McCain's Speech

Greeted with embarrassingly intense applause, we watched John McCain accept his party's nomination for President of the United States. McCain is not a dynamic speaker and his delivery does not reach the oratory levels of his opponent but he does stand for principles that we can respect:

We believe in low taxes; spending discipline, and open markets. We believe in rewarding hard work and risk takers and letting people keep the fruits of their labor.

We believe in a strong defense, work, faith, service, a culture of life, personal responsibility, the rule of law, and judges who dispense justice impartially and don't legislate from the bench. We believe in the values of families, neighborhoods and communities.

We believe in a government that unleashes the creativity and initiative of Americans. Government that doesn't make your choices for you, but works to make sure you have more choices to make for yourself.

I've never known exactly what politicians mean by "culture of life" except that it is secret code for "I'm pro-life". Missing from McCain's speech were statements like this one:

"I have stated time after time after time that Roe v Wade was a bad decision, that I support a woman -- the rights of the unborn -- that I have fought for human rights and human dignity throughout my entire political career," McCain said. "To me, it's an issue of human rights and human dignity."

As he has in the past, he could have asserted,

"You can count on my active advocacy for the rights of the unborn."

But, he didn't. As a pro-life blogger, I've been disappointed with McCain's inconsistency on pro-life matters: his history of exceptions, support for embryonic stem cell research and attempt to remove pro-life principles from the Republican platform (note that he recently changed his position on the latter). McCain's message effectively emphasized his character and ability to lead but on the sanctity of human life his speech was flat. Perhaps the latter topic was simply taken for granted given the alternative in this election.

In the end, there is a sharp contrast between McCain's rejection of Roe v. Wade and Obama's rejection of laws that protect children who survive abortion attempts. Yes, is is true that ...

The National Abortion Rights League has given McCain a 0% rating. They refer to his voting record as "solidly anti-choice." In fact when you read what NARAL has to say, you ask why is there any controversy on the pro-life side. Would that the rest of the Senate would vote this way on pro-life issues.

... The bottom line is that a democrat in the White House, whether it is Obama or Hillary would be a disaster to the unborn children, to the medically dependent and disabled and to those who are vulnerable, whether they are the elderly or the infirm or the next Terri Schiavo. IF WE CARE about those potential situations, we must insure the election of John McCain.

The National Right to Life supports McCain's candidacy, suggesting,

"Senator John McCain, has consistently taken a strong pro-life position against abortion, has a strong pro-life voting record against abortion and opposes Roe v. Wade

And, the McCain presidency will put in place Supreme Court Justices who respect the constitution as strict constructionalists and McCain will reject taxpayer funding of abortion.

These are important.

If the posts on this blog are any indication, more than his speech could ever do the nomination of Sarah Palin as his running mate has energized pro-life voters.