McCain speech discussion, before, during, and after

I was enjoying the speech. The whole ticket has me won over. I think he did a good job. And no mopusvindictus, I don't mind giving other peoples posts a few extra points. Your point was made, you would like to earn more points for your thread but alas, this post is the one that got my attention not yours.
Sorry,
Vance

Im sorry but what I heard from Giuliani last night are the same ramblings that I could hear at a bar at 2 a.m. after too many mojitos.

IMO opinion Giuliani presentation was an embarrassment to himself, his party and a disservice all the independents and undecided that tune in to watch the unknown Gov. Palin and had to sit through that abomination of a speech.

Thank Gov. Palin for delivering an outstanding speech and no one is talking about Rudy today.


[edit on 4-9-2008 by Bunch]

I'm actually a Ron Paul supporter, but I just had to make a comment about McCain and the RNC.

McCain speech was simply disingenuous. How is he going to go out there and say "I am going to put away with partisan rancor" when Palin's speech last night was full of partisan rancor and attacks?

I practice law and what you saw on TV the last two nights was what we call in the negotiation world of playing "good cop and bad cop." Palin played the bad cop and attacked Obama with a bunch of empty slogans while McCain played the good cop by talking about reform and how he reeches across the isle. It's all BS.

We know the republican party. There will be no reform, no change. It's just pure hot air. The party has been taken over by extremists that are hell bent on lining their own pockets full of cash at the expense of Americans. I don't say this because I support Obama or anything like that. I say this because I am a registered republican that knows how the party works.

I feel like Rodney Dangerfield here what aren't there any democrats on this board?? (adjusts tie) Sheesh..

Hey I used to respect McCain cira 2000. But it is obvious he will do anything to be president perhaps in the hopes he will institute his ideas for reform once he is elected. I don't know really.

To me he seemed very old tonite older than his years. Look my father has Alzheimers so I say this with all due respect. He seemed as though he was struggling with very simple things. Maybe due to his war injuries. Anyway that is how I saw it ...he was obviously reading and at times appeared lost. Too bad!

Yes, I thought Senator McCain's speech was steady, simple, straightforward, and very heartfelt. The guy isn't a universe-collapsingly brilliant raconteur and public speaker, obviously — but, then, he doesn't need to be. That's not his style. Straight from the hip; straight from the heart. It worked well tonight.


Game on.

To the uniformed i am sure that Mcacin's speech must have sounded damn good. He promises the change that Americans want.

There are problems though.

The hypocrisy of Georgia vs. Iraq. Russia's war in Georgia is no war of agression. It is a war to protect territory that Georgia with the US's help is trying to take. On the flip side the IRAQ war is a war of aggression.

He points to family memebers that have died in wars and says that he dislikes war very much. He wants peace, but to get that peace we have to fight wars. So war through peace? I disgree with this concept strongly.

He also seems to confuse capitalism and socialism and like most republicans want to use socialist means to benefit the private sector. Look at his education proposal. He wants to give vouchers to kids to attend private schools instead of spending that money to improve the public system. He wants to provide job training to the unemployed and have the goverment provide any wage difference as a subsidy. Once agin big business will benefit at the taxpayer expense by allowing them to pay less wages.

He continues to be stuck stressing fossil fuels for energy.He adds in wind, solar,etc. like they won't be an important part of his plan.

All in all the speech sounded great, especially for McCain, but upon further examination, you realize that he ends up contradicting almost every important point he makes. He willget shredded when he actually has to unviel some specifics and the cost involved in those specifics.

I hopeeveryone realizes that washington talk is just washington talk. We have all heard it many times before without any positive action by thoise who said it. McCain will be the same.

reply to post by Leo Strauss

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Have you ever thought that he knows he is close to the end. Knowing that and getting elected he can abandon his party platform and do what is right for Americans period.

He would have nothing to lose. He could call for every reform and use the voice of the people to back him. Why would he care what either party thinks as long as the people are behind him. He knows his political life and life itself is coming to an end.

What better way to go out than by taking care of Americans first and going down in history as a President who revived

WE THE PEOPLE......


Just a thought

reply to post by jam321

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Thats a good thought and I think what people hope. I think it is dillusional. Kind of like sending a guy who has batted 2 out of 100, to pinch hit with the game on the line. No sane person would do this.

The sad reality is that McCain has had decades to push for this change and in all that time he has mostly supported policies which go against much of what he said tonight. I would rather give someone "fresh" a shot at it first. McCain has had his chances to enact real change and stop much of the bad which has occurred over the last 8 years. I don't think he deserves another chance. Let him go to the grave with a guilty concscience. Him and his Washington cronies deserve nothing better.

Well actually, I'm a registered independent, but an Obama supporter, and I can't say I have anything bad to say about Senator McCain's speech. He's not a polished speaker, and doesn't pretend to be. But I think he believes what he says, or at least most of it. (All politicians spin things a bit, if they have any skill whatsoever.) And he's obviously intelligent.

Both Obama and McCain try to speak to Americans as reasoning adults, and that's a nice change from what the country's become used to. McCain is a different sort of conservative in many ways from what we have become used to in the national debate - more thoughtful, less mean-spirited, less mercenary.

He mostly stayed above the belt tonight, made his case well, etc.
I don't think it was a bad performance.

Like I said before, it was less exciting than Palin's speech because it lacked Palin's vitriol & extremist ideology.

So the pundits & talking heads didn't like it as much

On the other hand, I'll bet it was a lot less frightening to moderates and to undecideds than Palin's speech. Politically, it served his interests, and he obviously has more class & integrity than his advisers would like... I bet he made up for most of the damage Palin did among undecideds.

I don't think it's going to help much.

I'm fairly confident barring some real surprises, Obama is likely to win this election. I think he should - I certainly don't see 100% eye to eye with him, but I think he's the best choice to lead this country in a better direction.

But McCain himself is not someone I feel any hostility for - he's simply wrong, not foolish or evil.

reply to post by disgustedbyhumanity

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You have hit some very key points that are definately SOME of the issues that I take ought with. The ONLY two things I am 100% sure of in this election are:

a) OBAMA =

b) Ron Paul was the only REAL chance we had for positive change





[edit on 5-9-2008 by justamomma]

The whole thing looked manufactured and sounded about as genuine as a 70 year old could sound reading a teleprompter. It just had a very artificial ring to it, maybe it is just that Mccain isnt a good speaker. I dont know. Just my own personal take.


I thought Palin did a much better job last night than Mccain did tonight. The crazy lady who was dragged out and almost lost her shirt was pretty much the high point of an uneventful final evening of the RNC.

reply to post by BlackOps719

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See, I just had a different "feel" for it. I actually went into it the same way I did with the DNC.. just watching it to see what was said. I had the deceptive vibe with Bush during the last RNC. I just didn't get that with McCain even though I was not considering him.

I actually didn't get the deceptive vibe with Obama because I think he laid out his socialist agenda pretty damn clearly.

I didn't think McCain looked polished whatsoever in his speech, but like I said, I didn't get the deceptive vibe. What I did have though was a feeling of utter emptiness that considering the two main options, THIS would be the less likely to screw us over AS QUICKLY. *sighs* Not the ideal position for this country to be in during these difficult times.

In the end, I know me and know I will get into the voting booth and end up voting Ron Paul. My conscience gets to me every time.




[edit on 5-9-2008 by justamomma]

reply to post by justamomma

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I dont mean so much that he was being deceptive or dishonest. I think Mccain is a fairly honest guy and he has good intentions.

I meant that he just seemed sort of awkward and nervous. Maybe he is a fantastic leader and a not so great public speaker.

The address just had a very contrived, automated feel about it. Probably nerves, and Im sure it isnt easy reading from a prompter as they all have to do.

[edit on 9/5/08 by BlackOps719]

reply to post by BlackOps719

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I definately agree with you there. The man is a stiff for sure when it comes to public speaking, although toward the end he seemed to be a bit more chipper and comfortable.

There were those first few boos when he spoke about Obama that he kind of froze and looked baffled as though he thought they were booing him. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the old man for a couple of seconds.

And I love his mid waste wave to the ppl..

For him, overall I think this was one of his better public appearances.

I don't know, the thing that always gets to me about McCain is how he chose to stay with his fellow men when he was a POW. There is no doubt that at least at one point he had a big heart for this country and was loyal to the point of risking his life. Whether he still is or not has not been seen yet by me.

McCain isn't the greatest orator, granted. What we did see though was an accomplished, genuine and at times poignant delivery. Obama's speeches often come off as forced and contrived and quite blatantly fake, although he is a fine speaker.


Oh and cue the Democrats response..... "With John McCain, it's more of the same,". Anyone else fed up of hearing that?
At the start of this campaign i thought the Democrats were really hitting home, but now im quite disappointed.
It now seems that they are fighting this campaign on that initiative only, instead of fighting it on policy etc...



[edit on 5-9-2008 by theblunttruth]

I bet he and nearly all the others have breathed a sigh of fresh air that Bush and Cheney weren't there in person...it's like they have all pretended that Bush/Cheney don't even exist. Very odd, and they are the Republican President / VP.

McCain is not my candidate, nor are my leanings congruent with the GOP platform however, I could live with a McCain Presidency as anything or anyone couldn't possibly mess things up worse than the Bush/Cheney administration--one would think. However, I can't go for Palin for a huge list of reasons that have for the most part been covered here in the Decision 2008 forums.

I felt his speech was written fairly well as Republican speeches go, light on the issues and heavy on the personality business and of course the jabs at the opponent. Now I really can't wait to see the debates where by we here how he feels about Healthcare, education, domestic infrastructure, the economy, and basically all the things pretty much ignored by this brand over the past three days.

I find it worthy of note that he does not use the teleprompter but uses paper instead for his speech. I guess that makes some since because a month ago or so the news reported that he used the internet for the first time in his life and got some assistance to actually "google" something. So we may put into office a man who just barely became exposed to something that most 12 year olds are competent in, and we want him to lead the technologically savvy and advanced free world? It's so bizarre, and then a little known governor from Alaska who doesn't bother to do her homework before the speech and so makes some pretty big mistakes and if they weren't mistakes were out and out lies (already many of them covered on ATS so no need to rehash them here now), but also that when she ran against her mother in law for mayor got something like 600 some votes the first time and then when re-elected got 900 something...she didn't even hit four digits!

It's obvious that McCain did not pick her. They barely knew one another. I heard an interview on the radio with a politician who went through the process of being picked and he said it's very lengthy and takes days, the pick of Palin was very sudden and he concluded that it was no way she was picked by him. This thing has Gas, Oil, and Petroleum written all over it and I think it's fairly obvious, at least to me and a handful of others, that big oil wants more land and profits despite the thousands of permits to drill already issued on millions of acres and yet no drilling there? Drilling won't solve our problems, and handing over national resources to for profit companies who want to export oil onto the international markets at jacked up rip off prices does nothing to end our dependence on oil, or lead us towards alternatives etc...but back to the VP issue; J.M. is 72 years old. I hate to talk about age, but it's a serious concern as he is the oldest candidate ever, and should the unthinkable happen, we get Palin, and she simply is way in over her head, and is not the person for the job. Had he selected Huckabee, or Lieberman, or Romney, it wouldn't be an issue. They say "nation first" but then give us this lady? No way. For a mountain of reasons against a very small hill against, I think for the independent minded voter the choice for the best team to lead our nation and to represent the people (I mean we the people, not the upper 5%) the choice is quite clear in this election. To use the famed slogan: we need change, real change we can believe in, and "yes we can"!

That said thank god the circus is over for a while.

Wow, I am truly surprised by everyones responses to this speech. It seems as though he has garnered near unilateral support within this thread.

Personally I found his speech completely and utterly disingenious. As someone mentioned above, he sounded about as sincere as a 72 year old reading from a teleprompter. Did anyone else notice his bizarre smile after his 'scars to show it' comment regarding his military service? It made me grimace to say the least... (actually this same comment showed up twice with the same kodak moment smile)

On the positive side, the absence of the celebrity slander politics we heard in both Obama and Palins speech was nowhere to be heard, which was truly refreshing.

What I do find frightening is his 'refresh the White House', 'out with the vested interest groups' rethoric that... I honestly cannot believe how anyone can take seriously.

Anyone else find his fixation with war disturbing?

I found McCain's speech rather a slow start but that Vietnam story was a good attempt at a tear jerker. His ending was rather smart.

McCain isn't the greatest orator and he didn't need to be. Personally I feel that McCain could have farted in the microphone, said "Palin", and waved goodbye and he would have gotten a bigger cheer with that crowd.

Yea there are a few that genuinely like McCain. He has guts. He is one of the reasons for Bush's low ratings and yet he proved the wiser with his surge call. But if McCain wins, its not because people voted for McCain.

If McCain wins its because most people are voting for Palin.

She got 40 million views and gave a great 1st impression while slamming Obama at the same time.

Palin is already being compared to Reagan which is rather premature. In Europe, she is being compared to Thatcher. Yea I like her too but this is going overboard.

I feel for the guy, he has fought what he believes what was right in the face of his party's wrath. But I don't feel it is his campaign anymore. I don't know if McCain is campaigning for himself either, most politicians wouldn't pick a running mate that can possibly overshadow them.

This is Palin-McCain vs Obama and Biden. I can't wait for the debates.

I watched McCain's speach expecting to see another hour of Obama bashing. While McCain did make a couple of comments about Obama, I didn't feel McCain was insulting (like when Palin attacked Obama for being a community development manager? is that something Obama should be ashamed of? It isn't like that is ALL Obama has done with his life?). So McCain took the high road in that regard, but I'm sure that was easy because his party had already digged into Obama enough.

So I kept watching and McCain came off as a very genuine, patriotic american. I also was supprised to learn that McCain served in the war and was captured while over seas. Slash sarcasm off. I guess the whole war hero thing is good for winning over vet's and military familys, but I wasn't buying it. There was a 20 minute movie prior to speach about McCain's war hero status, I didn't need to hear another 20 minutes about this. WE GET IT, YOU WERE IN THE WAR, ENOUGH WITH THAT ALREADY!

I think this video sums ups the last paragraph:

www.youtube.com...

So being a war hero, and having a passion to "serve" your country does NOT make you a good leader. I can only assume McCain has absoltely no clue on how to lead a country. McCain had the chance to tell me how he was going to lead, but he elected to tell me about his "character" instead. McCain spoke about his loving wife and family, but ofcourse failed to mention the crippled ex-wife whom he left to wed a younger, more wealthy, power-infused witch. McCain is against gay marriage(he said so on the Ellen show of all things) but it is okay to leave behind a crippled wife who almost died in a car accident, and remarry someone else. Till death ya hypacrit.

Anyways the speach still made McCain look authentic, genuine, and a good. I fear for the the country if enough uninformed voters sway his direction. Don't get me wrong Obama isn't much better, but he seems like the lesser of two evils.


[edit on 5-9-2008 by prestonberryworth]

[edit on 5-9-2008 by prestonberryworth]

[edit on 5-9-2008 by prestonberryworth]