Written by: Beck

John McCain is up to bat. Updates to follow. Crowd is going wild.

Update: "I'm truly grateful for the privilege of addressing you."

Quoting FDR, "There's a mysterious cycle in human events. Of some generations much is given. Of others generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny."

McCain's speech is rather poetic. His use of language is the best I've heard yet from either convention. He has that precious knack to use a large, broad vocabulary effortlessly and naturally.

Update: "Only the most deluded of us can doubt the necessity of this war... We must fight. We must."

"All Americans must share a resolve to see this war through to a just end. We must not be complacent at moments of success, and we must not despair at set backs." It goes on. I can't type fast enough. Everything in this speech thus far has been quotable.

Update: "We were attacked not for something we'd done, but for who we are... the notion that the people are sovereign. Not the army, not the government, not kings, mullahs, or tyrants, but the people."

"In that moment we were not rich or poor, we were not liberal or conservative, we were not two different countries, we were Americans."

Literally, every line from this speech is quote-worthy. This is great stuff. It's really a tragedy that it's not being carried by the networks.

In other news, what's up with his left cheek? He looks like he must've had his jaw broken at some point. He looks like he perpetually has a chaw in. Sorry, got distracted there. I won't let it happen again.

"And as we've been a friend to other countries in moments of their perils, so we have reason to expect their solidarity with us in this moment of struggle." Take that France."

"I do not doubt the sincerity of our Democratic friends, and they should not doubt ours."

"Our president is willing to work will all nations who are willing to help us defeat this scourge that confronts us all."

"There is no avoiding this war. We tried that, and our reluctance cost us dearly."

Blogger has stopped responding. Great timing. Hopefully this is getting out.

Evidently everyone on the planet suddenly feels compelled to post a blog post. Blogger isn't responding. So I'll just keep typing.

Update: McCain is now going over how the European nations and UN continued to do business with Saddam and how Saddam continued to defy inspections and to shoot at American planes until the last day he was in office.

"... and certainly not [take the word of/trust] a disingenuous film maker who would have us believe [Camera is on Michael Moore now. He's shrugging. Now the audience is chanting 4 more years. McCain can't go on. He's having to ask for silence] That line was so good I'll use it again. Certainly not a disingenuous film maker who would have us believe that Saddam's Iraq was an oasis of peace when in fact it was a place of indescribable cruelty, torture chambers, mass graves, and prisons that destroyed the lives of the small children inside their walls."

Update: Blogger back up. Looks like a server reboot.

"We have to love our country."

"No American will ever forget what happened on September 11th... It shook us from our complacency from the belief that the end of the Cold War had ushered in an era of security and tranquility."

Update: "We are Americans first, Americans last, and Americans always." "Let us argue our differences, but remember, we are not enemies, we are comrades in a war against a real enemy, and take courage from the knowledge that our military superiority is matched only by our ideals and our incomperable love for them."

"They fight for hatred of humanity. We fight for love of freedom and justice."

"We're Americans, and we'll never surrender." Why couldn't this guy be our president?