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Looks like McCain and Obama both missed their chance to get on the Texas ballot. Obviously, they're going to wind up on it, but Barr is threatening legal action if it happens. See, Barry O? You're not the only one who knows how to throw opponents off a ballot!
Posted By: J.P. Freire
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Indeed, I think that's wrong. There was a quality to Palin's speech that hasn't been at the center of Republican oratory for a while -- her ability to communicate a common understanding. Looking at the field of GOP leaders recently confirms this: W. was a silver spoon baby, John McCain, in spite of his personal story, is stilted, Newt Gingrich is aloof, and Ron Paul always seems nervous.
Some bloggers felt that Palin was too negative, but I think how she handled the negativity was instructive -- it felt like a wrist slap than a schoolmarmish clucking, or a bitter political attack. It was proportionate.
As to whether chills should come down the spine at the thought of a President Palin, perhaps similar chills should have surfaced at the time President Bush was nominated. At that time he had more failures and fewer achievements than Governor Palin. I don't know what was so chilly, though -- she was fine.
Posted By: J.P. Freire
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David Kuo doubles down:Palin’s speech . . . fell spectacularly short on convincing the American people that the the two words "president" and "palin" could be uttered together without a fearful shiver going up one’s spine. Unlike Kuo, I don't claim to speak for "the American people," but I'm not feeling any such shiver. How about you, J.P.?
Posted By: Robert Stacy McCain
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It's now even at 42%, says CBS News, while Rasmussen shows a 2-point advantage for Obama.
Posted By: Robert Stacy McCain
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John McCain deserves tremendous credit for maintaining his cool while being repeatedly interrupted by protesters. Somehow, he managed not to lash out or show visible irritation. I kept expecting him to yell, "What the hell did you ever do for your country? Don't you think I deserve to be heard? Have I earned that much?" He soared above it.
On the other hand, I have to rate the first 1/2 to 2/3 of the speech as weak. It had the same uninspiring feeling as a George W. Bush State of the Union. The laundry list, the calling out of ordinary Americans. When he started naming people struggling with recession, I thought of some campaign functionary looking at the poll results. "Cares about people like me" -- Check. The first part of the speech had to be endured, sort of like direct mail that repeats the old pattern and the old tricks. You have to wade through it to get to the meat.
The good news is that there was meat. McCain got through the faux SOTU and began talking about what really matters -- who he is, what his life has been like, why he is ready to lead. When he talked about that, the tingle started to develop. You could feel it. The contrast sharpened almost painfully. You realized, "Barack Obama has scarcely held a full-time job and we are about to elect pretty words when we desperately need a veteran." That's when John McCain scored. Scored points in bunches. He shook off a tired old cocoon and metamorphosed into the great man when he did that.
Posted By: Hunter Baker
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Here's my reaction to John McCain's speech from today's Guardian. The commenters sure are surly today.
Posted By: Jeremy Lott
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I'll be on C-Span's Washington Journal at 7:45 a.m. opposite the New Republic's thoughtful Franklin Foer. We'll be agreeing and disagreeing, but all at a comfortable decibel level, and excited to see the over-the-shoulder camera work its magic on the newspaper clippings.
Posted By: J.P. Freire
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It would make sense that he was being so constantly interrupted by the protesters, given how distracted he seemed to be at times. But was that really the cause of it? I don't think he managed to summon the ability to get past the prompter -- he seemed like he was still using it.
Whatever the case, as a speech, on paper, it looks far better than it was spoken. Unfortunately, no one reads. That said, his run towards the end was impressive. Yes, it was Churchillian. I don't think he's given a better speech during his campaign.
But there were problems. He did the example thing, where he provides a story about your average American who's having trouble feeding her dog (well, maybe not *that*, but close). He stammered on some lines, again, possibly because of protesters. But there's something eminently strange about a man at a Republican convention highlighting his credentials as being more than just a Republican. And more, there's something strange about how he attacks -- his uneasy smile after he lunges, as though he didn't really mean that, and hopes you'll excuse him.
I just hope he paid attention to what got him the largest cheers of support.
Posted By: J.P. Freire
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Watching from home, I can't disagree more with the idea that McCain's speech "was overall pretty flat and dull." To the contrary, it was the best speech McCain has given since launching his candidacy. He rose to the occasion as never before, and for the first time I got the sense why he's running for -- and why he is determined to become -- President. In the wake of Sarah Palin's triumph Wednesday night, McCain not only surpassed expectations but delivered his own walk-off grand slam.
Posted By: Wlady
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| September 4, 2008 |
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McCain isn't generally a great speaker, and he was slow to get going tonight, but he ended strong, with a recount not just of the heroic portion of his captivity, but of when he was broken and ashamed, with nothing to fall back on but the counsel of one of his fellow soldiers, and the love of his country. His Churchilian rallying cry at the end of the speech brought the house down. It was delivered with a level of conviction that few others could muster, because he's lived it. "Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight. Nothing is inevitable here. We’re Americans, and we never give up. We never quit. We never hide from history. We make history."
Posted By: Philip Klein
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Some good moments, but overall pretty flat and dull, I'm afraid.
Posted By: John Tabin
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The blue screen behind McCain isn't as bad as the green that prevailed earlier, but it's still not good.
Posted By: John Tabin
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I'm not sure how clear this is on TV, but McCain's rhythm is being broken a bit by the audience's reactions to a heckler in the rafters.
UPDATE: More protesters, as I'm sure you know by now. This happened at the 2004 GOP convention, too, but Bush didn't stop to adlib a response the way McCain did.
Posted By: John Tabin
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Even the press corps cheered him.
Posted By: James Antle
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I think the Republican convention just declared war on Iran, but I could be wrong.
Posted By: James Antle
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I thought I'd heard the last of this nonsense in Denver.
Posted By: James Antle
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Tim Pawlenty (speaking now) is, to put it kindly, less impressive than Sara Palin.
Posted By: John Tabin
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Minnesotans like him, they really like him.
Posted By: James Antle
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Lots of outrage from the Left over Sarah Palin and Rudy Giuliani mocking Barack Obama's early career as a community organizer, with Ezra Klein endeavoring to obscure categories:A community organizer can be a PTA member or a Christian Coalition lieutenant. Indeed, there's something deeply conservative about the vocation, which informally organizes citizens to demand better, fairer, and wiser treatment from detached government bureaucrats. Well, no, a PTA member is not a "community organizer," Ezra. The "community organizer" gig, as now practiced, goes back to Saul Alinsky and the Industrial Areas Foundation, and is based in the Marxist notion that the problems of the poor are essentially political. Community organizing as a practice got a federally-subsidized boost via Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society," and the effect of the community-organizing model on municipal governance is hilariously chronicled in Tom Wolfe's Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers. Several journalists have noted that Obama's organizing efforts didn't bring any meaningful, lasting improvement to the Chicago South Side community in which he worked, but then community organizing never does, simply because politics is not the solution to poverty.
Posted By: Robert Stacy McCain
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1. If a prominent liberal had called Palin "Dan Quayle with mammaries" conservatives would pounce like hawks. Kuo's status as a conservative somehow exempts him from this? 2. Perhaps I'm a bit touchy over this particular matter because my expressions of concern over the McCain campaign's mishandling of the situation subjected me to vilification. 3. The strain of the past few days -- the uproar over Palin's selection, Obama holding a steady lead in the polls -- is probably to account for all this snappishness.
Posted By: Robert Stacy McCain
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JP: You don't think that's a nasty, biting description but get all huffy when
RSM calls David Kuo a RINO? Maybe I'm missing something here.
Posted By: Jeremy Lott
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I guess that's where the disagreement is. I just don't think it's a nasty, biting description. Do you have something against mammaries?
Posted By: J.P. Freire
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JP: My instinct is to illustrate why I'm right on this point by coming up with a really nasty, biting description of you and speculating that you could, in fact, be something equally bad as well, but that I hope that neither is the case. And then D.C. area denizens who read the Spectator could throw these back in your face over lunch, at parties, etc. Now, I won't do that because it would be extremely uncharitable (if funny) and we like to keep it classy here.
Posted By: Jeremy Lott
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Republican calls Obama ... uh, the "u-word."
Posted By: Robert Stacy McCain
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Am I the only one who's mighty afraid that we're going to have to see 4 or more years of "How's It Look" journalism should a McCain/Palin administration become a reality? Every time she gets a new haircut, we'll have people quoting Whitman and referring to how it represents the state of the American soul.
Let's just make sure that when it does get cut, it doesn't happen on Air Force One.
Posted By: J.P. Freire
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The lightweight image was what I meant. Was Quayle, by the time he was named Veep, respected for these achievements, or was the bumbling thing what dominated his media cycle? I ask because in our brand new ADD riddled history classes, Quayle was just the guy who couldn't spell potato.
Jeremy, really? You can't puckishly use a phrase and expect it to be taken as a cautionary note? Don't we do that, uh, all the time? Again, I don't agree with him and our worldviews are likely to be greatly different. But how being a RINO figures into the discussion, I'm not really clear.
I disagree with Amanda, mainly because I think Kuo was pointing to the oft-commented-on "cuteness" of Governor Palin. Quayle's obstacles in his image, among other things, were being good-looking and appearing younger. He seemed out of his element for someone who was very much in it. I'd say making the comparison isn't really offensive, and don't see how it justifies calling him a "jerk." But that may be because she holds a special disdain anatomical creativity, in which case I'll never explain to her the strange similarity between GWB's and Obama's ears.
Posted By: J.P. Freire
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Here's the start of Culture11 managing editor Joe Carter's response to his colleague's comment: "'Dan Quayle with mammaries?' Oh. No. You. Didn't. Go. There." More...
Posted By: Jeremy Lott
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It's not every day that someone rallies to the defense of Dan Quayle. But while we're at it, I'll call attention to one of the most famous magazine articles of the 1990s, "Dan Quayle Was Right," by Barbara Dafoe Whitehead. She later elaborated her argument into an excellent book, The Divorce Culture.
Posted By: Robert Stacy McCain
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JP: Sorry but not buying it. You simply cannot coin and publish "Dan Quayle with mammaries" and expect it to be received as a thoughtful cautionary note. The phrase was meant to cut. In Kuo's defense, if Palin had bombed last night, he would have looked remarkably prescient. In re: Dan Quayle, he knocked off a sitting congressman and | | | | | |
Compare to the Obama cover in June: 