Republican National Convention '08

[innerSpaceman]

Well, i'll grant that the end of his speech was rousing.



And there have been many worse Republicans than John McCain.





But, um, no.

[scaeagles]

I didn't watch tonight. I haven't yet found a transcript of it.

[innerSpaceman]

One thing is Not Going to be apparent from Reading the transcript ... the way he overcame being a slave to audience reaction by the end of the speech, gained the confidence that, d'uh, he is microcphoned and will be heard around the nation even if people in the hall are yelling.

Before that, he kept stumbling when the audience would insist on applause breaks. The worst tendencies of repeating the start of a sentence 3 times and the like ... really some of the worst public speaking pitfalls and sloppiness.

Then he had to actually quell the crowd when hecklers twice threatened to interrupt the speech. And even though they were never heard, interrupt it they did. The crowds' anti-chant visibly threw McCain off balance. He recovered the second time better with a cute one-liner, but two times in five minutes he completely lost control of the rythym of his words and themes, and was noticeably shaken.

(None of that will be in the written transcript.)



All the more amazing to me, then, when he ignored the cries and clamors of the crowds during his inspirational finale. Just talked right through it, kept the proper cadence to give the ooomph to the speech (said oomph also not likely be apparent from reading it, scaeagles).

And far from drowning him out, the roar of the audience served only to accentuate the "Oh-Yessitude" of John McCain's big finish.





Ok, well, much as I do not want to abide Mr. McCain as president, he doesn't make my skin crawl.


Sarah Palin, on the other hand, gives me the complete creeps.

[Gemini Cricket]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

Then he had to go and use the code words for anti-gay rights, and he frelling actually WINKED while he was saying them. I can't fukking believe it.

I watched and I missed that. I'd love to see someone point it out on a transcript. I'd like to read it. Interesting...


I thought the parts where he spoke of his personal experiences sacrificing a lot for this country were great. Well done. But all in all, I'd have to say that this is one of the worst campaign speeches I have ever seen/heard. His pacing was incredibly slow, he stumbled several times and in the areas where he was trying to rally the crowd and get them excited he fell flat.

He's not the anti-Christ, he's not the worst politician in the world, but this speech was horrendous. Him apologizing for the last 8 years was nice, but instead of it making me see him in a positive light, it made me resent his party as a whole. I liked that he didn't speak with the venom that Palin did, so I guess his whole speech wasn't a total loss. But inspiring it wasn't and comparing it to Obama's speech it was poor.

People in the crowd looked as bored as I was. There was even a shot where someone was yawning. But that had more to do with bad direction, methinks. They did show more people of color this time. (I watched it on KCET, I don't know if the crowd shots vary from network to network.) The KCET and CNN hosts even brought up the small numbers of minorities in the GOP to the Republican and Democrat commentators and both sides said it indeed was an issue.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

One thing is Not Going to be apparent from Reading the transcript ... the way he overcame being a slave to audience reaction by the end of the speech, gained the confidence that, d'uh, he is microcphoned and will be heard around the nation even if people in the hall are yelling.

Before that, he kept stumbling when the audience would insist on applause breaks. The worst tendencies of repeating the start of a sentence 3 times and the like ... really some of the worst public speaking pitfalls and sloppiness.

Did the broadcast you were watching show the dude with the banners?

We ended up watching the video on the RNC site. There was a guy in the way back holding banners reading things like "McCain votes against Vets". At one point I heard him yelling. The prolonged "USA" chants that had McCain halting were the crowd drowning him out. And that's why he threw the "Don't be distracted by the ground noise and static" line in.

We watched large chunks of it, then scanned the transcript. The only thing we could figure that Steve might be referring to is:

We -- we believe in the values of families, neighborhoods and communities.

[Gemini Cricket]

I saw the banner guy. I also saw 2 people being marched out waving the two finger peace sign.

I'm torn on the protest during the speeches issue. I believe in freedom of speech and I'm all for people protesting. But doing it the way they did, it made themselves look bad.

Also, another word on McCain's POW story: I think it's a wonderful, amazing story. But the introduction video, Palin and Cindy McCain gave their versions of it already. It kinda watered down McCain saying it himself. I think they should have let him have the thunder.

[innerSpaceman]

No, didn't see the banners on CNN. Just the folks being escorted out.

Either way, i thought McCain handled it poorly.




oh, and the code words? it's when "judges legislate from the bench."

That's actually code for two things ... anti-gay rights and anti reproductive-rights.


I call it anti-American.


And even without the code, the concept itself is unAmerican. We should CELEBRATE that an equal brand of government arbits final justice and PROTECTS us from the worst ravages of craven legislatures, tyrannical executive power, and the democracy of the American mob.

[flippyshark]

Amen to that, iSm!

[scaeagles]

I read the speech and was left with mostly the same impression I was after reading Obama's (same old same old) with a couple of exceptions.

First, I believe he recognizes the utter failings of the republican party. He called out the republican led congress and (indirectly) Bush for spending and expanding government. As a disgruntled republican, that was my favorite part of the speech. Gave me reason to think I could support republicans in general again.

Lastly, I was genuinely moved by the latter part of his speech when he was talking about his experience as a POW and how it changed him. I thought that was brilliantly written and I may need to watch his delivery of that portion at least.

I'm starting to think I could vote for McCain without having to hold my nose while doing it. However, my level of trust with him is very, very low still.

[Strangler Lewis]

He certainly spoke as if he understood his party's failings and was clearly playing more to the undecideds in TV land than the loyalists in the house. The question, of course, is whether he means it. I think last night was the first time he really sounded like that.