By Michael Rutschky
Published on January 30, 2008
Republican Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain made a campaign stop Jan. 22 at The Hartsell Arena on PJC’s Pensacola campus. The Arizona senator held a Florida Military Veteran’s Rally to meet with his supporters in Pensacola as he began his campaign to win the Florida primary election. He used the opportunity to discuss the economy and the war in Iraq.
“We are succeeding in Iraq,” McCain said. “Al Qaeda is on the run, but they are not defeated.”
McCain confessed that if it wasn’t for the war on terror and the war in Iraq, he might not have considered running for President. He said that he has the military experience needed to win the war, and promised that he could find Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden if elected. In addition, McCain would also expand the military to keep troop rotations on schedule, and keep America present in the Middle East for as long as necessary.
“I’d rather lose a campaign than lose a war,” said McCain.
McCain also advocated restraining government spending and keeping taxes low. He spoke passionately about improving health care for military veterans, noting that treating veterans well is an incentive for others to serve in the military. A military veteran himself, McCain lived in Pensacola briefly to attend flight school, and considers Florida the most patriotic state in the U.S.
“[Sen. McCain] knew that something very good was going to happen in his future, he just didn’t know what,” said Col. George “Bud” Day, who met McCain in a P.O.W. camp during the Vietnam war, “We have very high expectations that he’ll do well in Florida, proceed to the next series of elections, and come out of that the number one man.”