FOXNews.com: Transcript of John McCain's speech at the RNC

FOXNews.com FOX News Network - We Report. You Decide. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Transcript of John McCain's speech at the RNC Aug 30th 2012, 00:35 The following is a transcript of Arizona Sen. John McCain's speech at the Republican National Convention on Aug. 29, 2012. MCCAIN:  Thank you, thank you.    (APPLAUSE)    Thank you.  Thank you very much.  It is an honor as always, my fellow Republicans, to join you at our national convention and add my voice to yours as we nominate the next president of the United States, my friend, Governor Mitt Romney.    (APPLAUSE)    I had hopes once of addressing under different circumstances, but our fellow Americans had another plan four years ago and I accept their decision.  I've been blessed for so long to play a role in our nation's affairs and I am conscious of the debt I owe America.  And I thank you for the honor.    (APPLAUSE)    When we nominate Mitt Romney, we do so with a greater purpose than winning an advantage for our party.  We charged him with the care of by a higher cause.  His election represents the best hopes for our country, and the world.    It is said that this election will turn on domestic and economic issues.  But what Mitt Romney knows, and what we know is the success at home also depends on our leadership in the world.  It is our willingness to shape world events for the better that has kept a safe, increased our prosperity, preserved our liberty and transformed human history.    At our best, America has led.  We have led by our example as a shining city on a hill.  We have lead in the direction of patriots from both parties.  We have led shoulder to shoulder with steadfast friends and allies.  We have led by giving voice to the voiceless, insisting that every human life has dignity, and aiding those brave souls who risk everything to secure the inalienable rights that are endowed to all by our creator.    We have...    (APPLAUSE)    We have led with generous hearts, moved by an abiding love of justice, to help others eradicate disease, lift themselves from poverty, live under laws of their own making, and determine their own destinies.    We have led when necessary with the armed might of freedom's defenders, and always we have led from the front, never from behind.    (APPLAUSE)    This is what makes America an exceptional nation.  It's not just a matter of who we are, it is the record of what we have done.  It is the responsibility that generations after generations of Americans has a firm and carried forward.  It is a cause that many Americans have sacrificed everything, absolutely everything to defend, and when they've gone into battle as they do today, they have done so with the conviction that the country that sent them there is worth their sacrifice, that it stands for something more than the sum of our individual interests.    May God bless all who have served, all who serve today as He has blessed us with their service.    (APPLAUSE)    We are now being tested by an array of threats that are more complex, more numerous, and just as deeply and deadly as I can recall in my lifetime.  We face a consequential choice, and make no mistake, it is a choice.  We can choose to follow a declining path toward a future that is dimmer and more dangerous than our past.  Or we can choose to reform our failing government, revitalize our ailing economy, and renew the foundations of our power and leadership in the world. That is what is at stake in this election.    (APPLAUSE)    Unfortunately, for four years -- for four years, we have drifted away from our proudest traditions of global leadership. Traditions that are truly bipartisan.  We've let the challenges we face at home and abroad become much harder to solve.  We can't afford to stay on that course any longer.  We can't afford to cause our friends and allies, from Latin America to Europe to Asia to the Middle East, and especially in Israel, a nation under existential threat, to doubt America's leadership.    (APPLAUSE)    We can't afford to give governments in Russia and China a veto over how we defend our interests and the progress of our values in the world.    (APPLAUSE)    We can't afford to have the security of our nation -- we can't afford to have the security of our nation and those who bravely defend it endangered because their government leaks the secrets of their heroic operations to the media.    (APPLAUSE)    I believe we cannot afford to substitute a political timetable to a military strategy.  By committing to withdraw from Afghanistan, the president has discouraged and emboldened our enemies, which is why our commanders did not recommend these decisions, and why they have said it puts our mission at much greater risk.  We can't afford another $500 billion in cuts in our defense budget on top of the nearly $500 billion in cuts that the president is already making.    (APPLAUSE)    His own secretary of defense has said that cutting our military by nearly $1 trillion would be devastating.  And yet, the president is playing no leadership role in preventing this crippling blow to our military.  A wise congressman from Wisconsin has said, ``Our fiscal policy and our foreign policy are on a collision course.''  And that man is our next vice- president, Paul Ryan.    (APPLAUSE)    But most of all, we can't afford to abandon the cause of human freedom.  When long suffering peoples demand liberation from their jailers and torturers and tyrants, the leader of the free world must stand with them.  Unfortunately, this is not happening.  When Iranians rose up by the millions against their repressive rulers, when day beseeched our president, chanting in English, ``Are you with us or are you with them?''  When the entire world watched as a brave young woman named Neda was shot and bled to death in a street in Tehran, the president missed an historic opportunity to throw America's full moral support behind an Iranian revolution that shared one of our highest interests: ridding Iran of a brutal dictatorship that terrorized the Middle East and threatens the world.    (APPLAUSE)    The situation is far worse in Syria.  What began as peaceful protests has now become 18 months later a savage and unfair fight. With the full backing of Iran and Hezbollah and Russia, with tanks and helicopters and fighter jets, Bashir Asaad is murdering men, women, and children.  More than 20,000 people have perished, extremists are gaining ground, and the conflict is becoming more dangerous by the day for our allies and for us.    In other times, when other courageous people fought for their freedom against sworn enemies of the United States, American presidents, both Republicans and Democrats, have acted to help them prevail.    (APPLAUSE)    Sadly -- sadly for the lonely voices of descent in Syria and Iran and elsewhere in the world will feel forgotten in their darkness and sadly for us, as well.  Our president is not being true to our values.    (APPLAUSE)    For the sake of the cause of freedom, for the sake of people who are willing to give their lives so their fellow citizens can determine their own futures and for the sake of our nation, the nation founded on the idea that all people everywhere have the right to freedom and justice.  We must return to our best traditions of American leadership and support those who face down the brutal tyranny of their oppressors and our enemies.    (APPLAUSE)    My (ph) across the world, people are seizing control of their own destinies.  They're liberating themselves from oppressive rulers and they want America's support.  They want America's assistance as they struggle to live in peace and security, to expand opportunity for themselves and their children, to replace the injustices of despots with the institutions of democracy and freedom.  America must be on the right side of history.    (APPLAUSE)    The demand for our leadership in the world has never been greater.  People don't want less of America, they want more. Everywhere I go in the world, people tell me that they still have faith in America.  What they want to know is whether we still faith in ourselves.    I trust that Mitt Romney has that faith and I trust him to lead us.    (APPLAUSE)    I -- I trust him to affirm our nation's exceptional character and responsibilities.    I trust him to know that our security and economic interests are inextricably tied to the progress of our values.    I trust him to know that if America doesn't lead, our advisories will and the world will go darker, poorer and much more dangerous.    I trust him to know that an America president always, always, always stands up for the rights and freedoms and justice of all people.    (APPLAUSE)    I trust Mitt Romney to know that good can triumph over evil, that justice can vanquish tyranny, that love can conquer hate, that the desire for freedom is eternal and universal and that America is still the best hope of mankind.    And now my fellow Americans, let's elect our next Commander in Chief and the next leader of the free world, my friend, Governor Mitt Romney.    (APPLAUSE)

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions