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8:07 p.m.: A forced ending to a forgettable speech. Missed opportunity. Here’s the lesson: If you aren’t the best speaker, keep the speech short.
8:05 p.m.: On a sign: “The Mavrick.” Right after McCain talked about adult literacy.
8:03 p.m.: Why won’t he finish?
7:59 p.m.: FINALLY, he grabs the audience — nearly an hour into his speech.
7:57 p.m.: Oh, boy. The Republican base is going to hate hearing that McCain will have independents and Democrats working with him. That he doesn’t care who gets the credit.
7:56 p.m.: “We have to caught up to history” is another good line. But now, he’s just repeating himself. We get it: Washington needs to be fixed, McCain will reach out to anyone, change is coming, etc., etc.
7:54 p.m.: The story of war and his family is, by far, the strongest part of his speech. Why didn’t he end it there?
7:52 p.m.: Not a lot of diversity in the audience.
7:48 p.m.: Please, God, let it end soon.
7:45 p.m.: Why do goofy hats and conventioneers go together like peanut butter and jelly?
7:44 p.m.: Even the video screen behind him isn’t right. For millions of television viewers, they are only see a backdrop of blue or green.
7:42 p.m.: Even the crowd looks bored.
7:40 p.m.: At this point, McCain should just wrap it up.
7:38 p.m.: “Latino daughter of migrant workers” line barely garnered any applause. Disappointing.
7:36 p.m.: Maybe Sarah Palin can come out of the bullpen and earn a save.
7:35 p.m.: This speech is getting worse, if that’s possible.
7:33 p.m.: Obama’s toughest hurdle will be explaining why he was against the surge in Iraq and what would have happened if America had given up.
7:31 p.m.: When McCain talks about being a corruption fighter, my mind keeps going back Charles Keating and the savings and loan scandal. He should attack that head-on.
7:28 p.m.: The GOP keeps talking about change — as if President Bush hadn’t been in office for eight years.
7:25 p.m.: This speech, so far, is really disappointing. Poorly written, poorly delivered. And the protesters haven’t helped.
7:23 p.m.: McCain’s better off-the-cuff where his intelligence shows.
7:22 p.m.: Maybe it’s my Sarah Palin hangover.
7:21 p.m.: McCain is putting me asleep.
7:20 p.m.: Mom McCain looks like she is about to do some jumping jacks at 96.
7:18 p.m.: Cindy McCain is having a bad hair day.
7:16 p.m.: It seems easier to compliment Laura Bush than President Bush.
7:14 p.m.: Is that flag on the video behind McCain large enough?
7:13 p.m.: The introductory video was WAY over the top. McCain’s story is compelling on its own. You don’t have to hype it like that.
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10 responses so far ↓
1 Wil // Sep 5, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Yes the whole thing was falling down stairs. I was amazed by the lackluster and hypocrisy. So many ideals, but not any ideas!!!
2 Drew // Sep 5, 2008 at 7:18 pm
@ Wil- That is politics, always has been, always will be.
@ 7:33- Simple, the surge isn’t working. It wasn’t about reducing violence, it was about giving the Iraqi government breathing room to get on it’s feet. They haven’t done that. As soon as we pull back to pre-surge numbers, the conditions will revert back to what they were.
@7:57- That is who McCain is. To me that is a strong point, the strongest one for his presidency. But to the GOP that is (almost) blasphemey.
@ the rest- so much for the Palin bounce, McCain may well have let the air out of that ball…
3 Drew // Sep 5, 2008 at 7:23 pm
@ myself, I should point out that reaching across the aisle and working with the “other side” is a pox on both houses. The DNC isn’t too happy with that either, cough Lieberman cough.
4 Iron Pol // Sep 5, 2008 at 9:21 pm
I’m not sure about the “air out of the ball” thing, Drew. If you consider it, it is amazing that McCain is even in this race.
An often left-of-center Republican who angers the base by “reaching across the aisle” and working on bills that go against conservative beliefs, McCain is basically even with Obama.
If the conservative base solidifies beyond what it has since the announcement of Palin, it will be a very interesting few weeks until the election.
In an election that should plain and simply belong to the Democrats without any effort, Obama is suddenly comparing his qualifications against those of the VP candidate. In the end, McCain is a boring speaker. Even the best speech writer can only do so much with that.
He’ll do better in the debates, though he’ll still struggle against Obama, an obviously gifted speaker.
5 Drew // Sep 6, 2008 at 2:19 am
Yep, he let the air out. Regardless of how you feel about Palin, or what she turns out to be in the coming weeks, there was a tremendous groundswell over the RNC, until last night. McCain sounded weak and flat, and lets face it, politics is 90% appearance. Maybe 100%.
I have considered how amazing it is McCain in the nominee. Truth be told he was the best option for President, going all the way back to HW Bush. But it has been party politics as usual and, this time, McCain played by the rules. He stopped voting his conscience and started voting party lines. He got his nomination. I think Palin was a party pick, not his. She is there specifically to pander to the base that can’t get far enough away from McCain, especially after last night. The only way they can win is if the Dems give it away. There is much more electricity in that party. Palin is a flash in the pan, but Obama has been burning brightly for quite a while.
Personally I don’t know why. He is totally form over substance, but again, appearance is like 90% politics now.
Either way this country is screwed. Wasn’t a single candidate on either side worth voting for honestly. The old McCain had my admiration and respect, even where I disagreed with him. The new McCain isn’t worth much more than any other empty suit politico…
6 Drew // Sep 6, 2008 at 2:26 am
If you think about it, who was McCain’s opposition? Fred Thompson? That guy is a joke of a politician if there ever was one. Total cliche, right down to the humungous truck he got into just before a town and got out of right after.
Then you have one guy who wear magic underpants, and another who wears women’s underpants. McCain was the obvious choice from the get go, even if the base despises him.
7 Iron Pol // Sep 6, 2008 at 4:02 am
First, it will take a couple days to see how the polls respond to the convention. And it will be fairly difficult to seperate Palin’s “good” from McCain’s “bad” impact. In the end, I’m willing to bet that the positive boost from Palin will offset any negatives people might see.
If people don’t like McCain, Palin might be able to pull them in. If they like McCain, it’s moot. And if they don’t like Palin, they weren’t likely to vote for McCain in the first place.
I won’t be writing Palin off. She is the same kind of “rising star” Obama was a couple years back. The base seems to have really taken to her, and it’s all sort of in her hands, now.
I’ll agree with the “no real candidates” comment, though for different reasons. Thompson could have had it, but he seemed hesitant to get in, which was fatal. Giuliani has more liberal tendencies than McCain. Romney seemed plastic, which was exactly why the right blasted Gore.
But as a conservative frustrated with the Republican party, I can say that Palin might be enough to convince me NOT to vote “None of the Above.”
8 Stacy Martinis // Sep 8, 2008 at 3:32 am
I was torn between Obama and Clinton. Now I am torn between Obama and slapping anyone who votes for McCain.
9 Drew // Sep 8, 2008 at 9:47 am
I can almost see the attraction to McCain, especially the old school McCain that wasn’t afraid to stiff the party and do what he thought was right.
Palin on the other hand scares the crap out of me, and so does the people who vote for people like her, either because they appreciate what she will do in office, or because they don’t know and are voting for her for shallow reasons…
10 Christopher // Sep 8, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Palin is hot!
I now refer to her as “Caribu Barbie”.
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