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Monday, August 30, 2004
Non-baseball: RNC: Night One
My quick thoughts on the two major speakers on night one of the Republican National Convention: Arizona Senator John McCain, and former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani.
John McCain:
A well reasoned speech, delivered in a slow, lumbering cadence. Quite frankly, John McCain's performance was sub-par at best.
As for substance, he did what he wanted to do- stay above the fray, keeping his "independent" reputation in tact. But this speech did not accomplish the stated goal of the convention, as he did very little to draw contrasts between Bush and Kerry.
Having said that, this was the speech of the political season thus far. McCain put forth the justification for war in the clearest terms yet. He accomplished in 30 minutes what the administration had been struggling to do for the past year. It was just what the doctor ordered for Bush, and was delivered with great conviction.
Do you think Kerry would love to have this guy on his ticket, or what?
Rudy Giuliani:
I desperately wanted to love this speech. I was ready to declare Giuliani's performance "better than McCain's"- but then he kept going. And going. And going.
He was a delight to listen to- that's for sure- and he did accomplish every goal set before him. His praise for Bush was genuine, his attacks on Kerry were not only devastating but hilarious as well, and I don't know if there was a single dry eye in the house when he spoke about 9/11.
Unfortunately the ramblings that made up the bulk of the second half of his speech ruined it for me personally. It certainly won't make it any less effective when it's condensed down to sound-bites for the evening news, but for me, I lost a just a little regard for the mayor.
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