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John McCain thanked the military veterans in the crowd and repeated his call for Congress to return from vacation to help solve the energy crisis. He also joked that he’d encouraged his wife to enter the bawdy beauty contest.

STURGIS, S.D. — One woman wore little but a deep tan. Tattoos reigned, as did black leather. The emcee praised America for its “beautiful roads, beautiful bikes and ice-cold beer.”

Motorcycle engines revved in deafening approval when a rock guitarist played the national anthem at earsplitting volume and with a soaring solo, a la Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock.
Suffice it to say that few political rallies can match John McCain’s brief appearance on an outdoor stage Monday night before several thousand bikers at the 68th annual Sturgis Rally, America’s largest biker convention and arguably its most colorful national gathering.

Rather than applause, McCain was greeted again and again by the full-throated roar of scores of gleaming Harley-Davidsons of every shape and color. The stench of burning gasoline and rowdy shouts filled the prairie night air.

Taking the stage at Buffalo Chip, the main festival site, McCain again ridiculed the presumptive Democratic nominee for drawing “hundreds of thousands” of people to an outdoor speech in Berlin.

“I’ll take the roar of 50,000 Harleys any day.”

As dozens of engines revved again, he grinned. “I recognize that sound. It’s the sound of freedom.”

The Arizona senator introduced his wife, Cindy, who wore the equivalent of a nun’s habit here: black jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. She praised her husband as “the only man who can keep us free.”

McCain joked that he had encouraged his wife to enter the annual Sturgis beauty contest, one in which nudity is not uncommon. The engines roared again.

“I told her with a little luck she could be the only lady to serve as first lady and Miss Buffalo Chip,” he said with a broad grin.

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