{"id":12925,"date":"2008-09-05T08:09:12","date_gmt":"2008-09-05T15:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2008\/09\/05\/the-mccain-speech-reviewed.html"},"modified":"2008-09-05T08:09:12","modified_gmt":"2008-09-05T15:09:12","slug":"the_mccain_speech_reviewe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/09\/05\/the_mccain_speech_reviewe.html","title":{"rendered":"The McCain speech reviewed"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NY Times <\/em>editorial<\/a> nails it:<\/p>\n

\n

Thursday night, Americans mainly saw the old John McCain. He spoke in a moving way about the horrors he endured in Vietnam. He talked with quiet civility about fighting corruption. He said the Republicans \u201chad lost the trust\u201d of the American people and promised to regain it. He decried \u201cthe constant partisan rancor that stops us from solving\u201d problems.<\/p>\n

But there were also chilling glimpses of the new John McCain, who questioned the patriotism of his opponents as the \u201cme first, country second\u201d crowd and threw out a list of false claims about Barack Obama\u2019s record, saying, for example, that Mr. Obama opposed nuclear power. There was no mention of immigration reform or global warming, Mr. McCain\u2019s signature issues before he decided to veer right to win the nomination.<\/p>\n

In the end, we couldn\u2019t explain the huge difference between the John McCain of Thursday night and the one who ran such an angry and derisive campaign and convention \u2014 other than to conclude that he has decided he can have it both ways. He can talk loftily of bipartisanship and allow his team to savage his opponent.<\/p>\n

What makes that so vexing \u2014 and so cynical \u2014 is that this is precisely how Mr. Bush destroyed Mr. McCain\u2019s candidacy in the 2000 primaries, with the help of the Karl Rovian team that now runs Mr. McCain\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The parts that were good were really pretty good, and it showed why McCain has attracted such a following in the past. In those places, he came across as sincere and dedicated. <\/p>\n

But the occasional, awkward slams at Obama spoiled the mood, and the lack of policy particulars (“cleaning up Washington” is not a full policy) was irritating.<\/p>\n

The depressing (or at least sad) aspect of the speech, and the convention, was the sense that McCain was not nowhere near in control of his party or the event. Compared to Obama, who was clearly the key person and coordinator of the message in Denver (Clinton drama notwithstanding), McCain’s claims to bipartisanship and reach-out to all people who love their country was drowned out in the speeches of the previous nights, most of which seemed to focus on bashing, mocking, and villifying Obama and the Democrats. <\/p>\n

Indeed, McCain was in the difficult position of being less popular with the crowd, based on reaction, than his VP pick, and the way the audience reacted to his bipartisan, clean-up-Washington, here’s-how-we’ve-failed efforts (polite clapping with straight faces) showed an attitude that was more “Yeah, yeah, John, we get it, but tell us again how community organizers are busywork goofballs and Obama’s a baby-killer and Sarah Palin is hawt!” <\/em>That was the convention that the attendees had enjoyed to date and what they wanted more of.<\/p>\n

\n

It was, in short, a gathering devoted almost entirely to the culture war refined by Mr. Rove in Mr. Bush\u2019s two campaigns.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Mr. McCain said he would reach out to \u201cany willing patriot, make this government start working for you again.\u201d Mr. Bush, too, promised the same bipartisanship in his campaigns, and then governed in the most divisive, partisan way.<\/p>\n

Americans have a right to ask which John McCain would be president. We hope Mr. McCain starts to answer that by halting the attacks on Mr. Obama\u2019s patriotism and beginning a serious, civil debate.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

And not just his own, but his proxies and supporters. To the extent he can do that, we can see not only what he’s really all about, but how much of a leader he can be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The NY Times editorial nails it: Thursday night, Americans mainly saw the old John McCain. He spoke in a moving way about the horrors he endured in Vietnam. He talked…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-elections-2008"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8855,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/04\/04\/how_disappointi.html","url_meta":{"origin":12925,"position":0},"title":"How disappointing","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 4-Apr-06 9:37pm","format":false,"excerpt":"John McCain cozies up to Jerry Falwell. And that\u2019s why it\u2019s important to hold someone like Mr. McCain \u2014 who is still widely regarded as a moderate, in spite of...","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2008"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2008","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2008"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11186,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/03\/21\/politicians_are_politicia.html","url_meta":{"origin":12925,"position":1},"title":"Politicians are Politicians","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 21-Mar-07 4:06pm","format":false,"excerpt":"For all that I recently lambasted Hillary for being unable to answer a straight (so to speak) question, it's only fair to critique John McCain for similar obfuscation. \u00a0I've had...","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2008"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2008","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2008"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13619,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/11\/03\/the_economist_for_obama.html","url_meta":{"origin":12925,"position":2},"title":"The Economist for Obama","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 3-Nov-08 6:34pm","format":false,"excerpt":"They aren't huge fans, mind you, and it's framed as a blunt rejection of Bush and of how McCain has been running his campaign, but the editorial board of The...","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2008"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2008","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2008"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":134832,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/22\/aint-til-fat-lady-doesnt-worry-medicaid-cut-off.html","url_meta":{"origin":12925,"position":3},"title":"It ain’t over ’til the Fat Lady doesn’t worry about her Medicaid being cut off","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 22-Sep-17 2:24pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, it's great that John McCain seems to have thrown a wrench into the Graham-Cassidy Repeal-and-not-really-Replace mess. But three things to consider: There's still a week-plus before the end of the reconciliation period. Plenty of time for someone to cut some deals to get McCain, or Paul, or any other\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/mccain.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12864,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/09\/16\/john_john_john.html","url_meta":{"origin":12925,"position":4},"title":"John, John, John …","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 16-Sep-08 11:20am","format":false,"excerpt":"In reading this op-ed by a notable past McCain supporter, Richard Cohen, the following two paragraphs struck hard. Richard Cohen - The Ugly New McCain - washingtonpost.com\u00a0 I am...","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2008"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2008","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2008"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/John_McCain.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12742,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/10\/06\/rolling_stone_on_john_mcc.html","url_meta":{"origin":12925,"position":5},"title":"Rolling Stone on John McCain","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 6-Oct-08 9:54pm","format":false,"excerpt":"In ten long pages, Rolling Stone<\/i> reviews the careers and lives of John McCain -- sometimes in his own words, sometimes in the words of his colleagues on both...","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2008"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2008","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2008"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/john_mccain3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12925\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}