At the beginning of the speech, McCain made references to Bush 43 and Bush 41. But he avoided their last name. In fact, the only time he said “Bush” was when he mentioned First Lady Laura Bush. The McCain team must have made a decision that the American people are dumb enough to have already forgotten who the President is and that he’s a Republican. In another portion of the speech, McCain tried to make the point that he will work for the voters, not for the party. That line fell particularly flat on the partisan crowd. To keep the reformer shtick from causing too much of a gag reflex among thinking people, McCain made sure that the word Republican was hidden from view in that convention hall. Too bad it says “Republican Convention” across the crawl of every network.
Many analysts noted that the loudest applauses in the hall came when McCain mentioned Sarah Palin. She’s the real star of the party, and in many ways, he is just the stand in. His pick may have rallied the base by his side, but they are there for her, not for him. Neither Palin nor McCain’s speech did anything to court the middle, who are going to decide this election. If anything, they went further to the right than Bush.
I’m sure that many Americans will wonder what Republicans have to be so mad about. They’ve been in power for the past eight years, but the party of ownership doesn’t seem to want to own up to their responsibilities for the mess we’re in. If the GOP was feeling better about their chances Wednesday night, the McCain speech was the bucket of cold water that should bring them back to reality.
