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Please bear with me, friends — I’m going to talk politics today.

While the (overwhelmingly liberal) media are busy scratching their heads and puzzling over last night’s RNC speech by Joe Lieberman (I-CT), they’re ignoring the real story.  As usual.  Former Senator Fred Thompson (R-TN) gave the speech that I want people to hear.  I’m not arrogant enough to think that I can provide any sort of in-depth analysis of that speech — for that, you should visit NRO or Human Events or Weekly Standard — but I will say I’m glad I’m on the same side as Fred Thompson.  He’s pretty hard-core!  I’ll just let his speech speak for itself.  What follows are some excerpts which I think are particularly valuable; for the complete text of Senator Thompson’s speech, click here.

Free, Strong, Generous, Prosperous, Thankful
“Listening to [the other party], you’d think that we were in the middle of a great depression; that we are down, disrespected and incapable of prevailing against challenges facing us.  We know that we have challenges – always have, always will.  But we also know that we live in the freest, strongest, most generous and prosperous nation in the history of the world and we are thankful.

Palin: Courageous, Successful Reformer
“…what a breath of fresh air Governor Sarah Palin is.  …  Some Washington pundits and media big shots are in a frenzy over the selection of a woman who has actually governed rather than just talked a good game on the Sunday talk shows and hit the Washington cocktail circuit. Well, give me a tough Alaskan Governor who has taken on the political establishment in the largest state in the Union — and won — over the beltway business-as-usual crowd any day of the week.  Let’s be clear … the selection of Governor Palin has the other side and their friends in the media in a state of panic.  She is a courageous, successful reformer who is not afraid to take on the establishment…

McCain: A Man of Service
But tonight, I’d like to talk to you about the remarkable story of John McCain.  It’s a story about character.  John McCain’s character has been tested like no other presidential candidate in the history of this nation.  He comes from a military family whose service to our country goes back to the Revolutionary War.  The tradition continues.  As I speak, John and Cindy McCain have one son who’s just finished his first tour in Iraq.  Another son is putting “Country First” and is attending the Naval Academy…  If you want to know who John McCain is, if you want to know what John McCain values, look to the men and women who wear America’s uniform today.

“On [McCain's] 23rd mission over North Vietnam, a surface-to-air missile slammed into [his] jet, blowing it out of the sky.  When John ejected, part of the plane hit him — breaking his right knee, his left arm, his right arm in three places.  An angry mob got to him.  A rifle butt broke his shoulder.  A bayonet pierced his ankle and his groin.  They took him to the Hanoi Hilton, where he lapsed in and out of consciousness for days.  He was offered medical care for his injuries if he would give up military information in return.  John McCain said “No.”  After days of neglect, covered in grime, lying in his own waste in a filthy room, a doctor attempted to set John’s right arm without success, and without anesthesia.  His other broken bones and injuries were not treated.  John developed a high fever, dysentery. He weighed barely a hundred pounds.

McCain: A Man of Perseverance
“Expecting him to die, his captors placed him in a cell with two other POWs who also expected him to die.  But with their help, John McCain fought on.  He persevered.  So then they put him in solitary confinement for over two years — isolation, incredible heat beating on a tin roof, a light bulb in his cell burning 24 hours a day, boarded-up cell windows blocking any breath of fresh air, the oppressive heat causing boils the size of baseballs under his arms, the outside world limited to what he could see through a crack in a door.  We hear a lot of talk about hope.  John McCain knows about hope. That’s all he had to survive on. For propaganda purposes, his captors offered to let him go home.  John McCain refused.  He refused to leave ahead of men who’d been there longer.  He refused to abandon his conscience and his honor, even for his freedom.  He refused, even though his captors warned him, “It will be very bad for you.”  They were right.  It was.  The guards cracked ribs, broke teeth off at the gums. They cinched a rope around his arms and painfully drew his shoulders back.  Over four days, every two to three hours, the beatings resumed. During one especially fierce beating, he fell, again breaking his arm.  John was beaten for communicating with other prisoners.  He was beaten for NOT communicating with so-called “peace delegations.”  He was beaten for not giving information during interrogations.  When his captors wanted the names of other pilots in his squadron, John gave them the names of the offensive line of the Green Bay Packers.  Whenever John was returned to his cell — walking if he could, dragged if he couldn’t — as he passed his fellow POWs, he would call out to them.  He’d smile and give them a thumbs-up.  For five-and-a-half years this went on.  John McCain’s bones may have been broken but his spirit never was.

McCain: A Man of Character
“Now, being a POW certainly doesn’t qualify anyone to be President.  But it does reveal character.  This is the kind of character that civilizations from the beginning of history have sought in their leaders.
Strength.
Courage.
Humility.
Wisdom.
Duty.
Honor.
It’s pretty clear there are two questions we will never have to ask ourselves, “Who is this man?” and “Can we trust this man with the Presidency?”

“He has been to Iraq eight times since 2003.  He went seeking truth, not publicity.  When he travels abroad, he prefers quietly speaking to the troops amidst the heat and hardship of their daily lives.

“And the same character that marked John McCain’s military career has also marked his political career.  This man, John McCain is not intimidated by what the polls say or by what is politically safe or popular.  At a point when the war in Iraq was going badly and the public lost confidence, John stood up and called for more troops.  And now we are winning.

“Ronald Reagan was John McCain’s hero.  And President Reagan admired John tremendously.  But when the President proposed putting U.S. troops in Beirut, John McCain, a freshman Congressman, stood up and cast a vote against his hero because he thought the deployment was a mistake.  My friends, that is character you can believe in.

“For years, members of Congress, Republican and Democrat alike, have gouged the taxpayer with secret earmark spending.  Well, he has never sought an earmark.

“I’ve experienced John’s character first hand.  In 1993, when I was thinking of running for the Senate, I went to John for advice. He convinced me I could help make a difference for our country.  I won that election, and with Republican control of Congress, we reformed welfare, we balanced the budget, and we began rebuilding our military.  What I remember most about those years is sitting next to John on the Senate floor as he led battle after battle to change the acrimonious, pork barreling, self serving ways of Washington…  Confronting when necessary, reaching across the aisle when possible, John personified why we came to Washington in the first place.  It didn’t always set too well with some of his colleagues.  Some of those fights were losing efforts.  Some were not.  But a man who never quits is never defeated.  Because John McCain stood up, our country is better off.

McCain: A Man of Principle
“The respect he is given around the world is not because of a teleprompter speech designed to appeal to American critics abroad, but because of decades of clearly demonstrated character and statesmanship.  There has been no time in our nation’s history, since we first pledged allegiance to the American flag, when the character, judgment and leadership of our President was more important. Terrorists, rogue nations developing nuclear weapons, an increasingly belligerent Russia.  Intensifying competition from China.  Spending at home that threatens to bankrupt future generations. For decades an expanding government … increasingly wasteful and too often incompetent.  To deal with these challenges the Democrats present a history making nominee for president.  History making in that he is the most liberal, most inexperienced nominee to ever run for President…  America needs a President who understands the nature of the world we live in.  A President who feels no need to apologize for the United States of America.

“We need a President who understands that you don’t make citizens prosperous by making Washington richer, and you don’t lift an economic downturn by imposing one of the largest tax increases in American history.  Now our opponents tell you not to worry about their tax increases.  They tell you they are not going to tax your family.  No, they’re just going to tax “businesses.”  So unless you buy something from a “business,” like groceries or clothes or gasoline, or unless you get a paycheck from a big or a small “business”, don’t worry, it’s not going to affect you…  That’s their idea of tax reform.

“My friends, we need a leader who stands on principle.  We need a President, and Vice President, who will take the federal bureaucracy by the scruff of the neck and give it a good shaking.  And we need a President who doesn’t think that the protection of the unborn or a newly born baby is above his pay grade.

“The man who will be that President is John McCain.

Country First
“…tonight our country is calling to all of us to step up, stand up, and put “Country First” with John McCain.  Tonight we are being called upon to do what is right for our country.  Tonight we are being called upon to stand up for a strong military, a mature foreign policy, a free and growing economy, and for the values that bind us together and keep our nation free.  Tonight, we are being called upon to step up and stand up with John just as he has stood up for our country.  Our country is calling.

“John McCain cannot raise his arms above his shoulders.  He cannot salute the flag of the country for which he sacrificed so much. Tonight, as we begin this convention week, yes, we stand with him.  And we salute him.  We salute his character and his courage.  His spirit of independence, and his drive for reform.  His vision to bring security and peace in our time, and continued prosperity for America and all her citizens.  For our own good and our children’s, let us celebrate that vision, that belief, that faith so we can keep America the greatest country the world has ever seen.

God bless John McCain and God bless America.”

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