The Presidential Race 08

[Sir_Cliff]

Does anyone else think they´re dwelling just a little too much on his time as a POW? It strikes me that everyone knows that and by spending so much of their convention talking about it the Republicans lost the opportunity to give the public a reason to really reconsider what they already think about him and his views. Palin appears to be providing all the impetus to the campaign right now.

Cindy McCain seems like a decent person who has done a lot of humanitarian work over the years, but I think it was a mistake to have her speaking before John McCain as she is a very awkward public speaker. That quite long speech didn´t exactly build any momentum for him. Also, what was with the backgrounds? Obama had a warm lit-up window behind him for most of the time whereas McCain had bright aqua or green which really looked jarring. From a distance it was fine, but overall whoever designed the set didn´t help him out at all.

[Chavez Ravine]

Does anyone else think they´re dwelling just a little too much on his time as a POW? It strikes me that everyone knows that and by spending so much of their convention talking about it the Republicans lost the opportunity to give the public a reason to really reconsider what they already think about him and his views. Palin appears to be providing all the impetus to the campaign right now.

Cindy McCain seems like a decent person who has done a lot of humanitarian work over the years, but I think it was a mistake to have her speaking before John McCain as she is a very awkward public speaker. That quite long speech didn´t exactly build any momentum for him. Also, what was with the backgrounds? Obama had a warm lit-up window behind him for most of the time whereas McCain had bright aqua or green which really looked jarring. From a distance it was fine, but overall whoever designed the set didn´t help him out at all.

I agree on every point. (Except Cindy, didn't see her speak)

McCain was the only speech I saw live (watched about half), and during it my wife commented and said, "why are they talking so much about him being a POW?" I'm not totally sure.

I also agree on the stage for the RNC. I thought it was terrible on the close up shots.

I watched about half of Obama's speech last night, and while I thought the football stadium idea was brilliant and the setting was nice, the stadium effect in terms of the echo in his voice and the crowd noise was a negative. Even though there were more people, the crowd applause seemed quieter and distant compared to the smaller arena. I probably had more to do with how the crowd was mic'd.

I also watched the last 20 min. of Palin's speech the night before. Holy Crap, she was great. The part I liked most was that she cloaked used her attacks on Obama within humor. It was effective and it doesn't seem as mean spirited. She really was funny and was the only speaker that I saw that used humor effectively.

[daMOUSE]

I agree on every point. (Except Cindy, didn't see her speak)

McCain was the only speech I saw live (watched about half), and during it my wife commented and said, "why are they talking so much about him being a POW?" I'm not totally sure.

I think he's just showing off that he has much more military experience compared to Barack, that he was in the warzone fighting for our country, and that he's actually an All-American hero. From what I was personally getting, him being a POW changed the course of his own life, it helped shaped the values and ideals that he is trying to bring to our country. His job in the speech was to capture the audience's emotions, and if you got teary eyed , then I think he did his job.

[Majikku]

I agree on every point. (Except Cindy, didn't see her speak)

McCain was the only speech I saw live (watched about half), and during it my wife commented and said, "why are they talking so much about him being a POW?" I'm not totally sure.

I also agree on the stage for the RNC. I thought it was terrible on the close up shots.

I watched about half of Obama's speech last night, and while I thought the football stadium idea was brilliant and the setting was nice, the stadium effect in terms of the echo in his voice and the crowd noise was a negative. Even though there were more people, the crowd applause seemed quieter and distant compared to the smaller arena. I probably had more to do with how the crowd was mic'd.

I also watched the last 20 min. of Palin's speech the night before. Holy Crap, she was great. The part I liked most was that she cloaked used her attacks on Obama within humor. It was effective and it doesn't seem as mean spirited. She really was funny and was the only speaker that I saw that used humor effectively.

I agree but I thought she sounded stupid when she called the white house looking pillars used for Obams speech "greek columns", I understand Drudge was reporting during the stages construction that they might be greek pillars /columns but after watching the Obama speech they were obviously white house pillars, found that comment to be a little lame in my opinion.

[Sir_Cliff]

I agree but I thought she sounded stupid when she called the white house looking pillars used for Obams speech "greek columns", I understand Drudge was reporting during the stages construction that they might be greek pillars /columns but after watching the Obama speech they were obviously white house pillars, found that comment to be a little lame in my opinion.

While I obviously prefer Obama´s politics, I think Chavez is right that she did well by masking her attacks with humour and that is a prime example. It was quite an effective little dig at how grandiose Obama´s speech was and I think even a lot of Obama supporters will have gotten a little chuckle out of that. If anything, it speaks to how contrived political campaigns are generally and I suppose their message is that they are the real deal. That said, even Palin who has done a great job so far for the Republicans (in fact, you´d almost think she was their presidential candidate right now) has been filmed time and time again in just a few days repeating the same lines about the bridge to nowhere and putting the governor´s jet on Ebay to the point where she´s beginning to seem a little too reliant on catch phrases. Whatever you make of their politics, though, you´ve got to give the Republicans credit for doing a very good job in generating momentum for their presidential ticket following an extremely successful Democratic convention.

[daMOUSE]

I agree but I thought she sounded stupid when she called the white house looking pillars used for Obams speech "greek columns", I understand Drudge was reporting during the stages construction that they might be greek pillars /columns but after watching the Obama speech they were obviously white house pillars, found that comment to be a little lame in my opinion.

I guess she was just jealous by how better the Democratic stages were in design. The Republican's stage was dull and boring, and what horrible backgrounds were picked for that tv-screen, did you guys hear that there was even a digital accident: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lano...-and-that.html, funny thing was that it was a picture of a middle school in North Hollywood. Opps. lol

[Majikku]

McCain's speech was very drawn out and lacked a strong point to drive home, and he didn't say anything new. His speech was similar to Obama's speeches: good ear candy, but nothing of real substance.

Obama is a master of giving speeches,his speeches are true ear candy,McCain almost puts you to sleep,I cant see how it was anything close to ear candy to you. Very boring and rigid.

[Banjalot]

Being a POW doesn't make you special. It just means you made enough mistakes to get captured.

[KevRus]

^That's pretty harsh.

[daMOUSE]

Being a POW doesn't make you special. It just means you made enough mistakes to get captured.

Amen to that. But the McCain campaign has been wiping their bottoms with this, and their followers seem to like GI Joes.

I just don't get their mentality that being a soldier somehow makes you superior than other, does it mean I'm less of a person if I don't have military experience? It just reminds me how High School Football players think they are better than the rest of the student body. Pride.

But overall, I feel so much gratitude to these people, whom many sacrificed their own lives, they are truly heroes, but that doesn't mean they are better than the other.