TAMPA — John McCain made what is surely just the first of many
pre-election stops in the Tampa Bay Area Tuesday when he gave a pep
talk to more than 4,000 of his closest friends at the Tampa Bay
Convention Center.
Sarah Palin was not with McCain yesterday, but the enthusiasm
she’s helped generate was clearly there, and he seemed to recognize
this when he opened his remarks by saying, “If Governor Palin and I
are elected in 49 days, we’re not going to waste a moment in
changing the way Washington does business.”
Sounding populist notes, McCain spent two-thirds of his
15-minute presentation on the “reckless conduct and unbridled
greed” that has led to the current problems on Wall Street, and
said the alphabet soup of federal agencies that failed to head off
the current mess would perform better under a McCain
administration. He vowed to make the financial services sector,
including Wall Street, “more worthy of America’s trust.” He chided
Wall Street for “dreaming up investment schemes so complicated they
don’t even understand them.”
McCain didn’t say how he was going to make Wall Street fly
right, or how promised regulation in this area would have fewer
negative and unintended consequences than past attempts Washington
has made to set corporate America straight (see Sarbanes-Oxley).
But the congregation was cheering too hard to notice.
McCain bragged a bit on the American worker, one of the economic
fundamentals McCain says is sound, and then moved on briefly to the
themes he always hits in his talks: a promise to put an end to
earmarks and pork-barrel spending in Washington, as well as a
promise to push for energy independence by pursuing alternative
energy sources as well as ramping up traditional sources such as
fossil fuels and nuclear.
“We can store spent nuclear fuel,” McCain said. “The Japanese do
it. The Germans do it. The French do it. We can do it.” He
ridiculed the prospects of Obama’s anti-fossil fuel, anti-nuclear
energy policies solving the nation’s energy problems. “You can’t
get there from here,” he said.
When McCain got to the “drill, baby, drill,” part of the speech,
the audience took up the chant enthusiastically, giving clear
evidence to any politician paying the slightest attention how much
regular voters want to expand our domestic oil supply.
MORE INSTRUCTIVE THAN anything McCain said during his short
address, which was mostly stuff he had said many times before, was
the style and texture of the whole affair. The audience, which
began filing in when doors opened at 0930 for McCain’s high-noon
presentation, was overwhelmingly middle-class and middle-America.
Normal patriotic people. Lots of kids, from toddlers to high school
age, and plenty of red, white, and blue. There were lots of cowboy
hats, not to mention baseball caps (worn with the bill forward)
emblazoned with the name of the ship, the military unit, or the war
the old geezer wearing it served in.
Dress ran heavily to shorts (Florida heat is NOT a dry heat —
and mid-September is mid-summer in Tampa). Plenty of Hawaiian
shirts, as well a sprinkling of business types in coats and
ties.
Thanks to the Florida heat and the relatively early morning
hour, there were few protesters out front. Two grim-looking
college-aged women held two ends of a sign that said, “War pig
welcoming party.” Charming. A large guy who mumbled a lot carried a
sign that said “not a hero — not a war.” Two other women held a
sign saying, “McCain voted against equal pay for women,” which
would have been a surprise to McCain if he he’d seen the sign.
Inside the signs were less confrontational, and the patriotism
was palpable. Chants of “USA, USA, USA,” broke out frequently. A
group of young people, including soloist Mary Olive Gauthier, who
appears to be about 12, sang the national anthem powerfully and
straight, and got a thunderous ovation for their trouble. About a
dozen adolescent girls combined on a medley of songs, including
“Sweet Home, Alabama,” “Lean on Me,” “America,” and “Born in the
USA” (and they seemed happier about this fact than what’s-his-name
from New Jersey).
Warm-up speakers hit the patriotic theme, and made it clear how
much they respect and appreciate Americans who serve in the
military. Former naval aviator Richard Tangeman, who spent time in
the Hanoi Hilton with McCain, spoke of how McCain inspired his
fellow prisoners and how he more than once saved other prisoners
from being brutalized by calling attention to himself.
THESE AFFAIRS WOULDN’T be complete without a large press
contingent. You can always spot this lot. They’re the bored looking
bunch wearing dog-tags and either key-stroking away on their lap
tops or staring at their BlackBerries while ignoring everything and
everyone around them. I took one look at this crew and decided to
hang out with the civilians.
Attendees had to go through metal detectors, which resulted in a
long wait in line for everyone before they could get into the event
room. There was hardly any griping about this, and I was fortunate
to wind up in line next to a retired engineer, one Umberto Capela,
who made it to Tampa by way of Spain and Cuba. He served two terms
in Vietnam as an NCO in the Seabees, where his unit built fire
bases for the Marines and many times came under enemy fire.
Capela told me he appreciates McCain for his service to country
and because what motivates him “seems to come from inside,” rather
than coming from political consultants and focus groups. Capela,
who escaped from Cuba in 1960, said he’s unimpressed with Obama’s
campaign theme of unspecified change. He pointed out that Fidel
brought a lot of change to Cuba.
As the faithful filed out, there were a lot more rat-bags in
front of the convention center. Some of the new signs, mostly
carried by college-age females, included such as: “John McCain is a
fossil fool,” “Same s—t, different Republican,” “McWar coming to a
town near you,” and “Flush the John.” Must be nice to have a lot of
time on your hands.
One hostile male carrying a peace sign tried to bait McCain
supporters into arguing with him. But those who had just gotten the
message were in too good a mood to rise to the bait and mostly just
laughed at him. What’s a burnt-out case to do? These McCain people
are just no fun.
