I don’t want this to sound tacky, and I am sure somehow it will. I am pretty old and I have heard a number of presidential concession speeches. I was probably more impressed with McCain’s than any of the others I have heard. Other than length and the necessary “thank yous,” it was excellent. I really believed him when he spoke about respecting Obama and how everyone should pull together. I have heard this a number of times from other presidential candidates and never believed it as much.
It was a very nice speech. However, if he actually believed what he said about Obama in this speech, he should be too embarrassed with his campaign to look at himself in the mirror.
I thought it was one of the most eloquent concession speeches I have ever heard, but I agree with many here that it was a complete 180 from the last 2 months of campaigning.
I also would have been heartened if he had told off the idiots booing.
It was very good. I think he knew, deep down, that he had to make it pretty special to not be remembered and defined by Schmidt’s campaign and Palin’s real America nonsense.
It was a revival of the 2000 McCain we all thought we knew, who all but disappeared in 2008.
I do sort of feel sorry for him. He basically got beaten by Rove and people like Kristol in 2000, and then sells out to a sense of inevitability and takes their advice in 2008, and gets beaten by them again. It’s a mixed feeling though, as it was his choice to run such a divisive campaign.
The biggest thing I remember from his concession, was his interaction with Palin directly following. In stead of a hug and a kiss or at least a hug, she stuck her hand out to him. Speaks volumes if you ask me to their relationship and perhaps how she felt about him. Anyone else see that?
McCain can’t win, can he? Gets a hug from Bush,and a handshake from Palin, when anyone in their right mind would want the hug from Palin and the handshake from Bush.
The Newsweek article Dio quoted said that she requested to speak after him, and it got rejected - which is as it should be. I’m sure Biden didn’t ask to speak.
I thought that it is not surprising the audience booed, given the negativity. It was nice he stopped them, but how could he tell them off since that was what his campaign had been all about? Still, this is one of the best concession speeches I have ever heard.
I thought it was meh. The “respect” he allegedly showed Obama was way too little, far too late. And how could he credibly have called out the booing crowd, after having spent months riling them up?
Oh, and if taking a moment to really enjoy Sarah Palin’s pain makes me a bad person, I can totally live with that.
I thought it was an excellent concession speech, and my thoughts were: if you had run your campaign that way, you might have had a chance. Anyway… very good, classy speech. But too late.
His speech was a real class act. I wish we had seen more of this McCain during the campaign. I’d like to believe that McCain is an honorable man who let his ambitions get in the way of his principles. I’ll be very interested to see what he does when he goes back to the Senate.
Yea, I found myself thinking “hey, this guy should run for President. He’d really have a chance to win it”. Ah well…
But in any case, I hope he means what he says, and helps work with Obama and moderates in the senate to pass legislation. I’d hate for his performance during the last few months to be the final act of his career.