But it was written for him, as was Palin's, by the same guy.

Here's the important part that really highlights democratic values.  The personal part about his torture.  The part right from his heart, that no speech writer could fake.

"When I didn't get better, and was down to about a hundred pounds, they put me in a cell with two other Americans. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't even feed myself. They did it for me. I was beginning to learn the limits of my selfish independence. Those men saved my life."

"I fell in love with my country when I was a prisoner in someone else's. I loved it not just for the many comforts of life here. I loved it for its decency; for its faith in the wisdom, justice and goodness of its people. I loved it because it was not just a place, but an idea, a cause worth fighting for. I was never the same again. I wasn't my own man anymore. I was my country's."

This is what makes soldiers fight, they are fighting for the person next to them.  This is what makes union members fight on the picket line.  This is the altruism democrats start out with.

This is why McCain  had great respect from the left before he sided with the selfish policies of the bush administration.  You can tell he is sincere.  So why has he been sucked into the policies that do just the opposite.

Bush policies, that McCain voted for 95% of the time, put the wealthy and huge corporations way up on top financially, cutting their taxes, and push the poor amd middle class down, saying raise yourselves up on your own.  We can't help.

Just the opposite of the lesson McCain expresses so eloquently.

Fighting the wars that McCain hates (I believe him) for all the wrong reasons, oil and corporate profit, based on lies.  Employing kidnapping, torture, murder, and indefinite incarceration without trial as an official state policy.  Canceling the very heart of our legal rights, habeus corpus itself.

Using others self sacrificing patriotism for cynical corporate empire.  100s of thousands of lives lost for lies and profit.  And McCain has supported it all the way.

He is a great man, no doubt.  But his judgement does not match the wisdom he obviously has received at great personal sacrifice for the country he loves, and as Obama says, the country we all love.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

Obama writes his own speeches? News Flash!

Obama does largely write his own speeches.

You should vote for him.  He's smart.

Nice try. NO WAY IN HELL!!!!

Sorry I misspelled your name. I will not be voting for The One. The guy is nothing but an empty suit with a personality and a cult following. Both McCain and Palin are far more accomplished, and they are right on the issues. Well, Palin needs to work on McCain on some of the issues. Palin is very impressive, and she didn't ride her husband's coattails like Hillary Clinton. You people are scared to death of Palin, and it is why there is such a disgusting effort to destroy her. It won't work. She is woman, hear her roar! I love her. God, how I love this woman!

Having to face a leader who knows every detail of the policy issues at hand.  Someone who is two moves agead of him at every turn, instead of a dufus who "looks into his eyes" and decides to trust him.

Or a guy who needs Lieberman to whisper in his ear the most basic facts about foreign policy.  Will Lieberman "translate" for McCain in meetings with the chinese, russians, and indians?

Obama is a real world class leader, powered by a mind and heart that propelled him all the way to the top, with constant hard work.  No "born with a silver foot in his mouth" upbringing for Obama.

No Admiral father and grandfather getting him through the naval academy despite his screwup attitude.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

mreinbold, the women of my generation and many before worked and fought hard for women's "liberation."  Ms. Palin actually opposes many of the things we struggled for -- like reproductive rights, information, and access to birth control.

She is a far right evangelical Christian whose been believes the war in Iraq is "holy", who tried to fire a librarian who was unwilling to remove "objectionable" books from the town library.  Palin believes creationism should be taught in schools along with "abstinence only" sex education.  Ms. Palin does not represent most feminists.

Women's lib will lose much ground with a VP like her.

"We must be the change we wish to see in the world." -- Mahatma Ghandi

Doesn't sound like Hillary is really so crazy about helping the Messiah all that much. Do you for one minute think she really wants him to win? Her eyes are already on 2012, and he would be in her way. Now, a really accomplished woman, who didn't ride her husband's coattails, is also getting in her way. Poor Hillary! Palin will be the first woman president. YES, RIGHT ON! Who is really setting women back? Idiots like NOW (the NAGS). Real women don't need them. They have become irrelevant. Palin is the future. Get on board.

If he is so brilliant he probably doesn't need my vote. He will probably sweep all 57 states, anyway. He will get the asthmatics' vote by giving them all breathalyzers. This guy facing down Putin??? You know, this guy really isn't all that bright. Maybe he has a future as a Community Organizer.

Do we need CHANGE? Yes, is it Obama or McCain? NO! What we need to change is the "you're either LEFT or RIGHT" mentality. 100% of this great nation is neither LEFT or RIGHT. The majority of us are somwhere in the middle. So why do we subject ourselves to the governance shoved down our throats. Why should we have to choose the "lesser of two evils"? While I am stil for Paris it seems I will be forced to vote for one of these dillweeds. Just a little advice people...quit parroting what the media says..either LEFT or RIGHT. Use your own brain and make your own comments. And, give some thought to having other choices for PARTIES in the COUNTRY and not just TWO. Geesh!

the democratic party isn't leftist. obama's policies as stated barely register as "not center" by european or latin american standards. if you sit down and read his you might find yourself, like many americans might if they looked past the twinkle in his eye, thinking the proposals are a little cautious, a little too middle-of-the-road for the disastrous situation.

people don't say to themselves, when they read them, "this is radical. this is refreshing." they say, "it's not quite what i wanted but it's better than bush and i guess this is what it takes to get elected."

not "left."

It really is a shame the way John McCain has done a complete 180 over the last year or so.  If time travel were possible, I'm sure the McCain of 2000 would have some choice words for this new radical right-wing puppet.  He use to be one of my favorite politicians, especially given my libertarian opinions.  Now he is just a shell, selecting a highly unqualified VP (who would not have been selected had the she been a he), and abandoning so much of his principles in the name of election.

It's a shame we lost such a good right-wing environmentalist in the game of presidential elections.

It tops the Democrat ticket.

said it correctly. Obama wouldn't have been in the game if he were not black. Call us "racists" but you know it's true. Joe Biden called him "clean, bright, articulate, and a good looking guy" and the first African American presidential candidate to be so.

mreinbold,do you even follow politics?The republican party has pushed down the working class of this country and GIVEN huge tax breaks and breaks in the laws to Big Whatever.They have the money and the breaks that money insures.Working people have no such safety net.We have to buy our own insurance,food,medicines,and education for our children.Yes,I know so do the rich,but they have the money to have the best.We have to settle for what we can get.The republican party is the party that walks all over the Constitution and would be an oligarchy if they could.Both parties look down on the people of this country,and we do need another option.
 Right on green granny.Palin is just a pretty face with a petty attitude.She is for everything that bush has wanted.McCain is a hollow shell of a man.He was a screw-up in the academy and in flight training and that is why he got shot down in vietnam.

Why not ask why!?

Karl Marx couldn't have said it better.

Whether this person who ridicules the opinions of most readers here actually believes the drivel he espouses or is just a devil's advocate (no pun intended), it does provide a useful foil for enlightened people to practice explaining their values, recommendations and supportive examples or reasons.  
George Lakoff's book, Don't Think of an Elephant is a great book for helping turn your concerns into effective dialogue.