Live Blogging McCain

College night... a little late to the party.

Well, Cindy's never going to project a lot of warmth. The new hair almost makes her look too young and for such an old guy.

The little sincere head shakes seem kind of overdone with the camera so close - too close.

Here comes the video -
Nothing here you couldn't do with a nice home computer
Momma's boy. Okay

First I've heard of his father standing at the North Vietnamese border. Kinda creepy/cool.

"ferocious opponent of pork-barrell spending" Good.

not in it for the glory? Are we sure? "The stars are aligned." Kinda weird for RNC.
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Darkness - the voice of God, no, Fred Thompson.

On stage - finger point - wave. The year of the shiny solid necktie.
Not the rip-roaring response of last night....but pretty good.

USA USA. tiresome. tiresome.

In good voice, looks a little nervous and wide-eyed but this will pass. What's behind him? Tara?

No success without a good fight. Nice compliment to other Repub contenders and Bush. Might as well link up with Bush now. BHO will do it tomorrow.

9:18 - sweet compliment of Cindy. Hope he doesn't slap her on the ass when she comes on stage. Sudden interest in her charity work, of which I will admit ignorance.

9:20 - very sneaky reference to his mother's age. Nice....

9:21 - shout out and snaps to BHO.

9:24 - reach out to any patriot...how about the screaming grandmother. "Don't be diverted by the ground noise and the static."

9:25 - stand on your side and not in your way....could do without the "fight" reference. Sounds too Clintonian/Edwardian.

9:28 - "I can't wait until I introduce her (Palin) to Washington." Perfect

- "I understand who I work for." also perfect

9:30 - he fought corruption. I hope he's fighting Ted Stevens. Genuine emotion regarding using the veto pen.
He fought a lot of people.

Wish he hadn't fought free speech quite so hard.

9:33 - Props to David Petraeus and troops. I hope the war is as won as everyone says.

Fight, fight, fight, okay... guess it doesn't hurt.

I don't know. The new stage kind of works for me. It makes him look like late period Sinatra.

- good bit about the deceased soldier whose name I missed.

9:36 - we let Washington change us... we lost their trust.... welfare for oil companies Silence in the auditorium.
- "a culture of life" a clever formulation... "don't legislate from the bench." bloody red meat.

9:39 - I'm not so cool with the kindergarten teacher cadence when talking about Obama. With attendant boos.
- second highest business tax rate in the world....I did not know that.

9:41 - least effective when he talks like he's explaining things to a six year old. He's slipped into a lot of that here in the past few minutes.

- aaaahh retraining - that old bugaboo. We need more nail salons.

9:43 - good poke in the eye of public schools. NEA is already lost. Resent the bad teachers comment - almost never the real problem. "I want schools to answer to parents and students." I'd also like parents to answer to basic sociological requirements, but maybe that's just me.

9:46 - drill new wells offshore (not ANWR). His energy programs sound as empty as ever. "restore the health of our planet". yawn. Maybe the oceans will stop rising.

9:49 - Smack at Russia - good. The only adult on this topic so far. "The brave people of Georgia need our solidarity and our prayers." That's pretty thin John.

9:51 - good bit about his father again. excellent language on stable and enduring peace.

9:57 - "I didn't think there was a cause more important than me." Excellent. Admits that his father's status saved him. Classy.

10:00 - "and they broke me" "no man can always stand alone" Tears all around - horrifying in it's understatedness.

10:01 - all the reasons he loved his country. Painful contrast with BHO and MO. I think he'll get a bump in the polls for now. Now some self-deprecating self-awareness...."so help me God"

- calls for public service or military service...'bout time somebody did.

10:04 - big climax re: fighting. I think he feels it and is feeding off the crowd. Just outstanding. I didn't think he had it in him. Wow.

Now the godawful music.

Postscripts

CNNs coverage seems a little better than Fox at this point. Love Brit Hume but he's talking too much. CNN is capturing the size and energy better.

Love the use of the song "Barracuda". Repubs always have better senses of humor.