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Edited on Fri Sep-05-08 01:23 AM by vixengrl
The "Town Hall Design" resulted in the crowd being closer to the microphones so that applause and responses sounded louder, and he went with the "Green screen" in the back to produce an effect the tv viewers at home couldn't see--a variety of patriotic imags to work the crowd to help infuence their reactions. It's been a long, boring, and at times drunken affair for the GOP faithful, and they were looking forward to this speech being a big thing.
That's a good part of why they chanted USA and booed in the right places. The RNC-goers and the press who were right there and probably Mccain himself, have one position on the speech--
The home viewer might have quite another. Especially the Independents and moderates, because McCain did not rely on "maverick" so much as relied on "Conervative" tropes. Also, his delivery was not fiery, because there was nothing there to be fired up about.
He didn't go into policy, but he did a feather-light tap on his own positions on the issues, and only then to slap the Obama campaign--even for positions not even held by the Democratic ticket (such as "tax & spend" and the claim of no solutions for ending our dependence on foreign oil.) He seemes staccato and awkward at times, but the overall impresson where it was not lackluster was: negative. He elicited "Boos" for his characterizatons of typical, strawperson liberal things, but the alternatives he offered really weren't for sale, so much as loan. At scant interest, but still not a bargain.
He mentioned his mom and his runningmate. He loves his mom and he loves his runningmate, but there is nothing Freudian about Mamma Palin and her sass, so don't even bring that up, unless I've sublinably made you helplessly wonder if the Mamma's boy has sought to punish an absent Dad by being a Maverick, while championing "Mom" in offbeat ways over the years. Whether America sometimes, as a concept, became a female figurehead he never loved until he had the chance to miss her, like lovers parted. There is nothing to that Fruedian interpretation I just put out there about George McCain. John McBush. Um. John Bush?
As usual, he humbly did not devote more than say, ten percent of his speech to discussing his experiences as a POW. He only tries to discuss that a few times in any election year, and certainly does not mean to play on anyone's sympathies by it, unless you readily become sympathetic to people who have suffered or something. Especially in a cause.
He spoke of victory in Iraq. Which was good, because this really hasn't been spoken of enough since they called "Mission Accomplished" five years ago. John McCain was, as I recall, in favor of declaring "mission accomplished" then, as much as he is in favor of the Surge now, in hindsight, and against Don Rumsfeld's mismanagement of the war well after he's gone. Which is how he's so consistently right--see? He doesn't actually have a plan for victory, but he likes the idea of Victory, and I do, to, because Victory is one of my favorite local microbreweries.
Let's hear it for our local microbreweries.
I am also in favor of hearing what victory entails, and when we will really know we have it. I am sure, just as with his plan for catching Bin Laden (I believe orders to "Acme" have already been placed for paint, spring-loaded traps, and a jet-pack) that he is keeping mum for strategic reasons. He will teach Governor Palin about operational security before something bad happens to him, too--just you watch!
He did not say "My Friends" nearly as much as he usually does, and I did not entirely recognize him without Lieberman and Graham flanking him, but I've seen enough of Lieberman and Graham anyway, so it was, overall, nice seeing him by himself. If he was reading from a teleprompter, he seemed no more to be reading from a teleprompter than he usually does. His peekaboo grin seemed more genuine and less grimace-y--with is good, because of people the Ronald MacDonald hangs out with, Grimace and Hamburgler are nobody's favorite. And he's already running with Mayor McCheese. Just saying.
Now, I have had limited sleep this week and a lot to drink, so I think I'm pretty accurate in saying I have seen better speeches at Republican conventions past.
Reagan in '88.
Buchanan in '92.
Romney, yesterday.
What I'm getting at is, he isn't firing on all cylinders. The Independents, the Opposition, and the Base, are all going to be way more influenced by Neophyte Running Mate Palin. This should bother him no end, especially since he barely vetted that woman,and the things he did not know and she didn't say....
Pause for fantasy of Angry McCain Hulking out.
No--not a disaster, just not great.
Maybe if he had experience as a community organizer, he could've touched as many people as Obama did with *his* speech.
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