July 31, 2004
A GENTLEMAN'S "C" FROM THE DEAN:
A Speech Without Risk (David S. Broder, August 1, 2004, Washington Post)
Students of political rhetoric generally agree on the elements that make for a successful convention acceptance speech. Over the years, the best of them have had some or all of these ingredients: a fresh and powerful personal narrative, strong ideas, memorable phrases and a rhythm that builds to an emotional climax.John Kerry's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night fell short in all these respects.
The conventional wisdom rapidly congeals around mediocre with slippage towards failure. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 31, 2004 9:27 AM
Comments
If Kerry thinks that his speech wasn't well-received, wait until folks get a load of him during the debates.
During the interminable Dem primary debates, Dean and Sharpton were the crowd favorites, and Bush is much closer to them than to Gephardt and Clark, with whom Kerry could realistically spar.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at July 31, 2004 2:57 PM