McCain: 'Fight for what's right'

John McCain cast himself Thursday night as a lifelong fighter for his country who's ready to lead new battles for dramatic change as he accepted the Republican Party's presidential nomination.

"I don't mind a good fight," he told the Republican National Convention. "For reasons known only to God, I've had quite a few tough ones in my life. But I learned an important lesson along the way: In the end, it matters less that you can fight. What you fight for is the real test."

He said he was eager to cross party lines and lead new missions.

"I will reach out my hand to anyone to help me get this country moving again," he pledged. "I have that record and the scars to prove it. Senator (Barack) Obama does not."

He was gracious to Democratic nominee Obama, however, saying, "There are big differences between us. But you have my respect and admiration. Despite our differences, much more unites us than divides us. We are fellow Americans, an association that means more to me than any other."

He also drew sharp contrasts with Obama, focusing on their records, backgrounds and policy proposals.

And he spoke at length about his 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.

"I fell in love with my country when I was a prisoner in someone else's," McCain said. "I loved it not just for the many comforts of life here. I loved it for its decency, for its faith in the wisdom, justice and goodness of its people. I loved it because it was not just a place, but an idea, a cause worth fighting for. I was never the same again. I wasn't my own man anymore. I was my country's."

He also made it clear that during his nearly 26 years in Congress, he has been his own man, and he had some sharp words for his own party.

"We lost the trust of the American people when some Republicans gave in to the temptations of corruption," he said, a reference to scandals involving special interests that have topped some Republican members of Congress.

"We lost their trust rather than reform government," he said. "Both parties made it bigger."

That has to end, McCain said, because "the constant partisan rancor that stops us from solving these problems isn't a cause, it's a symptom."

Protesters tried to create their own rancor, holding up signs protesting McCain's support of the Iraq war. At one point, as one was dragged out of the Xcel Energy Center while the crowd chanted, "USA, USA," McCain quipped, "Please don't be distracted by the ground noise and the static."

He highlighted differences with Obama, notably on economic and national security issues.

McCain wants to make Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts — many of which expire on Jan. 1, 2011 — permanent. He also pledges to seek lower corporate tax rates and to double the exemption for dependents.

Obama wants to let most tax reductions for those who make roughly $250,000 or more expire, to increase the capital gains tax and to cut taxes for the middle and poorer classes.

"I will keep taxes low and cut them where I can," McCain said. "My opponent will raise them. I will open new markets to our goods and services. My opponent will close them. I will cut government spending. He will increase it."