Assessment: Solid speech, not a great speech
Immediate reactions:
1. McCain just isn't that good at giving a speech, and will leave a lot of Republicans thanking their lucky stars that Palin delivered last night. His nervous smile is discomfiting. But his POW story is so powerful, the speech packed an emotional punch at the end.
2. He didn't launch any seriously nasty attacks on Obama -- which is smart to get the votes of swing voters -- but more people probably watched Palin last night as she went negative.
3. If the complaint has been that the Republicans ignored issues, McCain at least provided the skeleton of a response with a laundry list of issues.
4. He praised Bush, then tried to argue that he could be a Republican change agent after 8 years of GOP control of the WH and 30 years in the Washington establishment. Palin went for the base, McCain tried to reach swing voters. He even criticized his own party for being corrupted by power. A better speaker might have carried it off, but the argument seemed to get lost.
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