REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION: McCain's Speech

It took me longer to get to the convention hall last night because of the tight security. The police cordoned off an even bigger zone than on previous nights, because of violence by protesters on previous nights and because of another scheduled protest march. While on the bus, I even saw 20 squad cars rush to get somewhere in downtown St. Paul. There was a ton of police in full riot gear around the zone.

In the lobby once I got into the convention hall, I came across former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele (pictured, in suit and red tie) - the McCain surrogate who I was supposed to interview, as the Republican National Committee approached me about interviewing a McCain surrogate but didn't deliver - speaking with media. Perhaps I will be able to interview him in the near future, but no go tonight.

The convention floor had a much different stage setup than on previous nights. There was a short-runway-type setup, which is I assume were to (1) play to Sen. McCain’s better speaking skills in a more town-hall-like format, so he was positioned closer to the convention delegates and (2) reinforce the “straight talk” theme. While packed, the convention hall was not quite as packed as last night for Gov. Sarah Palin’s speech. There were “Cindy”, “McCain – Palin”, and “Straight Talk” signs that RNC staffers distributed on the convention floor. There were also “homemade” signs like “Palin Power”. let me tell you firsthand that these signs were also distributed because signs of any kind are forbidden to be brought through security when you entered the convention hall.

Sen. John McCain came onto the stage to rousing, extended applause and chants of "USA, USA." However, it was not the near-pandemonium that I witnessed on Wednesday night when Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin came on stage. Convention attendees' minds seems to be with Sen. McCain because they don't want to see a President Barack Obama. For instance, there were plenty of folks wearing "NObama" gear. However, their hearts seem to be with Gov. Sarah Palin (who is being called “the next Ronald Reagan” and “the Republicans’ Obama”).

Sen. McCain's speech kept getting interrupted early on with “USA, USA” chants by convention attendees. There were two or three anti-war protesters, who were located in one of the sections behind the stage. They managed to get to the second level of the convention hall, which they couldn’t have done without a media outlet providing them with credentials because security tightened after Day 1. At two or three different points early on in Sen. McCain's speech, they shouted something. There were also Code Pink protesters on Wednesday night, but I did not see them. Convention attendees chanted “USA, USA” to drown out the protesters, who were thrown out of the convention hall.

I thought Sen. Mccain's speech was somewhat dull. It just didn't have that fire-in-the-belly spirit that Gov. Palin's, Mr. Steele's, and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's speeches had on Wednesday night. Former Sen. Fred Thompson's speech on Tuesday night also had that spirit. Giving speeches is certainly not one of Sen. McCain’s strengths. I can only imagine how it came across on television, because I was bored at times in the convention hall during his speech.

Sen. McCain talked about his “maverick” background, and history of bipartisanship on Capitol Hill. He talked about fighting corruption by both political parties, how Democrats and independents will serve in his administration, and how he wants to bring the best from both sides of the aisle. All of those points got very tepid applause. He talked about how “the people elected us to change Washington, but we let Washington change us", and that basically said the GOP violated its principles. There was some support in the hall for this remark. He also said “the Party Of Lincoln is going to get back to basics.” Again, some support. When he talked about pork barrel spending and argued that Sen. Obama has no history of bipartisanship, there was a good amount of applause. The GOP didn't not like it, but Sen. McCain also needed to speak to independent voters watching the speech on television, and bipartisanship and stating where things went wrong are theme that independent voters like to hear.

One part of his speech that particularly stuck out for me was when Sen. McCain "everyone has something to contribute and deserves the opportunity to reach their God-given potential, from the boy whose descendents arrived on the Mayflower to the Latina daughter of migrant workers. We're all God's children and we're all Americans." I wondered: what about us descendants of people who were involuntarily brought here? Why weren't we mentioned, even though our ancestors contributed much to America's prosperity?!

Sen. McCain said that “education is the civil rights issue of the century”, and talked about increasing school competition by empowering parents with choice. I agree with how on school vouchers, but I don't call education a civil rights issue. He talked about energy independence, which got the convention floor chanting Mr. Steele’s now-popular-among-conservatives rallying cry of “drill, baby, drill!” on the domestic oil production front.

He also talked about where he and Sen. Obama differ on various policy issues. Sen. McCain also said that things must change in D.C. I'm skeptical of all of this talk by Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain claiming that they can change D.C. Men have been talking about changing the way D.C. works for more than 200 years, and it has rarely happened. What makes either of them believe that they can do so? Sen. McCain has been in Congress since 1983, so how is he a change agent?

Sen. McCain's speech made it clear that he is continuing to co-opt Sen. Obama’s “change” mantra by arguing a reform platform of his own, along with Gov. Palin on the ticket. However, by doing so he is playing on Sen. Obama’s field – which argues that there should be a change from President Bush’s policies, most of which Sen. McCain supports. You create the field and define the debate, not have your opponent do so.

His POW background is one of his strengths, but there was something else that Sen. McCain said that caught my attention. He said something like “I was no longer my own man, but my country’s….My country saved me. I will fight for her as long as I draw breath, so help me, God.” My libertarian antenna went up, because that quote sounds like he believes that his body belongs to the government - i.e., government controls it - and not him. Say what?!

After his speech, “Raising McCain” by John Rich played on the sound system, along with some soul/black pop music jams. The McCain family came back on the stage. Red, white, and blue confetti and later red, white and blue balloons and big white balls with red and blue prints came down from the ceilings. The side of the stage also lit up in red and blue. Golden streams of confetti shot up and outward from the stage. A convention staffer let me get closer to take some post-convention photos.

After Sen. McCain's speech, I did a video interview with Black Enterprise magazine. I was asked what I liked about the speech. When asked why I support Sen. John McCain for president and when I responded that I'm still an undecided voter, the interviewer George Alexander seemed surprised. However, that led to questions about what I want to see in the next president. The video goes up on the Black Enterprise website on Monday, so you can see my response at that time.

I took the shuttle bus back to Minneapolis, and I overheard a convention organizer named Phil telling a convention delegate that the protesters on Wednesday night got through because of media credentials that were traced back to MSNBC (he told her that each credential has an individual bar code for each convention invitee). They suspect MSNBC this time as well. Two female convention delegates sitting in front of me didn't care for Sen. McCain's speech, particularly his calls for bipartisanship. "He's talking about let's work together on this, let's work together on that", said the lady on the left. "Hogwash", said the lady on the right. Although folks on the shuttle bus talked somewhat about Sen. McCain's speech, the buzz on the bus primarily focused on Gov. Palin: how pretty she is, how they loved her speech on Wednesday night (the convention organizer mentioned above said the teleprompters were even acting up during her speech, but Gov. Palin worked around it), how she is good for the conservative cause, and how she is the future of the Republican Party. Among convention delegates, she is overshadowing him in fervent support.