McCain rallies GOP faithful at convention

NEW YORK, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- The political rivalry that once existed between Arizona Sen. John McCain and George Bush was notably absent Monday as McCain spoke at the GOP convention.

McCain, who had challenged Bush in the race for the 2000 GOP presidential nomination, embraced the president in his remarks to convention delegates in New York City.

"Bush has been tested and has risen to the most important challenge of our time, and I salute him. I salute his determination to make this world a better, safer freer place. He has not wavered. He has not flinched from the hard choices. He will not yield. And neither will we," McCain said.

"No American alive today will ever forget what happened on the morning of Sept. 11," said McCain, a decorated retired U.S. Navy officer and ex-prisoner of war in Vietnam. "That day was the moment when the hinge of history swung toward a new era. The opening chapter was tinged with great sadness and uncertainty. It shook us from our complacency in the belief that the Cold War's end had ushered in a time of global tranquility."

McCain stated Bush's strong resolve to drive Saddam Hussein from power was the only way to keep Iraq from acquiring weapons of mass destruction.

"An absence of complacency," McCain continued, "should not provoke an absence of confidence. What our enemies have sought to destroy is beyond their reach. It cannot be taken from us. It can only be surrendered."