Great speech Fred!
The hightlight of last night's RNC festivities was a barn-burner of a speech given by Fred Thompson. He unloaded with both barrels as he championed John McCain's character and integrity. We've all heard about McCain's POW experiences, but Fred's riveting and moving account really brought home the depth of McCain's sacrifices. Sure, he wasn't waterboarded, and nobody pissed on his Koran, so maybe we can't say he was actually tortured by the North Vietnamese, but John McCain suffered for his country all the same.

A man who would stand up for his country like that will stand up for America now.

NRO's Jay Nordlinger called this the best line of the speech. I'd have to agree, although Fred's shot at Obama was pure gold too:

Politics makes for strange bedfellows. Joe Lieberman addressed the Republicans even though he was the Democratic vice presidential nominee eight years ago. Unlike Zell Miller who broke with the Democratic party over substantive issues Lieberman seems to want to have his cake and eat it too. He repeatedly referred to his "Democratic friends" and called the politely cheering audience for his speech "my friends". Everybody is Joe's friend! That's why he spoke, John McCain is his friend.

He just didn't seem sincere to me. Instead of trying to straddle the fence he needs to choose a side. He launced a zinger at Obama but couched it as more of a plus for McCain.

So if things were "better" he'd support Obama? Or, he'll support Obama is 2012 or 2016?

When Zell Miller spoke at the RNC in 2004 he owned the room. His speech was heartfelt and sincere. He made no bones about his newfound affection for Republican ideals and his disdain for the direction in which his former party was headed. He generated enthusiasm because it was obvious that he believed what he was saying. I didn't get that impression from Lieberman. A lot of his speech sounded like boilerplate that could have been just as relevant at one of his nephews' bar mitzvahs.

I don't believe that having Lieberman speak helped the Republicans. Very few Democrats will be motivated by his words to abandon Barack Obama in favor of John McCain. And he didn't fire up the RNC delegates either. In fact, except for Fred, the entire night seemed rather tepid. I hope Governor Palin's speech tonight is more well received.

Posted at 10:40 by Chris   [/election]   | | | Email | del.icio.us | Digg | Stumble It! | Reddit | Link