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John McCain on Principles & ValuesRepublican Sr Senator (AZ |
A: I think it's pretty obvious that that statement was a paraphrase of Howard Dean's statement about the Democrat party. The fact is, I'm running on my record as a reliable conservative of 24 years. And the indicators of that, obviously, is that I've fought wasteful spending, I have had a strong and a long relationship on national security, I've been involved in every national crisis that this nation has faced since Beirut, I understand the issues, I understand and appreciate the enormity of the challenge we face from radical Islamic extremism. I am prepared. I need no on-the-job training. I wasn't a mayor for a short period of time. I wasn't a governor for a short period of time. For 20-some years, including leading the largest squadron in the US Navy, I led. I didn't manage for profit, I led for patriotism.
ROMNEY: When I ran against Ted Kennedy in 1994, that was a big uphill climb. But let me tell you, I was fighting for issues like making sure that we would have the death penalty in our state, fighting to keep our taxes down. I was fighting against the Liberal Lion in perhaps the toughest state in America. And I'm pretty proud of what I was able to accomplish in that race, but nothing compares to the pride I have with the work that I was able to do as a governor.
McCAIN: Gov. Romney, you've been spending the last year trying to fool people about your record. I don't want you to start fooling them about mine. I stand on my record as a conservative, and I don't think you can fool the American people. They may not agree with me on a couple of issues, but they'll know I'm telling the truth, and my steadfast positions on these issues for more than 20 years.
SEN. MCCAIN: [absent from podium]
MODERATOR: Silence. Next question.
A: Mm-hmm.
A: Reform government, fight this Islamic extremist element--that is a threat that challenges the world--and restore integrity to government.
A: No. I do feel that--and I hope I say this adequately--I think that I am here to serve. But that doesn't necessarily mean it means serve as president.
I've been blessed to be able to serve for many, many years both in the military and in public office. But it doesn't mean that I was meant to be president. It just means that whatever time I have left, I would be of service to the country.
A: Obviously, I would look at the Reagan style. I would look at Teddy Roosevelt.
Eisenhower was a good example of having a good structured staff--but at the same time get input from outside your own circle of advisers, rely on people that
I've relied on for many years to give me advice and counsel on a broad range of issues, and they don't necessarily happen to be people who either work for you or are in your inner circle.
I think when presidencies become beleaguered, they have a tendency to circle the wagons. That's a natural tendency. I think we need to get advice and counsel from a lot of smart people all over the country and the world.
A:
There's an old Navy saying, that loyalty up breeds loyalty down. In other words, you've got to have people who are loyal to you as well as you being loyal to them. But it can't be the most important quality.
It's a very important quality, but you also have to expect a certain level of performance that's neither embarrassing to you, embarrassing to the
American people and, most importantly, a betrayal of the standards that we expect of public servants.
A: You know, that routine was tried very hard in 2000. It's simply not true.
I mean, do I get angry at corruption when I see it? Sure. Do I get angry when I see this pork barrel spending? Of course. Do I get angry when I see people not acting up to standards that the American people expect us to do?
Of course. Do I have "temper tantrums?" No, I don't. And yet if I lose my capacity for anger, then I've lost my capacity to serve.
In the latest national voter poll, McCain bests Clinton by a slim 4-percentage point margin - 46 percent to 42 percent - in a hypothetical matchup.
Given the poll's 3-point margin of error, that means this race could go either way. Women are slightly more likely to favor Clinton over McCain (by 4 percentage points). Self-identified independents are somewhat more likely to say they would vote for
McCain (by 8 points) than for Clinton. "The nation has witnessed two very close elections in a row, and right now it looks like a third may be shaping up," the pollster said.
McCain will have to compete for the Independent vote not only with his fellow GOP candidates, but with those running in the Democratic primaries as well. Most states that permit Independents to vote in
any primary let them participate in whichever they choose. So, the candidates whose positions are moderate and independent enough to win the general election--Giuliani and McCain--probably cannot get nominated by the stalwarts of the GOP.
That is my faith; the faith that unites and never divides; the faith that bridges unbridgeable gaps in humanity. It is the faith I would die to defend.
A: Spending, spending, spending, spending, which led to corruption. We have former members of Congress in jail as we speak because of this earmarking.
We let spending get out of control, we presided over the largest increase in the size of government since the Great Society, and our constituents and our Republicans became dispirited and disenchanted. We've got to stop the earmarking.
The bridge to nowhere, a $233 million bridge to an island in Alaska with 50 people on it, was the tipping point. I want to promise you, as president of the United States,
I'll veto every bill that has a pork-barrel project on it, and I'll make the authors of it famous, and we'll get spending under control, and we'll stop the corruption in Washington.
The 60-second ad by a group called "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" accuses Kerry of lying about his decorated Vietnam War record and betraying his fellow veterans by later opposing the conflict.
McCain said he's speaking out against the anti-Kerry ad because he believes it's bad for the political system. "It reopens all the old wounds of the Vietnam War, which I spent the last 35 years trying to heal," he said. "None of these individuals served
on the boat Kerry commanded. Many of his crew have testified to his courage under fire. I think John Kerry served honorably in Vietnam. A Bush spokesperson said, "The Bush campaign never has and will never question John Kerry's service in Vietnam."
A: If it was a book, we wouldn’t read it. Q: Bad fiction, right? A: It’s too bizarre. Bad fiction, too bizarre. Nobody would believe the plot. It wouldn’t sell a thousand copies. I just think that it’s time we
brought this process to a conclusion. I know it’s tough. I think I know as well as most anyone having lost a campaign myself. But we’ve got to bring this to a close. The American people are very patient. This is no constitutional crisis, there’s no
panic. But the American people want it brought to a close. Q: How do you settle a dispute without a court? A: I think you recognize the verdict of the voters, and I think that if there is some blatant or egregious violation of law, obviously we go
after that. I am in sympathy with the vice president and Joe Lieberman. They won the majority of the popular vote. I can understand why they would be unhappy. I’m afraid that litigation will not resolve this issue by [the Dec. 12 deadline].
This is the faith that my commanders affirmed, that my brothers-in-arms encouraged my allegiance to. It was the faith I had unknowingly embraced at the Naval Academy.
It was my father’s and grandfather’s faith. A filthy, crippled, broken man, all I had left of my dignity was the faith of my fathers. It was enough.
Just letting me go is a propaganda victory for them. I can tell they really want me to go. And if they want something that
much it’s got to be a bad thing. I can’t give them that satisfaction. Second, I would be disloyal to the rest of you. I know why they’re doing this-to make every guy here whose father isn’t an admiral think the [Army’s Code of Conduct] is shit. They’ll
tell all of you, “Your father’s not an admiral and nobody gives a damn about you.” And I don’t want to go home and see my father, and he wouldn’t want to see me under those conditions. I’ve got to say no. Eventually, [the Vietnamese asked if I
considered their release offer]. “What is your answer?” “No, thank you.” “Why?” “American prisoners cannot accept parole, or amnesty or special favors. We must be released in the order of our capture.. My final answer is no.”
My behavior was
not something that particularly worried my father. I believe he assumed that, like him, I would be absorbed into the traditions of the place whether I wished to or not, and that when the time arrived for me to face a real test of character, I would not
disappoint him. He had seen many an officer who enjoyed the reputation of a rake-indeed, he had been one himself-rise to the occasion in the most dire situations. He expected no less from me. Even as I spent my years as a junior officer in the same
profligate manner I had spent my Academy years, I cannot recall his severely rebuking me. He knew I would fight, and I think he trusted me to do my duty when my moment arrived. I don't know if I deserved his trust, but I am proud to have had it.
The Adherents.com website is an independent project and is not supported by or affiliated with any organization (academic, religious, or otherwise).
Such factors as religious service attendance, belief, practice, familiarity with doctrine, belief in certain creeds, etc., may be important to sociologists, religious leaders, and others. But these are measures of religiosity and are usually not used academically to define a person’s membership in a particular religion. It is important to recognize there are various levels of adherence, or membership within religious traditions or religious bodies. There’s no single definition, and sources of adherent statistics do not always make it clear what definition they are using.
The Republican Main Street Partnership was founded in 1998 to promote thoughtful leadership in the Republican Party, to serve as a voice for centrist Republicans and to partner with individuals, organizations and institutions that share centrist values. The Partnership pursues public policies that reflect a limited, but responsible role for government and that are designed to achieve fiscal responsibility, economic growth, improvements in the human condition and a nation that is globally competitive and secure. Partnership members include individuals who are interested in moderate Republican policies, focusing on governance and on finding common sense solutions to national problems.
OnTheIssues.org interprets the 2006 AU scores as follows: Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
AU is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to preserving the constitutional principle of church-state separation as the only way to ensure religious freedom for all Americans. Americans United is a national organization with members in all 50 states. We are headquartered in Washington, D.C., and led by the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director. AU has more than 75,000 members from all over the country. They include people from all walks of life and from various faith communities, as well as those who profess no particular faith. We are funded by donations from our members and others who support church-state separation. We do not seek, nor would we accept, government funding.
Q: When Ronald Reagan ran for president, his platform stripped down to the bark was just a few words: Shrink government, cut taxes, build the military. Using the same shorthand, what is your core platform?
Q: Do you feel you have one final mission to serve this country?
Q: What about the way you'd run the White House? Would you try to have more debate? Would you try to hear more competing views?
Q: For years you called for Don Rumsfeld to step down. This week you're calling for Alberto Gonzales to do the right thing and step down. As president, how would you balance personal loyalty with doing what's best for the nation?
Q: A concern from Washington insiders is about your temperament. Some of your fellow senators talk about experiencing a McCain moment, when you jump down their throats, or you get testy with critics. One, how do you plead?
And two, would that be a problem for a president?
If the 2008 presidential race were between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain, the country could be in for another nail-biter. The next presidential election may be more than two years away, but the politicking has already started and
many consider Clinton and McCain the front-runners for their respective political parties.
Who can resist McCain? GOP primary voters can. McCain can count on the united opposition of his party's entire establishment. In his failed primary campaign in 2000, McCain demonstrated his inability to win votes in GOP primaries. Where independents
were allowed to participate--in states like New Hampshire and Michigan--McCain ran well. But where they were excluded, his candidacy ran into a wall of rejection. His contrariness and independence, the traits that make him an attractive senator,
undermine his appeal among the party faithful.
We are taught to understand, correctly, that courage is not the absence of fear, but the capacity for action despite our fears. The stories cherished most by all sinners whose consciences are not permanently mute concern the life-redeeming act of courage
They're not, however, as abundant in real life as they are in fiction. Better to look to the lives of good men and women who in a crucible risked or sacrificed their own security for someone else.
"I don't like to be called a hero," Benavidez complained, and then, in the familiar refrain of veterans from all wars, he offered the observation, "The real heroes are the ones who gave their lives for their country." That kind of humility from
surviving veterans who distinguished themselves in combat is so commonplace that we've come to expect it from them. We don't take it seriously. We even suspect that it's false. We don't see how remarkable it is. They mean it. Every word.
Few of us will fight in any kind of war. There's not much chance of truly big, historically important political conflict in this country, either. What do politicians fight about anymore? The size of tax cuts. What to spend our money on.
These are the most common areas of domestic policy disagreements. We're all pretty much agreed on the big question-whether man is endowed by his Creator with certain inalienable rights and that just government is derived from the consent of the governed.
Most of us accept social norms: that it's right to be honest, to respect the rights of others, to have compassion. But accepting the appropriateness of these qualities, wanting them, and teaching our children to want them aren't the same as actually
possessing them. Accepting their validity isn't moral courage. How honest are we if we tell the truth most of the time & stay silent only when telling the truth might get us fired or earn us a broken nose? We need moral courage to be honest all the time.
Though it is as apparent and as insufficient an explanation of how we obtain courage, that doesn't make it useless advice. Eleanor Roosevelt managed to live an exceptionally useful life by following the prescription, useful to her and to many others,
burdened though she was by her insecurities and doubts. Again, maybe her resolve wasn't exactly as empowering a condition as courage, but what more do most of use need courage for than to live life according to the dictates of our conscience?
We don't experience empathetic apprehension and pain by urging our children to be always honest, always fair, always respectful, the virtues that will alert them of their duty. We don't usually imagine their possession of those virtues provoking much
more than the admiration of adults, their teachers, our neighbors and friends. If we're honest, we have in the backs of our minds as we impart these lessons to our children our own pride, our regard for our children as a reflection of our parenting.
Pay your debts. The firefighters, police officers, and emergency workers who raced toward the danger that others fled, or tried to flee, bestowed by their sacrifice an obligation on the rest of us. The soldiers who embarked to distant, dangerous lands,
to take the war to our enemies and away from us, away from our loved ones, bestowed an obligation on us. So, too, did the soldiers on Peleiu, in Korea, in Vietnam, and in all the savage battles in all the wars of our history. They are blood debts we owe.
We have to value our freedom. We have to love it, not for the ease or material riches it provides, not just for the autonomy it guarantees us, but for the goodness it makes possible. And we have to love it so much that we will not let it be constrained
by fear. It's love, then, that makes courage necessary. And it's love that makes courage possible for all of us to possess. We must love freedom for the right reasons. And, on occasion, our love will need courage to survive, to insist on our freedom.
Many years ago a scared American prisoner of war in Vietnam was tied in torture ropes by his tormentors and left alone in an empty room to suffer through the night. Later in the evening a guard he had never spoken to entered the room & silently loosened
the ropes to relieve his suffering. Just before morning, that same guard came back and re-tightened the ropes before his less humanitarian comrades returned. He never said a word to the grateful prisoner, but some months later, on a Christmas morning,
as the prisoner stood alone in the prison courtyard, the same good Samaritan walked up to him and stood next to him for a few moments. Then with his sandal, the guard drew a cross in the dirt. Both prisoner and guard both stood wordlessly there for a
minute or two, venerating the cross, until the guard rubbed it out and walked away.
McCain said, “Electability is all about getting the support of the political center. I’m a proud Republican conservative and maintain my base. But through this message of reform we will attract people all over the political spectrum.” As an example,
McCain said that while he opposes abortion, he thought the Republican party should be “an inclusionary party.” He continued, “Reagan was able to expand the base of the party and continue to espouse the conservative philosophy. I have to do that as well.”
Q: How specifically would you as president improve the dignity of the Oval Office and restore the moral excellence of our great nation? A: The first and primary responsibility of the president is to protect its security and conduct foreign policy.
This administration has conducted foreign policy in a feckless, photo-op way that will cause us perhaps to have to expend our most precious assets, our American blood and treasure. I will not take a poll as president as to how to conduct foreign policy.
Unless we restore the people’s sovereignty over government, renew their pride in public service, reform our public institutions to meet the demands of a new day, and reinvogorate our sense of national purpose, we will deny our destiny; we will abandon
the cause our founding fathers called glorious.
We can take a stand. We can fight together. to defend the proposition that democracy is not only the most effective form of government, but the only moral government. This is our New Patriotic Challenge: to join in the fight against the pervasive
cynicism that is debilitating our democracy. It is a fight to take our government back from the power-brokers and special interests, and return it to the people, and the noble cause of freedom it was created to serve.
McCain warned that public officials bore their share of blame for a climate of hate “that poisons our land,” because “there’s too much ‘us’ & ‘them’ & not enough ‘we.’ When we denounce Jerry Springer, and then behave in Congress like guests on his show,
it’s little wonder that the public has stopped looking to us for leadership,” McCain said. “Passing bills is the easy part of public office. The challenge is setting an example of the kind of behavior that society expects. To that end, we have failed.”
John McCain on Past Campaigns
Q: In 2006, we saw the worst Republican defeat in living memory. How do we avoid a repeat in 2008.Endorsed House campaigns
Senator McCain is committed to supporting Republican candidates for political office who will provide a potent voice in advancing the reform agenda. Candidates endorsed for Governor:
Candidates endorsed for Senate:
John McCain, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, called an ad criticizing John Kerry's military service "dishonest and dishonorable" and urged the White House on today to condemn it as well. "It was the same kind of deal that was pulled on me," McCain
said, referring to his bitter primary fight with Bush.
Q: What do you make of all of this?
We knew when we began this campaign that ours was a difficult challenge. Last Tuesday, that challenge became considerably more difficult as a majority of Republican voters made clear their preference for president is Gov. Bush. I respect their decision
and I’m truly grateful for the distinct privilege of even being considered for the highest office in this, the greatest nation in the history of mankind.
Therefore, I announce today that I am no longer an active candidate for my party’s nomination for
president. I congratulate Governor Bush. He may very well become the next president. That is an honor accorded to very few and is such a great responsibility that he deserves the best wishes of every American. He certainly has mine.
I’m suspending
my campaign so that Cindy and I can take some time to reflect on our recent experiences and determine how we can best continue to serve the country and help bring about changes to the practices and the institutions of our great democracy.
I love my party. It is my home. Ours is the party of Lincoln, Roosevelt and Reagan. That’s good company for any American to keep, and it is a distinct privilege to serve the same cause that those great Americans dedicated their lives to.
But I’m
also dedicated to the necessary cause of reform, and I will never walk away from a fight for what I know is right and just for our country.
As I said throughout the campaign, what is good for my country is good for my party. Should our party ever
abandon this principle, the American people will rightly abandon us, and we will surely slip into the mists of history, deserving the allegiance of none.
So I will take our crusade back to the Senate and I will keep fighting to save the government,
to give the government back to the people, to keep our promises to young and old alike by paying our debts, saving Social Security and Medicare and reforming a tax code that benefits the powerful few at the expense of many.
Announcing the suspension of his campaign: I’ve been in my country’s service since I was 17 years old. I neither know nor want any other life, for I can find no greater honor than service. You served your country in this campaign by fighting for
the causes that will sustain America’s greatness. Keep fighting. America needs you. I ask from you one last promise: Promise me that you will never give up, that you will continue your service in the worthy cause of revitalizing our democracy. Thank you.
Here’s some straight talk.
Q: Why have you never criticized the religious right previously? A: I share the values and goals of the rank and file of the Christian right. I have supported many of the issues that had to do with family values. Where I have differed in the past and
continue to differ with Mr. Falwell and Mr. Robertson is on issues such as President Clinton. I voted to impeach President Clinton. [But] I don’t believe he’s a murderer. I want the party of Abraham Lincoln, not the party of Bob Jones.
Q: Would you meet with a group if you disagree with its values? A: I met with the Log Cabin Republicans. I disagree with them on gay marriages, on the “don’t ask/don’t tell,” on a broad variety of issues. But I agree
with them on a stronger defense, lower taxes, less regulation. And I, as president of the United States, and I as the nominee of my party, will meet with-and not necessarily agree with-everyone in the Republican Party.
I run for President of the United States because I want to return our government back to whom it belongs - the people - so that Americans can believe once again that public service is a summons to duty and not a lifetime of privilege. I run because I
believe deeply in the greatness of America’s destiny and in the goodness of our cause. We are a lantern of freedom and opportunity to the world, the bright beacon of hope that our fathers died to bequeath us, and our children will be asked to defend.
John McCain on Personal History
[Before being captured in Vietnam], I thought glory was the object of war, and all glory was self-glory. No more. For I have learned the truth: there are greater pursuits than self-seeking. Glory is not a conceit. It is not a prize for being the
most clever, the strongest, or the boldest. Glory belongs to the act of being constant to something greater than yourself, to a cause, to your principles, to the people on whom you rely, and who rely on you in return. No misfortune, no injury,
no humiliation can destroy it.
I spelled out the reasons [to my fellow inmates] why I should not [accept the Vietnamese offer of release from the POW camp]:
[At the end of my Naval training], I sat amid a sea of navy whites, fifth from the bottom of my class. I remember wishing at one point during commencement that my dismal performance at the Academy had earned me an even lower place in the class standings.
In those days, only the first one hundred graduates in the class were called to the dais to receive their diplomas from President Eisenhower. Graduation was conferred on the rest of us by company. The midshipman who graduates last in his class is
affectionately called the anchorman. When the anchorman's company was called, he was cheered by the whole brigade and hoisted onto the shoulders of his friends. Eisenhower motioned him up to the dais, and to the crowd's loud approval
personally handed him his diploma; both President and anchorman smiling broadly as the President patted him on the back and chatted with him for a few minutes. I thought it a fine gesture from a man who understood our traditions.
My father and grandfather had enjoyed only slightly less tarnished reputations at the Naval Academy. My father, perhaps mindful of his own performance, rarely chastised me for falling well short of an exemplary midshipman's standards.
John McCain on Voting Record
McCain gave his most full-throated appeal to voters to make their choice less on issues than on experience & character. “I believe I am better prepared than any of the other candidates,” he said. “I will stack my experience, my position on issues.
against those other candidates.” He added, “What really matters is your impression of what we talked about here today-not about specific issues-but how you leave this room and say ‘gee, I believe I can place my confidence in [him] to lead this country.’”
Vote on the Nomination -- a YES vote would to confirm Samuel A. Alito, Jr., of New Jersey, to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Vote on the Nomination (Confirmation John G. Roberts, Jr., of Maryland, to be Chief Justice of the United States )
McCain : religious affiliation: What’s an adherent?
The most common definition used in broad compilations of statistical data is somebody who claims to belong to or worship in a religion. This is the self-identification method of determining who is an adherent of what religion, and it is the method used in most national surveys and polls.
McCain is a member the Republican Main Street Partnership: The Republican Main Street Partnership is an organization of party members and public officials committed to building America's principled but pragmatic center within the Republican Party and throughout the nation. The Partnership contributes to the nation's governance through developing and promoting creative public policies for implementation at appropriate levels of government.
McCain scores 33% by the AU on church-state separation
About the AU (from their website, www.au.org): 