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September 8, 2008
Unconventional Attitude: The Republicans Inspire Us
Last Monday I thought that hurricane Gustav would wash out most of the Republican convention and second rate speeches would wash out the message. I have to confess that I wondered if there was a real message other than “I am not Obama.”
Mercifully, Gustav changed direction and intensity and the convention gained direction and real intensity. The message became clear.
Sarah Palin proved to be a real phenomenon. She is most reminiscent to me of Annie in “Annie Get Your Gun” the Irving Berlin classic, who sings to a male chauvinist:
“Anything you can do,
I can do better.
I can do anything
Better than you.
Anything you can be
I can be greater.
Sooner or later,
I'm greater than you.”
She also can, like Berlin’s Annie “shoot a partridge with a single cartridge.”
Palin certainly united the party – which is interesting since in 1910 a scandal known as the Ballinger-Pinchot affair (which involved illegal distributions of Alaskan coal land to a business syndicate) actually fractured the Republican Party, destroyed all friendship between Teddy Roosevelt and President Taft, and led to the election of Woodrow Wilson.
On Wednesday night, Palin was loaded for bear and with poise and confidence laid out the best energy plan of any legislator in either party. Along the way, by telling them she did not seek their favor or approval, she impaled her detractors in the mainstream media including the smut gazettes which featured stories and pictures of her daughter.
The rest of the convention was all about…..”Anything they can do we can do better.” And, they certainly laid out their case.
The speakers took aim at the opposition. Joseph Lieberman is slightly sanctimonious and a tad boring but loyal and right and courageous. Mitt Romney actually used the words Jihad and Islamic terrorism which were so absent from the overblown speeches of all the Democrats. The crowd roared in assent.
Rudy Giuliani and Lindsey Graham eviscerated Obama’s policies much to the chagrin of David Gergen and Donna Brazille, who never objected when the Democrats went ballistic against George Bush in the primary debates and at their convention.
Lindsay Graham spoke to the troops whose success in Iraq is traceable to the “surge” which John McCain and Joseph Lieberman supported. Even Barack Obama, who was a staunch critic of all government and defense policies with respect to Iraq, acknowledged, during an interview with Bill O’Reilly, that the “surge” was a success.
Cindy McCain was a real surprise. I had dismissed her as a “Barbiesque” figure without much profile of her own. In fact, she is a highly accomplished woman who has done so much good. She’s not competing with Hillary but the comparison is stark. Hillary thinks it takes a village and Cindy McCain visits and helps and lobbies for and supports those villages with populations that are suffering devastation, famine and epidemics. Her speech, like Michelle Obama’s, was a warm and personal tribute to her husband.
It was the candidate himself who inspired me. True, he got on the long talk express a mite. Then he made a point which is unforgettable.
There are many heroes in America. John Kennedy, Robert Dole, Charlie Rangel, Chuck Hagel, former Senator Jeremiah Denton all served our nation well and nobly. We are in their debt.
John McCain stated that our nation for which he fought and suffered owes him nothing. He considers that he is in debt to America for being that beacon of life and liberty which inspired him even in brutal captivity. That is the reason he pledged his life to public service….love of country….country first. What a man.
During World War II, President Roosevelt sent a letter to the families of the fallen. These were his words:
“He stands in a long line of patriots who have dared to die so that freedom might live and grow and increase its blessings. Freedom lives and through it he lives in a way that humbles the undertakings of most men.”
John McCain’s life and valor really humbles the undertakings of most men. Americans of all political stripes deserve a President that fights for their rights on safe ground. That’s McCain’s message, and that’s why I believe he deserves to win.
To paraphrase Michelle Obama, I have never been so proud of my political party. This is now the party that understands the enemy and will protect me and fight for freedom and increase its blessings. This is the party that eschews moral equivalence between innocent civilians and terrorists. This is the party that can free us from dependence on foreign oil. This is the party that understands security matters.
Usually I cringe when I see the silly hats and signs and hear the jingoistic chants and I am very cynical about the panaceas and promises proffered by all candidates and their cheerleaders. Something quite emotional overtook me when the Republican convention ended.
When the balloons began to fall from the rafters after McCain’s speech another classic Irving Berlin song came to mind. It was written in 1938 while Franklin Delano Roosevelt was President and 21 years before the Republican administration of Eisenhower officially made Alaska the 49th State on January 3, 1959.
It’s named “God Bless America.”
“God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.”
It’s the Democrats’ sweet home too. They just don’t know how to take care of it.
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Ruth S. King is a freelance writer who writes a monthly column in OUTPOST, the publication of Americans for a Safe Israel. Feedback: editorialdirector@familysecuritymatters.org.
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