We probably can’t do this enough. But, for the sake of posterity, let’s review what Obama actually said when he uttered the now-notorious “you didn’t build it” line and compare it to how the Romney campaign is portraying it.
So once again, here is Obama on Friday, July 13 at Roanoke Fire Station #1 in Virginia: Read More
I really like Clint Eastwood — amazing actor and director and just a really cool dude — but actually finding this a touch weird.
Late Update: Okay, I want to walk gently on this one. But I don’t think that worked. Like some cool artifact with a lot of crust and gunk on it, if you scraped it all away there was something kind of cool there. But there was a lot of crust. It had some of the cadence of Admiral Stockdale, with a hint of dirty old man. Bizarre can be cool. But not sure it was the moment for bizarre.
10:33 PM: I’m not sure I’m remembering this right. But I don’t remember convention speeches being done like this before, with the walk through, looks more intended to mimic a SOTU.
10:50 PM: This doesn’t strike me as a good speech. It seems disjointed to me, not really building in a clear direction. The protestor(s?)(still trying to get a good read on what happened there) sort of threw off the cadence at the outset. It just doesn’t feel like it’s going anywhere.
11:04 PM: I don’t think the thematic part of the speech, the first twenty-plus minutes, worked. But starting to pick up now, warming to themes, gaining direction.
As we watch the Romneys and Ryans in the traditional balloon drop, a few really quick takes.
On balance, I thought the first half to 2/3 of the speech were really weak, disjointed, kind of rambling. (The protest disruptions probably added to that impression.) The speechwriting effort to address shortcomings with female voters and other key vulnerabilities was clear enough and understandable. But it just seemed, as I said, disjointed, with no clear direction or anchor. One of our reporters mentioned afterward that it seemed more like a State of the Union. Not sure I totally agree — but something like that.
That changed in the last ten or fifteen minutes — it finally developed some verve and direction. In speech terms it was fairly solid at the end.
But on balance, I thought it was fairly weak as a speech. He’s the underdog and he’s the guy who needs to have a galvanizing introduction to the general public. In those terms, it was a missed opportunity. A pretty big one.
Just after the speech, on CNN, they asked Alex Castellanos what he thought of the speech. Alex’s response: “Good enough.” Yeah, pretty apt response.
A look back at the final day of the 2012 Republican National Convention.
What was the most memorable moment of the Republican National Convention?
From the official Twitter account of Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) last night: “Nothing like 80’s coke addicted James Brown to close out a Republican convention #GOPconvention”
Apologies ensued.