This is Sen. John McCain’s newest campaign ad, and it’s powerfully good stuff:

Beth at My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy has the transcript from John McCain’s speech today in Merididan, MS, the first stop on his Service to America tour.

This speech focused on how his family, and their honored tradition of military service shaped his early life and the man he has become:

Yet, many McCains left here as young men to pursue careers in what has long been our family’s chosen profession – the United States Armed Forces.

From there, Sen. McCain goes on to describe the distinguished history of his family’s military tradition, tracing his ancestors back to Gen. George Washington’s staff, and ending with his father and grandfather, who were the first father and son to become four star admirals.

The following paragraph is a moving and powerfully compelling story:

My father could not return to the States in time for the funeral [of his own father]. My mother found him waiting for her to return to California from the funeral in Washington, weeping on the airport tarmac. In time, my father, the son of a legendary naval leader, would rise to an even greater command than his father had. During the Vietnam War, he commanded all U.S. forces in the Pacific, at the top of a chain of command that included, near the bottom, his son, a naval aviator on Yankee Station in the Tonkin Gulf, and later a prisoner of war in Hanoi. My father seldom spoke of my captivity to anyone outside the family, and never in public. He prayed on his knees every night for my safe return. He would spend holidays with the troops in Vietnam, near the DMZ. At the end of his visit, he would walk alone to the base perimeter, and look north toward the city where I was held. Yet, when duty required it, he gave the order for B-52s to bomb Hanoi, in close proximity to my prison.

But perhaps the best part of the speech, and the reason that I’ll support Sen. McCain more than any other is this:

I am the son and grandson of admirals. My grandfather was an aviator; my father a submariner. They were my first heroes, and their respect for me has been one of the most lasting ambitions of my life. They gave their lives to their country, and taught me lessons about honor, courage, duty, perseverance and leadership that I didn’t fully grasp until later in life, but remembered when I needed them most. I have been an imperfect servant of my country for many years. But I am their son, and they showed me how to love my country, and that has made all the difference for me, my friends, all the difference in the world.

Sen. McCain truly knows what selfless service to our nation looks like. His patriotism and love of country is beyond reproach, and almost beyond compare.