Subject: [big campaign] Tracking Update: McCain Speech Kenner, LA 06/03/08
From: "Cammie Croft" <[email-masked]>
To: "big campaign" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 21:23:24 -0400
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

Hello Big Campaign,

Just off the phone with our tracker Evan who is on the ground in Kenner, LA
tonight.  Below are the notes from our call.

*BIG HIGHLIGHTS: *McCain addresses being a 'Bush Third Term,'  McCain tries
to brand himself as a reformer and the 'right kind of change'

*Kenner, LA - McCain Speech 06/03/08*

*Background Details:*
- Audience size approximately 3-400 people; mostly white crowd
- Event was set up pretty much for media, press riser took up 1/4 of room;
room very small overall
- Brass band played and cheerleaders entertained crowd before speech
- Former LA Gov. Buddy Roemer gave introductory remarks
- Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal introduced McCain
- Cindy McCain not seen at event
- Tracker had no problem getting into event
- Usual press -- traveling and local affiliates, no tables for print media,
local independent media website bayoubuzz.com in press section
- Ron Paul supporters at event

*Full Transcript *

Link:
http://thepage.time.com/transcript-of-mccains-remarks-in-kenner-louisiana/

Good evening from the great city of New Orleans. Tonight, we can say with
confidence the primary season is over, and the general election campaign has
begun. I commend both Senators Obama and Clinton for the long, hard race
they have run. Senator Obama has impressed many Americans with his eloquence
and his spirited campaign. Senator Clinton has earned great respect for her
tenacity and courage. The media often overlooked how compassionately she
spoke to the concerns and dreams of millions of Americans, and she deserves
a lot more appreciation than she sometimes received. As the father of three
daughters, I owe her a debt for inspiring millions of women to believe there
is no opportunity in this great country beyond their reach. I am proud to
call her my friend. Pundits and party elders have declared that Senator
Obama will be my opponent. He will be a formidable o ne. But I'm ready for
the challenge, and determined to run this race in a way that does credit to
our campaign and to the proud, decent and patriotic people I ask to lead.

The decision facing Americans in this election couldn't be more important to
the future security and prosperity of American families. This is, indeed, a
change election. No matter who wins this election, the direction of this
country is going to change dramatically. But, the choice is between the
right change and the wrong change; between going forward and going backward.

America has seen tough times before. We've always known how to get through
them. And we've always believed our best days are ahead of us. I believe
that still. But we must rise to the occasion, as we always have; change what
must be changed; and make the future better than the past.

The right change recognizes that many of the policies and institutions of
our government have failed. They have failed to keep up with the challenges
of our time because many of these policies were designed for the problems
and opportunities of the mid to late 20th Century, before the end of the
Cold War; before the revolution in information technology and rise of the
global economy. The right kind of change will initiate widespread and
innovative reforms in almost every area of government policy — health care,
energy, the environment, the tax code, our public schools, our
transportation system, disaster relief, government spending and regulation,
diplomacy, the military and intelligence services. 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. And when government does take notice, often it only makes
matters worse. For too long, we have let history outrun our government's
ability to keep up with it. The right change will stop impeding Americans
from doing what they have always done: overcome every obstacle to our
progress, turn challenges into opportunities, and by our own industry,
imagination and courage make a better country and a safer world th an we
inherited.

To keep our nation prosperous, strong and growing we have to rethink, reform
and reinvent: the way we educate our children; train our workers; deliver
health care services; support retirees; fuel our transportation network;
stimulate research and development; and harness new technologies.

To keep us safe we must rebuild the structure and mission of our military;
the capabilities of our intelligence and law enforcement agencies; the reach
and scope of our diplomacy; the capacity of all branches of government to
defend us. We need to strengthen our alliances, and preserve our moral
credibility.

We must also prepare, far better than we have, to respond quickly and
effectively to a natural calamity. When Americans confront a catastrophe
they have a right to expect basic competence from their government. Firemen
and policemen should be able to communicate with each other in an emergency.
We should be able to deliver bottled water to dehydrated babies and rescue
the infirm from a hospital with no electricity. Our disgraceful failure to
do so here in New Orleans exposed the incompetence of government at all
levels to meet even its most basic responsibilities.

The wrong change looks not to the future but to the past for solutions that
have failed us before and will surely fail us again. I have a few years on
my opponent, so I am surprised that a young man has bought in to so many
failed ideas. Like others before him, he seems to think government is the
answer to every problem; that government should take our resources and make
our decisions for us. That type of change doesn't trust Americans to know
what is right or what is in their own best interests. It's the attitude of
politicians who are sure of themselves but have little faith in the wisdom,
decency and common sense of free people. That attitude created the
unresponsive bureaucracies of big government in the first place. And that's
not change we can believe in.

You will hear from my opponent's campaign in every speech, every interview,
every press release that I'm running for President Bush's third term. You
will hear every policy of the President described as the Bush-McCain policy.
Why does Senator Obama believe it's so important to repeat that idea over
and over again? Because he knows it's very difficult to get Americans to
believe something they know is false. So he tries to drum it into your minds
by constantly repeating it rather than debate honestly the very different
directions he and I would take the country. But the American people didn't
get to know me yesterday, as they are just getting to know Senator Obama.
They know I have a long record of bipartisan problem solving. They've seen
me put our country before any President — before any party — before any
special interest — before my own interest. They might think me an imperfect
servant of our country, which I surely am. But I am her servant first, last
and always.

I have worked with the President to keep our nation safe. But he and I have
not seen eye to eye on many issues. We've disagreed over the conduct of the
war in Iraq and the treatment of detainees; over out of control government
spending and budget gimmicks; over energy policy and climate change; over
defense spending that favored defense contractors over the public good.

I disagreed strongly with the Bush administration's mismanagement of the war
in Iraq. I called for the change in strategy that is now, at last,
succeeding where the previous strategy had failed miserably. I was
criticized for doing so by Republicans. I was criticized by Democrats. I was
criticized by the press. But I don't answer to them. I answer to you. And I
would be ashamed to admit I knew what had to be done in Iraq to spare us
from a defeat that would endanger us for years, but I kept quiet because it
was too politically hard for me to do. No ambition is more important to me
than the security of the country I have defended all my adult life.

Senator Obama opposed the new strategy, and, after promising not to, voted
to deny funds to the soldiers who have done a brilliant and brave job of
carrying it out. Yet in the last year we have seen the success of that plan
as violence has fallen to a four year low; Sunni insurgents have joined us
in the fight against al Qaeda; the Iraqi Army has taken the lead in places
once lost to Sunni and Shia extremists; and the Iraqi Government has begun
to make progress toward political reconciliation.

None of this progress would have happened had we not changed course over a
year ago. And all of this progress would be lost if Senator Obama had his
way and began to withdraw our forces from Iraq without concern for
conditions on the ground and the advice of commanders in the field.
Americans ought to be concerned about the judgment of a presidential
candidate who says he's ready to talk, in person and without conditions,
with tyrants from Havana to Pyongyang, but hasn't traveled to Iraq to meet
with General Petraeus, and see for himself the progress he threatens to
reverse.

I know Americans are tired of this war. I don't oppose a reckless withdrawal
from Iraq because I'm indifferent to the suffering war inflicts on too many
American families. I hate war. And I know very personally how terrible its
costs are. But I know, too, that the course Senator Obama advocates could
draw us into a wider war with even greater sacrifices; put peace further out
of reach, and Americans back in harm's way.

I take America's economic security as seriously as I do her physical
security. For eight years the federal government has been on a spending
spree that added trillions to the national debt. It spends more and more of
your money on programs that have failed again and again to keep up with the
changes confronting American families. Extravagant spending on things that
are not the business of government indebts us to other nations; fuels
inflation; raises interest rates; and encourages irresponsibility. I have
opposed wasteful spending by both parties and the Bush administration.
Senator Obama has supported it and proposed more of his own. I want to
freeze discretionary spending until we have completed top to bottom reviews
of all federal programs to weed out failing ones. Senator Obama opposes that
reform. I opposed subsidies that favor big business over small farmers and
tariffs on imported products that have greatly increased the cost of food.
Senator Obama supports these billions of dollars in corporate subsidies and
the tariffs that have led to rising grocery bills for American families.
That's not change we can believe in.

No problem is more urgent today than America's dependence on foreign oil. It
threatens our security, our economy and our environment. The next President
must be willing to break completely with the energy policies not just of the
Bush Administration, but the administrations that preceded his, and lead a
great national campaign to put us on a course to energy independence. We
must unleash the creativity and genius of Americans, and encourage
industries to pursue alternative, non-polluting and renewable energy
sources, where demand will never exceed supply.

Senator Obama voted for the same policies that created the problem. In fact,
he voted for the energy bill promoted by President Bush and Vice President
Cheney, which gave even more breaks to the oil industry. I opposed it
because I know we won't achieve energy independence by repeating the
mistakes of the last half century. That's not change we can believe in.

With forward thinking Democrats and Republicans, I proposed a climate change
policy that would greatly reduce our dependence on oil. Our approach was
opposed by President Bush, and by leading Democrats, and it was defeated by
opposition from special interests that favor Republicans and those that
favor Democrats. Senator Obama might criticize special interests that give
more money to Republicans. But you won't often see him take on those that
favor him. If America is going to achieve energy independence, we need a
President with a record of putting the nation's interests before the special
interests of either party. I have that record. Senator Obama does not.

Senator Obama proposes to keep spending money on programs that make our
problems worse and create new ones that are modeled on big government
programs that created much of the fiscal mess we are in. He plans to pay for
these increases by raising taxes on seniors, parents, small business owners
and every American with even a modest investment in the market. He doesn't
trust us to make decisions for ourselves and wants the government to make
them for us. And that's not change we can believe in.

Senator Obama thinks we can improve health care by driving Americans into a
new system of government orders, regulations and mandates. I believe we can
make health care more available, affordable and responsive to patients by
breaking from inflationary practices, insurance regulations, and tax
policies that were designed generations ago, and by giving families more
choices over their care. His plan represents the old ways of government.
Mine trusts in the common sense of the American people.

Senator Obama pretends we can address the loss of manufacturing jobs by
repealing trade agreements and refusing to sign new ones; that we can build
a stronger economy by limiting access to our markets and giving up access to
foreign markets. The global economy exists and is not going away. We either
compete in it or we lose more jobs, more businesses, more dreams. We lose
the future. He's an intelligent man, and he must know how foolish it is to
think Americans can remain prosperous without opening new markets to our
goods and services. But he feels he must defer to the special interests that
support him. That's not change we can believe in.

Lowering trade barriers to American goods and services creates more and
better jobs; keeps inflation under control; keeps interest rates low; and
makes more goods affordable to more Americans. We won't compete successfully
by using old technology to produce old goods. We'll succeed by knowing what
to produce and inventing new technologies to produce it.

We are not people who believe only in the survival of the fittest. Work in
America is more than a paycheck; it a source of pride, self-reliance and
identity. But making empty promises to bring back lost jobs gives nothing to
the unemployed worker except false hope. That's not change we can believe
in. Reforming from top to bottom unemployment insurance and retraining
programs that were designed for the 1950s, making use of our community
colleges to train people for new opportunities will help workers who've lost
a job that won't come back, find a job that won't go away.

My friends, we're not a country that would rather go back than forward.
We're the world's leader, and leaders don't hide from history. They make
history. But if we're going to lead, we have to reform a government that has
lost its ability to help us do so. The solution to our problems isn't to
reach back to the 1960s and 70s for answers. In just a few years in office,
Senator Obama has accumulated the most liberal voting record in the Senate.
But the old, tired, big government policies he seeks to dust off and call
new won't work in a world that has changed dramatically since they were last
tried and failed. That's not change we can believe in.

The sweeping reforms of government we need won't occur unless we change the
political habits of Washington that have locked us in an endless cycle of
bickering and stalemate. Washington is consumed by a hyper-partisanship that
treats every serious issue as an opportunity to trade insults; impugn each
other's motives; and fight about the next election. This is the game
Washington plays. Both parties play it, as do the special interests that
support each side. The American people know it's not on the level. For all
the problems we face, what frustrates them most about Washington is they
don't think we're capable of serving the public interest before our personal
ambitions; that we fight for ourselves and not for them. They are sick of
the politics of selfishness, stalemate and delay, and they have every right
to be. We have to change not only government policies that have failed them,
but the political culture that produced them.

Both Senator Obama and I promise we will end Washington's stagnant,
unproductive partisanship. But one of us has a record of working to do that
and one of us doesn't. Americans have seen me put aside partisan and
personal interests to move this country forward. They haven't seen Senator
Obama do the same. For all his fine words and all his promise, he has never
taken the hard but right course of risking his own interests for yours; of
standing against the partisan rancor on his side to stand up for our
country. He is an impressive man, who makes a great first impression. But he
hasn't been willing to make the tough calls; to challenge his party; to risk
criticism from his supporters to bring real change to Washington. I have.

When members of my party refused to compromise not on principle but for
partisanship, I have sought to do so. When I fought corruption it didn't
matter to me if the culprits were Democrats or Republicans. I exposed it and
let the chips fall where they may. When I worked on campaign finance and
ethics reform, I did so with Democrats and Republicans, even though we were
criticized by other members of our parties, who preferred to keep things as
they were. I have never refused to work with Democrats simply for the sake
of partisanship. I've always known we belong to different parties, not
different countries. We are Americans before we are anything else.

I don't seek the presidency on the presumption I'm blessed with such
personal greatness that history has anointed me to save my country in its
hour of need. 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. From my first day in office, I'll work with anyone to make America
safe, prosperous and proud. And I won't care who gets the credit as long as
America gets the benefit.

I have seen Republicans and Democrats achieve great things together. When
the stakes were high and it mattered most, I've seen them work together in
common purpose, as we did in the weeks after September 11th. This kind of
cooperation has made all the difference at crucial turns in our history. It
has given us hope in difficult times. It has moved America forward. And
that, my friends, is the kind of change we need right now.

Thank you.
 --
Cammie L. Croft
Tracking/Media Monitoring Director
Progressive Media USA
[email-masked]
202-609-7679 (office)
206-999-3064 (cell)

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