McCain’s Saddleback Homerun
About the Author: Born in Boston, I lived and worked in the D.C. area for a time, but have spent most of my life in Tennessee, where I graduated from the University of Tennessee. My political philosophy could best be described as eclectic, though mostly right of center. Read more from this authorI was wrong. I thought that McCain had nothing to gain but a lot to lose by engaging in the Saddleback Civil Forum. After McCain’s homerun tonight, crow never tasted better.
Recently a statistic was released by Gallup showing that a large percentage, nearing 50%, of Republicans were voting for McCain as a vote against Obama. If those folks were watching tonight’s performance, I have to think that a greater number of them are now voting for McCain because he is a fantastic conservative candidate.
Obama had a decent night to be sure. He was slick and relaxed. He equivocated and danced around the issues, managing to pander to the crowd with faith laced comments on numerous occasions. McCain, on the other hand, was forceful, conservative and on point.
Asked about whether there was evil in the world and what we should do about it, Obama started talking about America again. McCain’s answer was “Defeat it”. When asked about abortion and when a life starts, Obama said he wasn’t qualified to answer that. McCain’s answer was “Conception.”
There were other nice contrasts, but my favorite answers came when McCain was asked about his toughest decision and about his faith. He talked about his decision to remain in the Hanoi prison camp so that another soldier could go home, a decision that cost McCain three more years of torture.
But his best story nearly drove me to tears. He described a painful torture he and the other prisoners of war were frequently subjected to. One time while strapped in this awful position, a guard came in and wordlessly loosened McCain’s straps and left. Later, I suppose at the end of his shift, the guard came back and tightened them up again so that no one would get in trouble. Forward to Christmas, the prisoners were actually allowed to go outside for a moment. They were standing in line when this same guard came to him. Silently the guard drew a cross in the sand with his foot. For a moment, McCain said fighting back the tears, it was just two Christians worshiping together. Then the guard brushed the cross away and moved on.
For any undecided voter watching tonight who was looking for a candidate who was strong and filled with faith and character, I have to believe they found their man, John McCain.
Shunning high paying jobs, he went to work for a criminal organization known as ACORN, which consistently finds itself in the middle of voter fraud cases.
Greetings Rick,
Silver spoon or not..McCain gave Obama a public Spanking..Enough said.
Typical that the Obama campaign would desperately attempt to find a loop hole in defending their unqualified candidate, by accusing McCain knew the questions ahead of time. Sounds like a bunch of whining babies, grow up and face the facts Obama got a good ole fashion butt whipping, so own up that your man got shot down and crashed!