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[personal profile] jducoeur
Overall: not a great speech, but not a terrible one either. Rather disjointed at times -- the first several minutes felt more like an Oscar acceptance speech than a presidential one -- but once she got down to business she generally stayed on-message. She jabbed *very* hard at the Democrats, indeed to the point of coming across as rather nasty at times: she manages to make Biden look like a nice guy by comparison. That's likely necessary in her positon (she can't afford to look weak); we'll see how it plays with the general electorate.

I listened to most of the speech in the car, so I was surprised when I got home that my reaction to seeing her on TV was quite different from hearing her. She's oddly weaker visually than audibly: her body language comes across as much more hectoring to me than her tone alone does.

As for the content -- no real surprises. I'm irritated by the sheer volume of lying and exaggeration it contained about the Democrats, but by now I should expect that of the Republicans. (Mind, I expect some of it from any political campaign: it's just the quantity that annoys me.) It was very much a speech of battle lines, defining a lot of bad guys who she is against: the political establishment, the media, city folk, democrats, etc. I'd love to hear how that plays among the independents: it was an intensely partisan speech in a political environment that has otherwise been focusing on unity.

Her consistent use of "our opponent", never actually naming Obama, feels weirdly smarmy to me, and oddly out of place in a campaign that has often been on a first-name basis otherwise on both sides. I suppose that was done because she's the one person involved who *doesn't* actually know any of the players personally, but it was quite noticeable.

I can't say I *liked* the speech, but it would have been surprising if I did. I'd say that she hit the necessary points, but left plenty of holes that the Democrats have presumably already begun poking into. I don't know if it will win a lot of people over from the center, but it ought to at least help shore up the right wing...

(no subject)

Date: 2008-09-04 03:35 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jenwrites.livejournal.com
I actually watched the speech, and seeing her give it, I found her to be very charismatic and winning. Yes, she spouted party lies, but she did it well. As for her opening, I saw it as her chance to introduce the voters to herself, so she could redefine the narrative that the media had already laid out. I think that was extremely smart of her. It gave people the chance to connect to her as a human being and a mother.

Now we wait and see how it played to the independents. Because honestly, she could have done a striptease and then given the speech through her bare ass, and that crowd would have screamed for more.

(no subject)

Date: 2008-09-04 03:45 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tashabear.livejournal.com
She's oddly weaker visually than audibly

That's because she looks like Tina Fey.



Tina Fey is much cuter, though. I think I'll vote for her and Jon Stewart.

(no subject)

Date: 2008-09-04 11:48 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] baron-steffan.livejournal.com
Oh, so I wasn't the only one who thought that (as I mentioned to [profile] auntie_elspeth while we were watching) "Tina Fey is working on her Sarah Palin at this very moment".

(no subject)

Date: 2008-09-04 04:05 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rufinia.livejournal.com
The thing with not naming Obama can be explained (as so many things can be) by this West Wing quote:

ERRY
If I could just reframe the point that Cal was making.

BARTLET
I understand the point that Cal was making. I was sitting next to him when he made it,
my ears are connected to my brain just like every body else. And I'm saying what's next?

CAL
Sir, not to put my head in the lion's mouth but by saying the name of your opponent in
public you're essentially giving him free advertising.

JERRY
Cal thinks you should start referring to him as "my opponent" or "the other guy"?

CAL
Sir.

BARTLET
You're not afraid he's gonna make me look like I can't remember his name?

JERRY
No.

BARTLET
I am. I think it's going to make me look like I can't remember his name. I think it's
going to make me look addled. I think it's going to make me look dotty. And even if it
didn't make me look like those things it would remain a stupid idea. What's next? Nothing?
Excellent. [leaves]

(no subject)

Date: 2008-09-04 02:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dkapell.livejournal.com
I have a cluster of coworkers behind me that are gushing about how awesome her speech was, how funny she was, and how much she's like Tina Fay. These are the coworkers who I don't really talk to much.

(no subject)

Date: 2008-09-04 06:58 pm (UTC)
From: [personal profile] hungrytiger
X-posted and edited from my comment in jenwrites' blog...

As you know, I teach training classes to adults as part of my job so there are lots of different little things I tend to notice when I'm watching these speeches. Obama and Biden were clearly both much more comfortable speaking in front of a large group than Palin was (not that I slam her for that, it was to be expected). There were many physical mannerisms that gave away the fact that she had little idea how to manage a large audience as a speaker (although she does know how to play to the camera). Then I realized that the RNC audience was actually larger than the population of the town she had been the mayor of. :-)





What really struck me though was how many shots of the audience showed lots of people who looked bored. Yes, they'd cut to the random, excited people, but in the background you could always make out people just sitting there, not applauding or waving signs, just looking tired. I don't remember seeing that during Biden's speech to a much larger audience. The fact that the cameras kept cutting back to the same people just reinforced the idea that the crowd wasn't really behind her speech, they just rallied when they heard one of the talking point sound bites.

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