It was a much better speech, message-wise, than last night, imo. Unfortunately, it's hard to forget last night - even understanding the "role" of the VP is to attack, it was a complete waste of time of a speech, made even worse by who was giving it. It's just still so incomprehensible that Palin was McCain's VP pick. Anyway, I liked McCain's speech tonight. So much more positive, discussed actual policies, etc. Which candidate is lying the least? who knows. like Rocket Rich, there's a possibility I'm just not going to vote. partly because there's not one candidate who stands out as being a true reformer, and partly because, as a Texan, my vote doesn't really mean anything.
John McCain did something tonight I did not think possible. He made me proud of the Republican Party again.
Presentation: F Content: C Ok, Mccain just isn't very good at reading speeches. He stumbled on many lines and looked pretty awkward at times pausing and hoping for applause. There were some weird parts of the speech such as listing those 3 people by name and telling of their problems, but then giving no indication of how his policies are going to help those people. Also, he had some weird parts where I wasn't sure what he was talking about, like going after Obama for supporting tax breaks for oil companies. ?? It was like I was in bizarro world for a sec. The best part of the speech for him was telling his POW story. However, everyone who pays enough attention to politics to watch the RNC has already heard that story a million times so I'm not sure how effective it will be. The negatives are that this speech was EXTREMELY low on specifics. The whole thing was mainly generic lines like America is so great and free.
I Like the man, but his voting record and support of the MORAN GW.....will not allow me to vote for him. I voted for McCain in 2000 in the Repub primary...but now, his time has passed, and I am scared to death of his right wing evangelical VP candidate. DD
Interesting reversal. It's entirely possible that Palin is a better speaker than the veteran McCain. A lot of it seemed forced and awkward. It also had a few too many shallow 'bullet points' where he'd give a generic 'issue', let the audience give a cheer, then move on to line 2. However, it also had discussion of issues and substance, something last night lacked. It is interesting to see McCain try to make a bridge between the fact that his side has run things for the last 8 years but that somehow winning now will represent 'change'. I just am not sure that people are going to walk it.
As I said a lot of it would've been great for a Democrat. I agree with you that McCain just isn't a great orator but I thought a lot of the content was great. The call to service, the idea about believing in a cause greater than yourself, taking good ideas from all sides and etc.. a lot of that was almost Kennedyesque. Whether McCain can actually follow through with any of that I have my doubts but as a speech I'm impressed.
I posted this in the convention thread: My impressions: As expected, largely, though not completely, lacking in substance and actual policies. After the family introductions and the thank you's, he basically just talked about the general, broad Repulican philosophy. The same one that Bush falls under. Aside from his previously stated crusade on earmarks, which I agree with, the only "reform" he specifically talked about was giving the parents more of a choice in education. After that he talked about energy policy which is largely Obama's plan with more offshore drilling. Although I disagree with him about being able to drill right away because we can't even lease sections of the outer continental shelf until 2012. Anyway, his most convincing was when he was talking about foreign policy and how he would essentially use every option and resource available in dealing with foreign powers. For a minute, I thought we'd get through the entire speech without a mention of him being a POW. Boy was I wrong. He really tried to sell that harder than he's ever done before. Anyway, a few days ago I said that if I were an independent or undecided voter, he would need to prove to me that he wasn't W III. When they shifted the focus of their campaign to "reform", I said he needed to say what "reform" was. On the first point, he did it a little but still in no way completely divorced himself from George W. Bush. On the 2nd point, he offered very little and in comparison to Obama's acceptance speech it was virtually nothing. I don't presume to know how this will play in the polls. I'm sure he will see a bounce but how it plays out after that will remain to be seen. I'm still very optimistic for Obama, perhaps even more than I was before the RNC. PS - I liked the guy that had the sign that said "THE MAVRICK [sic]" ADDENDUM: Before the speech, I had hear that McCain's speech was only 25 minutes long and the rest was allotted for applause. That seemed wild to me. Speaking only 25 minutes out of a scheduled 50 minute speech. So I timed it. There was 30 minutes of speaking and 25 minutes of cheering. I'm sure if you did it to Obama's speech you'd get similar numbers. I knew that a lot of cheering goes on but I didn't actually think it would take up close to 50% of the total length of the speech.
His personal biography is amazing, powerful. He also was really open about his core. Very honest and admirable. He also came off really strong on foreign policy. That said I think his judgment and record is just so contrary to his story he put forth (I'm independent, I am a centrist, I hate war, I will fight for the common man)--we will see if people believe it. Also, the elements of his domestic plans were just awful. Not only were they not delivered well, they were full of inconsistencies. All the talk about reducing government, getting government out of your way--but then he is going to lead the reform of education and "new job" skills training from Washington? I don't even think John McCain believes any of that, and it showed.
again, he tried hard, but failed badly, to divorce himself from bush. he dissed the republican party, but never said how he would do differently. he still stated the same conservative talking points on how to run this country -> same republicans running this same country.
While I didn't like Palin last night, she is definitely a better speaker than McCain. McCain was so McBoring that I could barely stay awake through the whole thing. While I could at least see where Palin would appeal to a certain kind of person, I have no idea how anyone can say that this crap we heard tonight from McCain was anything short of monotonous.
That was pretty bad. The crowd was awful, never let McCain get into a rhythm. Too many interruptions: 7 syllables, applause! 5 syllables, USA chant! Another half sentence, standing ovation! I'm personally getting absolutely SICK of the POW story. It was in every single speech yesterday. Today, we got the intro--in which I swear the word box was mentioned half a dozen times or more--then the beginning of the speech, and again at the end. The middle of the speech was policy, and that was nothing but platitudes and vagueness. He spent like 3 minutes on school choice! I still don't know what he was advocating. The only part of the policy speech I liked was the admission that the current administration had gone in a wrong direction, but instead of being sincere he grouped in Obama and the Democrats in with that wrong direction. It ruined a great and sincere moment for me. However, the absolute worst problem with the speech was the energy level. It got better at the end, as if you could tell that he was glad it was almost over. He looked horrible with the green and bright blue backgrounds. He looked old and tired, not the McCain of 8 years ago, not even the McCain from the primary debates. He needed a nap! He didn't look strong or presidential at all to me.
Good to know that some people look to leaders only for entertainment value. I guess Paris Hilton should have run after all.
Let me explain it to you, since you obviously didn't get the metaphor. He was not talking about scars from battle, instead from going up against Democrats and Republicans in the senate alike. That some of them don't like it and have been vocal about it and then was comparing that to Obama's record.
