MORNING READ

John McCain’s convention speech gets decidedly mixed reviews the morning after. McCain’s address had some substance and appeal for independents, but it didn’t have style, according to conservative bloggers. Liberal bloggers write that the speech just wasn’t that good. The star of the Republican convention remains Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, whose speech and presence on the ticket is starting to pay off for McCain, write bloggers on both sides.

McCain didn’t win style points for his speech, but he made his case to undecided voters by listing Republican sins and calling for a return to the basic tenets of conservatism, writes RedState’s Erick Erickson. McCain had to neutralize the Democratic argument that he’s “more of the same,” so he was smart to try to distance himself from the Bush administration, writes Contentions’ John Podhoretz. McCain may have done well to focus on his own narrative instead of soaring oratory, but he still needs to offer up more substance, such as another policy proposal that directly affects voters, writes Rich Lowry at The Corner.

McCain’s speech wasn’t a hit, largely because he tried to distance himself from a president with whom he has voted more than 90 percent of the time, writes Jonathan Singer at MyDD. The speech lacked a clear theme and was mostly recital of “Republican boilerplate,” writes TalkingPointsMemo’s Josh Marshall. The blogger notes that McCain’s campaign couldn’t even get the stagecraft right, as the candidate stood before an ugly green screen just as he had done during his widely panned address in New Orleans in June.

But McCain and Palin are now tied with Barack Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), in the latest CBS poll, thanks to the impact of Palin on voters, writes Jerome Armstrong at MyDD. The week has been defined by McCain’s running mate, who forced Obama to compare himself to a veep candidate and has rallied conservatives behind the GOP ticket, writes The Corner’s Yuval Levin.

FROM THE BLOGS:
Substance Over Style – Erick Erickson, RedState
Strong Speech That Crescendoed – Hugh Hewitt, Townhall.com
Who Was the Audience? – John Podhoretz, Contentions
Don’t Focus on the Oratory – Rich Lowry, The Corner
McCain’s Speech Wasn’t a Hit – Jonathan Singer, MyDD
Surprised That It Wasn’t Very Good – J. Marshall, TalkingPointsMemo
McCain Is Running On Amnesia Platform – A. Huffington, HuffPo
Blow A Convention Speech? – Attaturk, Firedoglake
Pretty Good Speech, Very Good Week – Yuval Levin, The Corner
Post Palin – Jerome Armstrong, MyDD
The Palin and McCain Speeches – P. Yousefzadeh, RedState

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
‘Change Is Coming,’ McCain Says – Washington Post
McCain Vows to End Partisan Rancor – New York Times
The Party in Power, Running As If It Weren’t – New York Times
McCain Presents Case for Leadership – The Hill