Glenden BrownMcCain’s Speech (liveblogging)
McCain is doing his best to suck all the life from this speech.
This speech seems custom designed to play to fears - this whole “fight” section is all about the things we should fear - disease, war, losing your house in the mortgage meltdown.
I like that he’s talking about the idea of elected office as a position of trust - I somehow doubt he and I mean the same thing by that term, however.
Mostly bad conservative cliches - “culture of life” “judges who legislate from the bench” “values of family.” Gratuitous slams at government - all about framing government as inherently limiting. Is this Nixon, Reagan, Bush, Dole? It could come from any of their speeches. Republican speech writers have been using a set of standard phrases for decades - just plug them in and the faithful will cheer.
Mostly cheap talk about taxes in this part. Fear mongering about government and health care here (and some nice lizard brain fear about health care and bureaucrats).
Nice dishonesty about corporate tax rates here.
I know I’m probably high, but I’d like some specifics in this speech rather than a series of cheap, recycled talking points.
Oh wait, he’s talking about government assistance for the unemployed. And the crowd goes . . . lukewarm.
“Education is the civil rights issue of this century.” None of that nonsense equal marriage rights for gays and lesbians or ending discrimination against the Latino community or equal pay for equal work for those darn women.
School choice nonsense - here in conservative Utah, we voted it down. This is a speech for the hardest of the hard right base. And of course some silly attacks on a long time conservative bogey man “unions” . . . . OOOO scary organized workers.
Drill now, drill everywhere. Quick, drill baby drill. Of course it’s easier to pretend we can drill our way to energy independence than to cope with, you know the actual problems.
It’s possibly irony is dead - I’m not sure how this man can be parodied. Thus far, he’s strung together a series of cliches, empty promises, and a brilliant lack of detail with what may be the most boring delivery ever. I wish I had my conservative buzzword bingo card.
I’d have Bingo by now.
I’ll say for him - unlike George W. Bush he’s just boring. Bush doesn’t so much give a speech as wrestle it to the ground and spit in its face. McCain really just puts it to sleep.
I think he just said the only honest line of the night - “I hate war.” Weirdly, I think he actually means this section of the speech. Of course it will go badly awry quickly.
He just delivered a series of non-sequiters about the internet, government, and the economy. Who wrote this crap?
How many times has he used the phrase “my friends”?
Okay, I think he means this part too, about being a servant of his country and how he has been both imperfect and every day grateful for the opportunity.
And he was a POW.
Okay, I know this POW crap should be moving but . . . well, ever speaker this week at the RNC has told some variation of this story with the same moral. It’s just not that compelling anymore.
Really nice call to public service - ending with a great line about serving something greater than ourselves.
And back to the cant.
“Stand up . . . ” He’s begging for a standing ovation. That’s kind of sad. What’s worse - they’re giving it to him.
“We never hide from history we make history”? Are you kidding me? That’s his closing line? Are you freaking kidding me? That’s it? That’s his big exit line?
It wasn’t nearly as venomous as last night’s big speech. It wasn’t the blood red meat the base wanted but it wasn’t a full-throated screaming attack like last night. It was deeply cynical - almost entirely content free, a string of cliches and worn out stories and second hand rhetoric.
I’m actually a little disappointed. Your speech at the convention when they nominate you for president is - or should be - the speech of your life. This was . . . this was nothing special. It’s highs were . . . low, it’s lows were middling. It didn’t fail, but it didn’t sing.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Great recap, Glenden.
Stale, worn-out, old, and tired - both the ideas and the man.
Most interesting was the unstable equilibrium just under the surface - the hard-right having to choke down fusty rice cakes of “bipartisanship” and “sure-we-don’t-care-who-gets-the-credit” after dining on fresh red meat the night before. Collaboration and dialog…polite applause…it’s just not in their DNA.
WHERE’S THE CHANGE? Like Garth Brooks said - “Same old story.”
September 4th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Thanks Craig!
So I’m on CSpan so I heard the prayer.
I cannot even imagine . . . it was the most explicitly unbelievably bigoted Christian prayer I have ever heard . . . seriously . . . they didn’t even pretend America is a multi-faith nation.
The Republicans really are the party of white, conservative Christian America. No one else need apply.
I guess I’m surprised at how openly the convention ended with such a blatantly conservative Christian appeal.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Unbelievable! Rats I missed it. Sounds like a prayer based on delegate demographics rather than America - what was it - 93% white, less than 3% African-American.
I’m reminded of the e.e. cummings poem “The Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls.”
September 4th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Glendan, You gotta top post this. I can log in.???
Westmoreland calls Obama ‘uppity’
By Mike Soraghan
Posted: 09/04/08 03:07 PM [ET]
Georgia Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland used the racially-tinged term “uppity” to describe Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Thursday.
Westmoreland was discussing vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s speech with reporters outside the House chamber and was asked to compare her with Michelle Obama.
“Just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they’re a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they’re uppity,” Westmoreland said.
Asked to clarify that he used the word “uppity,” Westmoreland said, “Uppity, yeah.”
Other Democrats have charged that the Republican campaign to paint the Illinois senator as an “elitist” is racially charged, and accused them of using code words for “uppity” without using the word itself.
In August, Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) told reporters, “When I hear the word ‘elitist’ linked with Barack Obama, to me, that is a code word for ‘uppity.’ I find it extremely offensive and John McCain should know better.”
Political consultant David Gergen, who has worked in both Republican and Democratic White Houses, said on ABC’s “This Week” that “As a native of the south, I can tell you, when you see this Charlton Heston ad, ‘The One,’ that’s code for, ‘He’s uppity, he ought to stay in his place.’ Everybody gets that who is from a Southern background.”
The Obama campaign, asked about the quote, did not note any racial context.
“Sounds like Rep. Westmoreland should be careful throwing stones from his candidate’s eight glass houses,” said Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor.
Campaigning against the first black major-party nominee has already created some problems for Republicans.
Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said that Obama’s middle name – Hussein – is relevant to the public discourse surrounding his candidacy, saying in March that if Obama were elected, “Then the radical Islamists, the al Qaeda, the radical Islamists and their supporters, will be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on Sept. 11 because they will declare victory in this War on Terror.”
At an April 12 event in his district, Kentucky Rep. Geoff Davis (R) said of Obama: “I’m going to tell you something: That boy’s finger does not need to be on the button. He could not make a decision in that simulation that related to a nuclear threat to this country.”
Davis sent a letter of apology to Obama in which he described his remark as a “poor choice of words.”
Westmoreland originally supported former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination. He now supports McCain, but missed an August fundraiser for the nominee because he was vacationing with his family.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Call it US Congress Woman Does a Buttars.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Here’s the tribute to 911 video they played before McCain spoke.
Why is it necessary to show that graphic footage of the towers on fire? Of people who jumped from the windows to ensure a quick death?
I am appalled, and ashamed, and my hands are shaking as I type this.
In the name of goodness, why?
Why are there people who want to continue to remind us of this tragedy in the most startling, excessive way possible? Is this all they have to run on? Fear mongering? If that’s the reason behind this gratuitous video, someone needs to tell them in the name of god stop.
I appreciate the apology from Keith, but he shouldn’t have to apologize for these bastards.
If I hated the Republicans before, this made me despise them all the more.
Sorry for the unorganized rant, but how much of this are we expected to take?
Donate. Donate to Obama, to the families of the lost, to the Red Cross, whomever. I never ask people to donate, but please do, not only out of respect for those lost, but to send a message to the bastards that we will not take this fear any more. I’m tired of being horrified.
Thanks.
Leigh
September 4th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Obama Just Kicked Some ‘pub’ Ass!
September 4th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Major Freudian Slip. Tom Ridge calls McCain John Bush
September 4th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Fodder for later
http://static.crooksandliars.com/2008/09/obey2.jpg
September 4th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Cliff,
Amazing clip. Obama is thinking on his feet and handling this very well, capturing the idealism of his life and campaign, while turning the issue into a challenge to the plutocracy.
September 5th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Glenden,
If your goal is to rally democrats to support Obama and to loathe McCain and republicans in general, then your post here, and others, are going to be very effective. If you want people like me, who are genuinely interested to know what you, other OneUtah bloggers, and other left-leaning people have to say about politics and public policy, to consider and weigh your opinions and ideas, then your posts are ineffective.
As I commented on another post, your posts are so one-sided that no matter how hard I try I fail to allow myself to believe much of anything you say. Obama’s speech was awesome but McCain’s was terrible. Nothing to criticize about Obama, nothing to complement about McCain. If all you want to do is preach to the liberal choir, then I think that’s great–really. But if you care at all to convert fence-sitters or curious people in general to your ideas or the ideas of the people you support, then your approach must be different. This applies to most of the posts I’ve read on OneUtah. I’m guessing that the OneUtah bloggers have discussed what type of approach you want to take already, but I don’t know.
As a conservative, I probably shouldn’t tell you all this because it might make you more effective in the Utah blogosphere, but I’m sincerely interested in improving the quality of blogging debate in Utah not just advancing the ideas in which I believe. Just some observations from a simple outside observer.
matt
September 5th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Matt - I think McCain’s speech was bad and I’m not alone in that assessment. McCain’s not a good speaker - at least not good at the kind of speech he had to deliver last night - apparently he struggles with the teleprompter. I’ve heard he’s very good in a town meeting forum.
September 5th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Matt– I frequently criticize Obama and the Democrats here on One Utah. If Obama’s poll numbers drop again I’ll probably start in about his wimpy interview on Faux News (the “surge” has been successful?) or something.
September 5th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Okay we’re still having some weird technical problems here at OneUtah - Cliff is going to dig into it, but in the meantime. Here’s a good read.
My favorite passage:
September 5th, 2008 at 11:58 am
I agree that McCain’s not a very good speaker, I just wish you’d use the same standard for Obama. Of McCain you said, “Thus far, he’s strung together a series of cliches, empty promises, and a brilliant lack of detail with what may be the most boring delivery ever.” Except for the most boring part, I’ve heard many people say the same things about Obama’s speech. If I wanted to, I’m sure I could come up with a laundry list of faults with Obama’s speech like you did with McCain, acknowledging that Obama’s delivery was of course better.
What did you think about the last 15 minutes or so of McCain’s speech when he told his story and challenged everyone to stand up and be Americans? I heard that many of the media at the event were trying real hard to hold back the tears during that part. I don’t expect you to cheer on McCain, it’s just that you sound more like the democratic party than an independent blogger. I don’t know, though, maybe you are an official in the democratic party.
September 5th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Matt– I was a die-hard McCainiac in 2000, so it may be that his POW story doesn’t affect me the way it seems to affect some other people. I’ve heard it over and over and over. Great story– does nothing to win elections, as McCain should have learned the last time when Bush beat him for the nomination.
I couldn’t believe it– a genuine combat hero clobbered by the guy who went AWOL from the Texas National Guard.
September 5th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Matt - I didn’t find the story compelling from McCain since every other speaker I saw at the RNC repeated it. By the time McCain started telling it it was old hat.
McCain’s call for public service was good (see my original post) but in the context of the speech it was too little too late to save what was otherwise a badly delivered speech. If you’re being nominated for President, why wouldn’t you bring you “A” game and deliver the speech of your life?
McCain and Palin really didn’t do that. What they delivered was a “base” speech - out of policital necessity - not speeches designed to reach the 80% of Americans who think the US is on the wrong path. McCain’s speech was almost entirely about biography - not a case for policies but a case for the McCain himself. But since that R’s have been flogging his biography for weeks, it’s old.
September 5th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Richard and Glenden,
Thanks for your comments. I agree with parts of your last two comments, I’m just not sure if the average American really gets tired of hearing stories of patriotism and doing the right thing under immense pressure. Maybe that’s just the Right though, I don’t know.
Anyway, I hope we can agree that Obama’s delivery was far better than McCain’s, the messages in each had strong and weak points (with Obama’s being better crafted overall), and that in November probably nobody’s going to remember either of these speeches at all after the debates and many other speeches that happen. Agreed? I do know that the next two months sure are going to be exciting, no matter who you support. I’m so glad that we get to choose who represents us unlike people in many other countries.
September 5th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Matt says:
Do you live in Utah? We’re not a swing state, so our votes don’t really count in Presidential elections.
September 5th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Major Freudian slip. Biden calls Osama “Obama”
And why is Biden calling everyone, “Baby”?
September 5th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
McCain knows that the place to look is on the dangerous Iraq/Pakistan border.
September 6th, 2008 at 4:09 am
When we talk about how good of bad the speeches were, I have to wonder, are we talking about delivery or content? If we are talking about content, are we talking about whose speechwriters are better? And if we are talking about speechwriters, shouldn’t we be talking about who the speechwriters are, where they come from, and who appoints them. There is clearly a back story here that isn’t being told.
September 6th, 2008 at 4:20 am
Matt,
I, too, am glad we get to vote for our representatives.
I was speaking with a Dane the other day, and the plight of their citizens isn’t that they can’t vote, it is that they obviously can’t have any say at all in selection of the “leader of the free world,” aka the President of the United States, but that person has a massive effect on Denmark and lots of other little countries. That is one reason why our go it alone, but nevertheless interventionist, foreign policy is so unpopular with our allies. Their only recourse is to hope for change or to distance themselves from us.
September 7th, 2008 at 12:48 am
Leo -
convention speeches are about delivery.
Candidates don’t discuss content until…
…wait? They discuss content?
I’m pretty unlikely to vote for a guy based on what he says when he’s shilling for my vote. I think that it’s pretty clear that candidates (my guy AND your guy) will say just about anything to get elected — and will change their positions to reflect their “nuanced” positions.
I’m a little more likely to look into where they’ve stood on issues before.
September 7th, 2008 at 6:11 am
jd
Agreed. But as you point out, where they stood on issues before is not necessarily where they stand now, and they could yet change again.
You also have to look at the people surrounding the candidate who may be writing the speeches and the parties that will exert their influence.
And you have to look at how the candidates make decisions. It is fair to state that on the important decision of running mate, Obama was cool, deliberate and conventional. McCain was bold and willing to take a high-stakes gamble. That doesn’t make either choice automatically right or wrong. It does suggest the future tone of the presidency when one or the other is elected.
September 7th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Agreed Leo.
I’ll take non-lawyers in Washington over lawyers any day.
Therefore - I’ll take Palin over Biden.
September 7th, 2008 at 9:24 am
jd:
Carter was a new-clear engineering trained farmer … cannot go wrong there, right?
Or how about the chimp, who was a … umm … umm …. Well, whatever he was, he was not a lawyer, cannot go wrong there, right?
Give me a break. Palin is no better for the worse simply because she has a journalism degree following 6 or 7 years of college and limited time in office rather than a law degree and legislative experience.
Hmmm. Just where was Sarah Palin today?? Was she changing diapers, or having her own diapers changed? Your guns are safe no matter who wins, so maybe you can focus for a bit on what really matters, both to you and your family.
September 7th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Boy Albert…
Just can’t bring yourself to put down the sexist comments eh? I imagine your also wondering what happened to Obama’s huge lead in the polls…
September 7th, 2008 at 10:55 am
RO:
Nice deflection. The question remains: where was Sarah Palin today?
September 8th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Why are you asking, Albert?
By the way - anyone see this?