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September 05, 2008 04:34 AM UTC

RNC Speech Open Thread

  • 190 Comments
  • by: DavidThi808

It’s the final night for the Republicans and tonight John McCain gets to make his case. (He’s a war hero you know…)

Live feed here on MSNBC with no talking heads.

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190 thoughts on “RNC Speech Open Thread”

    2. I thought Cindy’s film and speech did what everyone knew John’s couldn’t and wouldn’t.

      She showed the McCains get and have been living  “get it” lives for a long time.

      Cindy showed the human side of the McCains, and sold herself as the strongest first lady candidate in the race.

      McCain is no orator. He hired Palin to be the orator. Good decision. He hired Palin to rally the base and unite the party, and she did that.

      Now he can go out and win the independent votes, which will decide the election.

      What we can’t know now is who will win the independents. The GOP is betting we’re still a mostly conservative, patriotic country, and the independents will go for McCain.

      The Democrats are betting voters are so sick of Bush that they’ll overlook the hard left, socialistic policies of the Obama/Biden ticket.

      Democrats are carping on CNN, but they have to carp. That’s their job.

      Now the real fun begins.

        1. Has actually done more to help those living in squalor than Barack Obama says he wants to do.

          Not saying I thought it was a good speech – it wasn’t.  But that was the one point she managed to get across.  

          McCain’s speech was pretty blah, until his autobiographical section.  That was moving.  But the highlight to me – and some have panned this part – was the crescendo of shouting over the cheers.  It was old-school oratory, highlighted his will, and showed he still had a few missions left to accomplish in his not-so-old body.

          1. that allowed Cindy to do what she’s done.

            Sorry, I’m not impressed by the uber-rich doing what they should be doing.  Glad that they are, yes, but not impressed.

            I’m much more impressed when a kid works hard to raise money for mission work or something like that.  

            1. I believe that people should use their good fortune to help the less fortunate.  However, for you to say that your not impressed when they do is a slap in the face to all people of good will.  Some people have money to help and others only time.  When people do what they can with what they have, everyone benifits.  So don’t act like it’s just money from a privledged person and that it is expected.  When families work hard and accumulate wealth there is nothing at all that says they have to give it to anyone.  Therefore, a sincere thank you is in line when they do.

              1. …I’m not saying anything terribly different than you are.  I said it’s all good, just less so for a wealthy person.  I’ll guess that as a percentage of her wealth, she does a lot less than some poe folk.

                I’m not so sure how hard Cindy has worked for her money, though.  

        2. TO SPEAK OF CINDY MCCAIN IN SUCH A NEGATIVE WAY ONLY SHOWS DEEP-SEEDED ANGER ISSUES WITHIN YOURSELF. YES, CINDY IS BEAUTIFUL AND RICH AND IF SHE IS PAMPERED, THAN SHE MUST HAVE AN EXTREMELY LOVING HUSBAND WHICH EVERY WOMEN DESERVES TO HAVE.

          WHAT DO YOU WANT HER TO LOOK LIKE? SHOULD SHE SHAVE HER HEAD START WEARING DOC MARTINS AND WHERE ALL BLACK OR GREEN? DIDN’T YOU KNOW IT’S OKAY TO BE RICH, SMART, HARD-WORKING BEAUTIFUL AND GRACEFUL WHILE WORKING HARD TO HELP MAN-KIND? SHE’S BLESSED AND I AM HAPPY FOR HER SUCCESS. WE SHOULD NOT BE SO JEALOUS!!<>

            1. but Obama’s elitism is not borne of finances.  It’s a faux-educational elitism that pervades the left where they know better for you than you do.

              The “bitter” comment is a very glaring example of this.  

      4. You know, the Democrats are betting the same thing.

        The GOP is really betting we’re an amnesiac country, that we’ll forget the Republican establishment — of which there is no more solid member than John McCain and no more odious examples than those running his campaign — has spent the last eight years on a drunken (or is that a dry drunken?) spending spree, redistributing wealth like mad to the wealthy, engaging in adventurism abroad and neglect at home, embracing torture while rejecting habeas corpus, suspending the Amendments Four-Six because it feels good, failing to protect America in 2001 and failing to punish the perpetrators of an attack on American soil, incompetently bumbling through the loss of a major American city, plunging the Middle Class into crisis and thumbing their collective nose at accountability.

        Democrats are betting Americans won’t forget.

      1. last we heard from Paris Hilton she’d gone looking for her V.P. choice.  Wonder if she’ll make her announcement this week.  Maybe it’s Mr. Palin!

    2. Especially considering he has had decades of public speaking experience to hone his skills. Michelle Obama was a lot better than him.

      An orator he is not.  

    3. $300,000 for an outfit isn’t elitist if it is empty inside.

      How in the world can Republicans accuse Michelle of being elitist when McCain might have spent a half million on her convention wardrobe?  The McCains are loaded and they are pretending to be the common people?  What a crock.

  4. Honestly, I can’t look at or listen to this spectacle. It’s very painful for me. Why subject myself to it. I won’t be watching it.

    I am ashamed of my fellow Republican human beings.

      1. Take the Republican out of that sentence:-)The sentence was poorly structured. The emphasis is to be on “human beings” who just happen to be Republican.

        You are better than I thought! How did you KNOW I am not a Republican???

          1. Look, I’ll make a prediction, not having listened to McCain tonight. It’ll be heavy on his 40-year ole POW experience. It’ll be pro military-industrial complex. It’ll be self deprecating to suck in the unawares. The MSM will hype it to the heavens. And….there will be way too few discriminating minds ready to refute the bullshitt. (I intended the double tt)

                    4. This really looks like the start of a great. . .  What was that movie?

                      It might be fun to find a coffee shop with tin cups (don’t break), bolted down picnic tables and benches (can’t be picked up and dumped over) and lots of coffee; just to have a meeting of the coffee drinkers or tea drinkers or whatever drinkers from here.

                    3. but I’m not prepared to share that.

                      Forgive me for saying this, but you can’t have my time for a cup of coffee.  

                    4. You’d be a better man for knowing me, but it’s cool.  Bob and I will kick it back and tell mean stories about you behind your back.

                      🙂

                    1. Remember, we are the enemy, the liberal blogging elites…this is nothing more than a Marti Hari (sp?) attempt bt LB to infiltrate the ranks and bedazzle with coffee,  laced with some unknown substance….and BE?….I don’t know. …could be a double agent..

                      the above train is far more engaging that the repub convention…

                1. We all start out egocentric.

                  Most of us along the way figure out we are a bit of matter in the universe, and that service to others is what matters.

                  Since I haven’t been channeling his mind for decades, I’ll take it at face value.  

                1. I sometimes forget that the political staff can be quite a bubble and often times insulates a person from reality, but they gotta know that they are starting to hit maximum usefulness out of that.

              2. it is the first time he’s done it on the campaign trail in depth.

                Sure, he mentions it all the freakin’ time…but he never talks about it like he did tonight.

  5. Apparently not. The few that try to boogey with the interim music appear extremely uncomfortable.  As in, either a cob stuck in the nether regions or exceedingly embarrassed that they might be seen.  

    Compare that to the Dems!

    BTW, most of that crowd scares me. The Stepford look or something.  

      1. Said the two percent of blacks in the crowd weren’t enough to keep the dancing from veering dangerously off beat.  Now remember, this was satire.  No need for Libertad to step in and tell me how disgusting my racial stereotyping is.

  6. Or do the delegates/crowd do a lot of interrupting to chant various slogans?  I was in Denver and we cheered to excess, but it seems to me and this is pure opinion, that the crowd is trying to out rowdy the Democrats.

    2.    The GOP, which is known for very scripted and very secure public events, actually allowed demonstrators to breach the fortress.  How did that happen?

  8. McCain is speaking now, about 15 minutes in.  At the beginning, he praised GW.  A few minutes ago he says he understands that these are tough times!  

    And this theme of bringing change – Hello, not your meme, Pubs, please create your own – to a Washington that he has been part and parcel of for decades?

    This stuff is so glaringly obvious.  OK, to anyone with a shred of objectivity.  Oh….

  9. Don’t like him, don’t vote for him but disrupting his acceptance speech is uncalled for. They only hurt their cause and I think they hurt Obama, whether they’re for him or not.

    For anyone at Invesco, were there any hecklers there? I sure didn’t hear any but maybe the stadium was so huge they didn’t stand a chance of disrupting. We know there were people in the stadium that weren’t Obama supporters, but kudos to them if they were polite and respectful.

    By the same token, if there were hecklers during Obama’s acceptance speech, in the words of Emily Lettila, never mind …

    1. I was there and while I didn’t see any hecklers, I did see fights in the parking lots while people were waiting to get inside.  I didn’t think that represented the Democratic Party very wel.

  11. He’s right: He made Palin famous.

    Every once in a while, though, something pops up and grabs your attention. Take, for example, Wasilla City Council Informational Memorandum 99-62, prepared on June 14, 1999. This little gem outlines some of the state-funded projects that Wasilla City secured that year, including $1.2 million for storm water treatment and $605,000 for pedestrian pathways.

    Then, slapped in the margin, former Mayor Sarah Palin – reformer extraordinaire – scribbled the following message:

    FYI This does not include our nearly one million Dollars from the Feds for our Airport Paving Project.

    We did well!!!

    As Laura pointed out earlier, John McCain didn’t think so. Indeed, The LA Times reported that McCain was criticizing Palin’s earmarks at the time that his now-running mate was securing them. It’s revelations like these that can quickly erode candidates’ maverick reputations.

    http://www.washingtonindepende…

        1. these specific projects he didn’t say anything about.

          The projects he objected to are pointed out in the linked article.

          In 2001, McCain’s list of spending that had been approved without the normal budget scrutiny included a $500,000 earmark for a public transportation project in Wasilla. The Arizona senator targeted $1 million in a 2002 spending bill for an emergency communications center in town — one that local law enforcement has said is redundant and creates confusion.

          McCain also criticized $450,000 set aside for an agricultural processing facility in Wasilla that was requested during Palin’s tenure as mayor and cleared Congress soon after she left office in 2002.

          Fair is fair, Danny.

  12. are does anyone else think McCain is laying on the POW thing just a wee bit thick?

    He does go on and on.  I think that’s the kind of thing its better to have someone else say about you than to say it about your selves.  Americans like their heros with a modest, aw shucks, ma’m, twarn’t nothin’ quality bout them, a la Audie Murphy.

    2. I do appreciate Senator McCain’s service, but personally I liked the fact that a number of my friends didn’t realize that Beau was headed to Iraq.

      I think that the POW stories would have been better being brought up by everyone but him.  This is probably more a process matter than anything else.

            2. But who are we, who have never gone through anything like 5 years of torture, to judge?

              I do find it sad that, as someone who knows what it’s like to sign a confession to make it stop, he caved to Bush on torture.  But I certainly don’t blame him for signing meaningless confessions about committing crimes against the people under torture. Everyone knows that kind of confession doesn’t mean a thing and that’s pretty much all torture is good for.  

              24 is a total fantasy but one that McCain claims to be addicted to. I’d think it would disgust him to see such an unrealistic glorification of torture.

              He’s certainly nothing if not complicated and conflicted. He’s just not my idea of a  President and Commander in Chief on the issues or the personality traits I want to see in that position.  

        1. To a Jew, the idea of God in human flesh or confined to any form at all is blasphemy.   But I don’t take the specifics of any religion too seriously or judge what gets others through the day.  One of the more convenient  beliefs of my religious tradition is that God is unknowable.  Not as warm and fuzzy as Jesus but good enough for me.

    4. John Kerry was a real war hero that didn’t brag about it.

      America got a deserter instead.

      For that matter,

      Bob Dole was a real war hero.

      America got a dodger instead.

        1. And that’s fine,too. It was another wrong headed war.  When we left and the regime collapsed, the dominoes failed to fall and now we have normal relations with them.  

          I know former Vietnamese officers who fought on our side who now regularly take their families back for visits, including one who was in prison for years.  They send their relatives money, they are doing well and don’t even want to emigrate. Seems like we’re pretty much where we’d be if we hadn’t taken such a nasty death and destruction detour on the way.  

  13. ..not cuz it’s the flag, but how it gets the Pubs so excited.  Think dogs and bells.  Now the chants USA, USA.  

    And when it isn’t that flag, it’s the jumbotron graphics of a flag.

    This convention is about Authoritarianism and worshiping of idols. All military, all “patriotism,” all white.  Well almost.

  15. The new Musgrave ad shows her with Sen. Salazar.

    Not surprsing that McCain is running as Demiocrat light nor that he really wanted Lieberman on the ticket considering the disastrous policies of the Bush years.

  18. that the Republicans exploited 9/11 once again tonight?

    One of the most enduring taboos in American politics, the airing of graphic images from the September 11 attacks in a partisan context, died today. It was nearly seven years old.

    The informal prohibition, which had been occasionally threatened by political ads in recent years, was pronounced dead at approximately 7:40 CST, when a video aired before delegates at the Republican National Convention included slow-motion footage of a plane striking the World Trade Center, the towers’ subsequent collapse, and smoke emerging from the Pentagon.

    The September 11 precedent was one of the few surviving campaign-season taboos. It is survived by direct comparisons of one’s opponents to Hitler.

  19. …decidedly Christian w/o mentioning Jesus?  I only saw the opening and closing ones today.  Stuff like you hear in any church without the J word.  

    Any non-Judeo/Christian faiths presented?  

    1. Talking heads said it was whiter crowd by a higher percentage than 2004 (can’t remember if they said 93 %  but something close to that) and male by a large majority too.  I’m guessing not too many really different religions either.  

    2. the number of African-American Republican delegates were at a 40-year low this year, around 40 (or less?).  The Dems had about 1,000 at their Convention.  That’s a rather stark contrast.

  20. Biggest triumph of the night, he managed to run against Bush without saying Bush’s name and without pissing off the base. This is gigantic because it’s the only way he can win – he has to promise that he will move us away from our present disasterous approach, but not upset his base who still loves Bush.

    And he did it. That keeps him in the game. But… it’s going to be harder to do that in an interview with the press or in a debate. But still, well done.

    Biggest failure of the night, my focus group (my wife) left half way through because “there’s nothing there.” She happily sat through all of Sarah Palin last night but found McCain’s speech to be so empty that she wouldn’t stick it out.

    His clear big 3 policy items he’s going to run on – education, energy, and cleaning up Washington. On energy McCain and Obama are going to violently agree. Which is good because it means that getting us off of oil will have bi-partisian support.

    On reform it’s going to be McCain arguing that he has a history of fighting it (he does) and knows what to do vs Obama saying he hasn’t been sucked into it yet. Again, I see a tie on this.

    On education he has an advantage. Obama can’t promise as effective an approach to education as McCain because of the unions. So McCain will gain some advantage on this subject. But Obama has spoken on this issue too and so it’s not a significant advantage.

    His close at the end about why he loves his country and why he serves was good. And his call to others was also good. But all of that had the message that John McCain has done some amazing things, not that he is the right person to be president.

    And he was pretty muted on the stock Republican “government is the problem, not the solution” schtick. He is talking up government being the solution. And this is a gigantic problem for him, because if government is the solution, then the Democrats win the race.

    Finally, his dinging Obama was almost pro-forma. Maybe he’s going to let others do the attacking but he did very little to compare himself to Obama. It was John McCain great, but very little McCain better than alternative.

    I don’t think this gained him much.

    1. (the loser) by name, he continued the Republican whistling past the deficit.  Of all the problems confronting our country, the coward can’t even tell his own people that they are keeping taxes low because they are borrowing the money from China.  “We’ll continue our opened war with out raising taxes but don’t ask if we’re borrowing the money so that our children are going to taxed to pay the interest”.  Obama needs to take it to McCain over these ludicrous economics.  The reality is that we are going to lose services, benefits and probably pay more taxes if there is any hope that our children will not be burden with these debt obligations for decades to come.  Ron Paul got that one right and the insult to his followers should be front page news.  They should all bolt for Bob Barr.

        1. Afraid to talk about it LB and how phony the pit bull and gramps are to promise glorious wars without spending any tax money?

          After all the fawning over the PUMA’s you would think that the MSM would question why Ron Paul got the finger along with his 3-5 million supporters who want a rational fiscal policy that addresses our mushrooming deficit which NONE of the big brave Republicans addressed.

          Bob Barr is a former Republican who bolted the party when it became obvious that it was intoxicated with borrowing boatloads of money for expanding government.

        2. All this taking back DC stuff made sense in the Gingrich revolution when they had the OTHER party to be insurgents against but being insurgents against 8 years of yourselves is trickier, isn’t it? Especially when the lead insurgent has voted 100% with Bush in 2008 so far and 95% prior.

            2. after working for Stevens through a 527, being FOR the bridge to nowhere before she was against it but FOR keeping the money, etc.  The most insurgent thing on her resume is her support for the AIP and that’s not anti-Republican establishment.  It’s anti-USA.

              And McCain hasn’t been an insurgent for years. He’s been a nice,good little pandering pet. Nice try though, LB.  

              1. The AIP thing is a big dud.  I know you’re trying to do the anti-patriotic-turnaround thing on Palin, but it’s just as much of a non sequitur.

                She’s not unpatriotic.  She’s a good American just like Obama and Biden are.

                It’s just a difference of philosophies.  It’s only the fringes on either side that have to be so scorched earth about everything.  Don’t fall into that trap.

                I think McCain’s insurgent credentials are intact, evidenced by the chagrin that most conservatives had for him until he energized the ticket with Palin.

                And she primaried a corrupt, old school, entrenched Governor from AK and whipped his ass.

                1. is not patriotic is a non-sequitur?   Non-sequiturs are supposed to make no sense.  It makes perfect sense that patriots don’t want out of the USA so if you DO want out you’re not a patriot.

                  It’s also very difficult to imagine a patriot praising a group that wanted out or being married to someone who wanted out.  you may disagree but it’s hardly a non-sequitur.  The phrase “Bush’s foreign policy expertise” would be an example of a non-sequitur.

                  But, hey, I’m not the one calling people who disagree with the war unpatriotic or people who don’t wear flag pins unpatriotic or people who don’t hate the French unpatriotic.  

                  I AM calling everyone who has criticized those things but has not criticized Palin’s association with the by definition unpatriotic AIP (the I stands for independent and it means independent of the USA) a hypocrite.

                  To be honest, I am appalled by the prospect of Palin a heartbeat away from the presidency because she is such an extreme  lunatic fringe rightie, she makes McCain look like the moderate he pretends to be when that’s convenient and he’s not in pandering to the loons mode.  The AIP thing is more to do with my objection to hypocritical righties

                  1. But, hey, I’m not the one calling people who disagree with the war unpatriotic or people who don’t wear flag pins unpatriotic or people who don’t hate the French unpatriotic.  

                    Neither am I, right?  

                    Actually, to my knowledge the stated goal of the AIP is to have a vote on secession.  Not to actually do it.

                    I don’t think you really care too much about the AIP, and I don’t think you’ve ever spent a moment of your life being ‘outraged’ over secessionist movements in the US.  It’s just a convenient excuse to finally turn around the patriotism accusations (not from me) that seem to make you so angry.

    2. On energy, McCain wants light investments in renewables (essentially cheerleading industry) and heavy emphasis on the drilling.  Obama wants oil companies to continue forward with the drilling they’ve got years of backlog on and invest heavily in alternatives.

      I hardly think you’re unbiased on the education/union issue – it’s your pet peeve.

      And I don’t trust McCain to clean up Washington.  He’s made decent efforts in the past, but now (again) he’s completely swamped with Republican party insiders and corporate lobbyists – he’ll have a hard time breathing fresh air with all of them standing around.  He can’t seem to stay away from them, and he doesn’t see anything wrong with them.

      BTW, Obama has sponsored several government reform laws through to passage, too.

      1. I wasn’t saying their energy proposals were equivilent – but I think for the undecided voter they will be viewed as equivilent.

        Same with cleaning up Washington – but again those undecided voters won’t see all those lobbyists.

    3. He didn’t run fast enough. I give you, John Bush!

      No Ridge, he’s not his own man which is why Palin was forced on his ticket by the religious right. John Bush is as every much a sell-out to the far right as George Bush is.

      And as for education, McCain lifted that line from Bush who has equated reforming our education to that of the civil rights movement.

      More of the same.

      2. I have the distinct disadvantage of skimming all the liveblog threads over on dKos.  I laughed my ass off at the characterizations, but I’m sure the actual speech will be a letdown in comparison.

        BTW, someone needs to remind the GOP sign-makers that “Mavrick” is spelled with an ‘e’.

  22. Obviously the Adulterers, I mean Republicans, are in town.  Oh, the same, you say?

    No mention of his first wife while extolling his family values.  McCain, that is.

    A caller into C-Span put into words what I tried to do earlier: “I’ve never seen so many people clapping but not smiling.” Yes!  The Stepford people!  Or maybe it’s related to “Can Republicans Get Down?” syndrome.  

  23. That so much of what government does from schools to unemployment to trade to just about everything – it’s all designed for the economy of the 1950’s. And he’s right.

    Very good point and key to what the government should do moving forward.

  24. [H]istory has anointed me to save our country in its hour of need.

     — John S. McCain tonight

    When I see the Early American History textbook floating up to McCain to sprinkle him with holy oil, I’ll know Armageddon is near.

    1. It was in the closing prayer with the presumption God gives a rat’s ass about political parties, or for that matter, a nation that favors the rich.  Eye of a needle and camels or something.

    2. the R’s, especially on here, make messianic remarks about Obama all the time.

      Well there you go folks, McCain just slapped the moniker on himself.

      Thank God for sending McCain in our hour of need when all was almost lost!

      1. It was a crack at the One:

        I’m not running for president because I think I’m blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save our country in its hour of need.

        My country saved me. My country saved me, and I cannot forget it. And I will fight for her for as long as I draw breath, so help me God.

        2. He got nominated because millions of supporters like me see that he is an outstanding, thoughtful leader with specific proposals to get America moving again.

          But I know – that doesn’t fit into the Republican “pit bull” strategy of mocking your opponents when you don’t have ideas of your own.  

  25. …everyone else is.

    I thought Sarah Palin’s speech last night was not that good. But most of the news media gave it quite good grades.

    I thought McCain’s speech tonight was decent, but it’s being panned by most of the MSM.

    So either I’m wrong or all the talking heads are. We’ll have to wait a week or two to see how they play out.

        2. For those that didn’t die of boredom.

          And, like so many have posted here before, McCain really is bad with the teleprompter. The bolded part of the sentence below:

          She’s helped run a small business, worked with her hands and knows what it’s like to worry about mortgage payments and health care and the cost of gasoline and groceries.

          Came out sounding like:

          … worked hard with her hands and nose …

          We laughed and didn’t hear the rest of the sentence after the nose/knows mix.

          After eight years of listening to Bush sound like he has rocks in his mouth, I’m not sure I can take four years of McCain screwing up teleprompter speeches.

    2. It reeked.  It was the standard “Democrats are going to raise taxes” shtick straight out of 1984 and the glory days of Reagan.  Standard military glorification while forgetting what they did to Kerry and the standard “we’re against the administration in Washington which we voted with 90% of the time”.  It reeked dude.  How can you claim victory supporting the “Surge”TM but throw the guy who made the “Surge”TM decision under the bus?

      I thought they all really struggled to make Obama the bad guy.  If Clinton had been the candidate then Palin wouldn’t be on the ticket and the energy and hatred to defeat a Clinton would be ten times higher.  They tried but it seemed half hearted most of the time.

    3. is that it let the air out of the convention after the big tease by Palin.  Repubs thought they had their mojo back with a hottie MILF who talked the crowd back off the ledge and then McCain goes lame in the final act and folks go home emotionally flacid.  They were cocky and in control last night and gramps put them back to sleep with his war stories tonight.  It was a bad tactic to deliver a stock “Republicans hate tax and Democrats but love the military” speech after getting so close to being a credible ticket.

      McCain might have lost the election with such a run of the mill speech.  It was the most important speech of his career and he plodded through stagnant themes and disingenuous calls for reform.  You don’t win silver.  You lose gold.  McCain could have leaped forward with a winning speech but this thing was a dog with so many openings that Obama now has target rich ways to attack.  Obama shouldn’t be on the defensive at all after this speech.  He took some tough shots from Hillary but McCain’s insults were almost hilarious.  Obama is now going to show how beneficial the primary was for toughening him up.  The McCain lies won’t go unanswered.

  27. Jeffrey Toobin slams McCain’s speech.

    While I’m not as shocked at Toobin, I still thought it was boring and forgettable. He began the speech with a shout out to undecideds but he spoke to the conservative base on the few issues he touched upon. He missed a huge opportunity to define himself outside the conservative fold, but it’s probably too late for that anyways after picking Pain.

    I must agree with Chuck Todd though. Sarah Palin stole the crowd. The loudest cheers tonight during McCain’s speech were for her. This was Palin’s convention and history will remember it that way.  

    1. I see it the same.

      Palin is the star of the moment but she still has to navigate unscripted press conferences and expose her almost complete ignorance of urban and international issues.  Her “inaccuracies” are also going to be examined in public so her “country girl makes good” narrative is going to get some intense scrutiny.  McCain could have shielded her from some of it but his lame ending speech will turn up the lights on her.  It is kind of like putting an untested rookie in the game because the starting veteran has run out of gas.  Wait until McCain has put his body through 61 days of nonstop grind.  Is he going to be reeling at the end?

          1. Palin did not speak to the American people about how they’re going to stay in their homes. Instead she ridiculed those “community organizers” who are trying to help keep people in their jobs and in their homes.

            The arrogance and hypocrisy of the McCain campaign is… oh so… Bush like.

          2. Who cares ?  If you don’t really want to know, or are too lazy to know about their domestic or foreign policy, McCain/Palin is the ticket for you.

            I can’t believe how vapid and pompous that lady is.

    2. Their bumper stickers should read “Palin-McCain ’08”.

      I wouldn’t rate her speech as super-duper, but it beat out pretty much everything else the convention had to offer, and she got stupendous ratings.  My bet: McCain is off by a point or two from Palin’s rating.

    4. McCain was speaking to the undecideds tonight, not the base. So the crowd there was going to be less excited than there were for Palin.

      We Dems can speak to the middle and the base at once – the Republicans don’t have that luxury.

  28. The Hispanic vote will be more important this year than ever. Yet it seems that the lily-white Republican convention and every single one of its speakers did nothing – “Nada!” to quote Rudy Giuliani – to give Hispanics any particular reason to vote Republican.

    Current polls have the Hispanic vote trending very heavily towards Obama – far more than initial projections – and I have a feeling that this demographic and other potent ones this year – youths, blacks, and women (despite the Palin pander) – will tip this election to Obama.

    In particular, New Mexico seems much more likely to go for Obama now that this election is over. And that may make the difference.

    1. McCain had for gaining credibility with Latino communities.  The guys initial understanding of the issue was consistent and thoughtful and then he sells out to get the Nativist vote.  Now he can’t backpedal to his original stance because he is the standard bearer of the lily white party.  John McCain isn’t going to get back the Hispanic vote and the Republican Party made a major strategic error pushing the deportation agenda.

    2. I’m sorry I don’t have numbers in my brain ready to dazzle all, but here are the generalities:

      Hispanics are a broken voting block.  The Cubans are strongly pro-Republican.  However, the third generation Cubans are breaking to the Dems.  Not a major influence except in FL and NJ.

      The other blocs, Central American, South American, and Mexican have relatively few citizens here.  This is a very new immigrant group here in America that has not significantly become citizens by birth or naturalization. Yet.

      The native born Hispanics, clustered in the SW could throw an election one way or another in, at best, two states.  My impression is that they have typically voted Dem but there has been some success by the R’s in the last few election cycles.  

      But put this in context. ALL of the Hispanic voters are but a fraction of the Dem solid black voters.  And in turn, they are but a fraction of any bloc of white voters: undecideds, soccer moms, disaffected males. Clinton, remember, didn’t even really court the black voters and he still won.  There was a lot of grumbling, IIRC.

      As the “new” immigrants become citizens, or their kids do, they will certainly become an important bloc, probably surpassing the blacks.  But that day is still 20 years away.  

      1. You’re right – the Hispanic “bloc” is somewhat fractured, especially along the Cuban versus Everyone Else line. But I do have to think that the Republicans are making a MAJOR mistake in doing virtually NOTHING to try to court their votes.

        I don’t even see them throwing much red meat this year to the usually reliable Cubans.

        I believe that both in 2000 and 2004 the Shrub made sure that his Hispanic nephew was on the stage, and there were other efforts to at least TRY to show some diversity in the convention crowd. And there was at least some prominent effort in convention coverage to reach out to Hispanic voters.

        Understandably, the Republicans have given up on the black vote – that’s why this year the convention crowd was so lily-white it almost made your eyes hurt. (And conversely why there was more African-American representation in the Democratic convention than in years past.) But I’m just amazed at how ineptly the Republicans are managing what could be a crucial voting bloc this year.

        Sure, there are other blocs they’re trying to opportunistically (some would say cynically) court: hockey moms, disgruntled Hillary supporters, etc. But I think they’re blowing it big time with Hispanics.

        And that could potentially cost them New Mexico and Colorado – and with that, the entire election. It may very well be that close.  

  29. I was watching last night and thinking about what I felt.  What I felt was confused.  I felt confused that so many Americans really see the RNC as something special.  I just see it as an oppressive body of overly controlling White Men and silly women that are happy to have men rule their lives.

    I thought Cindy could not have been worse and more plastic. I find her ugly and icy.  She reminds me of a lizard, she is hard for me to watch.

    The McCain video started as what I thought was a joke “People have called him many things…” what? And the mama’s boy came off as very strange to me.

    His speech was awful.  His speaking ability reminded me or an adult speaking to a three year olds – I really hated it.

    The latter part of the speech was a military recruitment film – “What a man! What a military officer!  What a family!” Family…the family pictures looked like a bunch of miserable people – no smiles, no love.

    John McCain never looks at Cindy or touches her.  They are cold to each other – but then so are George and Laura.  Republican women are like the Stepford Wives – they really scare me, I get no personality out of them.

    Palin, I thought did very well.

    Having said all of this, I am sure it is cultural – these people are not my family, don’t act like my family and I see nothing in them that moves me – they seem calculated and cold and miserable.

    I am sure that 50% of you feel the same about Barack and Michelle, and that makes this an interesting study in American culture.

    1. The racial divide is only a piece of it – it’s a much broader cultural divide.  When I attended the Aug 28 Obama speech, I kept thinking, I wish the 80,000-plus crowd was reflective of all of America (positive, uplifting, caring, etc).  When I saw the delegate reactions on TV this week at the Republican Convention, I felt I was watching something from an entirely different culture, different world (lots of anger, vindictiveness, other negative emotions).  Actually a little frightening.

    2. Things I’ve been trying to say; you got it.

      I’ve forwarded your content to others on email.

      My “Can Republicans Get Down” post is a component of this emotional distance so many of the R’s have. They live in deep fear, as shown by dream analysis. The over-love of the military (the protection they think it offers) is another component of this fear.

      I noticed that the cameras picked up a number of minorities frequently.  Yet when they panned back, it was a lily white convention.  

    3. Obama & Biden touch their family on stage – holding hands, hugs, etc. The wife and each of the kids gets their attention.

      But from McCain & Palin the family appears as props. That doesn’t mean they are – some people never show PDA yet love each other very much. But it is a big difference.

      And to Ive – I don’t mean this in a mean way, just an observation.

      1. Personally, I get a very strong family feel from the Palins. A little more rough, maybe less rehearsed, certainly no less close. They’ve been thrown into this a lot quicker than their mom.

    4. One of the things that stuck with me – a white, middle-aged male – most about the Democratic convention was some video of an older black man’s reaction as Obama finished his speech at Mile High Stadium.

      This man had his head down, crying his eyes out with emotion at what he had just seen: a black man who was not a protest candidate, but instead a serious candidate uniting people of all colors, ages and experiences and talking about the SPECIFIC things he wants to help us accomplish as our President.

      There were many, many other people just like this man – people of all races and ages – who were equally moved by a speech that included both soaring messages of hope AND specific proposals to mend our economy and protect our nation.

      I just don’t see the same type of reaction with the Republicans – even among the uber-faithful at the convention in Minnesota. Instead I saw a bunch of angry, sarcastic and mean-spirited people who were practically ignoring the issues that matter most to Americans, and instead trotting out the same old fearmongering tactics that barely got them elected in 2000 and 2004 – and that failed abysmally in 2006.

      1. when I see the descendants of slaves succeeding beyond dreams.  I used to see a black gentleman in a convertible Bentley on Broadway sometimes; crisp starched white shirt or casuals. I’ve just finished watching the first season of The West Wing and the black admiral of the Joint Chiefs makes me proud, even if only fiction.

        Thank you Harry Truman!

        1. More than anything it was the realization that, no matter what happens in November, they can never take that night away from us.

          Everyone will always remember Obama standing on the 50 yard line at Invesco calling on ordinary people to stand up and make a difference.

    5. WLJ, I can’t really see how you see McCain as calculated, cold, and miserable.

      I don’t see Barack and Michelle that way. I see them as great people that are very committed to what they believe in.

      However horrid these people seem they’re really just people with a different opinion than yours.  

      1. Regardless if just how different someone’s opinion is to your own, they are still people, still acting and reacting as people – not demons or angels.

        But, having said that, it’s easy to see where “calculated, cold, miserable” can be inferred from the McCain camp.

        McCain has given up his “maverick” credentials to run a straight-up GOP power-broker campaign – traded in his immigration, environment, and to some extent reform positions for the privilege of being the Republican candidate.

        His acceptance comment was timed for exactly 9:11pm local time last night, just as Giuliani’s speech was timed for 9:11pm the day before.  The 9/11 “tribute” video last night crossed boundaries of the taboo in ways that were frankly disturbing.

        And the whole “fear” message from the GOP has to come from either the most cynical and calculating part of the psyche, or from a persistently miserable distrusting or paranoid mindset.

        FDR’s admonition to the country was, “we have nothing to fear but fear itself…”  That is as true today as it was back then.

        1. I saw McCain as sincere in his speech. After I saw Obama at Invesco I was worried about the tenor and color of the RNC. Most turned out as expected, older, whiter, less exciting. Palin was/is absolutely the life of the party.

          Still, the Rs aren’t cold or miserable. They’re committed to different things. And I’d consider Obama more calculated.

          Interesting observation about the speeches starting at 9:11. Is that really true? Yes, the Rs are more concerned about security. Paranoid? Maybe. Wrong/Right? Don’t know. Do the politicians play off these concerns? Certainly. That’s the nature of politics, of democracy.

          Sadly, I agree with some of your comments on McCain. One of his most courageous stances recently is immigration. He’s given that up because the right would have shut him out of this election. Still, I’d rather have someone that believes in immigration reform and is politically correctly silent than one that is far right to his core.

          I hope McCain now returns to his maverick roots, begins challenge conventional conservative thought and leaves Palin to sooth the right wingers.  

          2. Look over at 538 at their twitter liveblog.  Now, the folks over at 538 are Obama fans, but they’re also respected statisticians, and the rest of their blog timestamps fit right in with the 9:11 timing comments they make.

            I’ve given up on hoping that McCain will regain his maverickness once he hits the White House.  He has a long history of cozying up to lobbyists at the same time he says he’s making reforms and fighting corruption, and his campaign staff is plump with lobbyists even after he had to let some go.

  30. Like I said, watch John and Cindy together, he never looks at her or touches her, she is ALWAYS behind him.

    Watching Cindy, I see a woman with no emotions, they all appear rehearsed.

    Cindy has the “stare at your husband lovingly” glazed over look that, Nancy Reagan and Laura Bush have.  It comes off fake to me.

    McCain is the same way.  He states something, then pauses, and then smiles and then immediately stops smiling. Very strange.

    When I see Barack and Michelle, I see a loving partnership.  Little hand signals showing each other support, Barack always puts Michelle in front of him and introduces her to everyone.  They touch each other.  The same is true about the Bidens.

    This has nothing to do with their views, I was trying to figure out why I don’t like them as people.  They seem cold, calculated and miserable to me. I was speaking with my Republican, pro-life, 74 year old mom this morning, she had the same feeling.

  31. Like I said, watch John and Cindy together, he never looks at her or touches her, she is ALWAYS behind him.

    Watching Cindy, I see a woman with no emotions, they all appear rehearsed.

    Cindy has the “stare at your husband lovingly” glazed over look that, Nancy Reagan and Laura Bush have.  It comes off fake to me.

    McCain is the same way.  He states something, then pauses, and then smiles and then immediately stops smiling. Very strange.

    When I see Barack and Michelle, I see a loving partnership.  Little hand signals showing each other support, Barack always puts Michelle in front of him and introduces her to everyone.  They touch each other.  The same is true about the Bidens.

    This has nothing to do with their views, I was trying to figure out why I don’t like them as people.  They seem cold, calculated and miserable to me. I was speaking with my Republican, pro-life, 74 year old mom this morning, she had the same feeling.

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