John McCain--Service to America Tour

Recently, Presidential candidate and Republican Nominee, Senator John McCain (AZ-R), visited Prescott, AZ as a part of his Service to America biography tour. During his 5 day tour, he visited several sites across the United States that have been important in his personal and political development. This was an opportunity for the Presidential hopeful to let the voting public know a little more about himself and "where he comes from."

Surprisingly, Sen. McCain's speech was not geared towards advancing his political agenda or highlighting the differences between himself and the democratic candidates. Instead, he paid homage to two of his friends and former fellow Congress members, Mo Udall and Barry Goldwater. He went on to explain how their mentorship, strong morals and determination to work together despite party differences helped him become the man and senator that he is today.


There were several hundred in attendance at the courthouse square and the vast majority appeared to be McCain supports. But of course, whenever there is politics involved there will be those who exercise their First Amendment rights by protesting .Though they kept it civil and polite, these protesters made their presence know by proudly holding their signs and posters high.

Among those with signs and posters were those who supported the Democratic Presidential Candidates, Senators Hillary Clinton (NY) and Barack Obama (IL). What was more curious, though, was that although he has no realistic chance at the presidency in 2008, there were several people “campaigning” for Dr. Ron Paul and the “Ron Paul Revolution”. It seems though, that if Dr. Paul has any intentions on running in the future, that these people are only hurting his chances of being taken seriously as a candidate.

There was another group of people that I was particularly impressed with. This group, dubbed the PCK by my roommate (you can see his blog

here

), was out “Redistributing the Health”. These young people, armed with their baskets of vegetables and homemade bread handed, them out to people as they walked by.
I’m still unsure whether they were calling for, or making fun of a National Health Care plan. What I admire about PCK is their passion about what they believe in. They are willing to go out and face ridicule and public humiliation to stand up for what they believe in. Whether or not I agree with what they believe, I find this honorable.
Well that’s all I have for now! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading as much as I’ve enjoyed sharing.
-JB