Tuesday, September 02, 2008
RNC notes: Fred and Joe
Fred Thompson's speech (text here) at the RNC was excellent; Brit Hume said it was the best speech he had given all year.
To me, the most interesting part of the speech was that it was so much more fundamentally positive than speeches given by comparable figures at the Democratic convention last week, including Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, or Al Gore. I do not know if that makes Fred's speech more or less successful politically, but it certainly makes more appealing to me.
Joe is just starting now. For all the coverage that Jim Leach and Eisenhower's grandaughter got for their "crossover" speeches last week, Lieberman is a far greater catch than either of them (having run as a Democrat on the national ticket). Not that you would know that from reading the New York Times.
MORE: Ouch.
MORE ON JOE: Like Fred, Joe is much more positive about McCain than negative about Obama, a stark contrast in style to Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, or Al Gore (me having missed Bill Clinton's speech). Wisely or not, the Republicans are definitely going for a different tone.
Also this: "John McCain will be the type of president that... our allies will trust and our enemies will fear." One dividing line in American politics separates those who delight in the idea that our enemies fear us and those who do not. Increasingly, those groups correspond with Republicans and Democrats, respectively, and that is a big change from the last generation.
3 Comments:
By 
joated, at
Tue Sep 02, 11:27:00 PM:
All this positive attitude!
Makes you wonder which is the real party of "Hope and Change."
By ptg, at
Tue Sep 02, 11:34:00 PM:
By K. Pablo, at
Wed Sep 03, 09:06:00 AM:
"John McCain has the kind of character that civilizations throughout history have sought in their leaders."
Best line of the night.
