To read her speech head on over to my page.

http://cuban-conservative.angelfire.com/home_page/

I caught it all. Fantastic woman, fantastic performance. Cool move John McCain. You now have a very different ball -game kicking off. God Bless America.

Mr. Chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens: I am honored to be considered for the nomination for Vice President of the United States...

I accept the call to help our nominee for president to serve and defend America.

I accept the challenge of a tough fight in this election... against confident opponents ... at a crucial hour for our country.

And I accept the privilege of serving with a man who has come through much harder missions ... and met far graver challenges ... and knows how tough fights are won - the next president of the United States, John S. McCain.


It was just a year ago when all the experts in Washington counted out our nominee because he refused to hedge his commitment to the security of the country he loves.

With their usual certitude, they told us that all was lost - there was no hope for this candidate who said that he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war.
But is leaving really losing? I thought it was just getting bored and going home.
But the pollsters and pundits overlooked just one thing when they wrote him off.

They overlooked the caliber of the man himself - the determination, resolve, and sheer guts of Senator John McCain. The voters knew better.
They knew better than to vote for Rudy or Ron Paul.
And maybe that's because they realize there is a time for politics and a time for leadership ... a time to campaign and a time to put our country first.

Our nominee for president is a true profile in courage, and people like that are hard to come by.

He's a man who wore the uniform of this country for 22 years, and refused to break faith with those troops in Iraq who have now brought victory within sight.
Really? Would someone kindly alert the world?
And as the mother of one of those troops, that is exactly the kind of man I want as commander in chief. I'm just one of many moms who'll say an extra prayer each night for our sons and daughters going into harm's way.
Score one for spirituality. However, which is really more effective; praying for them, or bringing them home?
Our son Track is 19.
Side note: Track?
And one week from tomorrow - September 11th - he'll deploy to Iraq with the Army infantry in the service of his country.

My nephew Kasey also enlisted, and serves on a carrier in the Persian Gulf.
I salute them both.
My family is proud of both of them and of all the fine men and women serving the country in uniform. Track is the eldest of our five children.

In our family, it's two boys and three girls in between - my strong and kind-hearted daughters Bristol, Willow, and Piper.

And in April, my husband Todd and I welcomed our littlest one into the world, a perfectly beautiful baby boy named Trig. From the inside, no family ever seems typical.
Side note: You mean like names?
That's how it is with us.

Our family has the same ups and downs as any other ... the same challenges and the same joys.

Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge.

And children with special needs inspire a special love.

To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters.

I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House. Todd is a story all by himself.
I'm all for the MR/DD. but what about AP? What about the smart ones? We're spending so much time pushing up at the bottom that the top can't advance. No wonder our schools get such crappy results; we're raising the minimum, while lowering the maximum.
He's a lifelong commercial fisherman ... a production operator in the oil fields of Alaska's North Slope ... a proud member of the United Steel Workers' Union ... and world champion snow machine racer.
What's the point of the last one?
Throw in his Yup'ik Eskimo ancestry, and it all makes for quite a package.

We met in high school, and two decades and five children later he's still my guy. My Mom and Dad both worked at the elementary school in our small town.

And among the many things I owe them is one simple lesson: that this is America, and every woman can walk through every door of opportunity.

My parents are here tonight, and I am so proud to be the daughter of Chuck and Sally Heath. Long ago, a young farmer and habber-dasher from Missouri followed an unlikely path to the vice presidency.

A writer observed: "We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty, sincerity, and dignity." I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised Harry Truman.
Truman was a democrat, who, honestly, kind of got there by accident and was left completely in the dark on FDR's policies and was genuiney clueless on how to treat the Soviet Union when he became President.
I grew up with those people.

They are the ones who do some of the hardest work in America ... who grow our food, run our factories, and fight our wars.

They love their country, in good times and bad, and they're always proud of America. I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town.

I was just your average hockey mom, and signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids' public education better.

When I ran for city council, I didn't need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and knew their families, too.

Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown.
Where $27 Million of pork found its home.
And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves.

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities. I might add that in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening.

We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.
I tend to prefer canidates who actually say what THEY are going to do, instead of what the other guy can't do.
As for my running mate, you can be certain that wherever he goes, and whoever is listening, John McCain is the same man. I'm not a member of the permanent political establishment.
But John McCain is, and it shows. He knows about millionaires and the military. That's about it.
And I've learned quickly, these past few days, that if you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.
Because you don't know how it works? How dare they!
But here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion - I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country. Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reasons, and not just to mingle with the right people.
We certainly don't expect it of you.
Politics isn't just a game of clashing parties and competing interests.

The right reason is to challenge the status quo, to serve the common good, and to leave this nation better than we found it.
Thing is, you ARE the status quo. The common good wants us out of Iraq. And you're running with the man who is a contiuation of the man who made this country a whole lot worse off than when he found it in 2001.
No one expects us to agree on everything.

But we are expected to govern with integrity, good will, clear convictions, and ... a servant's heart.

I pledge to all Americans that I will carry myself in this spirit as vice president of the United States. This was the spirit that brought me to the governor's office, when I took on the old politics as usual in Juneau ... when I stood up to the special interests, the lobbyists, big oil companies, and the good-ol' boys network.
Really? Your running mate IS the good-ol' boys netowork. And you're standing up to oil companies by letting them drill wherever they want?
Sudden and relentless reform never sits well with entrenched interests and power brokers. That's why true reform is so hard to achieve.
And you're running against it.
But with the support of the citizens of Alaska, we shook things up.

And in short order we put the government of our state back on the side of the people.
Where the people are now prosecuting it.
I came to office promising major ethics reform, to end the culture of self-dealing. And today, that ethics reform is the law.

While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor's office that I didn't believe our citizens should have to pay for.

That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay.
Well la-dee-freaking-da!
I also drive myself to work.
So does the rest of the world. You say that like it's something special.
And I thought we could muddle through without the governor's personal chef - although I've got to admit that sometimes my kids sure miss her. I came to office promising to control spending - by request if possible and by veto if necessary.
So you fired her. So much for creating jobs. And controlling spending? You sent $27 million of pork into your town of 6700! Boise, Idaho gets about $29 Million, and it has a population of 190000! No wasteful spending my
Senator McCain also promises to use the power of veto in defense of the public interest - and as a chief executive, I can assure you it works.
Or what he considers public interest. Stop the war, got any idea of how much money that would save?
Our state budget is under control.

We have a surplus.
As did the USA during the Clinton Administration.
And I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending: nearly half a billion dollars in vetoes.
While ignoring the $27 million sent to your town when you were mayor. Oh, that's not wasteful spending.
I suspended the state fuel tax, and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress.
Suspended the state fuel tax? How did that go?
I told the Congress "thanks, but no thanks," for that Bridge to Nowhere.

If our state wanted a bridge, we'd build it ourselves. When oil and gas prices went up dramatically, and filled up the state treasury, I sent a large share of that revenue back where it belonged - directly to the people of Alaska.

And despite fierce opposition from oil company lobbyists, who kind of liked things the way they were, we broke their monopoly on power and resources.
By giving them more places to drill?
As governor, I insisted on competition and basic fairness to end their control of our state and return it to the people.
People like you? Or your corrupt national and state senators?
I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history.

And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly forty billion dollar natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence.

That pipeline, when the last section is laid and its valves are opened, will lead America one step farther away from dependence on dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart.
And, when it's not repaired like the other one wasn't, will leak, be shut down, and make a mess both on the ground and in the market.
The stakes for our nation could not be higher.

When a hurricane strikes in the Gulf of Mexico, this country should not be so dependent on imported oil that we are forced to draw from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
But it is. Thank you Bandar Bush!
And families cannot throw away more and more of their paychecks on gas and heating oil.
So work to get them other sources of heating.
With Russia wanting to control a vital pipeline in the Caucasus, and to divide and intimidate our European allies by using energy as a weapon, we cannot leave ourselves at the mercy of foreign suppliers.
Which we're pretty much letting them do, by the way.
To confront the threat that Iran might seek to cut off nearly a fifth of world energy supplies ... or that terrorists might strike again at the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia ... or that Venezuela might shut off its oil deliveries ... we Americans need to produce more of our own oil and gas.
Or maybe create a way to not have to use oil and gas! Ever think of that?!?!??
And take it from a gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska: we've got lots of both.

Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America's energy problems - as if we all didn't know that already.

But the fact that drilling won't solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all.
I'm not saying to do nothing; create an alternative!
Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we're going to lay more pipelines ... build more new-clear plants ... create jobs with clean coal ... and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal, and other alternative sources.
Half of my family worked in coal mines, and had things run off of coal for over 100 years. There is no such thing as clean coal.
We need American energy resources, brought to you by American ingenuity, and produced by American workers. I've noticed a pattern with our opponent.

Maybe you have, too.

We've all heard his dramatic speeches before devoted followers.

And there is much to like and admire about our opponent.

But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform - not even in the state senate.
Neither has McCain.
This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word "victory" except when he's talking about his own campaign. But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed ... when the roar of the crowd fades away ... when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot - what exactly is our opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet? The answer is to make government bigger ... take more of your money ... give you more orders from Washington ... and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world. America needs more energy ... our opponent is against producing it.

Victory in Iraq is finally in sight ... he wants to forfeit.
Really? Could you kindly show me where?
Terrorist states are seeking new-clear weapons without delay ... he wants to meet them without preconditions.
The pen is mightier than the sword. He wants to use the pen.
Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America ... he's worried that someone won't read them their rights? Government is too big ... he wants to grow it.

Congress spends too much ... he promises more.
Spending to HELP AMERICA! You want to spend to HELP IRAQ!
Taxes are too high ... he wants to raise them. His tax increases are the fine print in his economic plan, and let me be specific.
Raise them for you. Lower them for me.
The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes ... raise payroll taxes ... raise investment income taxes ... raise the death tax ... raise business taxes ... and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars. My sister Heather and her husband have just built a service station that's now opened for business - like millions of others who run small businesses.
Took speech notes from Reagan, didn't we?
How are they going to be any better off if taxes go up? Or maybe you're trying to keep your job at a plant in Michigan or Ohio ... or create jobs with clean coal from Pennsylvania or West Virginia ... or keep a small farm in the family right here in Minnesota.
Once again, there is no such thing as clean coal.
How are you going to be better off if our opponent adds a massive tax burden to the American economy? Here's how I look at the choice Americans face in this election.
Tax burden? Where? Maybe if the nation wasn't broke, we wouldn't have to worry about a tax burden! And there was no tax burden during the Clinton Administration, 3 tax cuts ago.
In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers.

And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.
Or not, when you vote 90% of the time with the old guard that has ruined this country.
They're the ones whose names appear on laws and landmark reforms, not just on buttons and banners, or on self-designed presidential seals.
McCain hasn't ever reformed anyting.
Among politicians, there is the idealism of high-flown speechmaking, in which crowds are stirringly summoned to support great things.
You mean like this one?

And then there is the idealism of those leaders, like John McCain, who actually do great things. They're the ones who are good for more than talk ... the ones we have always been able to count on to serve and defend America. Senator McCain's record of actual achievement and reform helps explain why so many special interests, lobbyists, and comfortable committee chairmen in Congress have fought the prospect of a McCain presidency - from the primary election of 2000 to this very day.
The primary election of 2000-- which he lost to the worst president in US history, with the exception of maybe Andrew Johnson.
Our nominee doesn't run with the Washington herd.
Yes he does.
He's a man who's there to serve his country, and not just his party.
He puts his party and his country together, so he can say he serves his country when he actually only serves his party.
A leader who's not looking for a fight, but is not afraid of one either. Harry Reid, the Majority Leader of the current do-nothing Senate, not long ago summed up his feelings about our nominee.
The do nothing senate is certainly not responible for this mess.
He said, quote, "I can't stand John McCain." Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps no accolade we hear this week is better proof that we've chosen the right man. Clearly what the Majority Leader was driving at is that he can't stand up to John McCain. That is only one more reason to take the maverick of the Senate and put him in the White House. My fellow citizens, the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of "personal discovery." This world of threats and dangers is not just a community, and it doesn't just need an organizer.
Take words out of his mouth, why don't you?
And though both Senator Obama and Senator Biden have been going on lately about how they are always, quote, "fighting for you," let us face the matter squarely.
They are fighting for me. You just fight in wars.
There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you ... in places where winning means survival and defeat means death ... and that man is John McCain. In our day, politicians have readily shared much lesser tales of adversity than the nightmare world in which this man, and others equally brave, served and suffered for their country.
He figts for me in wars, and rolls over like a golden retriever for me here.
It's a long way from the fear and pain and squalor of a six-by-four cell in Hanoi to the Oval Office.

But if Senator McCain is elected president, that is the journey he will have made.

It's the journey of an upright and honorable man - the kind of fellow whose name you will find on war memorials in small towns across this country, only he was among those who came home.

To the most powerful office on earth, he would bring the compassion that comes from having once been powerless ... the wisdom that comes even to the captives, by the grace of God ... the special confidence of those who have seen evil, and seen how evil is overcome. A fellow prisoner of war, a man named Tom Moe of Lancaster, Ohio, recalls looking through a pin-hole in his cell door as Lieutenant Commander John McCain was led down the hallway, by the guards, day after day.

As the story is told, "When McCain shuffled back from torturous interrogations, he would turn toward Moe's door and flash a grin and thumbs up" - as if to say, "We're going to pull through this." My fellow Americans, that is the kind of man America needs to see us through these next four years.

For a season, a gifted speaker can inspire with his words.

For a lifetime, John McCain has inspired with his deeds.
War hero stuff that has nothing to do wiht the election.
If character is the measure in this election ... and hope the theme ... and change the goal we share, then I ask you to join our cause. Join our cause and help America elect a great man as the next president of the United States.
For four more years of what has been a great last eight.
Thank you all, and may God bless America.
All I have to say is thank god that speech is over.

Originally Posted by The Other Guy

All I have to say is thank god that speech is over.

I am not surprised, she was killing your guys on the night.

^^ Hehe. You thought that too, huh?


I agree, bitterness does not become you TOG... Honestly, you're resorting to insulting the names of her children because she outperformed your candidates? Childish, to say the least.

It was a nice speech. I think she's a good person but it was just a speech. There really is no way to find out unless she takes office. Actually there's no saying how involved she will be.

Originally Posted by Rob Henderson

^^ Hehe. You thought that too, huh?


I agree, bitterness does not become you TOG... Honestly, you're resorting to insulting the names of her children because she outperformed your candidates? Childish, to say the least.

Ill admit I laughed a little at the "outperformed"part. The DNC had Bill Clinton, who, whether you agreed with his politics or not, you have to admit was probably the best politician and public speaker in the last 30 years. Add that to Obama's speech, and I'd very much like to see you prove the "outperformed" statement.

Originally Posted by Rob Henderson

I agree, bitterness does not become you TOG... Honestly, you're resorting to insulting the names of her children because she outperformed your candidates? Childish, to say the least.

If that's your response, guess who else is grasping at straws.

Outperformed? Condi Rice would be a better vice president than this woman.