29] A vote for welfare reform[30]

John McCain is about governance...not politics.

In answer to your question you would get John McCain - not an empty suit; not a great former mayor; not a great actor; not a great
Preacher; not a great Blimp owner/Revolutionary . . .

. . . You'd get a great American!

John McCain:Illinois Young Professionals for McCain January 23rd Meeting

Illinois Young Professionals for McCain
Kickoff Meeting!

Wednesday, January 23, 2008
6:00-7:00PM
Brehon Pub, 731 N. Wells, Chicago, IL.

Join fellow supporters of Sen. John McCain for President at Brehon Pub (back bar) as we gear up for the Feb. 5 primary in Illinois. Learn about Sen. McCain and how you can help him win Illinois and represent the Republican Party this November!

Contact/RSVP to Shawn Healy at buckybacker97@yahoo.com or 312.505.6579

The McCain- The Surge is ON!

I decided to give John McCain the Old Irish Tribal title of "The" - what the hell I used Yeats yesterday and it is my Blog.


John McCain Surges in Tri-State Area, Remains Best Positioned to Win Key Feb. 5th States



Numbers Show McCain on Top

· In recent polls, John McCain has surged ahead of Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani in both of their respective home states, Massachusetts and New York.

· In New York and Connecticut, McCain leads Giuliani by double digits. In Connecticut, McCain leads by 23; in New York, McCain is ahead by 10.

· John McCain is ahead of Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the Bay State by 27 percentage points.



CONNECTICUT

Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut

McCain 39%

Giuliani 16

Romney 11



NEW YORK

Siena New York Poll

McCain 34 %

Giuliani 24

Romney 10



NEW JERSEY
Rasmussen Poll
McCain 29%
Giuliani 27

Monmouth Univ/Gannett New Jersey Poll
McCain 29%
Giuliani 25



MASSACHUSETTS

State House News Poll

McCain 45%

Romney 18

*Independents prefer McCain to Romney by a 47 to 20 percent margin.





John McCain Maintains Strong Momentum, Continues Building Organizational Strength

· John McCain won the key states of New Hampshire and South Carolina and is well positioned to win Florida, which will propel him to victory in the February 5th states.

· Senator McCain continues to secure key endorsements and build strong grassroots organizations in every February 5th state.

· Today, John McCain will announce a strong leadership team in Connecticut, including the endorsements of a diverse group of key leaders.

· Senator McCain will also roll out a list of CT statewide grassroots leadership and coalition chairs today.

John McCain: Illinois' Daily Herald Endorses John McCain!

Illinois McCain Chairman James Durkin reported the Endorsement of John McCain by the Daily Hearld.

Here is part of the endosement:

McCain's campaign stands apart with messages focused on positive ideas. The contrast is striking and significant, the mark not just of a campaign but of the man.

As everyone knows, McCain demonstrated incredible courage and fortitude during his long imprisonment in a Vietnam prisoner of war camp, where he was tortured and subjected to other horrors. This is not a man who is going to be intimidated. McCain also is a man who has shown the capacity to forgive, a capacity to dwell on the positive, not on the negative.

He scores high marks on the tests of character and integrity, even his critics would have to acknowledge.

In the Senate, he has taken on the special interests and the too-mighty impact of the donated dollar. He was a leader in fashioning a campaign finance reform law that, while far from perfect, is so true in intention -- removing the corruptive influence of money in political campaigns.

McCain has fought hard to put a lid on the pork barrel full of wasteful projects funded by tax dollars from millions of Americans but benefiting only a select few with clout.

His economic ideas are shrewd and forward-thinking proposals to turn America back toward prosperity and to strengthen our edge in the global marketplace.

Well done Daily Hearld!

John McCain- 'Invictus' - We Get it,Billy - Got it at Loyola University - Lewis Towers

John McCain is now a Victorian. Sure don't seem like one to me, but what would I know? He seems like a well-adjusted American who was introduced to and developed a great appreciation for literature - the Great Conversation. These days, it seems, that literature is domain of the really smart - The Great Monlogue.

William (I call him Billy) Kristol, the really smart guy on FOX TV Cable News picked up on John McCain's allusion to 19th Century poet William Ernest Henley’s “Invictus” (1875). Have a White Owl, Billy!

John McCain said that 'We are Captains of our Fate' Billy caught that and coupled McCain's allusion to Henley's poem. Smart guy. Billy ought to stop by Keegan's Pub, when Jeopardy is on! 'I'll take Latin Poets and Hot Babes for $5,000 Alex!'

Kristol lets us know that McCain was alluding to 'Invictus.' Jimmy Molloy, now a retired Chicago Police Deputy Superintendent, got it. Chicago Fire Capt. Mike Miller got it. Hell, even I got. We read Henley in 1973 at Loyola University - The Public Transportation Harvard!

Annapolis Alumnus and Prisoner of War, John McCain used literature to off-set the horrors and depression of his five and half years of torture in the Hanoi Hilton.

I read Henley as part of a 19th Century British Literature survey course at Loyola University in 1973 - Henley was being dismissed as an artifact even then by the more fashionable professors and would be scooped up and taken to the memory dump by literary critics during the next thirty years, as cargo in the 'Dead White Guys' purge of literature and collective conscience.

Loyola University of Chicago is an urban Catholic school populated by lower middle class and middle class ethnic types. When I attended Loyola, my classes were filled with L-Riders from the south side at the Rush Street Lewis Towers Campus - my standard dress was grey janitors uniform to go along with my buzz hair-cut, as I was on 3-11PM shift after classes. My classmates often wore Khaki Police Cadet Uniforms, or Carroll's Red Hanger sports coats and smart young women's office wear for work at Sears on State Street and such.

Some of my classmates were Vietnam Vets and very few others attired themselves in Counter Culture wear. I had the late Dr. Hart, our Dean, for 19th Century Brit-Lit. He covered Henley and Kipling as well as the more canonized Ruskin, Arnold, Swinburne, Coleridge, Byron, Keats and Shelley.

In fact most of us in Hart's class enjoyed the Kipling and 'the minor' Victorians more as they promoted the values that each one of us lived - work hard, do a solid eight hours, take your lumps.

John McCain is very much like us L-Riders who became Police Officers, Firefighters, Sears Executives, School Teachers, Nurses, Accountants, and productive members of society. Loyola University provided a great education. Dr. Hart was not one of those teachers who dismissed writers, but introduced them to us - he allowed us to decide who was worthwhile and who was way off the critical mark.

Unlike John McCain, who was in the last years of his personal Gethsemane, we played with meter and message of 'Invictus' - we became Captains of our own souls.

We get it Billy. I don't think that makes McCain a Victorian - he's seems more of an Edwardian to me - sword in the cane; brandies with Oscar and Shav; having a bash at the Motts, Cards and Dice at Monte Carlo and what not?!

Click my post title for Billy Kristol's smart guy massage of John McCain. Billy was writing McCain's political obituary a couple of weeks ago, when all the L-Riders were supporting John McCain. Loyola University is a splendid school - thank you.

Ad Majoram Dei Gloriam

John McCain: For all Americans - Most of them are Heroes.

John McCain touches the hearts of all Americans. I was hooked when John McCain took his 2000 loss to George W. Bush and returned to serving his Country with Courage and Dignity. I vote Democratic Party, but I will vote for John McCain. I will vote for America.

John McCain took positions based upon his understanding of finding the best possible way out of a problem for all Americans, whether it was cutting wasteful Federal spending, campaign reform, immigration, health care, improving the quality of the American environment, and especially helping fight the global war on Islamist Terror.

John McCain stuck his chin out for his country and took the blows of political enemies on the left and the particularly ugly shots from the extreme right.

John McCain is no Mitt Romney - McCain has the scars and bruises of a guy who gets into the combat of living and Mitt looks like Central Casting's pick for the next HBO mini-series adaptation of The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit - Hollywood wishes it could look like Mitt Romney.

John McCain looks like CPD Homicide Detectives Marty Tully and Billy Higgins; Cook County Sheriff Community Service Director Willie Winters; Veteran Grayslake Coach and Teacher Charlie Olson; ER Nurse Mary Terese Riordan; Carpenter J. C. Gutierrez; Roofer Eddie Carroll; 399 Stationary Engineer Dewey Sheehan;Coffee Shop Owner Kristi Martens who was run out of business by a greedy landlord; Grocer Tom Baffes - naw Tom's too good looking; Plumbing Contractor Tommy Hopkins; CFD Fire Capt. Mike Miller and former Fire Superintendent James T. Joyce;Special Education Teacher Ms. Pat Rosenhagen; Laid Off Veteran News Editors John Hector and Ed Koziarski; Labor Leader Brian Hickey; Leo High School President Bob Foster; Professional Boxer and CPD Recruit Thomas 'The Hit man' Hayes (27/1)and Thomas's coach attorney Mike Joyce. These are Americans I love and respect.

John McCain looks like all of the courageous people listed above who are scarred from Vietnam, burned on the job and because of job, bruised by disappointments, and burdened with responsibilities. Higgins and Tully caught the people who murdered little girls and allowed them to decompose in the trunk of a car for most of the hottest summer Chicago ever experienced. Kristi Martens who lost her business though she paid every bill and met every payroll because a real estate developer exacted an excessive rent on her; James Joyce ordered every firefighter in his command out of a building and waited until his order was obeyed - the building fell in on Jim Joyce and turned his tough athletic body into jelly. Jim Joyce went to rehab for years and returned to lead the entire Chicago Fire Department. Bob Foster stepped in and went sleepless and exhausted for years in order to save failing Catholic high school so black young men would have a school that would provide them an opportunity to succeed. Charlie Olson resigned as tennis coach rather than act against the interests of his students - though it cost him a place in the IHSA Coaching Hall of Fame.


Most Americans understand fear and face it down. They understand loss - grieve and go back to work. Americans suffer set-backs and disappoints and shake it off to move up the next grade with greater determination. Americans see what is the ugliest and most horrific in human experience and exert every effort to make sure that none of that reaches the people they love.

They understand what William Butler Yeats wrote 'A King is but a foolish laborer who wastes his blood to be another's Dream.' Heroes bleed. Most heroes say 'it hurts a bit.' ( Click my post title for this beautifully wonderful and under examined poem - its speaks to the nature of heroism)

They do not live to 'Be Somebody, but to Serve.' John McCain said that last night.

John McCain: The Advent of Victory!

*EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY*
REMARKS BY JOHN MCCAIN ON SOUTH CAROLINA PRIMARY VICTORY

EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY
Contact: Press Office

Saturday, January 19, 2008
703-650-5550


ARLINGTON, VA -- U.S. Senator John McCain's presidential campaign today released the following remarks by John McCain as prepared for delivery:

Thank you, my friends, and thank you, South Carolina , for bringing us across the finish line first in the first in the south primary. It took us a while, but what's eight years among friends. It just gave us the opportunity to spend more time in this beautiful state; to talk with you and listen to you; and to come to admire all the more the deep patriotism of South Carolinians , who have sacrificed so much to defend our country from its enemies. It is a great privilege to have come to know so many of you, and I am very grateful for and humbled by the support you have given our campaign. Thank you especially, for braving the very un-South Carolina like weather today to exercise the first responsibility of an American; not just those South Carolinians who voted for us, but all of you who voted today for the candidate you believe is best suited to lead the country you love. I think I can speak for all of the Republican candidat es, when I say, South Carolinians are never just fair weather friends.

And, of course, I am deeply grateful to our South Carolina team, and to the many dedicated volunteers who gave so generously of their time and labor and kept us competitive in some pretty challenging times. I hope you know how much your friendship means to me. The debt I owe you is a privilege and an obligation, which I promise you, I will faithfully discharge.

I want to thank my wife, Cindy, the best campaigner in the family, and my daughters Meghan and Sidney, who are with us tonight, as well as my son, Doug, and our children who could not be here, and of course, my dear mother, Roberta McCain. It is obvious to me, and to all who know me, that we would not be where we are tonight, but for your love, encouragement and faith in me.

In the course of this campaign, I have tried as best I could, to tell people the truth about the challenges facing our country, and how I intend to address them. As I have said before, I know that before I can win your vote, I must earn your respect. And the only way I know how to do that is by being honest with you. I have tried to do that throughout this campaign, and to put my trust in your willingness to give me your fair consideration. So far, it seems to be working out just fine.

I am aware that for the last 28 years, the winner of the South Carolina primary has been the nominee of our party. We have a ways to go, of course. There are some tough contests ahead, starting tomorrow in the state of Florida . But, my friends, we are well on our way tonight. And I feel very good about our chances.

As pleased as we are that we have a reason to celebrate tonight, I know that I must keep foremost in my mind that I am not running for President to be somebody, but to do something. I am running to keep America safe, prosperous and proud. I am running to restore the trust of the American people in their government. I am running so that our children and their children will have even greater opportunities than the ones we were blessed with. I am running so that every person in this country, now and in generations to come, will know the same, sublime honor that has been the treasure of my life: to be proud to be an American.

I seek the nomination of our Party, because I am as confident today as I was when I first entered public life as a foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution that the principles of the Republican Party -- our confidence in the good sense and resourcefulness of free people -- are always in America 's best interests. In war and peace, in good times and challenging ones, we have always known that the first responsibility of government it to keep this country safe from its enemies, and the American people free of a heavy handed government that spends too much of their money, and tries to do for them what they are better able to do for themselves. We want government to do its job, not your job; to do it better and to do it with less of your money; to defend our nation's security wisely and effectively, because the cost of our defense is so dear to us; to respect our values because they are the true source of our strength; to enforce t he rule of law that is first defense of freedom; to keep the promises it makes to us and not make promises it will not keep. We believe government should do only those things we cannot do individually, and then get out of the way so that the most industrious, ingenious, and enterprising people in the world can do what they have always done, build an even greater country than the one they inherited.

My friends, I know we are facing challenging economic times, and we must be responsive to the concerns of Americans who fear they are being left behind in the global economy. But nothing is inevitable in our country. We are the captains of our fate. We can overcome any challenge as long as we keep our courage, and stand by our defense of free markets, low taxes, and small government that have made America the greatest land of opportunity in the world.

I have served our country all my adult life, and I am prepared for the high office I seek. I asked South Carolinians to help give me the opportunity to serve the country I love a little while longer. You have done that, and I will never forget it. I promise you I will always put America -- her strength, her ideals, her future -- before every other consideration. Thank you, South Carolina , for your trust. I will not let you down, so help me God. Good night and God bless you as you have blessed me.

John McCain: McCain Wins South Carolina - Kids Called It

Hours before the mopes of MSNBC and the tethered right-wing newsreaders of Fox will give the check mark to John McCain, I am calling John McCain the winner by between 5 and 6%

My highly unscientific projection is based upon the photo of the four year old girl and John McCain by Meghan McCain from earlier this week and the recent poll of children that declare John McCain the winner.

I will also predict that Fred Thompson will drop from the race by Sunday Night CST and endorse John McCain.

Hey, it's what I do.

UPDATE @ 8:40 PM McCain 33% over Huckabee 30%

Off by Three Points; On to Florida - Illinois is already Cooking! Thanks Kids!

John McCain: Remarks from the Forrestal Lecture -October 9, 2001

John McCain ended his campaign in South Carolina from USS Yorktown pictured above.

This is an American President! ( Emphases my own)

On September 11, our country was attacked by a depraved, malevolent force that hates every value Americans hold dear. It was a terrible blow that no one alive today will ever forget. But we will survive it. Our enemies will not. I have every confidence that the American people and their government will remain resolute in waging the war that has been declared on us. We have been attacked and we are fighting back. And woe to anyone who dares oppose us.

We have now begun the first phase of military operations against our enemies. As President Bush has explained, this war will have many components, diplomatic, financial, intelligence. It will include both overt and covert operations. But American military power is essential to our success. There should be no confusion about that. Nor should Mr. bin Laden or anyone who wishes this country harm have any doubt about what America can accomplish by force when we are obliged to use it. They wrongly believed they could destroy the way we live our lives. They are now just beginning to understand just how radically their lives are going to change.

The professionalism and power of our armed forces, stronger by a magnitude of ten than any other nation on earth, is something only a fool would underestimate. When it is brought to bear in great and terrible measure it is a thing to strike terror into the heart of anyone who opposes it. No mountain is big enough, no cave deep enough to hide from the fury of American military power when we are committed to victory. We must not shrink from using it, in whatever measure necessary, to defeat our enemies, wherever they are.

I agree that we will have to use force wisely to avoid inflaming the hatred for America that our enemies have been allowed to sow in the Islamic world. Toward that end, we should try hard to minimize non-combatant casualties. If we can use means other than force in some countries to achieve our goal, then we should. But we must keep our attention firmly fixed on our primary goal. Our goal is to vanquish terrorism, not reduce it, not change its operations, not temporarily subdue it, but vanquish it. All other concerns are secondary. It is a difficult, demanding task we have undertaken. We must expect and prepare for our enemies to strike us again before they are vanquished. Some of this war will be fought at home. And the casualties that we will suffer may again include civilians. We must keep our nerve at all costs. We should use no more force than necessary, but no less than necessary. Fighting this war in half measures will only give our enemies time and opportunity to strike us again. We must change and change permanently the mindset of terrorists, those who give them sanctuary and support, and those parts of Islamic populations who believe the terrorist conceit that they will ultimately prevail in a conflict with the West, that America has not the stomach to wage a relentless, long term, and, at times, ruthless war to destroy them.

We are at war, a new kind of war as the President has rightly called it. It might not involve nations clashing in conventional sea, land and air battles, although it is possible that it could come to that. I should add that I don't consider the operations in Afghanistan that commenced on Sunday to be a war against a nation, much less a war against the Muslim world. The Taliban and Al Queda are not legitimate representatives of that country, they are terrorists, period, who represent evil, not nations. But whatever this war's unique attributes, it is war nonetheless, and like all wars it will require sacrifice and hardship and casualties. And like all wars it will occasion great heroism.

This war will still be underway, in one form or another, when some of you, perhaps all of you, receive your commissions. Eighty thousand sailors and marines have already been summoned to war. Over three dozen warships, including the carriers Enterprise, Carl Vinson, Theodore Roosevelt and the Kitty Hawk have been deployed. Four battle groups, including Marine Corps Amphibious Ready Groups, destroyers, cruisers, submarines and support ships, are on station. We know that much of the air campaign to date has been waged from American and British ships. And although this war cannot and will not be fought only with cruise missiles and from 15,000 feet in the air, the Navy and Marine Corps are always an essential instrument of American power, and your service will be essential to our victory, in Afghanistan and beyond if necessary. It is your duty and your honor to defend the greatest nation in history in its hour of need. I envy you.

I say that fully aware of the hardships and risks that we impose on those we send to fight for us. I say that fully aware of the horrors that war inevitably visits on the innocent. I don't think war is glorious. I don't know a veteran who cherishes a romantic remembrance of war. All wars are awful. When nations must defend themselves by force of arms, a million tragedies ensue. Nothing, not the valor with which it is fought nor the nobility of the cause it serves, can glorify the cruel and merciless reality of warfare. That's what makes war a thing to be avoided if possible. But it is not possible now. There was no avoiding the war we are in today anymore than we could have avoided world war after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

In truth, this war was declared by our enemies long before the attacks of September 11. And our reluctance to recognize this reality, and commit ourselves to unconditional victory, has been a very costly mistake. Because the only things worse than war are the consequences of refusing to wage and win it when our vital interests and founding ideals are at stake.

Our enemies have now made plain to us the clear and present danger they pose to our physical security and to the very essence of our culture, liberty. Only the most willfully deluded Americans could doubt the necessity of this war. We must fight. And we must prevail.

The term of art for the warfare of terrorists is asymmetrical. It is the kind of warfare practiced by militarily inferior forces against superior ones. We are most certainly militarily superior to our enemies. But so was the Soviet Union when it invaded Afghanistan, if not nearly to the extent that we are, as al Queda and their Taliban allies are now learning. Yet what ensures our success is that our military superiority is matched only by the superiority of our ideals, and our unconquerable love for them. Our enemies are weaker than us in arms and men, but they are weaker still in causes. They fight to express their irrational hatred for all that is good in humanity, a hatred that has fallen time and again to the armies and ideals of the righteous. We fight for love of freedom and justice, a love that is invincible. We will never surrender. They will.

The obligation of victory is shared by all Americans, but not equally. The public and the men and women they elect to serve them must share a resolve to see this war through to a just end, whatever the costs incurred, whatever setbacks we might encounter. As in all wars, we must endure before we prevail. Our elected leaders, from the most obscure office holder to the Commander-in-Chief, must not, as the President so eloquently promised, tire, falter or fail. The President and his able cabinet must, and I am confident will, wage this war wisely and decisively. But government is responsible for the summons. It falls to the men and women of the United States Armed Forces, it falls to you to give the answer. This is a righteous cause, and there is much honor in your summons, but more honor still in your answer. I have no doubt that you are worthy of it. No doubt at all.

In America, our rights come before our duties, as well they should. We are a free people, and among those freedoms is the liberty to sacrifice or not for our birthright. We no longer have military conscription. Nor do we need it because we can rely on the patriotism of more than sufficient numbers of Americans to defend willingly the liberty of us all. Yet early in life, you have grasped a great truth: that those who claim their liberty but not their duty to the civilization that ensures it live a half-life, having indulged their vanity and self-interest at the cost of their self-respect. The richest man or woman, the most successful and celebrated of our citizens possesses nothing important if their lives have no greater object than themselves. They may be masters of their fate, but what a poor destiny it is that claims no higher cause than wealth and fame.

I do not believe that war and military service are the only means to honor in America. God grants us all the privilege of having our character and our patriotism tested. But those who wear the uniform of the United States know better than anyone the meaning of American citizenship.

Should we claim our rights and leave to others our duty to the nation that protects them, whatever we gain for ourselves will be of little lasting value. It will build no monuments to virtue, claim no place in the memory of posterity, offer no worthy summons to aspiring nations. Success, wealth, celebrity gained and kept for private interest is a small thing. It makes us comfortable, eases the material hardships our children will bear, purchases a fleeting regard for our lives, yet not the self-respect that in the end will matter to you most. But sacrifice for a cause greater than self-interest and you invest your lives with the eminence of that cause, your self-respect assured.

My father's generation fought depression and world war. Members of my generation fought in the Cold War and in the struggle for a more perfect union, a more just society. Some fought in uniform and some did not, but all rendered good service to America and humanity. Service in worthy causes give our lives meaning. They give even the most obscure names historical importance. Even when the names of the men and women who serve in them are forgotten, the world will still remember what they did.

When I was a young man, I thought glory was the highest ambition, and that all glory was self-glory. My parents tried to teach me otherwise, as did the Naval Academy. But I didn't understand the lesson until later in life, when I confronted challenges I never expected to face.

In that confrontation, I discovered I was dependent on others to a greater extent than I had ever realized, but that neither they nor the cause we served made any claims on my identity. On the contrary, they gave me a larger sense of myself than I had before. I discovered that nothing is more liberating than to fight for a cause larger than yourself; something that encompasses you, but is not defined by your existence alone.

I have held a public trust since I graduated from the Academy forty-three years ago. I have never lived a single day, in good times and bad, that I wasn't grateful for the privilege. This country and her causes are a blessing to mankind, and they honor all who work to make America a better place, and a greater influence on human history.

For all the terrible problems that still afflict humanity, the 21st Century would have dawned on a much less hopeful world absent America's place in it. This is what our enemies fail to understand. But they'll know it soon enough. As they race to their bunkers and caves while the might of the world's only superpower concentrates on their destruction, they will learn just how powerful a force for good we are.

Until the end of time, will there ever be a nation such as ours? I cannot imagine that any other nation's history will ever so profoundly affect the progress of the human race. That is not boastful chauvinism. It is a profession of faith in the American creed, and in the patriots who understood what history expects of us, and who saw to it that America exceeded even the loftiest aspirations of our founders.

We are not a perfect nation. Prosperity and power might delude us into thinking we have achieved that distinction, but challenges unforeseen a mere generation ago command every good citizen's concern and labor. But what we have achieved in our brief history is irrefutable proof that a nation conceived in liberty will prove stronger than any nation ordered to exalt the few at the expense of the many or made from a common race or culture or to preserve traditions that have no greater attribute than longevity. As blessed as we are, as empowered by liberty as we are, no nation complacent in its greatness can long sustain it. We are an unfinished nation. And we are not a people of half-measures. We must all take our place, give our counsel, direct our passion to the enduring task of national greatness.

I believe we were all shaken from whatever complacency we may have felt before September 11. And that is one good thing to have arisen from the ashes of the World Trade Center. But it is only good so long as the absence of complacency does not provoke an absence of confidence. What our enemies have sought to destroy is beyond their reach. We must all have faith in that truth. Armed with the power of our faith, we can endure whatever trials we must face.

Our enemies think we are weak, spared by prosperity from the hard uses of life, bred only for comfort and easy pleasure, and not the violent, cruel struggle they plan for us. The hatred that cramps their hearts has drained from their judgment all wisdom and understanding about the power of the civilization they battle.

Twelve years ago, in the first days of the last days of the Soviet empire, a young Czech student stood before a million of his countrymen, while two hundred thousand Soviet troops occupied his country, and, trembling with emotion, read a manifesto that declared a new day for the peoples of Eastern Europe. But he began that new day with borrowed words when he proclaimed:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

The message of the American revolution is the central truth of human existence. Liberty is our God-given right. No one shall take it from us. We fight today, we will fight tomorrow, we will fight to the end of time to preserve it.

Our enemies have used our liberty to their cruel ends. But our freedom is not our weakness. It is our strength. We will not let it be circumscribed by fear. Our enemies have never had the strength to take our freedom from us. They have taken innocent life. That is the limit of their power. And awakened to their threat, we will destroy that power too.

The terror our enemies have tried to sow in the hearts of Americans will now be the essence of their lives, however abbreviated their lives will be. And when they meet their Maker they will learn that they had their theology all wrong. Right, not hate, makes might. As they experience our power, so will they know the full measure of our righteousness. And as their last hour approaches they can ask an all-loving God for mercy. But don't ask us. We bring justice, not mercy.

Soon you will be the shield behind which marches the enduring message of our revolution. There is no greater duty, no greater honor. Your country needs you. Humanity needs you. Hold that honor as dearly as your country holds you. Hold it as dearly as do those who have already been called to the battle. Hold it as if it were your greatest treasure. Because it is. It is. Whatever sacrifices you must bear, you will know a happiness far more sublime than pleasure.

My warrior days were long ago, but not so long ago that I have forgotten their purpose and their reward. This is your call to arms. This is your moment to make history. There will never be another nation such as ours. Take good care of her. The fate of the world depends upon it. May God bless you, as He has blessed America with your service.

Thank you.