[MMM]

It was very good cop to Palin's bad cop. Palin's speech made me angry because 1) there were so many lies in it and 2) there were so many cheap-shots.

It was clear her speech was meant to fire up the right-wing base, and I am sure it did that. It is too bad it takes so much negativity and mud-slinging to do that, but I guess it doesn't surprise me.

I thought McCain's speech was much more dignified, but he really didn't say anything. He was obviously speaking to appeal to the undecided voters, which is a good strategy, but it is hard to make a "kick the bums out" speech when you have been a part of the Washington-system for over a quarter-century.

Targeting both Republicans and Democrats is the only way to do that...but he was sitting in a room of very dedicated Republicans, so the cheers felt a little forced.

And McCain is not a good orator. He needs to read his speech once or twice before he gives it. He has about three "patterns" of sentence delivery, and none of them are nearly as striking as Obama's.

So overall I would say McCain's speech wasn't very controversial, but also not very inspiring.