My first thought on John McCain's speech was, "Whoa, he was a POW?" The second was, "Did nobody think to hire someone other than the guy who did the MIDI soundtrack to Diablo for that opening movie?"
I feel kind of bad for McCain, in all honesty. I don't know that I'd ever have voted for the guy - even in 2000 he had the baggage of the Keating scandal and positions in opposition to mine on gay rights, education, privatization of Social Security, and so on - but he seemed sincere in his convictions about following his conscience. Now, he's like a guy backed into a corner by party machinery. McCain wasn't the ideal Republican candidate...unless you held him up against the Two-Faced Mormon, the 9-11 Guy Who Actually Had Some Socially Liberal Views, and the Former Preacher Who Won Iowa and Couldn't Figure Out What to Do Next. And while he can accuse Obama of the whole "lose a war to win an election" angle, McCain already surrendered his "maverick" views to win this particular contest. The Palin choice proves that.
All that said, it was a pretty lackluster speech. I thought he took the high road and tried to lay out his plans (he was obviously annoyed early on by the protesters) but the folks in the Xcel Center wanted blood. He gave them a measured laying out of his policy, and they wanted him to unleash - as Yngwie Malmsteen would say - the fucking fury. McCain's problem isn't that he can't articulate his views, it's that he isn't giving his audience what they want.
As for the oft-courted independents, I suspect they'd have more respect for the guy if he hadn't subordinated every policy position to the Religious Right. More than that, what he did say was unmemorable. Even the audience seemed hesitant to applaud.
Bonus points for playing "Barracuda" at the end, however.
I came away from last night’s speech feeling a little better. If the GOP wins, perish the thought, I don’t think McCain will fuck things up as bad as Bush.
Don’t get me wrong. I am a lot more liberal than McCain, especially on social issues. But McCain left me with the impression he can think, he has a plan (although I may not agree with it).
Bush has been such an aimless nitwit, McCain would be an improvement.
Yes, Barracuda is definitely another Republican “Born in the USA” moment.
Looks like Heart wasn’t on board with the Republican’s song choice:
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/09/05/mccain-campaign-to-go-heart-less/?mod=homeblogmod_lawblog
Last year, teacher at my school told me that she overheard two kids talking about McCain and one of them said, “I don’t understand what the big deal is about living in some hotel in Asia.”
Come on, Pete, the Diablo soundtrack rocked! I bought it from Amazon and listen to it at least twice a week. Three times if it’s a Séance week.
“If the real thing don’t do the trick — NO — you better make up something quick!”
Another great choice, RNC PR marketing guys!
Yngwie Malmsteen. Hee! There’s a blast from the past.
I kinda feel sorry for McCain too. Wait…no I don’t.