Global: Early reviews on John McCain's acceptance speech

“Fight for what's right for our country. Fight for the ideals and character of a free people. Fight for our children's future. Fight for justice and opportunity for all. Stand up to defend our country from its enemies. Stand up for each other; for beautiful, blessed, bountiful America,” that’s how John McCain basically wrapped up his acceptance speech for the Republican Nomination to run for President of the United States.

Thursday’s speech marked the culmination of a shortened three-day Republican National Convention at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. It also marked a culmination of sorts on Senator John McCain’s more than 40 years of public service. As the old adage about acceptance speeches goes, if he were to give a killer speech, he’d most likely become the next president.

So, how did he do? Bloggers and Twitterers from around the world took their first cracks at the newly minted Republican candidate as he received his time in the limelight. (Some of the language and content is suitable only for mature audiences.)

Let’s begin with those Twittering while watching the candidate’s speech.

Heilemann ^[1], from Copenhagen Denmark:

Watching McCain's RNC speech with half an eye. That guy creeps the hell out of me.

From Manchester, UK, Oliver Dore ^[2] offered this:

McCain needs a coach for public speaking – his delivery, despite his message, is always flat.

And finally, Jye Smith ^[3] from Sydney, Australia:

“We will build more nuclear power plants.” McCain. They clap. “We need to show the world how American lead.” They clap.

John Redwood ^[4], a Conservative Member of Parliament in England said McCain did a good job reaching out to Barack Obama and to all Democrats.

The contrast of McCain and Palin worked well for the Republicans. The Obama camp is driven back onto attacks and disparaging comments whilst McCain tells the world he wants to work with Democrats for the change America needs and Washington will have to accept.

A few bloggers took note to McCain’s references to international relations and politics during his speech. Neither of these two were impressed with the results.

Jonathan Berger from South Africa writes in his Phat at Forty ^[5] blog at the Mail & Guardian:

I agree with John McCain that “we can’t turn a blind eye to aggression and international lawlessness”. There. I’ve said it. Bite me. Unfortunately, however, the Republican candidate for president was talking about Russia’s exploits in Georgia and not George W Bush’s foray into Iraq. Plus ça change …

Jewish blogger Richard Silverstein writing in Tikun Olam ^[6] quotes the closing of McCain’s speech: “Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight,” he said at the end of his speech. “Nothing is inevitable here. We’re Americans, and we never give up. We never quit. We never hide from history. We make history.”
And offers this argument:

Isn’t that precisely what’s wrong with American foreign policy?  We don’t study history.  We don’t read history.  We don’t learn from the past.  We don’t consider our options cautiously.  Goddamn, we make history.  That can be said to be the Bush position on Iraq in a nutshell.

Did McCain ever stop and consider that you can make history by stepping back from precipitous action and considering whether a big stick is the right or only approach?  When Jimmy Carter negotiated peace between Israel and Egypt he stood up and fought for peace.  But I don’t think that’s the kind of “standing up and fighting” McCain had in mind.

Our next post comes from Gotham Chopra ^[7], son of Deepak Chopra ^[8] in the IntentBlog ^[9] he runs with his father.

John McCain is a good man.
But he looks like a pretty old dude.
I am just saying.
And the crazy lady is his sidekick.
Though she's got sass.
Think about it,
And seriously, did some “community organizer” get her daughter pregnant or what?

Moving on, one of the surprises facing McCain during his speech was a couple of protesters who tried to stir things up in the conference hall. They were quickly drowned out by screams of “USA! USA!” and then carted away, but not before McCain could say “Americans want us to stop yelling at each other.”

Anyway, according to Patriot Missive ^[10], the crowd was instructed to fight back against the protesters.

No, not with riot gear or smoke bombs or flash bangs…  but with a chant.  A special chant.  One passed down through generations of drunken, steak eating, football playing, porn watching, red blooded Americans:

Chanting USA. USA.

Personally, I would have voted for, “America: **** Yeah ^[11]”.  Chanting “U.S.A.” is so 80’s.

Two weeks, two major party conventions, a billion spilt words and now begins the real race for the presidency of the United States. I’ll leave you with this tale ^[12] from somewhere in England, where someone placed a bumper sticker on a car that read: “John McCain’s a retard.”

Seriously, what’s wrong with people these days?
Impartial, that’s us. It’s just, you know, like, is it just the wind direction or does this election thing seem to have been going on since 1973? And aren’t the people at those convention raves terribly excitable…Oh, and the Republicans seem terribly impressed by the fact that McCain has seven children, despite any dog on the street being capable of multitudinous births. Talking of which we are, understandably, totally obsessed by Sarah Palin. She’s hot. And it’s not a problem at all that were anything to go wrong with McCain, she’d be running the world. We think it would be a fun thing. Besides, she totally gets the lips ’n' eyes make-up rule, which Michelle Obama so doesn’t. 

Ooh but ooh, the person we’re really enjoying is that man up there, the one who likes drawing pretty stars all over his posters, and who think’s John’s a ‘Mavrick’. Personally, we thought he was a ‘Maverick’, but what do we know.

Fancy watching 48 minutes and 56 seconds of a doddery old man wittering on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on…?