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September 5, 2008

McCain's speech 'The Eloquent Absence of Eloquence' (Updated - video)

Topics: Political News and commentaries

Peter Robinson's take on Sen. John McCain's speech last night is much like my own, but better expressed than I would have written. Importantly, it praises the speech for what it indeed was, and Obama's was indeed not - "... an accomplished work, a work of political maturity":

This was not an address. It was a talk. John McCain told his story, explained what he intended to change, and stated his first principles--principles that proved comprehensively conservative, from restraining spending and cutting taxes to advancing "a culture of life."

When he delivered a beautifully-wrought address at the convention of 2004, McCain proved earnest and well-intentioned, but awkward, like a teenaged boy offering a bouquet to his date, and the speech read better in print the next morning than it sounded live that evening. Tonight McCain used simple, declarative sentences. He made no attempt to achieve high effects. He was himself. Nobody will ever include this speech in an anthology of great American addresses, but it was an accomplished work, a work of political maturity.

Tonight John McCain ensured that the democracy to which he has dedicated his life has functioned yet again. He gave the American people a choice.

Yes, it was a work of political maturity, and a talk; and straight talk is what McCain does most and has done throughout his entire political career. As Flynn Files frames it, "Barack Obama's soaring oratory sends listeners into the sky. The gravitas of John McCain brings them back to earth. That's where people belong."

Update: If you happen to have missed the speech last night, here's the video (HT - STACLU):

Related:
Precise Truth - Country First
NRO - Pretty Good Speech, Very Good Week

Posted by Richard at September 5, 2008 7:31 AM

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