Rudy’s speech

Work and other commitments have prevented me from attending the CPAC convention, but I just finished watching Rudy Giuliani’s speech to that group on C-SPAN. Rudy was far from the top of his game. The speech rambled some, the timing wasn’t always great, and the lines weren’t consistently sharp.
But even when he’s a little off, Rudy’s pretty good because he still exudes confidence and establishes rapport by calmly explaining things in a coherent common sense way, rather than lecturing at folks. Above all, he just seems so genuine.
I think Hillary Clinton is underrated by some as a speaker and debater, but if it’s Hillary and Rudy, she might very well have trouble with him.
UPDATE: Here’s Ed Morissey’s report. It’s more favorable than mine, and Ed was actually there. Like me, Kate O’Beirne saw the speech on C-SPAN. She calls it “effective” and “successful.” Kathryn Lopez saw the speech live and, like me, found it not “rousing.”


Books to read from Power Line