RNC End Notes: Sayonara, Suckers
*McCain's speech went down pretty much as predicted, though much of what I rendered yesterday in Troglodyte dialect was actually presented with a gooey outer coating of fatuous reverence and false humility. What I didn't mention, but should have, was just how badly he delivered it. McCain is a hopeless stump speaker, stepping on his own sting lines, repeating himself needlessly, and growing visibly and testily impatient when crowd reaction delayed his droning rush through his telepromptered text. Thus the campaign trope that Obama's speaking ability somehow marks him as an inferior candidate. Soon to be boring a nation, with great authenticity....
*Likewise, outside the hothouse atmosphere of the convention hall, I expect Sarah Palin's speaking style to become actively and remarkably irritating well before the month is out. This is provided she lasts that long-- without a long since prepared speech to drop her supposedly compelling personal details into, Palin strikes me as a gaffe factory in the making, her vaunted self confidence and folksy demeanor combining with her tabula rasa status on most areas of policy to make her every off the cuff remark a possible tsunami of embarrassment, and every day brings another round of those personal details that are adding up to quite a nasty picture.
So here's where the fun begins, the gloves come off, et cetera. Whoopee!!
