Senator John McCain accepted his party’s nomination with an unusually personal speech that chronicled his harrowing time as a POW and featured the word "change" more than ten times. Has McCain abandoned his ‘Straight Talk Express’ to grab onto the caboose of the ‘Change’ train?

I fight to restore the pride and principles of our party. We were elected to change Washington, and we let Washington change us.

We lost the trust of the American people when some Republicans gave in to the temptations of corruption. We lost their trust when rather than reform government, both parties made it bigger. We lost their trust when instead of freeing ourselves from a dangerous dependence on foreign oil, both parties and Senator Obama passed another corporate welfare bill for oil companies. We lost their trust, when we valued our power over our principles.We’re going to change that.

We’re going to recover the people’s trust by standing up again for the values Americans admire. The party of Lincoln, Roosevelt and Reagan is going to get back to basics. We believe everyone has something to contribute and deserves the opportunity to reach their God-given potential from the boy whose descendents arrived on the Mayflower to the Latina daughter of migrant workers. We’re all God’s children and we’re all Americans.

McCain’s emphasis on the bipartisan nature of the change our country needs stood in stark contrast to his Vice-Presidential pick’s divisive tirade the night before. And McCain’s own Republican supporters "booed" at the point when McCain offered praise for "Barack Obama and his supporters." It is just hard to reconcile that this John McCain, who gave a genuine and solid President worthy speech, is the same man who would make such an impulsive and overtly political decision to pluck a dogmatic, social ultra-conservative out of Alaska and place her, barely vetted, a breath away from the Presidency.

The constant partisan rancor that stops us from solving these problems isn’t a cause, it’s a symptom. It’s what happens when people go to Washington to work for themselves and not you.

Again and again, I’ve worked with members of both parties to fix problems that need to be fixed. That’s how I will govern as President. I will reach out my hand to anyone to help me get this country moving again. I have that record and the scars to prove it. Senator Obama does not.

Instead of rejecting good ideas because we didn’t think of them first, let’s use the best ideas from both sides. Instead of fighting over who gets the credit, let’s try sharing it. This amazing country can do anything we put our minds to. I will ask Democrats and Independents to serve with me. And my administration will set a new standard for transparency and accountability.

We’re going to finally start getting things done for the people who are counting on us, and I won’t care who gets the credit.

Perhaps it’s his at times reasonable record and thinking about our way forward that has the Republican base more enthusiastic about Sarah Palin than John McCain.