McCain Hits a Home Run at CPAC

Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, John McCain made his case to the Hard Right of his Party. First off, he echoed Ronald Reagan with the following quote from the Gipper:

“A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency or simply to swell its numbers.”

This statement has been used against McCain by Talk Radio lately to question whether he is a true conservative, so I thought it significant to open with this line.

Throughout the speech he received loud and energetic applause from the audience, not what i expected. A few boos erupted from the crowd when immigration was mentioned, but was soon drowned out by the cheers, especially after he promised:

"I will secure the border first!"

He reminded how Hillary and Obama had plans to greatly increase the size of government but vowed "I will reduce it!" as well as declaring he will not sign any Bill with an Earmark. A bold statement indeed.

He closed with an astonishing defense of liberty, echoing his Vietnam POW days when he knew what it was to lose his freedom. It's sad we haven't heard the same defense of free will coming from the Democrats for decades, not since the JFK Era, whose ideals they claim to cherish and follow.

Oh, and Romney bows out with a great finale "“If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention … I’d forestall the launch of a national campaign and, frankly, I’d be making it easier for Sen. Clinton or Obama to win. Frankly, in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.”