Purple People Vote

“Good morning, this is John McCain, speaking to you just 72 hours before the time for choosing.

Presidential elections have a way of settling on a few great questions as the moment of decision arrives, and this has happened in the closing days of the election of 2008.

We’ve learned that Barack Obama’s economic plan for America to redistribute the wealth of America with higher taxes. It took a working man in Ohio to finally get him to explain his economic plan in plain language. Senator Obama wants to “spread the wealth around.” He thinks that your job is to earn wealth, and the government’s job is to spread it.

I reject the ideology of redistributing wealth, and I always have. I believe that the only way to pull our economy out of this terrible time of worry and hardship is to spread opportunity. Low taxes reward effort and create jobs. We’re going to double the child deduction for working families. We will cut the capital gains tax. And we will cut business taxes to help create jobs, and keep American business in America.

At the same time, I’m going to make government finally live on a budget, just like you do, and I am going to enforce that discipline by the power of veto.

My fellow Americans, we’re going to get through this present economic crisis. And we will even come out stronger — without the corruption and arrogance that have overtaken both Washington and Wall Street. We’re going to pull through these hard times — and do it together, just as our country has done before.

And when that day arrives, we will find awaiting our country all of the same great challenges and dangers that were there all along. At a time when the jobs and financial security of our people seem at risk, it is hard to spare much thought even for the great and abiding concerns of this nation’s security, and the security of our friends and allies across the world. But these dangers have not gone away while we turned our attention elsewhere. And the next president will meet no greater test than defending America from these threats.

Victory must still be secured, in Iraq and Afghanistan. Senator Obama opposed removing the dictator in Iraq, and now obstinately opposes the need to defend the young democracy in that country — even with victory so clearly in sight. He cites as his most courageous moment in public life a speech he gave in 2002 — against a war resolution on which he had no vote, on a matter of national security for which he bore no responsibility. He hopes you will forget the votes he cast when he actually did have responsibility, his votes to prevent the strategy that is leading to victory, and to deny funding for the troops who are gaining that victory. And now he hopes that in the cloud of crisis at home you will forget the stakes in Iraq — the disaster and tragedy that would follow if American forces leave in retreat.

With terrorists still plotting new strikes across the world, millions of innocent lives are still at stake, including American lives. Our enemies’ violent ambitions must still be prevented — by American vigilance, by diplomacy and cooperation with our partners, and by force of arms as a last resort. In his four years in the Senate, two of them spent running for president, Barack Obama has displayed some impressive qualities. But the question is whether this is a man who has what it takes to protect America from Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran, and other grave threats in the world. And he has given you no reason to answer in the affirmative.

At the same time, Democrats in Congress have already proposed to cut defense spending by 25 percent. Even with our troops engaged in two wars, and with a force in need of rebuilding, we’re getting a glimpse of what one-party rule would look like under Obama, Pelosi, and Reid. Apparently it starts with lowering our defenses and raising our taxes.

At least when European nations chose the path of higher taxes and cutting defense, they knew that their security would be guaranteed by America. But if America takes the same path, who will guarantee our security?

We have passed through a difficult time, and more courage will be needed in the years ahead. But there is a direction to events, and the sacrifices of the present have not been in vain.

We will build on our hard-won victories to extend the security of our nation and of every nation that seeks to live in freedom. We will not yield to intimidation, and by our strength we will prevent threats from turning into tragedies. This is America’s work in the world, as it always has been in our finest moments. We are called still to spread liberty, to assure justice, to be the makers of peace. And this is the great work I will carry on as your president and commander in chief.

To do all of this, my fellow Americans, I need your help. I need your confidence. And I am asking for your vote.

Thank you for listening.”