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

[Mrfitz]

Funny thing is, CNN political ticker reports that David Gergen gave the McCain speech an A. So what's the real deal here?

[Rog49Thomas]

Before everyone rushes to judgment, remember there could be an inaugural address.

[SeanGardner]

The speech was indeed painful to watch. It was like watching a bad episode of "Pinky & The Brain". Or maybe "Beevis and Butthead".

Either way, the speech was a certified, bonified, TROLL-ified snoozer.

[madball540]

bad analogy. I like both cartoons. How about "the three stooges," or "the real world" (latter years of course.

CMON PEOPLE LET'S HEAR THE ANALOGIES!!!

[Downtown]

No episode of either Pinky or B&B was ever THAT bad!

[BigMike75]

There was a speech? I thought I was listening to a eulogy.

[epski]

Wait. Am I seeing fireworks in the background? I could swear I remember reading about some republicans criticizing the decision to use fireworks after Obama's speech....

[PumaAnn]

Frankly, nobody cares what CNN/MSN and the rest of the press thinks.

[lewes17266]

I don't care about the press and do not trust any of them to ever speak truth. They do not care about the public - of that I am sure. McCain read his speech though straight from the machine. Palin did the same thing.
PumaAnn, Will you vote for McCain/Palin? Biden has a good record on behalf of women. He has foreign affairs experience. He is very experienced and qualified to serve as Vice President or President. He is loved here in Delaware. We are very blue and very gay friendly. Palin says she does not believe abortion should be made available even for the victims of incest and rape. She will "shake up" Washington yet barely graduated from a small college and she failed to manage her own family. McCain needed the evangelical vote and the female vote and found this woman and made sure she had a good script and now they are selling this woman as a product to their target market, evangelicals. The Republicans cry out about sin yet a sixteen-year-old engaging in sex does not seem to break their holy hearts. PumaAnn, I have read your comments before and wonder where your heart is now. Are you taking Sarah Palin seriously as a qualified female candidate? She is nothing but a tool, PumaAnn, so that McCain can win over the evangelicals, a group he cares nothing about.

[heal57]

I couldn't even watch McC; he's not lucid mostly and even reads and prnounces words wrong. it's just too sad and sorry for the American people.



Independent for Obama/Biden '08

[janchris]

yup yup it was boring.

[bettybp]

I agree, it was boring - almost pathetic. McCain should have spent much less time on his time as a POW (heroic tho it was, it was long ago and we've all seen it many, many times) and much more time on present day issues and also how his "change" differs from Obama's for the average citizen.

[txshldm0007]

Not just boring ... it sucked in such a major way!!!

[darker]

The McCain-Palin thing is a sad, sad ticket. All ticketed out.

For 8 years, Republicans showed that they cannot govern responsibly.
Republicans deserve NO MORE YEARS in national office.

[hughbetcha]

I'm sure you would have cheered him on if it didn't suck right?