McCain Speech = Big Load of Crap

[dragonrider]

I watched the McCain convention speech last night and thought it was a big load of crap.

McCain has tried to adopt the Obama campaign's theme of "change" and rebrand himself as an agent of change, but it doesn't work at all.

First of all, he offered a good number of policy points, which is pretty good for a convention speech, but it was pretty much the same Republican policy points that have been circulating for 30 years. (This is where Joe Biden should pop in and say, "That's not change -- that's more of the same!")

For example, his economic plan is less spending, lower taxes, and free trade. I think he needs to offer something a little more innovative than that if he is going to claim to be an agent of change. It's the same thing Republicans have always offered and is the same thing George Bush ran on. Almost all of his policy solutions across the board on every issue were things you have heard for 30 years from Republicans, and it ignores that fact that Republicans have been in the White house for the past 8 years and controlled Congress for 12 of the last 14 years. They controlled all branches of governemnt for 6 years! They had their shot! If this same old shit was going to work, it would have worked by now!

So the twist is that he basically said that the reason it hasn't worked is that Republicans have failed to deliver their own policies, despite being in power! He said, "We were elected to change Washington, and we let Washington change us." You heard crickets when he delivered that line! Conventioneers cheered every single freakin' sentence in the speech, but you could have heard a pin drop after that one!

And then he went on to list the Republican failures where the country has lost trust in Republicans --- corruption, failure to reform government, failure to free us from dependence on foreign oil, valuing power over principles. Well, he is absolutely right about that --- these are major Republican failures. I don't think the convention was too happy about it.

So then he moved on from the list of major Republican failures and said that he plans to change Washington by changing the Republican party. Ha ha ha ha ha! Here's an idea --- how about you go change the party FIRST and get back to me when you've got your shit sorted out! Like Palin said the night before, this isn't a voyage of self discovery. Honestly, this call to change the Republican party fell totally flat with the convention --- the actual people who are going to have to change. If he can't convince them, then it is not going to happen.

He also called for changing to a more bipartisan style. He said we should use all good ideas, no matter where they come from, even if they come from Democrats. I might have believed this if maybe he had offered an example. Name one Democratic idea he thinks is a good idea, and maybe I'll believe him. I think it was a lie.

The past three days have been one long bash-fest with one Republican speaker after another blaming Democrats and "liberalism" for every problem in the country, even though it has been Republicans and conservatives in power for a decade. And after that he thinks he can make us believe he wants to share credit with the same people his party has been blaming for their own failures? Are you kidding me? If you can't even change your own convention, how are you going to change an entire party and the whole Washington dynamic?

On one level, McCain is right on most of this stuff. The Republicans SHOULD change their party and get back to their principles, and Washington SHOULD change and be more bipartisan. But the "change" that people want is a change in the way things are going in the country. Not a change in the way the Republican party and Washington works. He's offering the wrong change, and I don't think he can even deliver that.

dragonrider Reviewed by dragonrider on 09-05-2008. McCain Speech = Big Load of Crap I watched the McCain convention speech last night and thought it was a big load of crap. McCain has tried to adopt the Obama campaign's theme of "change" and rebrand himself as an agent of change, but it doesn't work at all. First of all, he offered a good number of policy points, which is pretty good for a convention speech, but it was pretty much the same Republican policy points that have been circulating for 30 years. (This is where Joe Biden should pop in and say, "That's not Rating: 5

[Psycho4Bud]

So then he moved on from the list of major Republican failures and said that he plans to change Washington by changing the Republican party. Ha ha ha ha ha! Here's an idea --- how about you go change the party FIRST and get back to me when you've got your shit sorted out!

Come on now...Obama has been saying the same thing for how long? Do you think that the DNC has no faults that need to be "changed"?

All in all I don't think it was a great speech but it covered what needed to be with the time given. He covered government waste and earmarks...something that his record confirms his position. Also regarding the surge, he was for it when it wasn't popular but it did work. The crowd was fired up from Palin and continued into last night. Good convention over all.

Now as for the honesty in "change". When Obama talks of energy he usually puts in the little statement on how our grandparents had to make great sacrifices during WW2 and that we need to do the same. If he was "honest" he'd state that his plan is to rapidly switch us over to alternatives so be prepared at the pump and your energy bill because your going to be paying huge for 5-10 years.

Have a good one!:s4:

[texas grass]

i thought his speech was lame and the same old crap. he keeps on saying change
HE VOTES WITH BUSH 95% OF THE TIME AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO.
he wants to militarize our city police(but so does obama)
he wants to drill more spots
how about instead of drilling for 10-15 yrs(especially since it wont help much in $$$$ as stated by most every political person affiliated with oil and not) and giving billions of dollars to oil companies to drill and give them more land to drill we spend that money and put it in renewable energy.

boone pickens is building the largest wind farm in the world with his own personal money(10 billion dollars) to produce 20% of texas energy in 10 yrs. how come a individual can do that and the us government or our american oil companies do that. how about if the companies would have put out the technoloy to sell clean energy products they would still make their money(like pickens is going to do). its insanity to say we need more oil when we have the technology and manufactruing capability to produce clean energy products.

if regan wouldnt have been a big oil man and against renewable clean energy maybe we would all be on clean energy now and not paying. he could have saved the white house millions of dollars in electricity bills if he would have kept the solar panes up.
$4 for a gallon of gas
$3 for a gallon of propane

oil men are the reason energy cost are high(actions speak louder than words)

[FlyGuyOU]

while we might get very different policies from both obama and mccain, i don't think we will find much change in either. granted this will be a landmark election landing either an african american or a woman in the white house, we must remember that we're dealing with politicans here.
real change doesn't start at the top with the president. it doesn't start with congress. change (at least in regards to our favorite herb) is done at the state and local level. its done through ballot innatives and changing perceptions. something i noticed recently is that non-violent drug offenders have been getting released early, or lighter sentencing. A good thing in all respects. However, this wasn't because politicans changed their positions on drug laws, rather with the downturned economy there isnt the money avaliable to keep these "criminals" in prision. When the economy returns, we need to make sure our state governments are not allowed to increase budgets. its not the president we should be looking to, for he surely won't hear. but as more and more states adopt medical MJ laws, and look honestly at the consequences both good and bad of personal use, eventually the federal government will have no choice to but change. will it happen this election, idk

[FlyGuyOU]

boone pickens is building the largest wind farm in the world with his own personal money(10 billion dollars) to produce 20% of texas energy in 10 yrs.

yes he is building a wind farm, however it is not the largest, nor is he using 10billion dollars to fund it. what he actually is doing is using 350 million of his own money (still a shitton) to build a windfarm out in the panhandle, but also to encourage other farmers to build turbines on their own land. then this collective or turbine owners would sell the wind energy back to the grid. He personally however is not building any turbines on his private land b/c he says "they look ugly" with regards to oil, pickens plan is to use natural gas to provide fuel for the fleet vehicles across the country. squad cars and city maintaince vehicles would run off natural gas, which america has plenty of. Personal cars will have the option of running off either natural gas or regular gas.
while this sounds like a good idea, there are some drawbacks. as more vehicles are switched over to NG, demand goes up and consequently so does price. many people run their heating off NG and as a result their winter heating bills will increase. wind turbines can work great in the texas and Oklahoma panhandles where it is very windy, however they do not provide a constant supply of power, and i've heard that they kill a lot of birds.
should we do it? i'd say yes, idk of anything better. but boone pickens is still but a man :rastasmoke:

[killerweed420]

The first indication you have a corrupt politician on your hands is he says he's going to force "change". The latest crop of liars is no different.

[dragonrider]

So then he moved on from the list of major Republican failures and said that he plans to change Washington by changing the Republican party. Ha ha ha ha ha! Here's an idea --- how about you go change the party FIRST and get back to me when you've got your shit sorted out!

Come on now...Obama has been saying the same thing for how long?

I don't think so. When Obama talks about "change" he's not talking about reforming the Democratic party, he's talking about changing the direction of the country.

[dragonrider]

All in all I don't think it was a great speech but it covered what needed to be with the time given. He covered government waste and earmarks...something that his record confirms his position. Also regarding the surge, he was for it when it wasn't popular but it did work. The crowd was fired up from Palin and continued into last night. Good convention over all.

I think the convention mostly accomplished what the Republicans wanted it to do. I think they came out of it more united. I think Palin helped consolidate the base. I think they got some energy out of it.

But I don't think it'll be enough to win them the election, and I thought McCain's speech was no good at all and worked against the message of the whole rest of the convention.

If this election ends up being mostly about peronality and personal "narrative" then McCain has a decent shot --- his hero story against Obama's hope story.

If it is about so called "kithcen table" issues like the economy or healthcare, then I think the Democrats will take it.

[Psycho4Bud]

I don't think so. When Obama talks about "change" he's not talking about reforming the Democratic party, he's talking about changing the direction of the country.

You know as well as me the problem is with BOTH partys. Change will have to start there....not to mention term limits. What has the Pelosi/Reid combo accomplished. Same ol' spending with the same ol' no results. Hell, we're in the middle of an energy crisis and they go off on vacation.

I think the convention mostly accomplished what the Republicans wanted it to do. I think they came out of it more united. I think Palin helped consolidate the base. I think they got some energy out of it.

But I don't think it'll be enough to win them the election, and I thought McCain's speech was no good at all and worked against the message of the whole rest of the convention.

If this election ends up being mostly about peronality and personal "narrative" then McCain has a decent shot --- his hero story against Obama's hope story.

If it is about so called "kithcen table" issues like the economy or healthcare, then I think the Democrats will take it.

More and more people are seeing the fact that Obama has done little to nothing in his years of service....not to much to run on. He's never lead a town, state, or a business. When the people hit the polls just watch and see, this one won't be as close of a race as the Dems OR Republicans thought it would be. Clinton won the key states, not Obama.

Have a good one!:s4:

[dragonrider]

You know as well as me the problem is with BOTH partys. Change will have to start there....not to mention term limits. What has the Pelosi/Reid combo accomplished. Same ol' spending with the same ol' no results. Hell, we're in the middle of an energy crisis and they go off on vacation.

But that is not what Obama is running on. McCain is basically saying, "Elect more Republicans, even thought the last ones didn't work out so well. Our policies are the same as the last bunch, but this time we are going to be true to our principles and things will be different!" That's a pretty hard sell.

Obama is bringing a different set of polices and priorities, so it is much easier to make the case that things will be different.

More and more people are seeing the fact that Obama has done little to nothing in his years of service....not to much to run on. He's never lead a town, state, or a business. When the people hit the polls just watch and see, this one won't be as close of a race as the Dems OR Republicans thought it would be. Clinton won the key states, not Obama.

I think people are going to get past this experience problem soon, especially once we get into the debates. It's obvious that Obama does not have the length of experience that McCain has. Experience is valuable, but what EXACTLY is the value of experience? The value of experience is that it gives you judgement. Experience teaches you about issues, how to react to situations, and helps you make good decisions. Some people have that kind of good judgement with only a little experience, while some people who have a lifetime of experience never develop good judgement.

Obama has said he exercises better judgement than McCain. If he can have good command of issues in the debates and show that he has good judgement, he will win that argument. I thought he had won that argument when McCin picked Palin, but she has turned out better than I expected, so the comparison will have to be about a real issue.