...the threat of radical Islamic terrorism."

This is McCain talking.

Any president who does not regard this threat as transcending all others does not deserve to sit in the White House, for he or she does not take seriously enough the first and most basic duty a president has -- to protect the lives of the American people.

Sorry, John, but you just disqualified yourself, on the basis of not knowing what the job is. The "most basic duty a president has" is to defend the Constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

And the transcendent threat of our time is somebody like Bush, or you, under the influence of pencil-necked, needle-dicked, would-be Machiavellis, is going to continue to trash our Constitution, and run the country into the ground, facilitated by fear-mongering.

We learned through the tragic experience of September 11 that passive defense alone cannot protect us.

No, what we learned, or should have learned, is that smart criminals beat stupid police.

Oh, I know, Bushco moved with remarkable speed to cover up their incompetence, and frame the successful raid on NYC by islamists as an example of a "transcendent threat" that would require trashing the US Constitution, giving the President extraordinary "emergency" powers (for, oh, say the next century), and I know the craven US population bought it, because they have a god-given right to "feel safe"

but

No, John, the real lesson is that our highly paid, highly priveleged, various national police agencies just simply shit the bed, and no one was held accountable.

Success in Iraq and Afghanistan is the establishment of peaceful, stable, prosperous, democratic states that pose no threat to neighbors and contribute to the defeat of terrorists.

John, that sounds like nice stuff to have, I guess ...no, to be honest, I don't really give a shit about how Iraqis and Afghans manage to govern themselves, or whether they're nice to their neighbors, because I'm not in their neighborhood.

Write check to the Red Cross or something, but get the hell out of the way. We need to work on being the best America we can be. A culture of prosperity. A healthy economy. A national defense policy appropriate for a constitutional republic, not an empire.

"to protect the lives of the american people".

where the hell does it say that? defend the nation? sure. defend the constitution? absolutely. But "protect the lives of every man woman and child? really?....

"protect our lives" from what? everything? you mean like from being fat, not wearing seatbelts, and smoking?

from toxic pollution and dangerous products?

No wonder the "real" cons are suspicious of McCain, he wants government to protect every single person from everything.

here.

My conflict with McCain is that, in protecting the American people, he may actually mean Liberals too.

That is what pisses me off about him and tells me that he doesn't really plan to protect the constitution from domestic enemies.

Jack

but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.

- a sentiment that John McCain and the folks he's pandering to have abandoned

and "Don't Tread on Me"

have become

"Please, Daddy, Don't Let Them Hurt Me, I'll Do Whatever You Say, I'll Be Good, Please"