RUSH: Senator McCain just took the podium with raucous music, raucous crowd energy. The place is going nuts there in Dayton, Ohio. Let’s join it in progress and listen. (cheers and applause) The senator is looking genuinely happy today. (cheers and applause)
MCCAIN: Thank you.
RUSH: Well, I’m just describing this for you all who can’t see it, his wife is hugging him.
MCCAIN: Thank you.
CROWD: John McCain! John McCain! John McCain! John McCain!
MCCAIN: Thanks for reminding me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
CROWD: John McCain! John McCain! John McCain! John McCain! John McCain! John McCain!
RUSH: They won’t let him talk out there, folks, they’re too excited about all this.
MCCAIN: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for that wonderful welcome, and thank you. Let me tell you, I’m very happy.
CROWD: John McCain! John McCain! John McCain!
MCCAIN: Thank you. Twice is enough. Thank you.
RUSH: Crowd is trying to outdo Obama’s crowd. That’s what’s going on there.
MCCAIN: Thank you. Thank you. I’m very happy. I’m very happy today. To spend my birthday with you and to make an historic announcement in Dayton, a city built on hard, honest work of good people. (cheers and applause) Like the entire industrial Midwest, Dayton has contributed much to the prosperity and progress of America, and now, in these tough changing times, after all you’ve done for our country; you want your government to understand what you’re going through, to stand by your side and fight for you. And that’s what I intend to do. (cheers and applause)
RUSH: I hope he says what they’re ‘going through’ is too much liberalism.
MCCAIN: That’s why I’m running for president, to fight for you, to make government stand on your side and not in your way.
RUSH: All right! Against the libs. Say it. Say it!
MCCAIN: My friends, I’ve spent the last few months looking for a running mate who can best help me shake up Washington and make it start working again for the people that are counting on us. (cheers and applause) As I’m sure you know, I had many good people to choose from, all of them dedicated to this country and to getting us back on the road to prosperity and peace — and I am very grateful and honored by their willingness to serve with me. And I’m going to continue to rely on their support and counsel during this campaign, and after we win this election, when the real work begins (cheers and applause). But I could only choose one, and it’s with great pride and gratitude that I tell you, I have found the right partner to help me stand up to those who value their privileges over their responsibilities, who put power over principle and put their interests before your needs. (cheers and applause)
RUSH: He just bashed the liberals! All right!
MCCAIN: I picked someone with an outstanding reputation for standing up to special interests and entrenched bureaucracies, someone who has fought against corruption and the failed policies of the past, someone who stopped government from wasting taxpayers’ money on things they don’t want or need; and put it back to work for the people; someone with executive experience who has shown great tenacity and skill in tackling tough problems, especially our dangerous dependence on foreign oil. Someone who reached across the aisle and asked Republicans, Democrats, and independents to serve in government; someone with strong principles, a fighting spirit, and deep compassion. (cheers and applause) Someone who grew up in a decent, hardworking, middle-class family, whose father was an elementary school teacher and mother was the school secretary. They taught their children to care about others, to work hard, and to stand up with courage for the things you believe in. Both of them were coaches, too, and raised their children to excel at sports. (cheers and applause)
RUSH: Be careful. Biden will bloody her nose!
MCCAIN: And I’m sure they taught them skills that will surely come in handy over the next two months.
RUSH: That’s right!
MCCAIN: The person I’m about to introduce to you was a union member and is married to a union member and understands the problems, the hopes, and the values of working people; knows what it’s like to worry about mortgage payments and health care and the cost of gasoline and groceries; a stand-out high school point guard, a concerned citizen who became a member of the PTA; then a city council member; and then a mayor; and now a governor.
RUSH: Listen to this story. Obama cannot do this about himself. Nobody can tell us this about Obama, except Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers, and we know he doesn’t want them to tell. This is a great story. It’s exactly what I told you.
MCCAIN: Who beat the long odds to win a tough election on a message of reform and public integrity, and I am especially proud to say in the week we celebrate the anniversary of women’s suffrage, a devoted… (cheers and applause) a devoted wife and a mother of five. (cheers and applause) She’s not from these parts and she’s not from Washington. But when you get to know her, you’re going to be as impressed as I am. She’s got the grit, integrity, good sense, and fierce devotion to the common good that is exactly what we need in Washington today (cheers and applause).
RUSH: Everybody knows who it is. Bring her out there!
MCCAIN: She knows where she comes from, and she knows who she works for. She stands up for what’s right, and she doesn’t let anyone tell her to sit down. (cheers and applause) She’s fought oil companies and party bosses and do-nothing bureaucrats and anyone who puts their interests before the interests of the people she swore an oath to serve. She’s exactly who I need. She’s exactly who this country needs to help me fight… (cheers and applause) to help me fight the same old Washington politics of, ‘Me first and country second.’ My friends, and fellow Americans, I am very pleased and very privileged to introduce to you the next vice president of the United States (cheers and applause) Governor Sarah Palin of the great state of Alaska! (music)
RUSH: Okay, here she comes. She’s coming out with her family and her husband who works in the oil business helping to create the fuel that Obama uses to fly all over the country. We’ll take our commercial break here, so as not to screw up our affiliates. This applause is going to go on for a while. We’ll come back after the break and JIP her remarks and listen when we get back.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: This is going so well. She’s wearing a skirt, too, folks. She just introduced her family. Her husband and her celebrating their 20th anniversary today. We now join her remarks in progress.
PALIN: — admire most in this world. (applause) Along the way Todd and I have shared many blessings, and four out of five of them are here with us today. Our oldest son Track though, he’ll be following the presidential campaign from afar. On September 11th of last year, our son enlisted in the United States Army. (cheers and applause)
RUSH: This could not be better.
PALIN: Track now serves in an infantry brigade; and on September 11th, track will deploy to Iraq in the service of his country. And Todd and I are so proud of him and of all the fine men and women serving the country.
CROWD: (wild cheers and applause) USA! USA! USA! USA!
RUSH: If you’re just joining us, this is Sarah Palin, Alaska governor, McCain’s VP choice.
PALIN: Next to Todd is our daughter, Bristol; another daughter, Willow; our youngest daughter Piper; and over in their arms is our son, Trig, a beautiful baby boy. He was born just in April. His name is Trig Paxson Van Palin. Some of life’s greatest opportunities come unexpectedly, and this is certainly the case today. I never really set out to be involved in public affairs, much less to run for this office. My mom and dad both worked at the local elementary school, and my husband and I, we both grew up working with our hands. I was just your average hockey mom in Alaska. (applause)
RUSH: Hockey mom. Pistol-packing hockey mom!
PALIN: Raising our kids, serving as the team mom and coaching some basketball on the side, I got involved in the PTA, and then was elected to the city council, and then elected mayor of my hometown where my agenda was to stop wasteful spending, and cut property taxes and put the people first. (cheers and applause)
RUSH: She’s a conservative. Success, folks. Success here in this pick.
PALIN: I was then appointed ethics commissioner and chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission — and when I found corruption there, I fought it hard and I held the offenders to account. (cheers and applause) Along with fellow reformers in the great state of Alaska, as governor I’ve stood up to the old politics as usual — to the special interests, to the lobbyists, the big oil companies, and the good old boy network. (cheers and applause) When oil and gas prices went up so dramatically and the state revenues followed with that increase, I sent a large sale of that revenue directly back to the people of Alaska (cheers and applause) and we’re now embarking on a $40 billion natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence. (cheers and applause)
RUSH: Hubba. Hubba. Hubba.
PALIN: I signed major ethics reforms, and I appointed both Democrats and independents to serve in my administration — and I championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. In fact, I told Congress, ‘Thanks, but no thanks’ on that Bridge to Nowhere. (cheers and applause)
RUSH: That’s where she fought Ted Stevens.
PALIN: If our state wanted a bridge, I said, we’d build it ourselves. (laughter) Well, it’s always, though, safer in politics to avoid risk, to just kind of go along with the status quo. But I didn’t get into government to see the safe and easy things. A ship in a harbor is safe, but that’s not why the ship is built. Politics isn’t just a game of competing interests and clashing parties. The people America expect us to seek public office and to serve for the right reasons.
RUSH: Again, Alaska governor Sarah Palin, McCain’s vice presidential pick. They’re in Dayton, Ohio, today.
PALIN: And the right reason is to challenge the status quo and to serve the common good. (cheers and applause) Now, no one expects us to agree on everything, whether in Juneau or in Washington, but we are expected to govern with integrity and goodwill and clear convictions and a servant’s heart. (cheers and applause) Now, no leader in America has shown these qualities so clearly or presents so clear a threat to business as usual in Washington as Senator John S. McCain. (cheers and applause) This is a moment when principles and political independence matter a lot more than just the party line. And this is a man who has always been there to serve his country, not just his party. (cheers and applause) And this is a moment that requires resolve and toughness and strength of heart in the American president. And my running mate is a man who has shown those qualities in the darkest of places and in the service of his country. (cheers and applause) A colleague once said about Senator McCain, ‘That man did things for this country that few people could go through. Never forget that,’ and that speaker was former Senator John Glenn of Ohio. (cheers and applause)
RUSH: You know what? I want to see Sarah Palin age in office.
PALIN: John Glenn knows something about heroism, and I’m going to make sure nobody does forget that in this campaign. There is only one candidate who has truly fought for America, and that man is John McCain!
RUSH: You think Hillary was depressed watching Obama? Ha! Ha! Imagine Hillary watching this.
PALIN: This is a moment. This is a moment when great causes can be won, and great threats overcome depending on the judgment of our next president. In a dangerous world, it is John McCain who will lead America’s friends and allies in preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. (cheers and applause) It was John McCain who cautioned long ago about the harm that Russian aggression could do to Georgia and to other small Democratic neighbors and to the world oil markets. It was Senator McCain who refused to hedge his support for our troops in Iraq, regardless of those political costs. (cheers and applause) And, you know what? As the mother of one of those troops, and as the commander of Alaska’s National Guard, that’s the kind of man I want as our commander-in-chief! (cheers and applause)
RUSH: This is an honest, authentic speech. It is not about promises. It’s about accomplishments. This could hardly be better.
CROWD: USA! USA! USA!
RUSH: It could hardly be better.
PALIN: Profiles in courage, they can be hard to come by these days. You know, so often we just find them in books. But next week when we nominate John McCain for president, we’re putting one on the ballot. (cheers and applause)
RUSH: I’ve never seen McCain look this happy. No, that’s a good thing. Don’t misunderstand.
PALIN: To serve as vice president beside such a man would be the privilege of a lifetime, and it’s fitting that this trust has been given to me 88 years — almost to the day — after the women of America first gained the right to vote. (cheers and applause)
RUSH: Right on, right on, right on. They also gave us the welfare state, but that’s (grumbles).
PALIN: I think as well today of two other women who came before me in national elections. I can’t begin this great effort without honoring the achievements of Geraldine Ferraro in 1984.
RUSH: Who is very excited about this, by the way, Ferraro is.
PALIN: And of course Senator Hillary Clinton, who showed such determination and grace —
RUSH: I love this.
PALIN: — in her presidential campaign.
RUSH: And where is she today? Ha-ha-ha! She’s gotta be just beside herself.
PALIN: It was rightly noted in Denver this week that Hillary left 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America. But it turns out the women of America aren’t finished yet, and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all!
RUSH: Yes siree, Bob! Exactly right! It’s going to be a woman in the Republican Party first working at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
PALIN: So for my part, the mission is clear. The next 67 days, I’m going to take our campaign to every part of our country and our message of reform to every voter of every background, in every political party — or no party at all. If you want change in Washington, if you hope for a better America, then we’re asking for your vote on the 4th of November. (cheers and applause) My fellow Americans, come join our cause! (cheers and applause)
RUSH: Sarah, we got a commercial break.
PALIN: Join our cause and help our country to elect a great man, the next president of the United States — and I thank you, and I bless you, I say. God bless America! Thank you!
RUSH: She kept the format clock intact, folks! Ah, this has just been fabulous. Governor Sarah Palin. McCain hit the break at the bottom of the hour.