McCain's Nomination Speech

[PitPat]

As a disclosure, I'm going to vote for Obama, but it I thought it was a pretty good speech. I was sorta surprised at the lack of jabs towards Obama. There were a few, but nearly as many as Obama delivered in his speech.

Felt like Palin's job was to be attack dog while McCain's was the feel-good messenger -- the former strategy had mixed results but my prediction is McCain's performance will probably give him a decent temporary boost in the polls. How that translates into any substantial change in the electoral map will remain to be seen.

 

[Shalamar]

It felt a little weak to me. He's not as powerful a speaker, and once or twice he was annoyed at the crowds interruptions. My wife was a little annoyed that he never quite spelled out HOW he was going to do things he promised. As she said 'His story zabout his experience as a POW was nice.. But what does that mean for ME?'

 

[Whiplash]

It says alot about his strength and character.

 

[BenBurch]

It was a good speech. Not a great speech - he is just not a great speaker - and he missed some of the most important issues.

 

[BenBurch]

It felt a little weak to me. He's not as powerful a speaker, and once or twice he was annoyed at the crowds interruptions. My wife was a little annoyed that he never quite spelled out HOW he was going to do things he promised. As she said 'His story zabout his experience as a POW was nice.. But what does that mean for ME?'

Well, there should have been no crowd interruptions. Code Pink should be ashamed, and his security detail should be fired.

 

[not_so_new]

As she said 'His story zabout his experience as a POW was nice.. But what does that mean for ME?'

That is an interesting take.

Obama had to present his life story to "humanize" himself, people just don't know as much about him.

McCain on the other hand......... yeah we get it, you were a POW. I think that is something to be respected greatly, I strongly respect the people who put their lives on the line for me. But I don't care how many times you tell me about being a POW I still do no buy that it has any meaning on anyone's performance in the office of the Presidency.

Republican's try to turn that into "disrespect" and somehow I have a hatred for America, so be it. I know the truth.

I have the utmost respect for what McCain lived through but looking with a skeptical eye, what exactly does that have to do with being a good president? What does it have to do with the economy? What does it have to do with his stance on education or health care? One could argue that it would have an effect on his stance about going to war but he seems to take the hawkish side more than I would imagine someone who was a POW would take.

At the end of the day this should be what every American voter should ask themselves when they hear this POW stuff. "His story about his experience as a POW was nice.. But what does that mean for ME?"

 

[David Wong]

Such a different tone from the petty, nasty stuff we got from Giuliani and Palin on the previous nights. Don't know if that was planned or not, but he was trying to much harder to reach out than the previous speakers did and it was almost disagreeing with them. I mean he's up there talking about how we need to come together after two nights of some of the most divisive speeches we've ever gotten at a convention.

It wasn't electrifying but that's unfair, he's not naturally an electrifying speaker and we shouldn't expect him to be. So it was nice to see him reaching across the aisle, it's just kind of out of tune with the rest of his party.

 

[not_so_new]

It says alot about his strength and character.

It could also say that he as post traumatic stress syndrome as well.

I am not saying he has PTS, I don't know him personally.

But you don't know that it says anything about his character either because I am willing to bet everything you know about him comes from the same TV shows and speeches I have seen.

I don't know that he has PTS, you don't know that he in fact has character (his "character" could just be made up for the cameras) or that character comes from being tortured repeatedly.

Because neither of us knows how his POW experience effected him I think it is best to not make assumptions and stick to his policy and his stance on issues.

In my eyes, respectfully to Mr. McCain, this whole POW thing is a diversion.

 

[MattusMaximus]

It says alot about his strength and character.

Timothy McVeigh was also a soldier. What's your point? That if you're a soldier then you are automatically worthy of leading the nation - that's pretty stupid, if you ask me.

McCain was a soldier who served with honor in our armed forces, and I believe that warrants some level of respect from me.

But it doesn't warrant my vote.

 

[BenBurch]

...

McCain was a soldier who served with honor in our armed forces, and I believe that warrants some level of respect from me.

But it doesn't warrant my vote.

While I agree, how often can you go back to the well of "respect me because I served in spite of all the things I have done that are wrong" before the score is even?

In my book, that point was passed here; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keating_Five

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

I thought it was weird when he was like "I stand for X in Pennsylvania who is going to school to be a teacher and has a child with autism", among others, and then went on to propose absolutely no policies to help them, and in the case of the teacher bash the career field she is going into.

I thought it was rather odd that the Republicans spent 80% of the time on McCain's character. We know who he is. He doesn't need to define himself.

The few policy issues I got were that he wanted to revamp the process for retraining for a new career, that he supported vouchers for education ('Cause choice will magically improve education for everyone ), and that he supported drilling and nuclear power.

His only address to health care was that Obama's plan would cost small businesses and would lead to government run health care, though it was odd that he fails to realize that under the private system we do have a bureaucrat between us and our doctors.

I frankly expected more from him after his declaration that education was going to be the biggest civil rights issue of the century.

Also, I found his proclamations for "peace" to be... odd coming from the pro-Iraq candidate. He was kind of bordering on "fighting wars for peace".

Did they lift Kucinich's line though? I thought he was the "Strength through Peace" guy? Or was his line "Peace through Strength"?

Also, from the introduction that he had put smallness, selfishness, and pettiness aside because of his POW experience made him sound like a bodhisattva to me. Yet in his campaign the rhetoric has had just as much smallness and pandering for self-interest as any other.

I found his words very appealing, and I agree with a lot of his intentions and values. But I think his policies are just the wrong way to go.

 

[Wangler]

It was a good speech. Not a great speech - he is just not a great speaker - and he missed some of the most important issues.

Ben,

I thought that he gave some attention to empolyment, and certainly taxes (always a big rallying point).

What issues did you think were missing?

And does anyone feel strongly about education?

The Republicans seem to be making a big deal about education ("this century's civil rights movement"), but is that a primary concern?

Overall, he did better than I was expecting, but it was a bit long in duration.

 

[FaisonMars]

It's tough for McCain to make the "reformer" argument to a room full of Republicans, when the Republicans have been in power for 8 years. It seemed like McCain was trying to get them to admit that they had blown it by electing Bush. Maybe that's why they seem to like Palin better.

The speech was fine, rhetorically. A bit too heavy on the personal story and light on policy (but we know now that McCain's campaign believes that this election is not about the issues).

The switch to the "stand up, stand up for change!" enthusiasm at the end seemed a bit abrupt, but I think it worked, and it kept the balloon drop from being to anticlimactic.

If the families of the candidates are off limits, why can Cindy use her son going to Iraq and her adopted daughter for political points?

 

[BenBurch]

Ben,

I thought that he gave some attention to empolyment, and certainly taxes (always a big rallying point).

What issues did you think were missing?

...

Global warming and bankruptcy reform are two that immediately came to mind.

 

[FaisonMars]

Did they lift Kucinich's line though? I thought he was the "Strength through Peace" guy? Or was his line "Peace through Strength"?

Reagan was "Peace through Strength," i.e., we need a nuclear air craft carrier in every time zone so that we can do whatever the hell we want.

Kucinich is "Strength through Peace," i.e., national security isn't just about who has the most guns.

Did any of the other networks show the protestor earlier on with the sign that said "McCain Votes Against Vets"? It was 10 minutes before the Code Pink outburst. He seemed to be way up there and hard to get to, but we saw him on PBS for a second.

 

[Policenaut]

Ben,

I thought that he gave some attention to empolyment, and certainly taxes (always a big rallying point).

What issues did you think were missing?

And does anyone feel strongly about education?

The Republicans seem to be making a big deal about education ("this century's civil rights movement"), but is that a primary concern?

Overall, he did better than I was expecting, but it was a bit long in duration.

Education should be. If everyone was educated and so many kids weren't high school dropouts the US would be a lot better off.

 

[FaisonMars]

Education should be. If everyone was educated and so many kids weren't high school dropouts the US would be a lot better off.

McCain's solution to the education issue is the same as Bush's: school vouchers and teacher testing. Never mind separation of church and state.

His solution to lost jobs through globalization is to send people to community colleges, which is also an education issue. What does he think a 55 year-old steel worker is going to get retrained to do at community college?

 

[Wangler]

Global warming and bankruptcy reform are two that immediately came to mind.

Ben, GW talk is easy to come by here, but without derailing the thread, what about bankruptcy reform would you like to see?

 

[Wangler]

One of the things I liked best was the push to move America into the "present"; he was suggesting that we really concentrate on our workforce, and adapting it to the new global economy.

That was one of the better policy snippets, IMHO.

 

[Wangler]

His solution to lost jobs through globalization is to send people to community colleges, which is also an education issue. What does he think a 55 year-old steel worker is going to get retrained to do at community college?

What then? If it is impossible (for any number of reasons) for our workforce to compete in the steel market, what do you do?

Keep the guy on unemployment until he retires to subsist on Social Security?