Politico: 'Is There A Way McCain Can Win Without Giving Another Speech?'

As Democrats buzzed this week about their new de facto nominee, his historic candidacy and the unlikely political demise of Hillary Rodham Clinton, Republican circles were humming with another topic.

The topic: Is there a way John McCain can win the presidency without giving another speech?

That's overstated, of course, but the concern about McCain's wooden and stumbling address before a few hundred supporters here Tuesday night - the same evening as Barack Obama's soaring acceptance address before thousands of screaming fans - has sent something of a shudder through the party and left GOP operatives shaking their heads in dismay.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[Sundei]

Time to start writing those Dear John letters....

Dear John, Why you wanna stay in Iraq for 100 years?
Dear John, Why you wanna bomb the Middle East?
Dear John, Why doncha know why our gas prices are so high?
Dear John, Why do you always have Bush's back?, its like the blind leading the blind!

Dear John...Say it ain't so...

[peterv]

Just saw a low key speech on Sun sentinal website of Mccain. slightly better only the problem now is there is not much substance. The obvious tactic is using the earmarks as a smokescreen for his other policy proposals. Earmarks account to about 0.5% of budget or something like less than 20 billion a year. On otherhand he doesnt have an answer how to fill the gaps of 100s of billion of dollars of tax cut proposals. Its a very populist tactic to show there is 'waste' in politics, which is bytheway
questionable if all earmarks are so bad for the economy and investment. Just dont show people the real picuture of your proposals or how much it cost, since he is very vague which programs are going to be cut. Come to think of it you dont hear much about gas tax holiday, just faded away. Its like a throw away policy nothing is set in stone, a real lack of consistency.

[blueshield]

In August McCain will start lip-synching Obama.

[trish74]

Is it just me? I hate when McCain says "my friends" in his many speeches.

[DCtrain]

Check out the microphone in this picture.... it looks like it has sucksion

[revko]

Haiku:

Can Mcain win Pres
Without any more speeches?
Ask Florida Chad

[Nyla785]

McCain looks so old..so out of it...so irrelevant. No wonder Repubs are having to resort to simple smearing and namecalling as their major campaign tactic. Their policies have failed. Their candidate lies flat. Their reputation is in the pooper. All that's left is, 'well, look how bad the OTHER guy is!'

[TXOBAMAGIRL73]

I been sitting here trying to think good way to describe what it felt like watching McCain 's speech ..Hmmmm it was like having a bikini wax ,while having a root canal and giving birth to twins ,without meds and while laying on a bed of nails ..Aggggghhhh make it stop this must be what waterbroading feels like

[clearthinker2008]

I couldn't stop laughing, I kept telling myself "wtf, is this guy for real?" Then I stopped laughing and pondered that...

0bama 08

[DCtrain]

check out the suction of that microphone in the picture

[kramskoi]

...no, especially if keeps going down to the ninth ward in New Orleans feigning concern and support for the people who are still suffering...he has a better chance of standing out on our hwy 90 and not being hit by a car than drumming up votes there...an utter waste of time and resources...he might win Louisiana, which traditionally goes red, but it won't be through voters from the ninth ward...

in 2000 he was a candidate with principles...now i don't know what he is, and i'm sure many republicans would feel the same way...Obama needs to the turn the press against him and let his temperament take over...Obama must go after him on patriotism and not let him pull rank with his perceived moral authority on all things military...if Obama can nullify him on national security, McCain will have a tough road to hoe...his economic policies are bankrupt in the current climate and that won't improve anytime soon...

[BlueOnBlue]

I happen to be a pretty decent public speaker and I've coached a couple of political candidates on speaking. What I've seen is that even the worst public speaker can do a good job if he or she is willing to listen and to put in the effort. You teach them how to break a speech down into phrases. Which words to emphasize. How to vary the voice level. How to build a speech to a conclusion. Then you rehearse until the speech is almost memorized.

McCain does none of this, or at least I can't see it. He always seems surprised at what comes next. His voice has little relationship to the relative importance of the words. He breaks his phrases at strange points, indicating that he doesn't realize what he's reading.

I'm sure McCain has some very good speaking coaches available. What he is showing is that he's not listening and/or not paying attention to his coaches. This is very damning evidence that he'd make a horrible chief executive. The speaking isn't as important as the lack of listening.

Think how many years he's had to learn this. And he still hasn't.

[clearthinker2008]

I bet he can't remember his speeches while he's on the podium. I bet he has tried because he has been a politician for a very long time. He better stay fair away from giving speeches, but then again he has no where to go but up.

0bama 08

[Gatormouth]

"Is there a way McCain can win without giving another speech?" Lets rephrase that . Is there a way McCain can win if he gives another speech? Also, rather than a make up assistant, he may be more in need of a competent taxidermist..

[wanj]

One more.... What McBush meant to say..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T1Yo9IBQZ0&feature=related

[wanj]

This is good...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_zWbsJr45k

[ProgressiveBum]

Priceless!!

[clearthinker2008]

Bottled hot water to babies...I'm sure all American babies are excited!

0bama 08

[munkii]

he'he', that is not a change you can believe in!!

[DCtrain]

maybe true, the other thing is that McCain should try to attract more than 250 people.... he needs the town hall meetings with Obama... McCain pulled in 250 people with 3 wks of planning... and Obama pulled in 75,000 people with 2 days of planning... what's up with that?