The Discerning Texan
All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke
-- Edmund Burke
Thursday, September 04, 2008
McCain's Speech...
I have to say I agree with Glenn. Very vanilla and anticlimactic to me after last night, but I don't think he was shooting for my vote tonight. My vote was earned last night. He was going for another audience:
IMO, it was not as well delivered as was Obama's speech, but it also was not as devoid of real substance as Obama's was (how could it have been?). And no speech in the last 2 weeks was as good as Sarahs'--so no way was he going to top that. But then again McCain's whole goal was to establish his experience and qualifications over Obama's "style" and cult of personality. I think he helped himself here, but I also think McCain is going to have to be a lot more aggressive in exposing Obama's weaknesses and inexperience in the debates than he was tonight.
All and all, I am a bit disappointed because a lot of people were watching--in that sense McCain may missed some opportunities to score more points. But tonight he wasn't shooting for the base--or the "sophisticates". So I guess the numbers coming out of this Convention will tell whether the speech was truly a success or not.
But I do not think there is ANY question that the Convention was a huge success.
I guess I fit into the political sophisticate column. So I can agree with that too.MCCAIN'S SPEECH: Not bad. But, like Obama, he was overshadowed -- Obama by Bill Clinton, McCain by Sarah Palin.
UPDATE: Thoughts on the speech from Professor Bainbridge. And more from Megan McArdle. Meanwhile, on TV Karl Rove is saying "It's the best speech he's given on a Teleprompter, but it's not that great. . . . It was a workmanlike speech but it's not what we saw last night."
John Hinderaker on PJTV: "This was not a speech that was pitched to political sophisticates at all. It was aimed at the middle."
IMO, it was not as well delivered as was Obama's speech, but it also was not as devoid of real substance as Obama's was (how could it have been?). And no speech in the last 2 weeks was as good as Sarahs'--so no way was he going to top that. But then again McCain's whole goal was to establish his experience and qualifications over Obama's "style" and cult of personality. I think he helped himself here, but I also think McCain is going to have to be a lot more aggressive in exposing Obama's weaknesses and inexperience in the debates than he was tonight.
All and all, I am a bit disappointed because a lot of people were watching--in that sense McCain may missed some opportunities to score more points. But tonight he wasn't shooting for the base--or the "sophisticates". So I guess the numbers coming out of this Convention will tell whether the speech was truly a success or not.
But I do not think there is ANY question that the Convention was a huge success.
