My Friends,
Last week, I embarked on a "Service to America" tour visiting various places that have had great importance in my life. I have always considered service to our country the greatest duty and highest honor, and I continue to encourage others to answer her call, as I believe it is everyone's duty to serve a cause greater than oneself.
Like so many American men and women today, I answered our nation's call to duty early in my life. From the time I entered the U.S. Naval Academy at the age of 17, through the years I spent in Vietnam, and during my tenure in both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, I have been blessed with the opportunity to serve our nation.
I am convinced that every challenge I have confronted during my years of serving our country and its ideals has made me better able to lead and ready to serve as President from Day One. And I humbly ask you to join my campaign for President of the United States today, so that I may be so fortunate as to serve our country a little while longer.
I have had the honor to share my five decades of service to America with many great men and women. Most inspiring of all was Ronald Reagan. Today, I am as sure as I was when I first entered public life as a foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution that the principles of the Republican Party are always in the best interests of the American people - and I've fought relentlessly in Washington for conservative change to cut taxes, put an end to wasteful spending, and strengthen our military.
On issue after issue, never in recent memory has there been such a stark difference in the direction the candidates want to lead America. I intend to win the war in Iraq and bring our troops home with honor in that victory. Senators Clinton and Obama want to surrender and withdraw our armed forces. When I'm your President, I will continue my fight to end wasteful spending and restore fiscal responsibility to Washington. My Democratic opponents will raise your taxes. In these challenging economic times, the last thing we need is a Democratic president raising our taxes as both Senators Clinton and Obama will do.
When I'm your President, I will promote market-based solutions and consumer choice in order to provide families with affordable and quality health care. Senators Clinton and Obama will offer a big government solution to health care coverage.
As your Republican candidate for President, I have an enormous sense of responsibility and duty. That's why I am not in the habit of making promises to my country that I do not intend to keep.
Therefore, I come to you offering leadership, experience, judgment - and real solutions based on my commitment to the conservative agenda - for that is what separates me from my Democrat opponents. And these are the qualities that I firmly believe have prepared me to guide our nation forward.
But I cannot win this election alone - I need your help.
I stand before you ready to continue my service to our great nation - and prepared to uphold the conservative values that millions of Americans hold dear. I hope you will join me in this fight by following this link to make a campaign contribution of any amount you can afford - up to the legal limit of $2,300.
Thank you,
John McCain
P.S. I have never forgotten what it means to be an American. Even during the toughest of times, when I was a POW in Vietnam, what sustained me during those five and a half years of captivity was my faith in God. Faith in country. Faith in my fellow prisoners. And I'll never forget that day, 35 years ago, when I and many other very happy prisoners of war were returned to freedom.
My friends, we are so fortunate to live in the greatest nation on earth. I am running for President of the United States because I believe in the greatness of this nation as a beacon of goodwill throughout the world. Please consider making a generous contribution to my presidential campaign of $50, $100, $500, $1,000, or $2,300 today. Thank you.
