McCain's Speech

My friends, we have had our anticlimactic moment at the Republican convention. Unfortunately it had to come with the nominee.

Stumbling, bumbling, getting tongue-tied, beset with teleprompter mishaps, derailed by protesters, working around supporters chanting "USA," looking very uneasy, John McCain survived his speech.

Just like President Bush kept looking at his watch at the Olympics, so I glanced at the clock a few times, wishing he might speed it up a bit. All in all, to be nice about it, he looked like a nice old fellow and came across in a more or less pleasant way. He presented ideals -- whether sincere or not, he probably was for the most part.

There were some inspiring moments, but then plenty of moments that dragged by.

He never mentioned George W. Bush by name and only referenced him once, in being grateful for "the president" leading the nation after 9/11, the worst American disaster ever, happening on his neglectful watch, he being asleep at the switch. McCain was critical of the Republicans for having gone to change Washington but Washington changed them. He included the Democrats in some of this, too, so it wasn't entirely confessional. Significantly, he himself wasn't among the offenders, having for his part fought corruption and big spending.

He had some nice things to say about war, that he hates war, and that he wants to build the foundations for "a stable and enduring peace." To which we might shout, "BALONEY!" He hasn't shown any penchant for ending war; instead he's been nothing but a hawk.

Of course he went in depth on his POW experiences. This was touching. Whether all of it was true or not, he still knows how to hit the sentimental chords. He didn't present himself as perfect in that, but as broken, and as being brought back to self-respect by the counsel of others. He even said he "thought about" taking the Vietnamese up on their offer of sending him home, but then rejected it. (It made me wonder why, if the Vietnamese wanted him to leave, why didn't they just put him in a car, drive him to the border and drop him off? I hadn't thought of it before, but why would he have a choice whether he'd stay or not. I mean that as a serious question. When prisoners of war are being held, do they really have the final say-so over whether they stay or go?) Anyway, he stayed, and survived.

Some of McCain's big applause lines were anemic, yet helped along by an encouraging audience. The big finale, his shouting out the last several lines as the crowd went wild, would have been better if he weren't reading them off a teleprompter. That last little bit ought to come from the gut and not just mechanically reading it. At that point I would've suggested, be a maverick, and go for it, wing the last little bit! After all, the worst thing that could ever possibly happen to him (POW) has already happened. Be brave in summation!