the mchoneymoon is over

the reviews are in and even fox news couldn't spin this one ...

"john mccain had better start working on his speech-making and learn how to use a teleprompter." "john mccain sounded old." — mort kondrake, roll call (fox news) "... last i checked this was not a speech-making contest. thank god!" — alex costellanos, republican strategist (cnn) "what about that mccain speech? that was awful ... that was pathetic! he looked awful. he looked catatonic. i mean that audience, that handful of people. you've got 20,000 people in minnesota [listening to obama] and, like, a couple hundred in louisiana ... where [mccain's] struggling with the teleprompter. i mean, i thought that was one of the worst speeches that i've ever seen him give." — jeffrey toobin, legal analyst (cnn) "i thought the green backdrop was pretty awful." — david gergen, analyst (cnn) "does he need help in presenting a case for himself?" — anderson cooper (cnn) "we're just trying to lower expectations now." — alex costellanos, republican strategist (cnn) "i gotta give 'em credit, the mccain people: they put a room together where john mccain's the youngest person in the room!" — james carville, clinton strategist (cnn) "it's kinda painful, at least tonight, listening to john mccain." — mort kondrake, roll call (fox news) "this was really a hopeless night for mccain to really match up with obama. he shouldn't have tried in the first place." — bill kristol, weekly standard (fox news)

... nope, no gold spun out of that one — but not for the lack of trying:

"i think we would agree that this was a speech that was better on the printed page than it was coming from john mccain's mouth." — chris wallace (fox news) "let's not be mistaken — this speech tonight by john mccain may be the best he's given on the campaign trail." — harold ford, chairman, democratic leadership council (fox news)

let campaign '08 begin!