Posted on 02/12/2008 9:34:17 PM PST by bshomoic
McCain 'Fired Up' to Face Democrats
By LIBBY QUAID – 1 hour ago
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Republican John McCain said he was "fired up and ready to go" against either Democratic presidential contender as he celebrated primary victories Tuesday in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
"We do not yet know for certain who will have the honor of being the Democratic Party's nominee for president," McCain said of Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton. "But we know where either of their candidates will lead this country, and we dare not let them."
He told supporters at a hotel in Alexandria, Va.: "My friends, I promise you, I am fired up and ready to go."
McCain seemed to aim much of his rhetoric at Obama and his message of hope and optimism. The knock against the 46-year-old Obama is his lack of experience; he is serving his first term as an Illinois senator.
"Hope, my friends, hope is a powerful thing," said McCain, who at 71 is a four-term senator from Arizona.
McCain cautioned: "To encourage a country with only rhetoric rather than sound and proven ideas that trust in the strength and courage of free people is not a promise of hope. It's a platitude."
Recalling his struggle as a Vietnam prisoner of war, McCain said he discovered then "that nothing is more liberating in life to fight for a cause that encompasses you, but is not defined by your existence alone."
"I do not seek the presidency on the presumption that I am blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save my country in its hour of need," said McCain, a former Navy pilot who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam after his plane was shot down..
"I seek the presidency with the humility of a man who cannot forget that my country saved me," he said.
As the prohibitive leader in the race for Republican convention delegates, McCain is all but assured of the GOP nomination, even though former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee hasn't made it easy with his stubborn insistence on remaining in the race.
Huckabee embarrassed McCain on Saturday by winning contests in Kansas and Louisiana and coming close enough in Washington state to challenge the results.
Even so, McCain was generous, praising Huckabee as a gifted communicator and advocate who is a credit to the Republican Party.
"He certainly keeps things interesting, a little too interesting at times tonight, I must confess," McCain said. "But I have even more reason to appreciate just how formidable a campaigner he is."
Huckabee sounded more combative, arguing that he made a strong showing among rural voters in a region where McCain has lived since winning election to the House in 1982.
"I've never lived a day in that region; he spent the last 25 years there," Huckabee said in Little Rock, Ark.
McCain had big trouble with Huckabee's base of support in Virginia; there, 63 percent of white, born-again Christians supported Huckabee, according to exit polls. Among conservatives, a group that includes the born-again Christian vote, Huckabee was supported by 51 percent, while McCain had a 2-to-1 lead among moderate voters.
In a twist, McCain showed unexpected weakness among independents in Virginia, where they were about evenly divided between Huckabee and McCain. However, McCain carried independents in Maryland, according to the exit poll for The Associated Press and the television networks.
Republicans in Md and Va, and everywhere else until the ‘Toon Machine is dead, are losing votes to Hussein.
Pubbies know McCain is the nominee, so they are crossing over to “slay the Beast”.
You know the old adage, though: Be careful what you wish for.
McCain is an idiot!
Relax. Obama was sitting in front of a teleprompter with a carefully choreographed crowd to applause on cue like seals in a circus show. McCain was at a hotel ballroom in VA with a smaller group of people who endured an ice storm.
Why, I mean he was nearly willing to run on their ticket 4 short years ago....
Oh never fear. Remember Johnny boy will capture all those independents and moderate Democrats out there. /sarc
Just like your namesake ( who was the first GOP candidate I campaigned for) kicked Johnson’s ass....
LOL!
“You need to share your insights with the world. Make a nice “THE END IS NEAR” sign and find a good street corner downtown... The adults can handle the politics from here on in.”
Say that to both Pub houses of Congress that lost the last time around. You act like we can’t lose. Oh yes we can. Cockiness is a trait you and John McCain have in common, until one or both of you have your comeuppance. It can happen, you know.
Good! When are you leaving?
It’s truly going to be much harder for conservatives to get their messages out after the Fairness Doctrine is fully implemented and “everything conservative” is permanently banned sometime after January ‘09!
Yeah, while “face to face” with the Democrats, McCain can swap some spit with Hillary.
Exactly right. Obama makes Hillary look conservative. He will be an order of magnitude more dangerous to our Republic. I read a lot on him. This guy is a pure bred Marxist to the core. State power means everything to him. As much as we fear Hillary, I think she would be easier to battle in the Congress and would govern more to the right than Obama.
And that, my friends, is called "irony".
And I’m fired up to vote for a write-in or the Libertarian nominee. This country will to socialist hell, or it won’t. I’m tired of fretting over how long it takes.
“My friends, I promise you, I am fired up and ready to go.”
Oh God...tired old dog put’s me to sleep.
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