John McCain

“ The war in which they fight has divided Congress and the American people. But it has divided no American in their admiration for them. We all honor them. We are all -- those who supported the decision that placed them in harm's way and those who opposed it - we are all humbled by their example, and chastened in our prideful conviction that we, too, in our own way, have offered our country some good service. It may be true or it may not, but no matter how measurable our own contributions to this blessed and beautiful country, they are a poor imitation of theirs. ”

“ We will continue to pressure the dictatorship, continue to stand by you, and continue to support freedom in Belarus. Freedom in Belarus may come quickly, and no one would be more overjoyed than I. But it also might take years, and we are prepared for that possibility as well.
The fight for freedom and a better life in Belarus is difficult, and you know that better than anyone. We admire your courage and your inner strength, and we will not forget you. One day your country will reassume its proud place as a free and democratic nation. History and the world’s democracies are on your side. ”

“ Does any honest observer believe those challenges will be easier to confront and at lesser cost in American blood and treasure if the United States accepts defeat in Iraq?
We all agree a military solution alone will not solve the problems of Iraq. There must be a political agreement among Iraqis that allows all groups to participate in the building of their nation, to share in its resources and to live in peace with each other. But without greater security imposed by the United States military and the Iraqi Army, there can be no political solution. ”

“ If I am so fortunate as to be the Republican nominee for President, I will offer Americans, in what will be a very challenging and spirited contest, a clearly conservative approach to governing. I will make my case to voters, no matter what state they reside in, in the same way. I will not obscure my positions from voters who I fear might not share them. I will stand on my convictions, my conservative convictions, and trust in the good sense of the voters, and in my confidence that conservative principles still appeal to a majority of Americans, Republicans, Independents and Reagan Democrats. ”

“ Serious and far-reaching reforms are needed in so many areas of government to meet our own challenges in our own time.
The irony is that Americans have been experiencing a lot of change in their lives attributable to these historic events, and some of those changes have distressed many American families — job loss, failing schools, prohibitively expensive health care, pensions at risk, entitlement programs approaching bankruptcy, rising gas and food prices, to name a few. But your government often acts as if it is completely unaware of the changes and hardships in your lives. ”

“ We, Americans stand for something in this world. We stand for a vision of human happiness and potential, of human freedom, based on limiting the powers of government and respecting the rule of law.
Those are the ideals I fought for in my youth, and that I fight for today, at less personal risk than faced by the Americans who now stand a post in foreign countries in defense of our interests and ideals. We best honor those who are fighting and dying in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan by not losing our way. ”

“ Ronald Reagan never feared anyone who came here to earn a piece of the American dream by his or her industry, talent and loyalty to our ideals. Patriotism in this country is more than nationalism. It has never been about blood or soil. It is a shared commitment to an ideal - that all people are given by their Creator inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. As long as people pledged their sincere allegiance to that sublime ideal, Ronald Reagan did not denounce them as alien, he called them his countrymen. ”

“ We are an unfinished nation. We must take our place in the enterprise of renewal, giving in our time our counsel, our labor and our passion to the enduring task of making our nation and this world a better place. We must prove again, as those who came before us proved, that a people free to act in their own interests will perceive their interests in an enlightened way, will live as one nation, in a kinship of ideals, and make of our power and wealth a civilization for the ages, a civilization in which all people share in the promise and responsibilities of freedom. ”

“ We let trade and globalization be politicized at our own peril. Today, despite all the defeatist rhetoric, America is the world's biggest exporter, importer, producer, saver, investor, manufacturer and innovator. Americans do not shy from the challenge of competition: they welcome it. Because of that, we attract foreign investment from all over the world. Our government should welcome competition as the people do, and not resort to mindless protectionism. ”

“ If we choose to lose in Iraq, one of the many dire consequences will be a surge of anther type: a surge of al Qaeda into Afghanistan. The level of violence will increase, casualties will increase, and political progress will slow. How long will it then take before the same advocates of surrender in Iraq, begin demanding an end to our mission in Afghanistan, and a "surge in diplomacy" aimed at a negotiated stalemate with the Taliban?
It is no less true today than it has been in the past: defeatism will not buy peace in our time. It will only make our future less secure and our world less safe. ”

“ It is honorable for Americans to help those struggling for their freedom throughout the world. From the shipyard workers fighting for solidarity at Gdansk to the freedom fighters in Afghanistan to the Cory Achene's of developing nations, we must support those struggling for their freedom because it is our heritage. Just as other nations supported our struggle for freedom over 200 years ago.
Honor. It is dishonorable for this nation to sell Central America down the river to communism. ”

“ I would submit that in the great marketplace of ideas we call public discourse, truth is a premium that we cannot sacrifice. Through these practices, the lobbyists distorted the truth, not only with false messages, but also with fake messengers.
Many cast blame only on the lobbying industry. But, we should not forget that we, as Members, owe it to the American people to conduct ourselves in a way that reinforces, rather than diminishes, the public's faith and confidence in Congress. ”

“ But all of us have a responsibility to withstand despair and the allure of partisanship to make sound, informed judgments about how to proceed from here, and to defer our own interests and political considerations to what is in the best interests of our country. Presidents don't lose wars. Political parties don't lose wars. Nations lose wars, my friends, and nations suffer the consequences. And those consequences are far more serious than a lost election.
To defend ourselves in this war and the global struggle against terrorism we must do everything better and smarter than we did before. ”

“ Hypocrisy, my friends, is the most obvious of political sins. And the people will punish it. We were elected to reduce the size of government and enlarge the sphere of free and private initiative. Then we lavished money, in a time of war, on thousands of projects of dubious, if any, public value. We responded to a problem facing some Americans by providing every retired American with a prescription drug benefit, and adding another trillion dollars to a bankrupt entitlement. We increased the size of government in the false hope that we could bribe the public into keeping us in office. ”

“ Will this nation's elected leaders make the politically hard but strategically vital decision to give General Petraeus our full support and do what is necessary to succeed in Iraq? Or will we decide to take advantage of the public's frustration, accept defeat, and hope that whatever the cost to our security the politics of defeat will work out better for us than our opponents? For my part, I would rather lose a campaign than a war. ”

“ This is an historic election, and I recognize the special significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight.
I've always believed that America offers opportunities to all who have the industry and will to seize it. Sen. Obama believes that, too. But we both recognize that though we have come a long way from the old injustices that once stained our nation's reputation and denied some Americans the full blessings of American citizenship, the memory of them still had the power to wound. ”

“ Thank you, it's a great pleasure to be here today. My friends, more than twenty-five years after Ronald Reagan rededicated our national energies to the principles of personal, political, and economic freedom, his legacy has helped to change the world profoundly.
We have proven that empowering free markets and free people is the bulwark of liberty and the surest means to prosperity. We have helped other countries embrace our free market principles, and they have flourished beyond their wildest imaginations. But the United States remains the most prosperous country on earth. ”

“ I seek the office with the humility of a man who cannot forget my country saved me. I'll reach out my hand to anyone, Republican or Democrat, who will help me change what needs to be changed; fix what needs to be fixed; and give this country a government as capable and good as the people it is supposed to serve. There is a time to campaign, and a time to govern. If I'm elected President, the era of the permanent campaign of the last sixteen years will end. The era of reform and problem solving will begin. ”

“ Milinkevich and his allies believe that Belarus can reassume its rightful place as a proud European country. They know that any leader who must reign through fear and intimidation has no right to claim legitimacy in the name of his people. Mr. Milinkevich and the other opposition members stand as proof that, for all his fervor, Mr. Lukashenko is, at his core, anti-Belarus. The real patriots, the real lovers of a proud country, are those brave men and women who stand up for their fundamental human and political rights, and the millions more who silently follow them. ”