“John McCain is not known as a great orator, and tonight’s speech offered no one cause to reconsider him on those terms. That doesn’t mean it was a bad speech. Just means he’s not a rock star in the speechifying department, that’s all. What he is is a patriot — a man with a deep love of country, a love which he credits to his experiences as a POW — and that came through in his acceptance speech. … It is McCain’s distinct personal misfortune to have grasped his party’s nomination at a time when those qualities don’t carry much weight, having been cynically abused and appealed to by the Bush administration in its seven-year effort to turn America into East Germany Part Deux at home and the Golden Horde Part Deux abroad. That’s not the first time McCain’s been screwed over by Bush in much the same way.” (09/05/08)