Day 4 - Letdown or Revelation?

After the delirious joy of Sarah Palin's address last night, I approached the McCain speech with great trepidation. After all, here was someone who did consider liberal Joe Lieberman as part of his shortlist. So with the dread that I'd have to replace my TV after throwing something at it to shut his dumb ass up, I returned home to do battle with the man I have often referred to privately (and now publicly) as Assface.

As I was on the way home, though, I got to hear Cindy McCain speak. As much as I was impressed with the more articulate Michelle Obama, it was the list of humanitarian accomplishments of Cindy that truly impressed me. While I think both women would bring something special to the White house, there's no question which one has the bigger heart. That award goes to the special ed teacher of the bunch.

But on to the main event *shudder*:

Needless to say, it was much more scaled back than the grandeur of the Barackopolis, befitting the kind of man that took to the stage, John Sidney McCain II.

First of all, style contrast. McCain, of course, was far less eloquent. We expected that. I personally expected However, as I sat there, with both ups and downs, one word slowly came to mind to describe McCain this night: Statesman.

Essentially, he weaved the story of his journey from a young, ballsy pilot to the public servant he is today. And it worked, because the crowd was rocking as the speech went along, cheering "USA" every so often (which we never heard echo from the Barackopolis), and McCain, despite being prompter-challenged, actually delivered the kind of speech that can win an election.

There were a few points that annoyed me, but I was actually taken in. Not as much as Sarah Palin's speech, but I got closer to being able to vote for him. So, let's get the raw text of the speech and have at him:

Please, please, please. My friends, my dear friends, please. Please don’t be diverted by the ground noise and the static. You know, I’m going to talk about it some more. But Americans want us to stop yelling at each other, OK?

This was an unscripted and stutter-free comment after yet another asshat from the ranks of the CodePinkos disrupted the festivities and was promptly shouted out by the USA chant. McCain misses the point that sometimes we have to yell just because the colostomy bag contents of the goofball left don't know anything about sane discourse (more on that in the comment section).

..the first big-spending pork-barrel earmark bill that comes across my desk, I will veto it. I will make them famous, and you will know their names. You will know their names.

This is one of Bush's problems. He didn't do this. If McCain can, good.

We were elected to change Washington, and we let Washington change us. We lost the trust of the American people when some Republicans gave in to the temptations of corruption. We lost their trust when rather than reform government, both parties made it bigger.

This is why we need change in Washington. Not because conservative principles are wrong, but because they were abandoned.

We’re all God’s children, and we’re all Americans.

Except for those illegal aliens. Although, had you managed with McCain-Kennedy....

Let’s remove barriers to qualified instructors, attract and reward good teachers, and help bad teachers find another line of work.

Bye, bye, NEA!

We’ll attack the problem on every front. We’ll produce more energy at home. We will drill new wells off-shore, and we’ll drill them now. My friends, we’ll build more nuclear power plants. We’ll develop clean-coal technology. We’ll increase the use of wind, tide, solar, and natural gas. We’ll encourage the development and use of flex-fuel, hybrid and electric automobiles.

That sounds like my plan. Except for the lack of kitchen sink.

We need to change the way government does almost everything: from the way we protect our security to the way we compete in the world economy; from the way we respond to disasters to the way we fuel our transportation network; from the way we train our workers to the way we educate our children.

The battle of change. I'm thinking the changes McCain wants to throw out there are better than Obama's big vision for government growth.

Again and again — again and again, I’ve worked with members of both parties to fix problems that need to be fixed. That’s how I will govern as president. I will reach out my hand to anyone to help me get this country moving again.

Oh, almost had me until that reminder of all the times you joined the ranks of the Bloody Stump Republicans; the results of reaching across the aisle.

Long ago, something unusual happened to me that taught me the most valuable lesson of my life. I was blessed by misfortune. I mean that sincerely. I was blessed because I served in the company of heroes and I witnessed a thousand acts of courage, and compassion, and love.

This was the beginning of his speech on humility, and on why he is so thankful for his country. It was his POW story, but though I had heard it before, it was compelling nonetheless. The fact is, there are some stories that never grow old. This is one of them.

(The following was during the final ovation, with McCain yelling)
Fight with me. Fight with me.
Fight for what’s right for our country. Fight for the ideals and character of a free people.
Fight for our children’s future. Fight for justice and opportunity for all.
Stand up to defend our country from its enemies. Stand up for each other, for beautiful, blessed, bountiful America.
Stand up, stand up, stand up, and fight.
Nothing is inevitable here. We’re Americans, and we never give up.
We never quit.
We never hide from history. We make history.
Thank you, and God bless you, and God bless America.

I can't add anything better.