McCain's Speech

John McCain gave is speech tonight. Transcript here. It was a strong defense of George Bush's handling of the War on Terror and an even stronger defense of the Iraq War. It also contained a dig at Michael Moore that I am sure will be in all the papers. Here are a few good parts, but the whole speech was stirring.

It's a big thing, this war. It's a fight between a just regard for human dignity and a malevolent force that defiles an honorable religion by disputing God's love for every soul on earth. It's a fight between right and wrong, good and evil. And should our enemies acquire for their arsenal the chemical, biological and nuclear weapons they seek, this war will become a much bigger thing. So it is, whether we wished it or not, that we have come to the test of our generation, to our rendezvous with destiny.

Powerful words reminding us of the threat we face. I call this bit of the speech the fuck France segment:

And, as we've been a good friend to other countries in moments of shared perils, so we have good reason to expect their solidarity with us in this struggle. That is what the President believes. And, thanks to his efforts we have received valuable assistance from many good friends around the globe, even if we have, at times, been disappointed with the reactions of some.

This is the section in which he begin his strongest defense of the Iraq War, and throws in the attack on Moore:

The years of keeping Saddam in a box were coming to a close. The international consensus that he be kept isolated and unarmed had eroded to the point that many critics of military action had decided the time had come again to do business with Saddam, despite his near daily attacks on our pilots, and his refusal, until his last day in power, to allow the unrestricted inspection of his arsenal. Our choice wasn't between a benign status quo and the bloodshed of war. It was between war and a graver threat. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Not our critics abroad. Not our political opponents. And certainly not a disingenuous film maker who would have us believe that Saddam's Iraq was an oasis of peace when in fact it was a place of indescribable cruelty, torture chambers, mass graves and prisons that destroyed the lives of the small children held inside their walls. Whether or not Saddam possessed the terrible weapons he once had and used, freed from international pressure and the threat of military action, he would have acquired them again.

I won't quote any more although there were several more good parts to it. I highly recommend you read it yourself. My thoughts in summary are that it was a very well delivered speech and a strong defense of George Bush and his foreign policy. Bush couldn't have asked for more from McCain on this. Also, it is definitely set a tone of attack and strongly backing up the President's policies. No apologies and no holds barred. I expect that the entire convention will follow this tone.