Rand Paul & John McCain at RNC. Both freedom fighters but fighting different wars.
They say “it takes all kinds” and from two of the speakers tonight at the Republican National Convention (RNC), I guess it’s going to take all kinds to elect Mitt Romney.
Kentucky Senator and the Tea Party’s favorite son, Rand Paul, gave a brilliant speech tonight espousing individual liberties, calling for smaller government and paraphrasing a favorite quote, “Americans should never give up freedoms for the promise of a little security.” If it were up to Senator Paul and me, that statement would be part of the party platform. But sadly, it won’t be, yet. (Note: Paul got a lot of applause throughout his speech).
Following Senator Paul, it was almost an insult to those of us who value constitutional values above all to give Senator John McCain the stage. McCain spent almost his entire time pushing the importance of America continuing to spread freedom around the world, assisting rebels, and spreading humanitarian aid. My takeaway is that McCain is ready to charge into Iran and stay in Afghanistan forEVER, if necessary. I respect McCain and I thank him for his service but he is a warmonger. Memo to McCain: We have a battle for freedom that needs to be won right here in America. (Observation: McCain got very tepid applause, even at the end).
Paul’s and McCain’s speeches tonight were a perfect example of the tug-of-war that’s taking place within the Republican Party. And that’s a fight that will continue long past November 6. But first, we have a bigger battle and it’s the one thing that both Paul and McCain agree upon: Mitt Romney must be our next president.
You read my mind. McCain wants to embroil us in more wars. Sometimes we can’t avoid war. But, we damn sure should not be creating conflicts that have no vital interest to America. We can not and will never spread American ideals in Muslim coutries. They don’t want it and won’t accept it.
well said.
What COF said and besides, the side he wants to aid is the side ethnic cleansing Christians, this is one to stay out of, both sides are evil.
And ys, Senator Paul was impressive, our second string is very good all around.
We just need to work on making his ideals 1st string.
Reblogged this on Boudica BPI Weblog and commented:
I agree with the 2 comments. Muslims should be left to fend for themselves. We don’t need to get involved. Witness Egypt and Libya. McCain needs to go.
I am still scratching my head that AZ sent him back to the senate last time around. Thanks for the re-blog.
Good analysis, Freedom. I respect McCain’s commitment to the military, but the thing is. He lives in a pretend world, in which America has the political and the cultural will to win a war.
We don’t. If we had the will to win, then we woulda returned from Afghanistan victorious a long time ago.
If we don’t have the will to win, we need to get the hell out of there, like yesterday. We’re just wasting the lives of some our best and brightest. It’s so depressing to admit that, btw.
Lin
Thank you for your military perspective, Linda. I believe a new commander in chief will make a difference in how we not only approach military action but how Americans feel about it, too.
If we had been smart, we would have gotten out after the initial defeat of the Taliban. Ditto after the capture of Saddam Hussein.
When we go into a war like that, do we really want to get into the business of nation-building? It worked in Japan and Germany, but we needed Japan and Germany as bulwarks against the USSR. Moreover, both nations had a stronger cultural towards democracy.
Do we need Afghanistan? Why? Iraq has oil, but how badly do we need it? Other than making certain no outside power controls it and the regime minds its own business, is who runs the place up to us or the Iraqis?
I listened to McCain’s speech. Considering who he is, the speech was okay.
However, I think that it’s clear that McCain is now a dinosaur in the GOP.
Wow, isn’t THAT the truth? With the exception of McCain we were treated to a terrific lineup of the NEW republicans and personally, I am encouraged.
Think about it. Progress is replacing Obama with Romney?
It was only four years ago that we nominated John McCain to run for president. He may be a dinosaur, and he may be old, but he has yet to become a fossil. He is still a senator, he is still making speeches at Republican convention, and he still needs to be replaced.
For that matter, Mitt Romney needs to be replaced too. For the time being, he is flip-flopping in the right direction, but we can only hope he will be saying and doing the right things if and after we elect him.
Any way we look at it, at this rate we have much work to do, and we will be doing it for the rest of our lives.