[Cicero]

Agreed. But I would put it a little earlier than that. It started out very slow and tepid, but it got stronger as it went along.

Also, I’ve heard that because of his broken arms as a P.O.W., McCain cannot raise his arms above his shoulders. I was conscious of that during the speech, but he has developed ways of gesturing that are very effective. Body language—like it or not—is important. I thought he did it very well.

Palin’s body language and facial expressions are extreme effective, but McCain also did very well, in spite of his difficulties. They both make Biden look like an idiot in comparison.

[nathanbedford]

Karl Rove in the preceding thread judged McCain's acceptance speech workmanlike but a let down. I agree with you. More, I think the McCain speech in its own way was better than Palin's speech which was terrific and accomplished its mission. Governor Palin has now passed the test for plausibility as a vice presidential candidate and the argument about her experience level is over for practical purposes. Even more remarkably, she made the whole country fall in love with her.

John McCain also succeeded marvelously well in his speech. The whole idea of his speech was to demonstrate that McCain was no Bush clone but entirely his own man. McCain's recital of his Hanoi Hilton epiphany was so brutally authentic as to leave no fair-minded listener in doubt that John McCain wants to be president of the United States for a very high spiritual purpose. He sold me and I am no fan of his politics but I am convinced that we are entrusting the Republic and my children to a man incorruptible commitment to his vision for the whole country.

No one could have witnessed that speech by John McCain and not been moved by its sincerity. No one who saw it can believe that he will resort to business as usual in Washington. He made himself the living embodiment of change, for change of government, intelligent change, change that is better called reform.

For those independents and Reagan Democrats who are usually moved to vote on character alone, they must have found their man.

[peggybac]

That body language woman was on O’Reilly last night and was saying McCain needs to put his arms behind his back when standing still. I screamed to the TV that he probably can’t!

[SuziQ]

I’ve heard that because of his broken arms as a P.O.W., McCain cannot raise his arms above his shoulders.

True, and did you notice that when he introduced Sarah Palin, in OH, that she kept her arms lower, when she waved, and didn't raise them as high as she might have? She did the same thing onstage after the two families gathered after McCain's speech. When she was standing next to him, she kept her arms lower, but when she moved away from him, she raiser her arms higher to wave at the folks higher up. I thought that was very respectful of her.