by David L Pierce<\/p>\n
Senator John McCain proudly accepted the Republican Presidential nomination Thursday night, September 4 2008 at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota.<\/p>\n
McCain thanked his family and supporters, and made it clear that he respected his Democratic running mates, Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.), and Senator Joe Biden (D-Del.). \u201cThere are big differences between us,\u201d McCain explained, \u201cbut you have my respect and my admiration.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pro-choice protesters interrupted McCain as he introduced his running mate, Governor Sarah Palin. \u201cPlease, my dear friends,\u201d McCain grinned, \u201cdon\u2019t be diverted by the ground noise and the static!\u201d He defended Palin\u2019s experience, amid growing skepticism, by noting she ended corruption and balanced the state budget in Alaska.<\/p>\n
McCain had harsh words for his own party, claiming that Americans lost trust in the Republican Party due to corruption, and promised a new party future. \u201cThe party of Lincoln, Roosevelt and Reagan,\u201d said McCain \u201cis going back to basics.\u201d He said he\u2019d veto pork barrel earmarks and reveal its author. \u201cI will make them famous,\u201d McCain said, adding \u201cyou\u2019ll know their names.\u201d<\/p>\n
He promised to lower taxes, cut government spending and develop a better healthcare system, while claiming Obama will do the opposite. The crowd applauded as McCain announced his energy plan, which included immediate offshore oil drilling, more nuclear power plants, and alternative energy sources. \u201cSenator Obama thinks we can achieve energy independence without more drilling and without more nuclear power, but Americans know better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foreign policy was also a major issue in McCain\u2019s speech. \u201cI know how to work with leaders who share our dreams,\u201d McCain said \u201cAnd I know how to stand up to those who don\u2019t.\u201d McCain explained that he hated war, and that he would use his experience to build an enduring peace.<\/p>\n
McCain recalled his experience as a prisoner of war and praised his fellow American prisoners, explaining that they fought for him every day. \u201cMy country saved me and I cannot forget it,\u201d McCain said. \u201cI will fight for her as long as I draw a breath so help me God.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the conclusion of his speech, McCain’s and Sarah Palin’s families joined them on the stage. An endless sea of patriotic-colored confetti, balloons and beach balls fell from above. McCain passed Palin a beach ball after it bounced off of her head.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by David L Pierce Senator John McCain proudly accepted the Republican Presidential nomination Thursday night, September 4 2008 at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota. McCain thanked his family and supporters, and made it clear that he respected his Democratic running mates, Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.), and Senator Joe Biden (D-Del.). \u201cThere are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":205,"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions\/205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/masonvotes.masonstudentmedia.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}