Thursday, February 7, 2008

Boos and Cheers for McCain at CPAC

There's no question that when John McCain was introduced at CPAC the room erupted in cheers.

There's also no question that there were some boos.

McCain was donning a flashy conservative mantle during his address. It was an in-your-face response to those calling him a soft conservative or not a conservative at all.

Naturally, he aligned himself with Ronald Reagan.

When he discussed ILLEGAL immigration, the boos were loud. Applause then welled up to challenge the boos. The cheers prevailed.

At times, his speech was an almost angry outreach to conservatives. McCain insisted that conservatives acknowledge his conservative record, even though he admitted that they have legitimate policy disagreements. He came off as cocky yet humble, quite a feat.

He appealed to conservatives, promising to make the Bush tax cuts permanent (the ones he opposed initially). He didn't seem to squirm. He acted like he supported the cuts from day one.

After defining himself as a staunch conservative, he went after Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

It's somewhat hard to reconile that with his statement, "I have no doubt that Senator Clinton would make a good president."

Aside from some of those awkward moments, like when he mentioned the Dems' plan for a timetable for troop withdrawal from Iraq, it was a strong speech.

McCain didn't seem tired and old. He delivered his speech with strength and confidence. I sensed that he feels like a winner. He feels that his time has come. He waited for eight years and now he's getting his chance.

The end of McCain's speech was inspiring. He referred to himself as "an imperfect servant" of America, but expressed his life-long record of devoted service and his promise, committing himself to continue to serve her.

It was impressive. "Imperfect servant" was a brilliant line.

McCain held out his hand to conservatives in a gesture of reconciliation.

The question: Will they accept it?



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Watch a clip of the speech.

4 comments:

Mark said...

I need to create a post about this. We, as Conservatives can get the President we want in McCain if we let our voices be heard. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

The WordSmith from Nantucket said...

It's somewhat hard to reconile that with his statement, "I have no doubt that Senator Clinton would make a good president."

I can reconcile it. As far as I can tell, it's just being polite and civil to political rivals...and even friend. Same thing with his response on "entertaining" Kerry's invitation. It's been spun by those who are anti-McCain, with some of the criticism so over-the-top and hyperbolic.

I've become less disenchanted with McCain and more disenchanted with the conservative blogosphere and talking heads.

The WordSmith from Nantucket said...

As far as I can tell, it's just being polite and civil to political rivals...and even friend.

That is: "friends across the political aisle".

Mary said...

Mark, McCain knows that he has to appeal to conservatives if he has any chance of winning. He has to convince them that he won't sell them out. That will be a tough sell.

WS, I agree to a degree. Politicians are "on" all the time. The quote that I cite is from Meet the Press, 2005. McCain knew that he was on camera. While it's conceivable that he was being polite, he had to know that those words could come back to bite him.

Some of the McCain criticism is over the top. He does have an 80%+ conservative rating. I object to anyone saying he's the same as Hillary or Obama. That's ridiculous.

However, it is fair to hold McCain accountable for his actions. I don't think McCain helped himself with the Romney/ Iraq timetable thing. I know that really bugged me. It was dishonorable.

Some of the criticism is justified. Some isn't.