Deconstructing McCain

Senator John McCain proudly accepted the Republican Party’s nomination for president. In his speech, Mr. McCain attempted to reintroduce himself to the public, and rationalize his candidacy.

It was the culmination of a long battle that started in the late 1990’s, was derailed by a smear campaign conducted by the campaign staff of current President Bush, and almost died prematurely last year as Senator McCain struggled to raise money, and convince a nation involved in two wars, and is in the mist of an economic catastrophe that the maverick had the answers to our problems.

It is unfair to pass judgment on Mr. McCain speech making ability. He is not an eloquent public speaker, and his inability to deliver a speech should not be held against him especially when he is running against one of the most eloquent speakers our country has ever produced – Senator Barack Obama.

Furthermore, Senator McCain has trouble reading from a teleprompter. This problem interferes with his ability to add emotion and build momentum during the speech. Mr. McCain would not be able to effectively convey the power of the Gettysburg address if he read it from a teleprompter. Delivering a speech is not his strength, therefore only the content of the speech will be evaluated.

The acceptance speech could be divided into three parts: the introduction, the middle, and the third act – the lessons he learned as a prisoner of war (POW).

The introduction was standard, thanking family and supporters. Mr. McCain welcomed Governor Palin to the ticket. Senator McCain warmly mentioned his opponent, “honoring Senator Obama and his supporters for their achievement.”[i]

In the third act, Mr. McCain spoke of the hardships he endured as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. He was tortured for five years. It was poignant and sad.

Our government manufactured intelligence and lied to our country. We were at war against the Vietnamese people who at the time were not really a threat to the United States. History proved the infamous “Domino Theory” to be false, as well as every other rationalization for the war. Mr. McCain and thousands of other Vietnam War veterans suffered in vain over a mistake.

A good speech is not just eloquent, but is also well written. I will attempt to evaluate the middle part of the speech strictly using the text.

Mr. McCain deserves credit for admitting the Republican Party missed an opportunity when they controlled congress and the presidency. “We were elected to change Washington, and we let Washington change us,” said Mr. McCain. “We lost the trust of the American people when some Republicans gave in to the temptations of corruption. We lost their trust when rather than reform government…”[ii]

However, once in power, the Republican Party resembled a crime family. They took advantage of their position in government to divide the spoils – mostly at the taxpayer’s expense.

Unfortunately, Mr. McCain’s speech included falsehoods, and distortions.

Senator McCain called for increased bipartisanship. “I’ve worked with members of both parties to fix the problems that need to be fixed,” said Mr. McCain. “That’s how I will govern as president.”[iii]

Senator McCain said he would work with and include Democrats and independents in his administration. “Instead of rejecting good ideas because we didn’t think of them first, let’s use the best ideas from both sides. Instead of fighting over who gets the credit, let’s try sharing it.”[iv]

There can be no greater distortion than a Republican calling for bipartisanship. Senator McCain’s call for bipartisanship and mutual cooperation is disingenuous.

It reminded me Senator Clinton’s supporters demanding Senator Obama to select her as the vice presidential nominee for the sake of unifying the party, except that it was Senator Clinton who divided the Democratic Party during the primaries.

Rip Van Winkle would have been moved by Senator McCain’s call for unity and cooperation if he woke from his long nap on the final day of the Republican convention. Mr. McCain wants to unite a country that was divided by the Republican Party over the last 28 years. The Republicans have refused to cooperate with the Democrats.

The divisiveness started with Senator McCain’s political hero, President Ronald Reagan, who demonized liberals, practically associating them with communists. President Bush (The First) denigrated liberalism, mocking his opponent Mike Dukakis for being a member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), an organization devoted to protecting the Bill of Rights.

But current New York Times op Ed columnist William Kristol was the philosophical godfather of the current Republican ideological movement. In a zero sum game in which one party must win, and the other party must suffer a crushing defeat, Mr. Kristol believes “what matters most is offense, crushing your opponents, carrying the day.”[v]

Mr. Kristol opposed President Clinton on every policy matter except for NAFTA. According to Mr. Kristol, the goal of the Republican Party should not be to find common ground to produce solutions to the countries problems. Instead, the goal of the Republicans is to “Defeat the Democrats, no matter what the issue, no matter what the consequences.”[vi]

This philosophical tactic was used to defeat President Clinton’s health care plan. Passage of the Clinton health care plan in any form would be disastrous,” wrote Mr. Kristol in the Wall Street Journal. “There is no health care crisis.” According to Mr. Kristol, “If we are to negotiate with Democrats over health care reform, it must be on our terms, not theirs.”[vii]

For years, the Republican Party campaigned against welfare. President Reagan spoke of the mythical Welfare Queen who drove a Cadillac while receiving public benefits. Yet Mr. Kristol encouraged Republicans not cooperate with President Clinton’s plan to “end welfare as we know it.”[viii]

Mr. Kristol argued Republicans should not compromise with the president under any circumstances. “Republicans should not busy themselves seeking promising signs or areas of possible agreement in the president’s plan. Instead, we should make plain what this welfare proposal amounts to: marginal tinkering…,” wrote Mr. Kristol in a strategy memo.[ix]

Imagine that, Republicans against welfare reform. The Republicans call that a flip-flop.

In 2000, President Bush campaigned as a politician who had experience working with Democrats in the Texas legislature. In 2004, after defeating Senator Kerry in the presidential election, President Bush extended his hand to the defeated Democrats, indicating he would be willing to work with the opposition party – as long as they agreed with his policies. In his eight years as President, Mr. Bush has rarely practiced the art of bipartisanship.

In his acceptance speech, Senator McCain attributed his failing campaign to his support for the troop escalation in Iraq (The Surge). “I fought for the right strategy and more troops in Iraq when it wasn’t a popular thing to do. And when the pundits said my campaign was finished, I said I’d rather lose an election than see my country lose a war.”[x]

Furthermore, the line about preferring to lose an election instead of losing a war is a Republican Party talking point initiated by Senator McCain. The talking point was designed to question Senator Obama’s patriotism. Also, Mr. McCain argued Mr. Obama was more concerned with personal glory than winning the war on terror.

Mr. McCain was magnanimous and conciliatory towards his opponent in the first part of his acceptance speech. “A word to Senator Obama and his supporters. We’ll go at it over the next two months,” said Mr. McCain. “That’s the nature of these contests, and there are big differences between us. But you have my respect and admiration. Despite our differences, much more unites us than divides us. We are fellow Americans, an association that means more to me than any other.”[xi]

The tone of the speech changed from magnanimity and conciliatory to cheap politics in the span of eight paragraphs.

Mr. McCain’s campaign was not in trouble because he believed our military needed to increase troop levels in Iraq. This is false. Except for Ron Paul, all of the Republican candidates were in favor of the surge. In addition, the Democrats in the House and Senate caved in to President Bush’s demand for troop escalation.

It was his comprehensive immigration reform legislation, co sponsored with Senator Ted Kennedy that almost killed off his campaign. Mr. McCain changed his position on immigration, and would vote against a bill he authored.[xii]

Senator McCain abandoned bipartisanship during the current presidential campaign in order to salvage the nomination.

Senator McCain is a self-proclaimed maverick who speaks of putting the interests of the country first, but in this instance he placed personal ambition ahead of his principles.

Mr. McCain uttered a falsehood about Senator Obama’s tax proposals. He claimed Senator Obama will raise taxes. Even Fox News said Mr. McCain’s assertion is false. In his acceptance speech, Mr. Obama said he would lower the taxes of 95% of the people, and he would cut capital gains taxes.

Senator McCain boasted his health care plan “will make it easier for more Americans to find and keep good health care insurance.”[xiii]

According to Mr. McCain, Senator Obama’s health care plan “will force small businesses to cut jobs, reduce wages, and force families into a government-run health care system where a bureaucrat stands between you and your doctor.”[xiv]

Mr. McCain’s health plan is flawed because he does not account for people with preexisting medical conditions obtaining health insurance, and he wants to maintain a system dependent on HMO’s. He said a bureaucrat will stand in the way of a patient and medical treatment, but an HMO currently stands in the way of a patient and medical treatment. HMO’s will make every effort to deny coverage.

Senator Obama’s health care plan is also flawed because he wants to include HMO’s in his plan. While Mr. Obama is willing to offer alternatives to Americans who cannot afford health insurance, I believe adopting a single payer, national heath insurance plan is the only way to solve the health care crisis. Simply stated, you go to the doctor, the government pays the bill.

Mr. McCain said Senator Obama voted for “corporate welfare bill for oil companies.” Not true. In 2005, Mr. Obama supported an energy bill that raised taxes on oil companies, “by about $300 million.” Furthermore, Senator Obama said he would remove tax breaks for oil companies.[xv]

Senator McCain, on the other hand, is in favor of reducing corporate taxes, including oil companies.[xvi]

Senator McCain’s energy policy is a not really new. He wants to construct 45 new nuclear power plants throughout the United States.[xvii] Mr. McCain wants to use antiquated technology to solve the energy and global climate change crisis.

Mr. McCain made another false statement regarding oil. “We are going to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries that don’t like us very much,” said Mr. McCain.[xviii]

In fact, the United States spent $536 billion on foreign oil in 2007 to all exporting nations, with “32% of U.S. oil imports from Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom.”[xix]

Senator McCain was right when he said developing new energy technologies would “create millions of new jobs, many in industries that will be the engine of our future prosperity; jobs that will be there when your children enter the workforce.”[xx] Senator Obama made the same argument in his acceptance speech.

Republicans continually mock former Vice President Gore’s concerns for the environment. And the Republicans mock Senator Obama’s plan to solve global warming. In her acceptance speech on September 3rd, Governor Palin said of Mr. Obama, “What does he actually seek to accomplish after he’s done turning back the waters and healing the planet?”[xxi]

Shouldn’t Senator McCain be mocked and ridiculed for saying in his acceptance speech, “We must use all resources and develop all technologies necessary to rescue our economy from the damage caused by rising oil prices and restore the health of our planet.”[xxii]

Mr. McCain offered solutions to our problems. He promised eliminate earmarks, or pork barrel projects from the federal budget and would veto appropriation bills containing earmarks.

The budget deficit will be approximately $200 billion in 2009. Earmarks constitute $16.9 billion dollars of the federal budget.[xxiii] You cannot balance the federal budget by reducing expenses by 8.5%.

Senator McCain proposed changes in unemployment benefits. “Government assistance for unemployed workers was designed for the economy of the 1950s,” said Mr. McCain. “That’s going to change on my watch.”[xxiv] But he did not specify how.

Senator McCain offered a policy proposal that appears to be a federal program designed to subsidize the incomes of workers who lose their jobs, and forced to take lower paying new jobs. “For workers in industries that have been hard hit, we’ll help make up part of the difference in wages between their old job and a temporary, lower-paid one while they receive retraining that will help them find secure new employment at a decent wage.”[xxv]

Isn’t that a new social welfare program, and aren’t Republicans against using tax revenue to finance social welfare programs? Interesting how the media did not report the potential creation of a new federal social welfare program.

There was a part of Mr. McCain’s speech that I thought was odd. “We believe everyone has something to contribute,” said Mr. McCain, “and deserves the opportunity to reach their God-given potential from the boy whose descendants arrived on the Mayflower to the Latina daughter of migrant workers. We’re all God’s children and we’re all Americans.”[xxvi]

In a country as diverse as ours, Senator McCain could only mention the descendants from the Mayflower and immigrants from Latin America? What about the dreams of African Americans, Asians and Jews? Makes you wonder if he envisions a country made up of white people and their Latin servants.

If you read and study the text of the speech, you will realize it was not Senator McCain’s finest effort. The constant applause and watching Mr. McCain struggle with the teleprompter serve as a distraction.

The speech is not memorable because it does not contain a vision of where Mr. McCain intends to lead our country. Talking about change, about fighting for the good cause, about victory without specific proposals, making false and misleading statements is empty rhetoric.




[i] Transcript: John McCain Speech, NPR, September 5, 2008.
[ii] Transcript: John McCain Speech, NPR, September 5, 2008.
[iii] Transcript: John McCain Speech, NPR, September 5, 2008.
[iv] Transcript: John McCain Speech, NPR, September 5, 2008.
[v] Jon Meacham, “The GOP’s Master Strategist,” The Washington Monthly, September 1, 1994.
[vi] Jon Meacham, “The GOP’s Master Strategist,” The Washington Monthly, September 1, 1994.
[vii] Jon Meacham, “The GOP’s Master Strategist,” The Washington Monthly, September 1, 1994.
[viii] Jon Meacham, “The GOP’s Master Strategist,” The Washington Monthly, September 1, 1994.
[ix] Jon Meacham, “The GOP’s Master Strategist,” The Washington Monthly, September 1, 1994.
[x] Transcript: John McCain Speech, NPR, September 5, 2008.
[xi] Transcript: John McCain Speech, NPR, September 5, 2008.
[xii] “McCain Would Rather Lose an Election Than Win a War,” The Washington Post, September 6, 2008.
[xiii] “Fact Checking McCain,” FactCheck.org, September 5, 2008.
[xiv] “Fact Checking McCain,” FactCheck.org, September 5, 2008.
[xv] “Fact Checking McCain,” FactCheck.org, September 5, 2008.
[xvi] “Fact Checking McCain,” FactCheck.org, September 5, 2008.
[xvii] “Fact Checking McCain,” FactCheck.org, September 5, 2008.
[xviii] “Fact Checking McCain,” FactCheck.org, September 5, 2008.
[xix] “Fact Checking McCain,” FactCheck.org, September 5, 2008.
[xx] Transcript: John McCain Speech, NPR, September 5, 2008.
[xxi] “Fact Checking McCain,” FactCheck.org, September 5, 2008.
[xxii] “Fact Checking McCain,” FactCheck.org, September 5, 2008.
[xxiii] “Fact Checking McCain,” FactCheck.org, September 5, 2008.
[xxiv] Transcript: John McCain Speech, NPR, September 5, 2008.
[xxv] Transcript: John McCain Speech, NPR, September 5, 2008.
[xxvi] Transcript: John McCain Speech, NPR, September 5, 2008.