McCain's "Worst Speech" Panned by Pundits

John McCain's nomination speech was so flat, so disjointed, so utterly devoid of any vision or affirmative plan for the U.S. -- it's hard to say much about it, other than it sucked.

That's basically what CNN's Jeffrey Toobin was driving at when he panned it in historic proportions on Thursday, declaring it the "worst speech by a nominee" since 1980. It was, Toobin added, a "shockingly bad," "boring," "theme-less" train wreck. (More after clip.)

Another pundit, former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson, said McCain's poor policy emphasis in the speech represented a missed opportunity:

Finally, former Republican White House official and uber-pundit David Gergen criticized McCain's "rerun" of "thin" policies. "I think the country is looking for fresh answers," he said. "It's hard to separate yourself out from President Bush when you essentially have the same economic policies as President Bush."

From The Nation.

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Comments

[Agent420]

07:56 PM on 09/05/2008

From what I saw, she would be a very busy woman if all the old blue pill men could do what they were thinking during her speech.

[prairieblue]

04:21 PM on 09/05/2008

The Republican platform-already hijacked by criminals-has been hijacked by classic Orwellian revisionists. Not that that means they have read Orwell. By launching one big lie on another, by co-opting the most popular themes of the Democratic platforms, they are hoping to attract a larger core of supporters. Anyone with the remotest intelligence will see the sad spectacle of the RNC for what it is-a spectacle sponsored by the Ministry of Truth.

[WyteFyre]

03:49 PM on 09/05/2008

It is sad that McSame has to have a cheerleader following him around to create excitement for himself.

[Swannsong]

03:43 PM on 09/05/2008

A maverick is just an old cheap 70s car.

[LameDuckHunting]

03:24 PM on 09/05/2008

McCain is running on his war record, not his Senate record. If he wins, he will be taken prisoner by Sarah Palin.

[rbenjamin]

02:47 PM on 09/05/2008

McCain has promised to deliver two mutually exclusive agendas. For the mainstream Republican Party he has accepted the full right wing buffet. Vote McCain get more of the same. Big applause from the audience. For independents he offers an end to earmarks and lobbyist influence., plus fiscal responsibility. Noticeable lag until the sheep figure out they are supposed to clap. Not an instinctive response for the convention crowd since these and similar tactics have been the engine advancing the Republican agenda. Either the Republican Party or the independents are about to get screwed big time. Maybe both. Why no discussion of this by the mainstream media? Doesn't bode well for ending gridlock.

[Joycean]

12:54 PM on 09/06/2008

You just answered your own question there at the end. Why doesn't the mainstream media comment on this obvious contradiction? Because that would end the gridlock. And the media has become about maintaining close races, maintaining and thereby selling drama and "human interest" stories like Palin's. They no longer are concerned with filtering to locate the objective reality, which should be their one and only job.

[MrWampler]

02:25 PM on 09/05/2008

Two cents:

1) Did anyone else notice that he pretty much co-opted Obama's policies? (energy, taxes, "change," etc)

2) I really didn't understand how a giant tv-screen portrayed a "town-hall" look-and-feel. Can someone please explain that to me. (I didn't see what the stage looked like before they rebuilt it.)

[klosskid]

12:51 PM on 09/06/2008

Did you really expect McCain to offer any new ideas? The man is living proof that nature does not abhor a vacuum.

[11Xray]

01:37 PM on 09/05/2008

Ruh-roh! Too bad the pundits don't get to be 'the decider'! Look at the poll numbers. "Fly-over country" Americans are eating this up, and the numbers reflect it. Don't forget the fact that the better part of these same folks in small towns and rural areas never get 'polled'. I can't wait for the November Surprise.

[nirek]

01:24 PM on 09/05/2008

John bush???!???

[mikie63]

01:21 PM on 09/05/2008

I was just watching TV, CNN and MSNBC and I saw Palin announce McCain. To do that she took exerpts from her speech and then McCan't did the same when he started talking. Didn't the media get it? They are going to say the same Bu$$$it that they always have said. Come on Media, stop pandering to these a$$inine Repugs every minute of every day.

[ivanafort]

12:43 PM on 09/05/2008

Sitting through this thing was like trying to play pool with a piece of rope.

[realpolitic]

12:33 PM on 09/05/2008

McCain is lucky he chose Palin to rev up his base or the convention would have been a real snooze fest. Now I hope more information comes out about Palin being a member of the Alaskan successionist party.

[Dots]

11:49 AM on 09/05/2008

It was torture!

McSame / Appaling '08

[zull2]

11:43 AM on 09/05/2008

It was pretty much the same as all of his stump speeches. It was made more drastically bad by all the theatrics they tried to put around it...it was kind of like taking a trip through a rose garden, and in the middle, watching a dog defecate on a slug. The most applause he got was when he mentioned his train wreck VP candidate that he really only barely knows even at this point. And to top it off, he raised 1 million only. Obama raised ten times that after his speech, and raised 8 times that after MCCAIN'S speech.

[NegSpin]

11:28 AM on 09/05/2008

It really wasn't that bad. I know I woke up refreshed afterwards.