I didn't. I was at a bar drinking beer with Carlos. Any thoughts? Most of the reactions I have been was that it was somewhere between solid/workmanlike and awful. Much snark expended over the fact that the green screen was back, or that the backdrop was "one of his eight mansions" for much of the speech. Seriously, someone needs to be fired for that goof. Someone else described at as "your great-uncle reminiscing about world war two before fretting about what those russians are up to," and another described it as more of a look back on a career than someone about to start a new one. Another described this as being more like a "lifetime achievement" banquet than a nomination. While these may or may not be fair assessments, it certainly contrasts with the reviews of Palin's speech. (One source wondered how long it would be before Palin dumped McCain from the ticket.)
As I said, I didn't watch it. Anyone who did see it have an opinion?
2 comments:
I will say that the audience in the building was not as wildly off the heads with excitement as they were for Palin, but I blame that on the RNC crowd preferring wackos. Also, McCain is not blessed with the oratorical gene of Obama or B. Clinton, but... in its content it was a perfectly good speech. I think all these speeches spend too long thanking wives and uncles and primary opponents and such, and for someone who's heard it before you get tired of the retelling of the "how I came to be here" story, but that's universal and McCain did have some thematic purpose to it. And since he's unlikely to be subjected to the Swift Boat treatment, he doesn't run the risk of hanging too much of his candidacy on that story and havin it pulled out from under him.
I thought he did a pretty good job of making the case that he would be a nonpartisan force, most especially by implicitly and explicitly criticizing the corruption scandals, lobbyist influences, and foreign policy blunders of his own party. Nearly as often as he criticized Obama and the Dems. Of course, the problem with both candidates is that they themselves are great exemplars of post-partisan possibility, while their parties and their campaigns (and, sadly, their actions when not on national TV) slide ever so inexorably the other way.
I definitely rebelled against the misrepresentations, veiled insults, etc. about the Democratic agenda and/or Obama. But, I think the simplistic McCain = W line from the other side is equally fatuous. That sort of thing is pretty par for the course, sadly.
About a year ago, I decided that a McCain-Obama race would be the best, last hope for an honest, respectful, cooperative, substantive attempt to improve things, and compared to the rest of the primary roster, I still do. And I think if you could just isolate those two guys and let em do things their own way, they'd be pretty impressive and effective. I'm just afraid the best hope still isn't a very large one.
Please, let the debates be good...
I agree 100% with James' assessment. I can add nothing except to say that McCain's story doesn't get old because regardless of your feelings for his politics, a story of coming back from that level of suffering is arresting.
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