John McCain's acceptance speech: "We have failed you. Re-elect us."

John McCain's acceptance speech at the Republican Convention, after kudos to the unnamed 41st and 43rd Presidents, and even Barack Obama and Joe Biden, was less a celebration of the G.O.P. than an admission of failure. He hammered away at the failures of the Bush administration over and over and over. After this speech, it's hard to imagine George Bush ever campaigning for McCain/Palin. I've never heard anything like it. It wasn't a great speech, but then John McCain is not a great orator. He didn't offer a lot of substance, but he probably got the job done. And he left the democrats an incredible array of sound bites on failed Republican policies.

Even his own party blanched at the excoriation and abuse he heaped upon the Bush Administration and all of their enablers (including, of course, many Democrats):

Of the 67 paragraphs in his speech, six focused on Barack Obama. One of those paragraphs praised Obama, and five took issue with his policy. But the most interesting paragraph was one that was met with near silence from the assembled multitude.

He did mention his predecessors, George Bush, although he could not bring himself to actually name them:

"I’m grateful to the President for leading us in those dark days following the worst attack on American soil in our history, and keeping us safe from another attack many thought was inevitable; and to the First Lady, Laura Bush, a model of grace and kindness in public and in private. And I’m grateful to the 41st President and his bride of 63 years, and for their outstanding example of honorable service to our country. "

And then, McCain began to talk about his own President, his own party, and the failed policies of the last eight Republican, years.

"I fight to restore the pride and principles of our party. We were elected to change Washington, and we let Washington change us. We lost the trust of the American people when some Republicans gave in to the temptations of corruption."

"We’re going to recover the people’s trust by standing up again for the values Americans admire. The party of Lincoln, Roosevelt and Reagan is going to get back to basics."

"We need to change the way government does almost everything"

"I know some of you have been left behind in the changing economy and it often seems your government hasn’t even noticed."

"We have to catch up to history, and we have to change the way we do business in Washington."

"All you ever asked of government is to stand on your side, not in your way."

"when we tell you we’re going to change Washington, and stop leaving our country’s problems for some unluckier generation to fix, you can count on it."

"I’ve fought corruption, and it didn’t matter if the culprits were Democrats or Republicans. They violated their public trust, and had to be held accountable. I’ve fought big spenders in both parties, who waste your money on things you neither need nor want, while you struggle to buy groceries, fill your gas tank and make your mortgage payment.
"

"I’ve fought to get million dollar checks out of our elections. I’ve fought lobbyists who stole from Indian tribes [Jack note: coincidentally, yesterday, Jack Abramoff received an additional four years in prison]. I fought crooked deals in the Pentagon. I fought tobacco companies and trial lawyers, drug companies and union bosses."

"We lost their trust, when we valued our power over our principles."

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