Today I had an opportunity to hear Sen. John McCain speak at our Burbank office. He is not only a great American but also a very inspiring speaker. I have always liked the Senator for a number of reasons but mainly because he comes across as a very moderate and pragmatic individual. For me, he represents the every person in America, neither to liberal nor to conservative.

Senator McCain spoke for about twenty-five minutes before fielding questions from the audience. The three main topics he touched on were 1) out-of-control spending in Washington D.C., 2) Immigration, the hot topic today, and 3) the War in Iraq.

On spending the Senator was passionate about the fact that we are mortgaging our children and grandchildren in respect to the amount “pork” that is being earmarked onto legislation. One example was the recently passed Highway Bill which had over 1000 earmarks attached to it when it was signed. It included the now famous $200+ million dollar bridge to an island in Alaska that has a population of 50. If nothing is done about this now then later on down the road the American Public will have to swallow some very harsh medicine.

Sen. McCain spoke about the Immigration Bill that he and Sen. Ted Kennedy are co-sponsoring. He clarified what some conservatives have wrongly characterized as an amnesty program, which it is not. He strongly spoke about enforcing the immigration laws and punishing illegal immigrates for breaking the law, not rewarding them with amnesty. The Senator went on to say that our great country was built on immigration it should continue but legally.
On the Iraq War the senator told us that things are improving but that it will continue to be a tough road and that more serviceman and woman are going to be injured and/or die.

He went on to say that this is not a war against Iraq but a war against radical fundamentalists who are out to destroy our way of life. I could not agree more! I equate these radical fundamentalists in the Middle East with the German Nazi Party during the 1930’s and early 1940’s. They want to destroy everyone and anyone that has a different belief system and a different culture then they do. These Islamic Fundamentalists will stop at nothing to destroy Western culture. We must stay the course and fight these terrorists one by one, country by country until they decide to live in peace. He was hopeful that Troop levels could start to reduce significantly by 2008-2009.

Finally, Senator McCain talked about the bi-partisan’s in Washington D.C. and the fact that the system is “broken”. The lobbying scandals, the party bickering all of it isn’t working anymore. Amen! He believes that this is the most divided that Congress has ever been and believes that we may see this come out at the polls in November with lower voter turn out. It certainly is clear that system is not only broken at the Federal level, but at the State and Local levels as well.

He was asked if he was going to run for President in 2008 and smiled while being none committal. Senator McCain would certainly make an excellent President based on what I saw first hand. He was candid, funny and truly knew what he was talking about on the various topics that were discussed.