By Holly Bailey
John McCain has finally united his party--at least when it comes to how people feel about his ability to deliver a speech. The presumptive Republican nominee is getting some scathing reviews from his fellow GOPers for what they have described as his less than fantastic address Tuesday night in New Orleans.
First, it was the subject of a long debate on Fox News. “This is John McCain at his oratorical best?” asked host Brit Hume. The Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol, also on Fox, agreed. “If this election is about speeches, Obama wins,” he said. “If it’s about a record of service, McCain wins.”
The reviews haven’t been any kinder at National Review’s blog, The Corner, where writer Andy McCarthy poses a rhetorical question this morning: “Would you rather, a) watch last night’s McCain speech or b) be waterboarded?” Columnist Johah Goldberg writes that “substance aside” Obama “crushed” McCain in all the other ways that matter. “Aesthetically, politically, rhetorically, etc, it boiled down to Godzilla versus Bambi,” Goldberg writes. “And, amazingly enough, McCain was Bambi.” Editor Kathryn Jean Lopez, meanwhile, says McCain needs some “screaming girls” behind him. “Ok, I’ll just settle for proof people are awake at the end of his speech,” she adds.
Not everyone is blaming McCain. Yuval Levin, a former domestic policy adviser to George W. Bush, points his finger at the speechwriter, longtime McCain wordsmith Mark Salter (whom Levin doesn’t name). “The speech was not written for John McCain," Levin writes. "The formality and the forced repetition are not elements he can pull off. The speech called for a sustained precision of pitch and volume that has never been part of McCain’s rhetorical repertoire. It was just written for someone else. McCain’s speeches don’t have to sound this bad, and don’t always sound this bad.” Levin did find something to praise, however. “It reads pretty well, which is start,” he admits. “It was in any case the only genuine substantive development tonight.”
