McCain "Fight With Me!" Crescendo (Convention Acceptance Speech)

YouTube ^ | Future President John McCain

[quesney]

I have never been so moved by a political speech.

The speech up until the final crescendo was workmanlike. It was only at the end that I realized it was all to lay the foundation for that incredible ending. It lays the details and facts that form the basis of the powerful emotion at the end -- made all the more powerful in that it is grounded in the real details of this man's history and the basis of his love of country.

To hear the cheers rising, and McCain struggling to raise his broken arms higher with each round of ever intensifying cheers, it was though McCain and the crowd were raising each other.

Incredible. Absolutely incredible. I can not get enough of the finale to this speech.

[quesney]

This will be remembered for decades, long after Obama’s speech is forgotten (what did he say?).

[ExTexasRedhead]

Note Comment Number 3 on that You Tube video made by some Liberal human waste.

[Cicero]

Agreed. But I would put it a little earlier than that. It started out very slow and tepid, but it got stronger as it went along.

Also, I’ve heard that because of his broken arms as a P.O.W., McCain cannot raise his arms above his shoulders. I was conscious of that during the speech, but he has developed ways of gesturing that are very effective. Body language—like it or not—is important. I thought he did it very well.

Palin’s body language and facial expressions are extreme effective, but McCain also did very well, in spite of his difficulties. They both make Biden look like an idiot in comparison.

[gramho12]

As I've said several times since Thursday, McCain won my heart with that speech. How can you not fight for a man like that, even though I thought I would never vote for him because I disagreed with him on so many issues.

Never have I heard a speech told in such a matter-of-fact story telling style that was so gut-wrenching and which ended so positively and powerfully.

The typical MSM "style-over-substance" crowd did not get the impact of this speech on us average Americans.

[JustaCowgirl]

From here on in, for the rest of my life, every time I see him struggle to raise his arms, I will remember the horror he lived through and the sacrifices that he has made for his country.

[PureSolace]

This will be remembered for decades, long after Obama’s speech is forgotten (what did he say?).

Obama said, "Uhhh oh ah ummm uhp umm uhh uh uhhh ummmm uhhh, Now hold on now! uhhh ummm uhp oh ah ummm."

[edh]

“This will be remembered for decades, long after Obama’s speech is forgotten (what did he say?).”

I actually think Palin was somewhat of a blessing for Democrats. I cannot see how any Dem. pundit would have enthusiastically reviewed Obama’s speech. It was decent, but nothing new...you could even tell by half-hearted looks in the faces of the supporters towards the end of the speech that the air has deflated out of the balloon.

Palin gave them a chance to throw that speech under the bus. They knew that the Temple of Doom stage set starring their favored marionette had probably lost more voters than gained, so they unleashed their hounds from hell on Palin to vent frustration.

Does anyone equate the money wasted on that flashy “The Thursday Night with Savior Obama Hour” to Chris Rock’s “Wheels that Spin” comedy routine?

[Qwackertoo]

McCain also won my heart with that speech~! I would rather have his honest, patriotic speech any day of the week even though he perhaps isn’t as eloquent as the Nobama . . . McCain’s speech means much more to everyone who truly LOVES America. I’d rather have honest true grit in the White House than the Empty Suit one.

[nathanbedford]

Karl Rove in the preceding thread judged McCain's acceptance speech workmanlike but a let down. I agree with you. More, I think the McCain speech in its own way was better than Palin's speech which was terrific and accomplished its mission. Governor Palin has now passed the test for plausibility as a vice presidential candidate and the argument about her experience level is over for practical purposes. Even more remarkably, she made the whole country fall in love with her.

John McCain also succeeded marvelously well in his speech. The whole idea of his speech was to demonstrate that McCain was no Bush clone but entirely his own man. McCain's recital of his Hanoi Hilton epiphany was so brutally authentic as to leave no fair-minded listener in doubt that John McCain wants to be president of the United States for a very high spiritual purpose. He sold me and I am no fan of his politics but I am convinced that we are entrusting the Republic and my children to a man incorruptible commitment to his vision for the whole country.

No one could have witnessed that speech by John McCain and not been moved by its sincerity. No one who saw it can believe that he will resort to business as usual in Washington. He made himself the living embodiment of change, for change of government, intelligent change, change that is better called reform.

For those independents and Reagan Democrats who are usually moved to vote on character alone, they must have found their man.

[fightinJAG]

I agree. Wholeheartedly.

Here's another plain-speaking soldier, speaking directly to Mr. Obama. Pass it on.

[quesney]

Ditto.

[peggybac]

That body language woman was on O’Reilly last night and was saying McCain needs to put his arms behind his back when standing still. I screamed to the TV that he probably can’t!

[Irish Eyes]

That body language woman was on O’Reilly last night and was saying McCain needs to put his arms behind his back when standing still. I screamed to the TV that he probably can’t!

I was doing the very same thing. Can not believe that neither of them gave that a thought

[Cicero]

I agree entirely. For me, maybe the key moment was when he said that before he was shot down he fought for himself, but after he was tortured he learned to fight for his country.

It makes me reconsider his maverick image. I’ve always taken that as somewhat self-centered. But maybe it’s genuine. Maybe he really thought that McCain-Feingold would reform political corruption. He was wrong, but at least if his motives were good maybe he can learn to do better next time.

Sarah Palin is a REAL reformer, who broomed out a lot of corruption in Alaska. Maybe she can help McCain be a real reformer, too. After this pick, and his recent behavior and speeches, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt again.

[nathanbedford]

I am in the midst of preparing a vanity dealing with the transformation which took over John McCain as you just described. It is unfinished and unedited but here it is anyway:

Understanding John McCain

McCain's Vietnam experience was so shattering that he sees the world through a new lens, the experience so profound that he has emerged from it with a lifelong commitment to country. This gives credibility to McCain's claim that he is a maverick, beholden not to party but to principle and country. This claim to independence is necessary in a political climate in which the present occupant of the White House is found to be unsatisfactory by nearly three out of four Americans. So, the narrative explains why a voter can believe that John McCain is different from ordinary politicians, especially ordinary Republican politicians, and they can't believe he should be trusted to embark on a new course away from current administration policies.

Third, at the end of his speech, McCain recited how he came to be utterly broken but then restored, even redeemed with a new commitment to service to others when a fellow prisoner urged him by prison telegraph not to quit and die to carry on the fight out of respect for his comrades who were carrying on the fight for him.

Psychologists and scholars of religious experience, especially Christian scholars, have long been aware of the empowering release generated by total surrender of the will. One can describe this in psychological language, or in Biblical language, or even in evangelical idiom. Whatever language one uses to describe these epiphanies there is no question that very often they are real and long lasting. Psychologists would begin to explain the phenomenon by reference to the ego. An Old Testament scholar might think in terms of the first and second Commandments and the muscular faith which follows adherence to them. Christians speak of dying to the self, picking up the cross and following the Savior to become a new man-to be born again. Perhaps the most famous example is recounted in the Book of Acts which tells that Saul of Tarsus was physically knocked off his horse by the Holy Spirit. Saul experiences an epiphany, Saul becomes Paul, and any is transformed from a murderous persecutor of Christians to a fully committed martyr who becomes the great evangelist of the early church, indomitable in spirit, inflexible in commitment, and-like the other disciples- utterly fearless. Significantly, Paul, the newbie Christian, does not shrink later from taking on "to his face" Peter the acknowledged leader of the disciples to dispute matters of doctrine.

In contemporary history we have the example of George Bush and his transforming encounter with Reverend Billy Graham. Indeed, we have the Reverend Billy Graham's own epiphany in the forest. We have the countless examples recited daily in meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous. It is from the success of this group the countless so-called "12 step" groups have been formed to apply the same empowering message of surrender.

The important thing to understand about these epiphanies is that when they are genuine they are often life-long and tremendously empowering. Lives really are transformed forever. Criminals go straight, alcoholics stays sober, and the miserable are made happy. In fact, these newly born spirits enjoy their new condition so much that they seek ways to prolong the joy they have obtained in their moment of sweet release. Almost universally, these people find that service to others is the surest way to prolong that wonderful feeling of well-being.

Isolated, sick, starved and beaten beyond human endurance, John McCain ultimately broke and signed a confession which he mistakenly assumed amounted to a betrayal of his country. Who was this wretched man who lay so anguished in that cell? In his memoir and in his speech, McCain described himself as a kind of a hotshot jet jock, a screwup, a discipline problem in school, and an accomplished accumulator of demerits as a midshipman. Evidently, he was also an enthusiastic swordsman. In short, he was an arrogant SOB. Now, in that cell, he had fallen far. At this pivotal moment came the means of his redemption via the prison telegraph: Service to others out of love of country. In his speech McCain declared:

"And I wasn't my own man anymore, I was my country's"

[tenthirteen]

I was not at all aware that John McCAIN was even able to give such an oration as he did. I was somewhat afraid that his oratorical skills would let me down. I can tell you that I was not prepared for the overwhelming success that it was.

At the end, I fell off the couch. I could hardly speak, and the neighbors threatened to call the cops for all then noise I caused.

He rivaled REAGAN on this one, and it was just what we need.

Now, we are launched, and all hell will break loose. I, for one, am ready.

[ishabibble]

I had the EXACT same thought. I will never forget those words, “Stand up and fight”. I always liked McCain, now I LOVE him, that was the real deal.

[lonevoice]

That body language woman was on O’Reilly last night and was saying McCain needs to put his arms behind his back when standing still. I screamed to the TV that he probably can’t!

I saw that too. And O'Reilly was laughing like the bloviating falafel-eating empty-headed Ted Baxter he is. The body language lady is a liberal plant. She ALWAYS, without exception, interprets the body language of conservative speakers as negative, mean, arrogant, insecure, angry. She ALWAYS interprets, without exception, the body language of liberal speakers as confident, sincere, thoughtful, congruent, powerful. And who can argue with her? She's the body language expert! *barf*

Anyway, this is just the typical O'Reilly fare...it's a sham(e) and FNC should be ashamed of it. But they're not.

[Huck]

Thanks for posting this. I agree completely.