Other CNN Report Cards: Rudy Giuliani: http://us.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/04/rnc.reportcard.giuliani/index.html Fred Thompson: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/03/rnc.reportcard.thompson/index.html Sarah Palin: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/04/rnc.reportcard.palin/index.html Joe Lieberman: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/02/rnc.reportcard.lieberman/index.html?iref=newssearch President Bush: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/02/rnc.reportcard.president/index.html?iref=newssearch Michelle Obama: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/25/report.card.day1/index.html?iref=newssearch Hillary Clinton: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/26/reportcard.wednesday/index.html?iref=newssearch Bill Clinton: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/27/dnc.reportcard.clinton/index.html?iref=newssearch Joe Biden: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/27/dnc.reportcard.biden/index.html?iref=newssearch
I have to say I was highly surprised to hear John McCain say "We failed" and "We lost their trust." His speech was damn near contrite at times. He never out-and-out apologized, but he did... er... acknowledge. It's sad that this is a momentous step up for the Republicans after the last 8 years, but it's a step up at least. My overall impressions of John McCain during the speech were that he is a throwback to the WWII generation. His entire life is defined by war and I got the distinct impression that he would really like to get his hands on a war of his own. Not the war we've got now, that one's no fun; he'd need a War of His Own, just like Bush. McCain said a lot of things I liked hearing about concilation between the parties but his selection of Palin proves that's all bull****. He's tied down permanently now as a candidate to the far right who love Bush and his war to this day. These people could barely stand to reconcile with JOHN MCCAIN; no way he'll ever be able to get them to reconcile with Democrats. The Dems aren't looking for conciliation anyway-- they're looking for blood.
This is the basic problem with his speech - but I still think it was very appealing to moderates. On one hand, he's all about bipartisanship and standing up to Washington and his party. On the other, he caved to his party to get the nomination and now to excite the base, and just spent the last 3 days making hyper-partisan attacks.
Which is why you just can not believe him. And Palin is enjoying a boost now, but as soon as she talks about her personal beliefs that bubble will burst. DD
Fortunately for her, she's disappearing off to Alaska for the time being and avoiding all interviews, so she doesn't have to talk about anything for a while.
Spin, spin, spin away. Was the NFL game on every network? Were those people who watched the game forced to keep their tv tuned to the speech?
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You know, it is probably time for an onslaught (though not from Obama) on her publicly expressed views and record. Waiting 2 weeks to get "trained" before responding may not play well. The voters need to be reminded she is against abortion as an option in cases of incest/rape, that she has been among the biggest recipient of federal earmarks (and campaigned for the bridge to nowhere), and that she has never met an environmental protection effort worthy of her support. Actually an even better tact (for the Obama team) is why did McCain pick a running mate with those views and record when he says he is trying to pull people together? I don't think others responding for her will be effective. She needs to be painted as the radical right person she truly is (unless she isn't that way, which just makes her a pander to them like Johnny Mac has become) and make it real clear Johnny Mac fully knew of her positions and record.
No question huge audiences came in the last two nights, looks slightly ahead of Obama's ratings. The Palin buzz worked great for that Convention, no question. The real question is how moderates and independents will view those speeches once they have time to digest.
True if for no other reason right now Dems have a +8 advantage in registration. But what really matters are the degree of truly undecideds (not like many of the pretend undecideds here) that watched both (I'm guessing relatively similar), and even more so what was there reaction after digesting it a few days. I think Republicans got a HUGE break the Dem Convention was first (I guess they alternate year?). The Dem Convention brought so much energy I am not surprised most would then see what the Reps had to say. Also between the Biden pick (I think if it was Hillary we would not have seen Palin, maybe a Liberman, Romney, Pawlenty) and that energy from the Dem Conv, McCain and co knew they could not play it safe (e.g., Romney, Pawlenty) to stay in the game, and without Hillary he had to rally the base. McCain to his credit was bold, and the Reps had major buzz this week.
Is this thing really a story? I mean the Republican probably pales in the amount of control they like to exert over events to the PRC yet that still didn't stop this: This was a screwup and mildly humorous but I don't think its something worth criticizing the McCain campaign for.
The final ratings are in. http://www.thrfeed.com/2008/09/mccain-rating-1.html John McCain has won the ratings race. The Republican nominee beat Democratic challenger Barack Obama's record-setting convention speech viewership by 500,000. McCain's address at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night was seen by about 38.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. Obama received 38.4 million. That means McCain's speech is now the most-watched in convention history -- 41% higher than President Bush's acceptance speech four years ago, and 1% higher than Obama's address last week. Looking at the speech's audience demographics, McCain drew significantly more male viewers than Obama (16.2 million). McCain also drew more white viewers (32.2 million), while Obama was seen by more African Americans. Though anticipation has been running high for McCain's address, the speech also may have benefited slightly from a strong NFL lead-in on NBC. Initially Republicans feared McCain might have to compete with the game for viewers' attention. But the NFL match started early, then put about 13.6 million viewers on the doorstep of NBC's 10 p.m. coverage of McCain's speech. Still, NBC has aired the most-watched convention coverage among the broadcaster nets all week, and its numbers compared to rivals were not much different than on previous nights. In other words: the game may have helped, but it wasn't a major factor in McCain's massive viewership (even with the NBC receiving an NFL lead-in, Fox News is expected to win the network-by-network breakdown). Also, with interest in his running mate Sarah Palin spiking viewership for the RNC on Wednesday, the convention was able to gain some significant momentum after losing its first night to Hurricane Gustav coverage. McCain received 5% more viewers than his running mate. UPDATE: FOX NEWS: 9.1MILLION NBC: 8.7 MILLION ABC: 6.0 MILLION CBS: 5.3 MILLION CNN: 4.8 MILLION MSNBC: 2.5 MILLION (from 10 p.m. to 11:15 p.m.) Read all of THR's convention coverage
