# John McCain's Speech...... **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 5, 2008, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccains-speech/462122 "2008-09-05T03:36:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccains-speech/462122/61 "2008-09-06T14:11:59Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Neilsen people, maybe. But overall? Not a chance. Add in the people who watched Obama on PBS, on streaming video, etc. (stuff about which the Republicans haven’t a clue) and I’ll bet Obama wins handily. Not to mention the freakshow factor. How many people tuned in just to point and laugh? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccains-speech/462122/62 "2008-09-06T14:20:20Z")
> [@C3](#): > > Not to mention the freakshow factor. How many people tuned in just to point and laugh? None, I’m guessing. Nobody watches stuff like that unless they have an actual interest in it, positive or negative. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccains-speech/462122/63 "2008-09-06T14:26:23Z")
[The first post McSame speech Daily Rasmussen poll](http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/daily_presidential_tracking_poll) Has Obama up +3. The Daily Gallup will be out a little later. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccains-speech/462122/64 "2008-09-06T14:30:11Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > None, I’m guessing. Nobody watches stuff like that unless they have an actual interest in it, positive or negative. It was the negative viewers I was trying to get at. I wouldn’t have watched any of the RNC coverage (whereas I was glued to the DNC coverage), but when Palin was put forward I was interested in seeing the debacle. She did much better with the delivery than I expected, but gave tons of ammunition to the online chattering class. I was sitting in my bedroom knitting and listening to my iPod when McCain came on, but my husband came to get me when the protesters started making noise. I ended up watching the rest of the speech and the commentary afterward out of fascination more than anything else. I wonder how many others whose minds are made up already tuned in just to see the spectacle, give themselves fodder for the water cooler or the message boards, or with the hope of seeing a train wreck\*? \*not that it necessarily ended up being that ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccains-speech/462122/65 "2008-09-06T15:15:10Z")
> [@Frostillicus](#): > > Wait a minute. John McCain was a POW? You’re kidding, I don’t know why he or his minions never mention it. I tried to watch the speech, but was incredibly distracted by the visuals in back of him. I one time went out to make some popcorn and came back and came back and there were some ancient indian cliff dwellings in back of the candidate. I said, “What is that?” My wife had been for the most part ignoring the television and had been reading a book. She looked up from her book and saw the cliff dwellings and said offhandedly, “I think it’s one of his houses.” ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccains-speech/462122/66 "2008-09-06T15:29:00Z")
> [@TV\_time](#): > > I tried to watch the speech, but was incredibly distracted by the visuals in back of him. I one time went out to make some popcorn and came back and came back and there were some ancient indian cliff dwellings in back of the candidate. I said, “What is that?” My wife had been for the most part ignoring the television and had been reading a book. She looked up from her book and saw the cliff dwellings and said offhandedly, “I think it’s one of his houses.” Bwa-hahahahahahahahahahaha!!! Oh, my, that’s a good one! I watched tiny snippets of the RNC, couldn’t stomach more than that, but each time I clicked in it struck me just how powerfully that bare stage with its immense backdrop screen diminished the stature of the tiny human figures who occupied it. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccains-speech/462122/67 "2008-09-06T15:48:02Z")
Whenever I looked at that giant monitor, I just kept thinking about how kick-ass it would be if somebody could hack the system and start uploading gay porn onto the screen. Surely the lefties have someone geeky enough to be able to figure out how to do that. A great opportunity lost. Some Stephen Colbert style “Word” commentary would have been awesome as well. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2008, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccains-speech/462122/68 "2008-09-06T23:31:55Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > [The first post McSame speech Daily Rasmussen poll](http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/daily_presidential_tracking_poll) Has Obama up +3. The Daily Gallup will be out a little later. Just to update this. Today’s [Daily Gallup](http://www.gallup.com/poll/110047/Gallup-Daily-Obamas-Lead-Shrinks-Points.aspx) has Obama +2. McCain is getting a small Convention bounce, but not enough to pull even with Obama yet. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2008, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccains-speech/462122/69 "2008-09-07T01:31:37Z")
Speaking of Gallup, let’s take a look at [what they have to say about swing voters](http://www.gallup.com/poll/110017/Intense-Political-Week-Brings-Decline-Swing-Voters.aspx) as of September 4: > [@](#): > > At this point, 42% of registered voters say they are certain to vote for Obama, up from 36% immediately before the convention. Thirty-seven percent are now committed to McCain, up slightly from 34%. Thus, with 79% of voters committed to one candidate or the other, 21% are “swing voters” who could vote for either candidate or for a third-party candidate. Notice that Obama’s getting a higher percentage of now-decided swing voters than McCain, as is also shown by the graph in the linked article. Who are these swing voters? > [@](#): > > Gallup’s research on swing voters has shown that, not surprisingly, political independents and moderates are usually among the most likely voters to lack a firm commitment to a candidate in a presidential election. In the latest poll, 34% of independents and 33% of moderates can be considered swing voters, both of which are well above the national average of 21%. McCain’s chosen a hard-right running mate rather than a moderate. How will that play with voters like these? And what about the diehard Hillary bloc? > [@](#): > > Another key voting bloc this year is Democrats who supported Hillary Clinton in the presidential primaries. Since the Democratic Convention, a substantial percentage of her supporters have come back into the Democratic fold, saying they will vote for Obama, but 28% remain uncommitted to him or currently support another candidate. Olympia Snowe quite likely could have peeled off a decent chunk of these undecideds. Instead, McCain’s chosen a running mate even more antithetical than he is to the positions and values that Hillary has championed, and given Clinton even more incentive to work her butt off swinging her voters to Obama. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-mccains-speech/462122.md?page=3)