McConnell Center Distinguished Speaker Series
Senator John McCain
2009
Gary Gregg: [00:00:00] Good morning. My name is Gary Gregg, and I’m Director of
the McConnell Center here at the University of Louisville. What a pleasure it is to
welcome you here with us today on this beautiful Veterans Day. I want to thank you for
fighting the urge to go get your flu shot this morning when you were in that line. I’m
thrilled that so many of you are already here, and I’m sure some more will be on their
way.
Since 1991, McConnell Center has been attracting the very best young leaders in
the Commonwealth and bringing educational programs to the greater Louisville
community. Today it’s our great pleasure to have with us U.S. Senator John McCain. I
can’t imagine someone we’d rather have with us on this Veterans Day than the man who
has served our nation so admirably, so heroically, for so many years.
Today we also launch a major new project, the Senator Mitch McConnell and
Elaine L. Chao Archives and related Civic Education Gallery. You each have a brochure,
I hope, for that new facility, and we’re very much hoping you come to visit us tomorrow
when we have an open house and spend an hour or more with us then. I think I’m
certainly justified in saying that there is no other place like it in the region. We’ve built a
truly state-of-the-art facility for the education of our young leaders and American
citizens. There are computer interactives, two really, really fine films, a beautiful
research room, walls and exhibit spaces filled with historic documents, imagery,
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memorabilia, and lessons in constitutional government. So please come visit us
tomorrow or visit us anytime. Whenever Ekstrom Library is open, it will be open.
If I could ask you now to please turn your cell phones off or turn them on vibrate,
I would appreciate it. Ladies and gentlemen, please rise and welcome President James
Ramsey, followed by Provost Shirley Willihnganz, the Honorable Elaine L. Chao, our
senior senator, Mitch McConnell, and Arizona’s senior senator, John McCain. [applause]
President Ramsey, I think you’ll take note that was for me. [audience laughter] Please
remain standing for the posting of our national colors by the University of Louisville
Army and Air Force ROTC cadets.
You may be seated. Ladies and gentlemen, this day and all the great things that
are happening on this really wonderful campus would not be possible without the tireless
work and the constant support of UofL’s seventeenth president. Please join me in
thanking and welcoming President Jim Ramsey. [applause]
Jim Ramsey: [00:05:43] Thank you. Today is a very special day in the life of our
university. Welcome to our campus and thank you to each of you for being here with us.
Veterans Day. Veterans Day and the distinguished United States Senator John
McCain, the most recognized, the most renown veteran of all here to be with us today.
First, I want to thank the McConnell Center for making this event possible. As you heard
a little bit in the introduction from Gary before we came out, a number of years ago,
Senator McConnell had a vision to truly enhance the educational experience of the very
best students in our state, a vision that included his alma mater and the creation of the
McConnell Scholar Program and the McConnell Center. Gary Gregg, we want to thank
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you for your leadership, for you’ve been critical to making sure that this vision has
become reality. Would each of you join me in thanking Gary and the McConnell Center
for making this day possible. [applause]
As many of you know, each fall we head out on the road and do our fall outreach
and visit high schools and high school students from Pikeville to Paducah, and
everywhere we go, the teachers, the counselors, the principals, and foremost of all, the
very best students across our state ask about the McConnell Scholars Program, and, in
fact, the exact words of the very best students across the state is, “I want to be a
McConnell.”
[00:07:30] The second thing I’d like to do is again remind us Veterans Day, a day
to pause from our routine and to recognize and say thank you to our veterans. The
University of Louisville as an institution understands our responsibility, our obligation to
our veterans, a responsibility to ensure that they have every opportunity to start or to
renew their educational experiences.
Some time ago, I received a letter from a UofL student, a returning veteran. I
believe he was age thirty-one, coming back to campus after having been away for many
years. This individual had some suggestions on how we could do things a little
differently, maybe a little better, to smooth the transition for our veterans coming back
and interacting on a day-to-day basis with our undergraduates. As I always do when I
receive a letter, I forwarded it to our outstanding provost, Dr. Shirley Willihnganz. Soon,
before I knew it, we had created an Office of Military and Veterans Student Services to
help veterans through the enrollment process, to give them academic and student life
support and be a single point of contact at the University of Louisville.
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As a result of these and other efforts, we’ve been selected by G.I. Jobs magazine
as a veterans-friendly university. Only 15 percent of colleges and universities in the
country have been so designated. We have over 750 veterans enrolled as students on our
campus, and last Wednesday night we hosted a new event honoring those who served.
This will become an annual event at the University of Louisville so that a part of our
annual tradition is to recognize and say thanks to these very special students.
[00:09:27] Third, as Gary has already mentioned to you, this is a landmark day for
UofL because later this morning we’re going to dedicate the Center’s Mitch McConnell
and Elaine Chao Archives. This facility will serve as a first-class resource for teachers,
students, and researchers who want to learn more about the workings of our government
and public policy. There is no greater gift an individual can give than their papers, their
memorabilia, their photos of their lifetime work. It is an investment in the future of our
students and other scholars.
So, first, Elaine, I want to say to you, thank you. We are honored. You and your
family are an inspiration to each of us. We’re honored today that again on campus we
have your father, Dr. James Chao, your sister, Grace and her husband, Gordon, and we
thank you all for your friendship and all that you have done for us. Would you, Elaine,
please stand along with your family so that we can thank the Chaos for being with us and
for all that they have done. [applause]
Lastly, Mitch, I wish there was more that I could say than “Thank you.” We’re
proud of you as a graduate of the University of Louisville. We’re proud of your many,
many accomplishments, and as I have said on many occasions, no institution could have a
better friend than Senator Mitch McConnell. It is a great honor for me to introduce to
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you now Senator Mitch McConnell. [applause]
Senator Mitch McConnell: [00:11:37] Thank you very much, Jim, for that very kind
introduction. It’s, of course, wonderful to be here with Elaine and her family, and I want
to also—I’ll say more about this later at the Archives’ opening, but how deeply I
appreciate the marvelous work that Jim Ramsey and Shirley Willihnganz have done. Of
course, the McConnell Center clearly wouldn’t be what it is today without Gary Gregg,
so, Gary, thank you so much.
For twenty-three years, I’ve served alongside our next speaker, one of the bestknown and most-admired men in America. His résumé is well known: hero, public
servant, and presidential candidate. But I’m here this morning to introduce Senator John
McCain as a colleague and as a friend. Welcome to Kentucky, John. The
Commonwealth gratefully welcomes you back. In fact, you had a pretty good experience
here last November and by a very large margin at that. [applause] From my point of
view, Kentucky called that one right, and that election had one very significant
consolation, however, for me: I have the privilege of continuing to serve alongside one of
the true leaders of our generation in the U.S. Senate.
John McCain knows that public service is a noble calling, that the offices we hold
must be honored and treated with respect, and that is important in life, to fight for a cause
that is larger than yourself. John’s a man who is defined by his sense of duty, his sense
of honor, and his sense of right and wrong. These are not virtues that arise spontaneously
or transform with the whims of the day. They’ve been forged through years of testing,
and they’ve guided John through unspeakable times.
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Four decades ago as a naval aviator, John McCain was captured and held as a
prisoner of war by the North Vietnamese. They held him for over five and a half years.
At one point, only a few months after he was taken prisoner, John’s captors offered him
an early release. It was not a gift; it was an attempt to dishonor and demoralize by
tempting John, the son of a prominent admiral, to violate the military’s Code of Conduct
that says prisoners of war are to be released in the order they were captured. But they
obviously did not understand what kind of man they held. Lieutenant Commander John
McCain stood firm and said no and endured a prison camp for five more years.
[00:14:54] Standing here on Veterans Day 2009, more than forty years later, I
know he does not regret his decision, and those of us who admire him still stand in awe at
the courage John and his fellow POWs demonstrated. John brings that kind of honor and
integrity whenever he serves his country, whether in uniform or in the U.S. Senate. We
each benefit from his example. John’s life proves that the best way through obstacles is
to remain true to your principles. That is the path John has followed even when the costs
were high.
I’ve been privileged to work alongside John in the United States Senate, and now
it’s my pleasure to welcome him to Kentucky and the McConnell Center. Ladies and
gentlemen, Senator John McCain. [applause]
Senator John McCain: [00:16:02] Thank you all very much. Thank you very much, and
thank you, Mitch, for those kind words. President Ramsey, thank you, and, Shirley
Willihnganz, thank you. And Deborah Skaggs, Gary Gregg, thank you, and thank all of
you for being here this morning.
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I thank especially Senator McConnell for inviting me, and to the brains of the
McConnell outfit, his wife, Secretary Chao. [audience laughter] Thank you, Elaine.
You know, Mitch and Elaine are exceptionally capable and devoted public servants,
they’re a credit to Kentucky and our party, and I consider their friendship an honor. As
Mitch can attest to, I can sometimes be a bit of a challenge to Senate leaders of both
parties, so thanks also, Mitch, for your patience and the courtesy you’ve shown me over
the years, even in moments when I’ve severely tested your good will.
[00:17:16] It’s a privilege to be with all of you on this Veterans Day and to offer a
small tribute to the courage and character of veterans here and throughout America who
risk their lives so that our country could be secure in its freedom. You know as well as I
do the world we live in remains a dangerous and uncertain one, but it is a better world
than our fathers inherited and their fathers before them, a world purchased at great and
terrible cost by sacrifices on killing grounds that are now green fields and quiet beaches
in peaceful corners of the world. We should be proud of what they did, proud and
humble, humble in the knowledge that we enjoy our freedom because of the devotion of
Americans who sacrificed greatly to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and
prosperity.
Americans for whom duty, honor, their comrades, and love of country were
dearer to them than life itself. At Gettysburg, Belleau Wood, Iwo Jima, and Midway,
Normandy and the Ardennes Forest, the Chosin Reservoir, Khe Sanh, and Ia Drang
Valley, Kandahar, and Fallujah, all these battles, all these grim tests of courage and
character, have made a legend of the combat veterans’ devotion to duty in every
community in America. It is a lesson in courage and patriotism that helps instruct those
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who defend our country today in their duty, and it instructs those of us who don’t have
the privilege and the burden of bearing arms for our country.
[00:19:11] Every Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery, soldiers from
the 3rd U.S. Infantry Brigade place a small American flag at the headstone of more than a
quarter of a million graves, headstones that bear the names of every ethnic origin, that
mask the final resting places of professional soldiers and conscripts, rich and poor,
Christian, Jew, and Muslim, believer and nonbeliever, dark skinned and white, city
dwellers and people from small towns and rural communities, teachers and machinists,
day laborers, and presidents. Families in every place in America have a relative or
ancestor buried there. Besides their common humanity, only one thing for certain
connects each of the men and women who are interred at Arlington and with their fellow
veterans resting in all our cemeteries and in foreign fields around the world: they love
their country and risk everything to defend her.
Like many Americans of later generations, I can never seem to read enough
histories of the Second World War and accounts of the heroism of Americans for whom,
as Admiral Nimitz said of the Marines at Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common
virtue. I’m fascinated by television documentaries of the war and drawn especially to the
faces of its veterans as they struggle on camera to describe their experiences.
Understandably, they often become emotional and are unable to continue the interview.
Some of them had gone on to live lives of great distinction after the war. Some lived
more obscure but no less honorable lives. But as they reached their sunset, the
accomplishments or disappointments of their peacetime years don’t seem as important to
them as the memory of what they did, what they suffered for the sake of others when they
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were young and brave.
The memories of personal triumphs or setbacks aren’t, to them, an adequate
account of their long years; it is the memory of war they return to, the memory that gave
their lives its greatest honor and its saddest regrets, its most revered ones and its most
terrible experiences. They return to hard times, times of pain, suffering, loss, violence,
and fear. They return to the places where they risked everything, absolutely everything,
for the country that sent them there. No later success ever outshown its distinction or
later defeat taken it from them. It is still there and vivid to them to the end of their days.
[00:22:28] In the upheaval of war, things changed. War is a remorseless
scavenger, hacking through jungles of defeat, pretense, and self-delusion to find truth,
some of it ugly, some of it starkly beautiful, to find virtue and expose inequity where we
never expect them to reside. No other human experience exists on the same plane. It is a
surpassing irony that war, for all its horror and heroism, provides the soldier with every
human experience. Experiences that usually take a lifetime to know are all felt, and felt
intensely, in one brief passage of life.
Anyone who loses a loved one knows what great sorrow feels like. Anyone who
gives life to a child knows what great joy feels like. The combat veteran knows what
great loss and great joy feels like when they occur in the same moment. It can be
transforming. However glorious the cause, security, liberty, conquering tyranny, it does
not define the experience of war. War mocks our idealized conceptions of glory, whether
they are genuine and worthy of something less. War has its own truths, and if glory can
be found in war, it is a different concept altogether. It is a hard-pressed, bloody, and
soiled glory, steely and forbearing. It is decency and love persisting amid awful human
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degradation and unsurpassed suffering, misery, and cruelty. It is discovering that we
belong to something bigger than ourselves, that our individual identity tested, injured,
and changed by war, is not our only cherished possession, and that something is not only
an ideal but a community, a fraternity of arms.
[00:24:45] Veterans were bound by duty and military discipline to endure and
overcome for their country’s cause, but their strongest loyalty, the bond that must not
break, was to the cause that was theirs alone: each other. It was through loyalty to their
comrades that they served their nation. When their war was over, they might have the
largest but not exclusive claim on their nation’s success, but their claim is shorn of all
romance, all nostalgia for the crucible in which it was won. From that crucible, they have
but one prize, one honor, one glory, that they had withstood the savagery and losses of
war and were found worthy by the men who stood with them. I can think of no greater
accolade. When the time came for them to answer their country’s call and fight on a field
they did not know, they came. And on small islands, in dense jungles, on steep
mountainsides, and in the air and on the sea, they served well the country that sent them
there. In the fog of hard battles won and lost, they held high a lantern of courage and
faith that illuminated the way home with honor.
History doesn’t remember all of them as individuals, we don’t even know where
they all rest, but we must not forget what they did and the debt we owe them. America
doesn’t depend on the heroism of every citizen, but all of us should be worthy of the
sacrifices made on our behalf. We have to love our freedom, not just for the private
opportunities it provides, but for the goodness it makes possible. We have to love it
unconstrained by fear or selfishness. We have to love it as much, even if not as
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heroically as the brave Americans who defended us at the risk and often the cost of their
lives, we must love it enough to serve its interests and ideals in whatever way our
abilities permit and our conscience requires. We must never forget that it’s an honor to
live in a country that was so well and so bravely defended by such patriots. May God
bless them, the living and the fallen, as he blessed us with their service.
Thank you. [applause]
Gregg: [00:28:04] Thank you, Senator McCain, for helping us understand and
remember, and in that memory may our best virtues be renewed.
There are lots of questions that have been submitted today, and he is looking
forward to taking them. He really didn’t want to give that speech. He wanted to have a
conversation, but we made him give a speech anyway, and you can see why. We have
two students that will be asking the questions today on behalf of the audience, Kirk
Laughlin, who is Chair of the McConnell Scholars, and Mary Kate Lindsey, who is vice
chair.
Mary Kate, if you will please ask the first question.
Mary Kate Lindsey: [00:28:42] Senator, thank you again on behalf of the University of
Louisville, my fellow McConnell Scholars. We really appreciate you being here with us
today.
The first question comes from Elizabeth Nufca [phonetic] from Louisville,
Kentucky. She said, “Senator McCain, your book, Faith of My Fathers, was such an
inspiration to me. However, in the wake of the tragedy at Fort Hood and the casualties
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overseas, how would you inspire me, a twenty-six-year-old female, to join the cause?”
McCain: [00:29:10] Well, let me say that we all know that what happened at Fort Hood
is one of the not only great tragedies, but also a tragedy we cannot allow to reoccur. I
mean, it’s unacceptable to have a situation exist such as existed, and there will be
investigations about it. I am not prepared to reach conclusions until that investigation is
completed, but I think one thing is pretty obvious, and that is that there were signs that
this individual had some very disturbing behavior patterns which should have been
alerted to the proper authorities and actions should have been taken.
I understand that hindsight is 20/20, but I think—and this may sound a little harsh,
but I think we ought to make sure that political correctness never impedes national
security or impacts it. [applause] And I probably should stop with that, but, you know,
this individual volunteered to join the United States military. He received medical
training on the taxpayers’ dime, and that makes it especially galling to me that he should
do the terrible thing that he did.
By the way, I was at Fort Hood yesterday, and it’s deeply moving, and all of us
have our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends and comrades of those
who sacrificed. And also, finally, I believe it was an act of terror. [applause]
Laughlin: [00:31:30] Senator McCain, I, too, would like to thank you for joining us here
this morning here in the Commonwealth. Our second question comes from Second
Lieutenant Matthew Sortling [phonetic], who would like to know what advice would you
give young officers entering into today’s military.
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McCain: [00:31:45] My advice would—first of all, first, I would express my
appreciation for their willingness to serve. And, by the way, my friends, a small item that
I think is of interest, I’m sure you’ve heard time and time again about the terrible strain
on the military and how it’s difficult to keep good people in the military, and it is a
terrible strain on the military and their families. It is. We are asking people to do things
that in many respects we’ve never asked people to do since World War II. But a
fundamental fact is that recruitment and retention are at an all-time high, which I think is
a testimony to the willingness of this generation of Americans to serve their country. It
may be more and more intense than any generation that I have ever had the opportunity
of knowing, and I say that with great respect to all other generations. Recruitment and
retention, and, of course, some of it has to do with the bad economy, but that does not
account for the fact that we have the highest-quality individual America can produce that
are serving in the military today. They are the best equipped, the best trained, and the
most professional of any that we have ever experienced. [applause]
[00:33:06] And let me also say what matters to the men and women in the
military. In the war in which I fought, unfortunately, the depth of antiwar feeling spilled
over into mistreatment or certainly disregard of the men and women who were serving in
the military. That contributed to the difficulties that some Vietnam veterans had in being
able to come all the way home. This war, no matter how Americans feel about it, I’m
very happy to report to you that with the rarest of exceptions, all of us are proud and
honor the men and women who serve in the military. All I can say to that young man
you’re speaking to is that I would always try to live up to the principles and the record of
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those who have gone before, and they’re abundant, and that I’m very grateful for their
service. For an old guy like me to give them advice is a bit presumptuous. [applause]
Lindsey: [00:34:19] Our next question comes from Robin Zipperel [phonetic]. She says,
“Senator, what do you believe needs to be done in Afghanistan in this war on terrorism
overall?”
McCain: [00:34:28] I think it’s very important that the President of the United States
make a decision as to what resources are necessary to implement the strategy in
Afghanistan that will succeed. I think it’s important to us never to forget that those who
perpetrated the acts of 9/11 and killed thousands of Americans were trained and spawned
in Afghanistan, and we cannot allow Afghanistan to return to a base for attacks against
the United States of America and our allies.
The President of the United States, during the campaign and since, has said this
was a good war and a necessary war, etc., and in March, the president announced the
strategy, which is basically General McChrystal’s strategy. Now, the dispute or debate
seems to center around number of troops. Numbers of troops are not the whole strategy,
in fact, only part of it. We learned in Iraq and we’ve learned in other counterinsurgency
experiences, unless you provide a secure environment for the people to carry on their
normal lives politically, economically, socially, and every other way, then you don’t
succeed. And a counterterrorism strategy, which means go out and kill bad guys and
return to the base, does not work. We tried that for several years in Iraq. It doesn’t work.
In order to provide that environment of security for the people of Afghanistan, it
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requires resources, a part of which is a sufficient number of troops. And the worst thing
we can do—the worst thing we can do—is have half measures which send our young
men and women into harm’s way but are not sufficient resources and sufficient numbers
in order to get the job done. I fear that more than a complete pullout, because at least a
complete pullout, you’re taking, at least for a short period of time, Americans out of
harm’s way.
[00:36:52] So, look, General McChrystal and General Petraeus and Admiral
Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have all issued a strong
recommendation for—we all know, it’s been throughout the media—around 40,000
troops. I don’t know if that’s the exact number or not. I’m not enough of a tactician to
know that. But I do know that unless we have sufficient resources, which is sufficient
number of troops, we will face greater threats throughout the region, much less to the
United States of America. And it’s making our allies uneasy. It’s making the men and
women who are serving in the military uneasy because they’re not sure what the strategy
is going to be.
So some of us—in fact, all the Republican members of the Senate Armed Services
Committee—just yesterday wrote a letter to the president asking him to make that
decision, particularly in light of the fact the strategy was announced last March. We’re
now into November, as we know. I don’t think it’s appropriate for me or any other
member of Congress to tell the president what to do. The president’s most important job
is commander-in-chief, and I don’t pretend to do that, but I do pretend to argue
strenuously that the decision be made, and then, of course, Congress plays its role of
providing the necessary appropriations authorization, etc.
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[00:38:26] So, again, I hope that the president understands that our allies in the
region are very uncertain about what we’re going to do. And remember, Pakistanis and
others, they’re in the region. They have to stay. They can’t leave. And we left once
before, we left once before after the Russians were driven out of Afghanistan, and chaos
and the Taliban ensued. So I feel very strongly that we owe it to the men and women in
the military and the national security interests of the United States of America to have
that decision made and made as soon as possible. [applause]
Laughlin: [00:39:15] Thank you, Senator. Our next question is a little lengthy, so if
you’ll bear with me. The NDAA Act included a number of provisions for veterans,
including Chapter 61 retirees, SBP/DIC offset elimination, and benefits for all disabled
retired veterans. These supposedly passed the House of Representatives but were
dropped in the Senate because of Senator Coburn’s hold on the measure because he and
others believes the bill is too costly. It seems we can pay billions for bank bailouts, but
eliminate veterans legislation. Why? And is there any hope that these veterans issues
will be passed later?
McCain: [00:39:52] Those of you that don’t follow the inner workings and head
mechanisms of the Congress of the United States—and you’re fortunate to do so—there’s
legislation pending that has to do with additional veterans benefits, and that legislation
has been held up by Senator Coburn of Oklahoma, not on the grounds that he is in any
way opposed to providing our veterans with whatever they need; it’s because, again, we
are authorizing programs that we don’t pay for.
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[00:40:29] My friends, the reason why—I think it’s 17 percent of the American
people approve of Congress, and I haven’t met one yet that approves of Congress.
[audience laughter] I’m sure they’re out there. If you approve of Congress, please raise
your—anyway. [audience laughter] Is because the American people are smarter than we
in Washington give them credit for. They see what we’re committing is generational
theft. There’s a $9 trillion ten-year deficit that was just bookkeeping error, was raised
from 7 to 9 trillion dollars. We’re about to pass a bill on healthcare or—I hope we’re not
about to pass a bill—that’s another trillion dollars of cost to the taxpayers, must less all of
the other $787 billion stimulus. The list goes on.
[00:41:25] I’m glad that the president and the Democrats don’t know what comes
after trillion. [audience laughter and applause] We have to give credit to one of our
Senate colleagues, Senator Judd Gregg, who’s probably one of the most strongest on the
budget, called the healthcare reform bill “No child left with a dime.” [audience laughter]
So, anyway.
So, look, I go down to the floor, and I go down to the floor with every one of
these appropriations bills, and so does Senator Coburn, and we look at these earmarks
and pork-barrel projects, and the billions and billions and billions of dollars, and, my
friends, it has bred corruption in Washington. We have former members of Congress
residing in federal prison. We have members of Congress that are under investigation by
the Justice Department because of this earmarking which then leads to corruption.
So all I can say is that Senator Coburn and I and Senator McConnell and many
others would like to see these programs paid for. Is there anybody that thinks we can’t
reduce government spending in a number of areas? Do you think that there isn’t so many
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of these projects that we could cut back on? Isn’t there waste, fraud, and abuse in the
hundreds of billions of dollars just in Medicare alone that we could maybe take that
money and then fund the much needed programs, rather than commit generational theft
on our children, on our grandchildren, which is exactly what we’re doing now?
[00:43:11] There’s no economist that sees a way out of the deficit that we are in.
Already you’re seeing a weakening of the dollar, and history shows that no family, no
company, no business, no country can keep spending more than it takes in without
ultimately paying a price. And the price would be weakening of the dollar, followed by
inflation, which is the greatest enemy of middle-income America.
I’m sorry for the long answer, but whenever you oppose one of these nice
programs, then, of course, that special interest homes in on you and you are criticized.
We’ve got to stop spending our children and our grandchildren’s heritage. We owe it to
them. [applause]
Lindsey: [00:44:07] This next question comes from Alicia Mueller [phonetic]. She says,
“How can the public get government to work together? It’s like watching a sinking ship
at times.”
McCain: [00:44:14] Repeat that.
Lindsey: [00:44:16] “How can the public get the government to work together? It’s like
watching a sinking ship at times.”
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McCain: [00:44:22] I think that the way that we can best work together, frankly, is to sit
down at the negotiating table and do what “Tip” O’Neill and Ronald Reagan did many,
many years ago. Many years ago, Social Security—back in 1982, ’83, this was—Social
Security was going broke. It was going broke. Tip O’Neill and Ronald Reagan sat down
together and they came up with a solution. They walked out together and they said,
“We’re saving Social Security.” That’s what the American people want from us. But we
have to be treated as partners. Elections have consequences. I’m not complaining. By
the way, every place I go, people say, “I voted for you. I voted for you.” I’m going to
demand a recount if this keeps up. [audience laughter]
[00:45:12] Now that I’m on a roll, I’d like to ask your sympathy for the mothers
of the state of Arizona, the families, because Barry Goldwater from Arizona ran for
President of the United States. Morris Udall from Arizona ran for President of the United
States. Bruce Babbitt from Arizona ran for President of the United States. I from
Arizona ran for President of the United States. Arizona may be the only state in America
where mothers don’t tell their children that someday they can grow up and be President
of the United States. [audience laughter and applause]
Look, we’re asking for, maybe not John McCain, but maybe to have the
Republican Leader in the United States Senate go into Harry Reid’s office. You know
what’s happening in Harry Reid’s office now? There’s some members of the
administration, there is some key Democrats, and they’re sitting around a table and
they’re coming up with their version of healthcare reform. Is Senator McConnell there?
Is Judd Gregg there? Is our senior members on the Finance Committee like Chuck
Grassley and others there? No, they’re not in the room. And this is the same president
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that in October, a year ago last October, said on healthcare reform specifically, said, “I
will have the C-SPAN cameras in the room during the negotiations between Republicans
and Democrats so that the American people will know who’s on the side of the
pharmaceutical companies and who’s on the side of the American people.” That is
almost a direct quote from then-candidate Obama. I’m still waiting for the C-SPAN
cameras and I’m waiting for Senator McConnell to be invited into the room and say,
“What’s your input into healthcare reform in America?” That’s what I’m waiting for.
[applause]
Gregg: [00:47:17] Well, Senator, it seems that our hour has almost drawn to a close, so
this will have to be the last question. But before I ask it, I just want to say that the giant
stacks of cards that we’ve gotten, that there have been many veterans and others in this
room that have offered their thanks to you for your service to this country, and we also
just want to reiterate our thanks to you for joining us here in the Commonwealth this
morning on Veterans Day. It’s a very special occasion, and we’re all deeply honored.
The last question comes from Mr. Alex Myers [phonetic] and it says, “I am
fourteen and almost an Eagle Scout. I want to go on to the Naval Academy. Any advice?
Thanks, John.” [audience laughter]
McCain: [00:47:50] My first bit of advice is do not do what I did at the Naval Academy.
[audience laughter] I didn’t have the most demerits of anyone who ever attended the
Naval Academy, but I believe I was in the top ten. [audience laughter] And also, by the
way, I’m sure most of you know that there is one reliable predictor of success in life, and
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that is reaching the level of Eagle Scout. [applause] Scouting remains the finest, I think
one of the finest things that any young person can engage in.
[00:48:30] I guess, you know, that one of the things that particularly when we get
a little older we’re very free with is advice and counsel, but I really would suggest that
serving a cause greater than yourself is the one bit of advice. The greatest rewards I’ve
had in my life was serving interests and causes that I believed in and had really little to do
with direct benefit to me, but the long-term benefit of being involved in things you
believe in and willing to really lay it on the line has been probably the most satisfactory
aspect of my life.
I think also that it’s important that we do, as I said in my prepared remarks, look
at the example of those who have served before us and those who are serving today. I
mentioned about the finest military that we have ever had. On Fourth of July—and could
I end with this quick story? On Fourth of July 2007, Lindsey Graham, who, as many of
you know, is also a reserve air force officer, and I were in Baghdad, and General Petraeus
invited us to a ceremony of reenlistment of some 350 brave young Americans whose time
of service was up and could have gone home from Iraq but chose to reenlist and stay and
fight in Iraq. Remarkable. And it was quite a ceremony.
By the way, there was also along with that a ceremony of 132 people who were
Green Card holders who were receiving their citizenship on the Fourth of July. As you
know, the military has a program for people who are here legally with Green Cards can
join the military and have an accelerated path to citizenship. There was supposed to be
132 of them. Unfortunately, there was only 128 because four had been killed in the
previous few days.
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[00:50:56] I was asked to say a few words, and I was proud to do so. But I’ll
never forget when General David Petraeus spoke to those young men and women who
are reenlisting to stay and fight for a cause greater than themselves, I was so deeply
moved by the relationship between General Petraeus and those men and women. It was
more than respect and it was more than affection. It’s hard to describe. And when I see
this nation produce leaders such as General David Petraeus, in all the difficulties and
challenges we have around the world, I’m very confident about the future of this nation.
Thank you, and God bless. [applause]
Ramsey: [00:52:19] I’m going to ask Dr. Willihnganz if she’ll join me at the podium,
and Senator McCain, if you would come back to the podium.
While they’re moving this way, I think it would be wonderful at this time if all of
our veterans, our students who are veterans and all veterans that are with us, would stand
and let us express our appreciation to them for their service and commitment to our
country. [applause]
Senator McCain, again, thank you for being with us. Thank you for your remarks.
Thank you for your openness, your candor, and, most importantly, thank you for your
service to the United States of America. In appreciation for being here and for all that
you’ve done, we have a small token of our appreciation which Dr. Willihnganz would
like to present to you. Again, thank you very much. [applause]
Gregg: [00:54:08] Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming today. If I could ask you
to stay in your seats for a moment, you know we have a crazy traffic situation out there.
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We’re going to try to help you manage it as best we possibly can. Our Final Four ladies’
basketball team also needs this floor very quickly. So the people on the floor, we’re
going to ask you to move very quickly, unless you’re going to help pick up these chairs,
out—
[End of presentation]
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