In his concession speech, he showed a kind of grace, civility, humility and can-do spirit that would seem to have won over a lot more voters if he had let it show during the last ten months or so. His message about uniting as a nation was enlightening and inspiring. Either this respectable McCain or the lying-through-his-teeth Mean McCain is the real John McCain, but damn, did he make himself a hard guy to hate or what? This cat was all sugar and spice, ready to work with President Obama* to move this country forward like in the good old days of, what, early 2007? Is this the real John McCain? If so, why did he let the GOP bully him into turning into the very thing he hated? Can we, or should we, respect this new McCain after what the other new McCain just did for months?
DAMN it feels good, don’t it? I know, I know, President-elect…
He’s an asshole. A temperamental, impulsive, dangerous partisan hack who put his country’s needs behind his own personal ambitions and ran a despicable campaign consisting of the vaguest promises possible (“I know how to…” and “I will…” without even the courtesy of pretending to provide the barest hint of how he’d find Bin Ladin, fix the economy, etc.), interspersed with ludicrous and vile insults (socialist, terrorist, anti-American) designed to make his opponent unpalatable to the American public. He couldn’t un-do all that damage in one speech, or in a hundred speeches. He’s a treacherous politician of the basest order imaginable. I will despise him to my dying day for promising to run a clean campaign and then running this unending tirade of filth and slander. The real John McCain is what I scrape off my shoe, or more likely what I throw away my shoe for, after stepping in it.
No. I see where many think his speech was very conciliatory and he seemed to be making nice again. But, it seemed at best strained. How many times did McCain say “African-American”? It felt like he was finally giving vent to something he bottled up all along. Overall, nothing was said that doesn’t appear in your average concession speech. McCain spent the last two months doing everything he could to divide this country and a ten minute speech will not change that.
Just reading the SDMB, you will find a number of posters impressed with Sen. McCain’s concession with much the same sentiment as your own.
This is true IRL, so far.
Yeah, least of all me, a former DNC staffer and one of the farthest left left-wingers on this Board, who filled the OP with vitriol and partisan bickering. Guess we’re all big meanies. :rolleyes:
So, do you have anything related to the topic at hand to contribute?
Well, yeah.
I agree with your original point that McCain seemed very gracious in concession. I believe that’s because he’s a basically decent man who fell into the currently accepted negative mode of campaigning because that’s how it’s done these days.
There’s little point in carrying on with the vitriol now that it’s over.
Are you kidding me? You’re willing to overlook a vicious, inflammatory, destructive campaign from someone who vowed to run a decent and honorable campaign because “that’s how it’s done these days”? What would he have had to do to make you resent his campaign at this point? Saying “I ain’t losing, my friends, to no nigger”? Pump his supporters up for yelling “Kill him”? Is there anything McCain could have done over the past three months that would make you think there might still be a point in “carrying on with the vitriol”?
I thought McCain’s speech was pretty good. What really struck me was the difference in the crowds between him and Obama - McCain’s crowd was the (now typical) angry mob, Obama’s was respectful of McCain.
McCain’s concession speech was thoughtful and gracious. Despite the vitriol of the campaign, I believe it was sincere.
Did anyone else think Sarah Palin looked very near tears? Nothing wrong with that, I guess - she poured her heart and soul into the campaign, and now it is over with a disappointing ending. But I couldn’t help but feel she was sad for herself personally, rather than for the nation.
I thought that was the best McCain speech in the past year. I truly believe he is a good man, and he behaved badly during this election cycle. But he’s a leader in the GOP Senate and it will be important to work with in the future.
McCain’s speech was a real class act. I wish we had seen more of this McCain during the campaign. I do think that at heart, McCain is an honorable man who let his ambition get in the way of his principles.
Anyone can utter fine words, which is why we judge people on their deeds and an honourable man would not have run the campaign he did. The lying, confused, pandering old fool we saw on the campaign trail is the real McCain.
Good speech. I like how he kept going “Please, please” when people tried to boo Obama. He actually seemed a little impatient with the crowd at that point. I also got the impression that he, unlike Sarah, was relieved to have lost.
Agreed. I think she was too sure of winning, and so was more upset than McCain when they didn’t.
I though McCain’s speech was good, and I though he held up well when his audience was booing. I thought he looked embarassed when they did that, but he didn’t falter.
I thought it was a fine speech, and a sincere speech, and I think McCain is a decent man. He’s a hard fighter, and I wish he hadn’t veered into the political mud during this campaign fight, but he knows when it’s time to stop fighting.