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Starting a new thread here….
Here’s my sense of McCain’s speech:
I don’t think anyone expected this speech to be a homerun, but, I would say that while Obama’s speech last week was more eloquent, McCain’s speech was more genuine, more sincere, revealed more of his character than what Obama’s revealed of his. And, McCain’s final comments about how his POW experience broke him, and broke the arrogant self-assurance and drove a deep conviction into him that we move ahead together, that we need each other, that together we help each other stand, that together we can heal and be healed, was as moving a moment in a political speech as I’ve ever heard. McCain opened a window into what makes him tick, much more than I’ve seen in most political speeches. It wasn’t flowery, it wasn’t “soaring,” but it was genuine, it was sincere, it was real. In this regard, I think McCain exceeded expectations, and made Obama’s speech seem somewhat pedantic.
And this mantra of the Democrat pundits that McCain’s speech “failed” because he didn’t distinguish himself from Bush is bovine exhaust. Their obsession with this point comes from 8 years of Bush Derangement Syndrome. Bush isn’t running for re-election here. Anyone who has watched national politics these past 8 years knows that John McCain has been the biggest thorn in the side of Geo. W. Bush, almost more so than any single Democrat. The Democrats want to run against Bush. McCain is running against Obama, and on that point, the election will turn.
What say you?
September 4th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
McCain was McCain. He gave substance without slogans, ideas without rhetoric and sincerity instead of hollow chants of “yes we can”. The Americans wathcing the speeches of Obama and McCain saw one be a great candidate with an eloquent speaking ability. The other was a man who has sacrificed for his country and is looking for another opportunity to serve.
September 4th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Best line of the convention:
“I stopped being my own man, and became America’s.”
September 4th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
He wasn’t amazing, but he was humble and strong and confident, I thought it worked really well, especially the ending when he talked about why he is running, such a stark contrast to Obama.
September 4th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
I think the speech fell flat, but I am not a huge McCain fan anyways. He sounded like a democrat at times,
but as always can strike a patriotic nerve when telling his life story. He wrapped the base around his
finger with the Palin pick, and now will be as ‘Independent’ as possible for the remainder of the
campaign. I find it interesting that
both parties are staying away from immigration, kind of shows something about both candidates.
September 4th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
I loved that McCain addressed the derangements of conservatism that have set in during the last eight years, and appreciated the level-headed foreign policy statements (a relief given some of his rather bellicose rhetoric of late), but in the immortal words of Ross Perot, the speech left the impression of a giant sucking sound. McCain looked tired right up until the finale and seemed ill at ease. Portions were moving and the whole thing felt sincere, but really fell flat. The crowd had trouble getting enthused, and the juxtaposition with the Palin speech won’t do anyone any good. I thought the entire focus of tonight was just way off – they needed to hit the economy, HARD, and instead went on about Iraq. I thought the Graham and Ridge speeches were next to worthless. Sorry to sound a bit bitter, I’m just really displeased at how things went tonight.
September 4th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
I think it was a qualified success.
Did he win many votes tonight? No. But he set himself up well for the next phase of the campaign. Obama’s tried to define him as Bush again and McCain is fighting back by recasting himself as the “maverick”.
We never thought that McCain would win the White House tonight. He’s just not that guy. But his speech seemed to have set limited strategic goals which were met. Obama’s “McSame” strategy is blunted and the two will face off virtually tied in the debates.
September 5th, 2008 at 12:00 am
It looks like there is a reason why Obama got more viewers than Palin. Specifically, he had 4 additional networks covering him…
BET, TV One, Univision and Telemundo
Both speeches had ~4 million people estimated on PBS. Also, given both were on CSPAN (not counted, but probably more likely to have Republican watchers), it is highly likely Palin had more viewers overall.
So despite the bias of TV networks, Palin still had just as many viewers…4 more networks covering Obama and no more viewers…the Republicans really have a new star…
September 5th, 2008 at 12:04 am
I was very lucky to get a last-minute credential for the Convention tonight so I saw the speech in person.
I need to re-watch, but I gotta say there were a few harsh transitions like when he suddenly spoke of education. It seemed like this was Salter’s 3rd draft and they cut and pasted some parts together without the necessary transition lines.
The speech also took a little while to really get going.
I couldn’t hear the last 45-60 seconds the crowd was so loud. Really great.
7 out of 10
September 5th, 2008 at 12:08 am
B
Could have used some more economic meat, but overall it was a solid and did what it needed to do, started out weak, got better and finished strong.
September 5th, 2008 at 12:09 am
I got to say Sen. Graham’s speech was good…but it was actually great if you were watching Fox News. Specifically, he immediately followed the O’Reily Factor where Obama said the surge was doing really well but would not call it a success. That interview followed by Graham saying that he was bing hypocritical on the issue and was almost the reason the surge did not happened…It was incredibly powerful and almost ironic that he was following him.
September 5th, 2008 at 12:11 am
Problem with starting weak, is that many non-political people turn you off before you get good.
September 5th, 2008 at 12:17 am
8 is enough, McCain has voted with bush 90% of the time.
http://lipsticklacebrassknuckles.wordpress.com/2008/09/05/you-be-the-judgejohn-mccain-and-barack-obamas-nomination-speeches
September 5th, 2008 at 12:21 am
7. . . Seiously, BET, Univision and Telemundo aired Obama’s speech but not McCain’s? (As an Alaskan I’m four hours behind the East Coast so I have to tape CSpan and watch the speeches hours after they’re over.) Uh, doesn’t that constitute free advertising? How can that be legal? It seems to me to be a violation of the equal time laws.
September 5th, 2008 at 12:23 am
#2. Good pick. I don’t even remember a line from Obama’s speech, do you?
September 5th, 2008 at 12:25 am
#13. Tell us when Obama has ever broken with his party, or defied the groupthink within the Democrat caucus in the Senate? The Democrat congress has a lower approval rating than Bush, and Obama is solidly a member of that failed body. The Democrats have a record of over three decades of being on the wrong side of history. Obama seems to embrace that legacy by choosing Biden and recasting himself as just another Democrat Party hack.
September 5th, 2008 at 12:25 am
14:
We were talking about Palin. I doubt those networks aired Biden’s speech either.
Doubt BET picked up McCain, but I’d be surprised if the Spanish channels ignored it.
September 5th, 2008 at 12:49 am
solid and sincere. makes obama’s soaring rhetoric seem empty by comparison. mccain comes off as honest if not eloquent. its hard to watch him and not believe everything he is saying is exactly what he means. truly one of the more honest and true pols ever. palin wowed em, mccain moved em.
September 5th, 2008 at 1:02 am
I would disagree about the comparison of Obama’s speech and McCains. I think McCain’s speech was better written where Obama’s only seemed to be written toward the end. Obama gave platitudes and umhs, you knows etc. McCain read a well thought out speech.
September 5th, 2008 at 1:15 am
The speech impressed my wife. She wears an Obama-Mama t-shirt.
I’m bearish on our prospects to be honest. McCain could be the greatest campaigner ever and still lose. This is just not a Republican year. But I really appreciate how he’s contesting every inch of ground, e.g. his speech tonight, the Palin pick, the brilliant celebrity theme and the drill here drill now enthymeme. He really is a fighter. What is more he is a fighter with imagination.
If you’re falling off of a cliff, you may was well try to fly.
September 5th, 2008 at 1:18 am
90% of the time? Were it a 100% I might be impressed. But 90% is worth my vote I suppose.
September 5th, 2008 at 1:27 am
#13. It’s pretty hard to attack the Bush record when the Democrat Party has offered no substantive programs of their own, other than tax our way out of a recession that doesn’t actually exist, and surrender in the war on terror.
September 5th, 2008 at 2:38 am
Well, formal speech making has never been the Mac’s strong suit…which shouldnt come as a surprise to anyone here or follows politics.
Still no one has ever won (or lost) a race based on their convention speech and given the amount of time, preperation and scripting that goes into these pagents-er-conventions, all four candidates probably were on their best form.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:03 am
Just watched the CSPAN re-air of McCain’s speech. I thought it was fantastic. I never expected it to be an Obama-caliber delivery. Frankly I’d be upset if it was, actually, since that wouldn’t exactly be straight talk. This was a great speech spoken from the heart, not from a Hollywood script. It was like the grown ups came on stage to say “thanks for the input, Barack, but here’s how we’re gonna do this.” For one thing, it went a long way in showing that McCain is far from a loose cannon war-monger. In fact, I think the part of the speech where he stressed that he hates war precisely because he and his family have seen the absolute worst of it will help set the tone of his foreign policy. McCain’s call for civil discourse in Washington, sharing ideas and working together, actually sounds genuine and should help bring some indies into the fold, or at the very least get them to consider McCain more than pre-convention days. All in all, I think the speech was terrific. I’ve always been very pleased with a McCain ticket. Tonight, I’m excited about it.
September 5th, 2008 at 4:24 am
Let’s face it it was awful – there are some things you just can’t spin.
September 5th, 2008 at 4:28 am
I watched his speech last night on C-Span. McCain did very well.
McCain-Palin ‘08
September 5th, 2008 at 4:45 am
It was a good speech full of substance, but not as good the Mrs. Palin’s
September 5th, 2008 at 6:59 am
By the way guys, the “Illinois Republican’ last night was not me.
The speech was ok. I don’t like his approach to subsidizing people transitioning to other jobs. I was in industry for 39 years, and there is no reason that those jobs can’t come back with the right policies. Many of the outsourcing attempts have already backfired. Change things that get jobs back, because without manufacturing, we HAVE NO NATIONAL SECURITY. Think about how vulnerable we are if we are not making our own things that are mandatory for our existence.
September 5th, 2008 at 7:08 am
I for one knew it was not you Illinoisguy. On another note, I do not wish to open up a can of worms and rate every single speech, but I for one was very impressed with Mr. Romney’s speech. From what I heard that night, I think he had a better understanding of the Heartland values than perhaps I gave him credit for. Even though, I am not of the Romney camp, I felt it was distgusting how a few GOP pundits trashed him on TV for what was actually a good Conservative speech.
September 5th, 2008 at 7:51 am
I’m glad there is a growing consensus that McCain did well. Most of us on the open thread last night (including me) didn’t think so. Maybe the moderates and independents to whom McCain was making his main appeal were more impressed.
September 5th, 2008 at 7:54 am
Not being a moderate or Independent myself, I do not know what they thought of the speech. As a Conservative, I was OK with it. Of course, he could have mentioned other things in the speech, but other speakers at the convention did that.
September 5th, 2008 at 8:37 am
I think the speech did what it was supposed to do, reach out to democrats and independents. He was very sincere and honest, yet still conservative. He wasn’t a solid conservative, but we all knew that beforehand. He still is more conservative than moderate, and definitely not a liberal.
September 5th, 2008 at 9:11 am
Well said, EricB.
September 5th, 2008 at 9:15 am
The weakest bits were at the beginning, where the delivery seemed to get to a ponderous, rolling start. The crowd was expecting frequent applause lines — and then there were the “protesters” that the crowd tried to drown out. The content was commonly known to us political junkies, but the moving theme of Mac learning about the importance of his country and fellow Americans was new — and quite moving.
September 5th, 2008 at 11:03 am
#14 There are no equal time laws anymore. That got dropped during the Reagan years, or thereabouts.
September 5th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
My 2 year old “had” to watch Elmo’s World so I only heard the portion of the speech that most considered the weak link — and I for one thought it was very strong. He had a difficult balancing act — keep the audience in St. Paul revved up while appealing to the independant and swing voters sitting at home — and I think he accomplished that well. He didn’t bring down the house, but the reaction was very enthusiastic, which was pretty impressive since there was clear, if cryptic, criticisms of this administration in his speech and he avoided any direct attacks on his opponents. The American people already believe he is the most qualified candidate to be President, if they also believe he is the most likeable and relatable, he will have a great advantage going into November.
September 5th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
I pretty much hate mccain, but i thought his speech was moving. I loved it. it made me like him more. excellent speech. everybody says he sucks and speeches, yes he does, but yesterday was wonderful.
September 5th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
I agree with the statemetn that his speech helped him with indies. I definitely think it did.
September 5th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
The main strength of his speech (I made this point last night, but I feel stronger about it on reflection) was that it distanced him from Bush and Republicans in congress.
This reenforces his maverick credentials (which is essential in this environment — any generic Republican would lose badly), and sets him up to paint Obama as a party-line Democrat.