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| Belmont Club: McCain's speech |
| 2008-09-05 |
| . . . John McCain’s speech has been described as “workmanlike”. That’s correct in a wonkish sort of way. At its deepest level the speech cannot be understood in terms of word clouds and policies. McCain’s speech was the declaration of someone with nothing left to prove. Any man who can admit that he was broken and afraid under interrogation is describing a kind of endurance, which while any intelligent person might understand, I think only men who have themselves been afraid can truly empathize with. There are places on that dark path which you know you could not have crossed through your strength alone. And whether you owe your emergence to luck or to God might be a matter for debate. But you know you do not wholly owe it to yourself. And this realization makes you less willing to blame others; less ready to stand in judgment of those who failed the test. It doesn’t make you lower the bar. But it makes you aware of how high that bar is. What John McCain was describing was his redemption; which always brings with it a kind of recklessness; in the true sense of the cost being immaterial. It is the realization that the first person singular truly doesn’t matter. “In the end, it matters less that you can fight. What you fight for is the real test.” |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #6 Agree. |
| Posted by: Betty Grating2215 2008-09-05 16:59 |
| #5 Whether or not it's wishful thinking I still respect, admire, and, most importantly, trust McCain. Obama doesn't pass that threshold test and is IMHO therefore unfit for the office he seeks. |
| Posted by: AzCat 2008-09-05 16:55 |
| #4 Azcat - I've been hoping that too, though I fear it may be a bit of wishful thinking on my part. It really doesn't matter because he will be far better than the blatant marxism and Chicago corruption that Obama will help to further entrench in our political system. |
| Posted by: Betty Grating2215 2008-09-05 16:50 |
| #3 I wasn't a McCain fan and I disagree with many of his policies, but I came away from the speech believing that he is a man doing public service for the right reasons. Same here but I do trust his judgment and believe that, once he's got the relevant facts, he'll act in a wise manner far more often than not. I tend to think that on some issues, see e.g. carbond cap-and-trade / global warming, he's probably just the victim of a relentless drone inside the Beltway. I expect there's a good chance he'll reverse on those things if he's elected and I expect a shot of he and Palin standing on the dreary moonscape of the North Slope to be the catylist. |
| Posted by: AzCat 2008-09-05 16:36 |
| #2 I heard him speak many times before. This was the first time I was ever moved by anything the man said. Well done, John. |
| Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields 2008-09-05 13:45 |
| #1 beautiful. I wasn't a McCain fan and I disagree with many of his policies, but I came away from the speech believing that he is a man doing public service for the right reasons. His stock went up for me after watching his speech. |
| Posted by: Betty Grating2215 2008-09-05 13:28 |