Too Broke To Laugh

If you’re like me and watched McCain give his concession speech on Tuesday night you couldn’t help, but feel for a man who truly loves America and watched his lifelong dream of becoming President vanish forever. John McCain gave an impassioned speech which spoke to his true love of America and though I could feel the disappointment which emanated from him that evening, I didn’t feel sorry for him. In fact I felt just the opposite, because John McCain is a very fortunate man.

A huge number of men who fought in Vietnam either died on the battlefield, suffered debilitating physical injuries, or were stricken with a devastating mental illness which crippled their lives.  The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans estimates that nearly 200,000 veterans are homeless on any given night and nearly 400,000 experience homelessness over the course of a year. The post war life of many veterans is not something to envy and is quite frankly a national disgrace.

John McCain not only survived a horrifying ordeal being held captive for years in Hanoi’s main Hoa Lo Prison, nicknamed the “Hanoi Hilton”, but he succeeded to a level in life few ever aspire to. The emotional and physical scars of a life at war never left John McCain, but he persevered through a difficult personal life including a divorce from his first wife Carol Shepp.

Despite all the setbacks John McCain suffered in his life and all the trying moments which might have crushed another under its weight, he ascended to great heights and almost grasped the Presidency. John McCain is a wealthy man, an honored man, a true American hero and when he dies will be provided a legendary funeral so deserved of his sacrifices for this country.

I voted for Barack Obama, but will always feel John McCain, while imperfect, deserves our respect and admiration.

Is there any doubt in your mind no matter who wins this election it will be disputed to the point the victory will feel like a loss? In my mind there can be no winner, only two losers, but one ascending to the White House with a veil of deception and trickery cloaked over the ‘winner’.

It has become virtually impossible to have a fair election whereby there is an undisputed victor and a gallant loser.  With all the problems with Diebold voting machines and the registration of ineligible voters from illegal aliens to convicts, no vote will be cast without a shadow of doubt surrounding its viability.

Make no mistake this will be a closely guarded, contested Presidential race which will at times divide the nation, the world and wreak havoc on the perception of Democracy. I am not looking forward to the next few weeks and ultimately election day, for there is far to much at stake and the bitter taste of the 2004 election has not left the mouths of so many people.

The loser of the 2008 election will be angry, the supporters reeling and the world will witness how a government is only as civilized as the people in power to preserve and protect it. I can only hope the 2008 election casts our great nation as the positive role model we so desperately need to be.

I will post the transcript and video as soon as I can make it available, but the line of the night was issued by McCain when speaking about Obama’s views of bigger government addressed him as “Senator O’Government”, then quickly corrected himself.

*** As promised the transcript from the third debate as provided by Hofstra:

“That’s big government at its best.
Now, 95 percent of the people in America will receive more money
under my plan because they will receive not only their present
benefits, which may be taxed, which will be taxed, but then you add
$5,000 onto it, except for those people who have the gold-plated
Cadillac insurance policies that have to do with cosmetic surgery and
transplants and all of those kinds of things.
And the good thing about this is they’ll be able to go across
America. The average cost of a health care insurance plan in America
today is $5,800. I’m going to give them $5,000 to take with them
wherever they want to go, and this will give them affordability.
This will give them availability. This will give them a chance
to choose their own futures, not have Senator Obama and government
decide that for them.
This really gets down to the fundamental difference in our
philosophies. If you notice that in all of this proposal, Senator –
government wants — Senator Obama wants government to do the job.
Senator Obama wants government to do the job. I want, Joe, you
to do the job.

Classic!

Here is the transcript for your own enjoyment.

debate_transcript