Wow. That was…really underwhelming. Big Sleepy and Droopy Dog didn’t so much electrify the Xcel Energy Center as sort of light a dim, flickering candle. Dubya gave his best Big Brother impression. Basically, the night was cruddy. That doesn’t mean it can’t be effective — if, for example, you were unaware that John McCain was a POW (and given how he doesn’t like to talk about it, you might have been), Big Sleepy’s speech (cough) might have (ahem) swung you. And if you’re under the impression that Joe “Bob” Lieberman is still a Democrat, you might have been wowed by that.
The really interesting thing is that John McCain really isn’t the heart and soul of this convention — Sarah Palin is. She’s hardcore right-wing. She’s right on all the social conservative issues. Pat Buchanan loves her to death. And the more of an unmitigated disaster her nomination is, the more the right feels the need to up the ante on her. By Thursday, I fully expect John McCain to declare her Jesus’ spokeswoman on Earth and the most experienced vice presidential candidate in the history of the universe.
Oh, and Sarah Palin met with McCain’s vetters once, the night before she was picked. That’s either “mavericky” or “completely reckless,” depending on whether you put country or winning first.
Frankly, the event lacked the panache of the Democrats’ Tuesday, which featured Hillary Clinton blowing the doors off the convention hall. Tomorrow night, I expect the crowd to go berserk over Palin, for all the reasons the country won’t — she’s radically conservative, to a point far beyond the rest of the country. She’s a slightly smarter Michele Bachmann, which is why the GOP loves her so — and why she’d be a horrible, horrible vice president for the country. If there was no reason to support Obama, Palin’s presence on the ticket would be enough to secure my vote.
Jeff, I’m curious – what channel did you watch President Bush’s speech on? If it was MSNBC, you missed something. Apparently CBS had the floor mikes open and MSNBC didn’t, so if you watched it on MSNBC you heard his speech received in silence, whereas if you watched CBS you heard the crowd cheer and whistle and stomp for his speech.
Yes, there were sound problems on C-SPAN as well. Nevertheless, while my opinion isn’t exactly unbiased, this does seem to lack the presence of the DNC – perhaps due to a lack of star power, as many Republican Senators refused their RSVP’s.
I listened to it on NPR, and they had the floor mics open.