McCain on the Lessons of War
John McCain continues his biographical tour in Jacksonville, Fla., today where he's expected to talk about lessons he learned about war.
"Before I went to war its meaning was obscure to me, hidden in the spare language of men who had gone to war before me and been changed forever by the experience," McCain will say according to his prepared remarks.
"I thought glory was the object of war, and all glory was self-glory. No more. For I had learned the truth: there are greater pursuits than self-seeking. Glory is not a conceit. It is not a decoration for valor. It is not a prize for being the strongest, the most clever, or the boldest. Glory belongs to the act of being constant to something greater than yourself, to the cause, to your principles, to the people on whom you rely, and who rely on you in return."
Jacksonville is where McCain was stationed before he shipped out for Vietnam and where he returned after being released as a prisoner of war. He's expected to tell stories about the friends and relationships he had while serving in Vietnam while reiterating his call to reform education, Medicare and Social Security and his ideas to simplify the tax code and free trade.
Meantime, last night, McCain's campaign swiftly responded to Hillary Clinton's new TV ad, which repeated the 3am theme she has used before to criticize McCain on the economy.
McCain's ad, which is not currently scheduled to run on TV yet, rips off the 3am theme and says, "It's 3 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep. But there's a phone ringing in the White House and this time the crisis is economic. Home foreclosures mounting, markets teetering. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama just said they'd solve the problem by raising your taxes. More money out of your pocket. John McCain has a better plan..."
Tomorrow, McCain takes a break from his bio tour to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in Memphis on the 40th anniversary of his death.