A pretty good night for McCain. He really caught a break with President Bush, who I thought came across far better as a chief executive on the job than he would have if he’d actually been in the hall. Bush was at his charming best and stayed on message, making it about McCain instead of himself. Discordant note: his out-of-context reference to “the angry left.”
What got into Fred Thompson? If he’d been this energetic and folksy during his presidential campaign, he might have gotten someone outside his immediate family to vote for him. I agree with David Gergen, who said on CNN that Thompson was unusually effective in talking about McCain’s experience as a POW, but no doubt angered Democrats with his distortions* (my word, not Gergen’s) of Obama’s stands.
It was pretty funny to follow Thompson’s hyperpartisan attacks with Joe Lieberman’s call for bipartisanship. Lieberman was a considerable upgrade over Zell Miller, the then-Democratic senator who made a fool of himself at the 2004 Republican National Convention. Lieberman took a couple of shots at Obama, but you had to laugh with some appreciation at his success in getting Republicans to clap for the Clintons.
I also enjoyed the smirk firmly planted on Lieberman’s face as he praised Sarah Palin.
*And, as Josh Marshall points out, a damn vicious distortion in at least one case.
Discover more from Media Nation
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
If a lie is spoken and no one bothers to listen, is it still a lie?
“I agree with David Gergen, who said on CNN that Thompson was unusually effective in talking about McCain’s experience as a POW”Watch closely and it was actually the trained actor’s ability to almost, but not quite, show a tear on cue.”I also enjoyed the smirk firmly planted on Lieberman’s face as he praised Sarah Palin.”Jeez Dan, is there some sort of Hatfield/McCoy Kennedy/Palin thing going on here that we should know about?
Peggy Noonan sums it up: “It’s over.”http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080903/pl_politico/20576