It was John McCain’s night. Michelle Malkin summarizes it best:
McCain is McCain. He was who he’s always been tonight: a war hero with an unabashed love of country who acknowledges his flaws, gives too much benefit of the doubt to his political opponents, and bends over backwards to reach out to the other side of the aisle in misguidedly mistaking partisanship for evil. But he’s also a man who has taken many risks, desires victory over surrender in the War on Terror, and, after dissing the GOP base time and again, stands beside a vice presidential nominee who breathes new life and hope into grass-roots, outside-the-Beltway conservatism.
Power Line thought the McCain speech succeeded on an emotional level.
. . . I think McCain may well have connected better with the American people on an emotional level than Obama did. And nothing matters more than that.
Save the GOP thought McCain’s presentation was overall good, and contrasted the ending of McCain’s speech to Obama’s final thoughts in his speech.
Oh, and I loved the ending. Notice how when Obama’s speech reached a crescendo, it was regarding Obama. When McCain’s did, it was regarding service to America. Big old warm spot in my heart right now…
Pamela Geller has extensive coverage of the final night. She thinks the final 10 minutes was “historic.” She has a link to this CBS poll showing the race tied before last night’s speeches.
Amanda Carpenter shares her favorite lines of McCain’s speech.
Hugh Hewitt notes:
In a strong speech that crescendoed to a stirring close, Senator McCain laid out a classically conservative series of policy objectives, with a large emphasis on education reform –a very smart priority for the fall campaign. And his pledge to shake the spending culture of Washington to its roots is as sincere as it is overdue.
and
The contrast between McCain and Obama is so sharp, the vast gulf between the former’s sacrifice, service and experience and the latter’s extravagant sense of self so wide, that there is every reason to believe McCain.
About the media coverage, Keith Olbermann is a very forgettable hack. Campbell Brown, too. There was no exploitation in the video presentation on the Islamist attacks against the U.S. We’re still fighting a war, remember?
