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Area GOP impressed by their candidate
 Republican presidential candidate John McCain acknowledges the crowd as he goes on stage Thursday night. (Associated Press)
Top Headlines Polls show that nearly two thirds of voters believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, leaving both Democrats and Republicans scrambling to convince the public they are the true agents of change. State Rep. Betty Poirier, R-North Attleboro, a delegate at the Republican National Convention, said McCain's speech did just that. "He's always been the one calling for improvement and making changes," she said. "He's going to demand that things be done for the American people." State Rep. Jay Barrows, R-Mansfield, who also served as a convention delegate, said Thursday's speech helped to show the differences between McCain and his Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama. "This wasn't show business, this was real business," Barrows said, referencing Obama's acceptance speech last week, which took place in front of an estimated 84,000 Democrats. "This was smaller. It felt as though he was talking right to us," he said. McCain's speech concluded the Republican National Convention where he was portrayed as "the original maverick" who is courageous enough to take on special interests in Washington. His running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, was labeled an outsider and reformer. Convention delegate Danielle Fish of Mansfield, a member of the Republican State Committee, said McCain and Palin presented a "team approach" that will "challenge the status quo in Washington." She said they are willing to put partisanship aside and put "country first" in addressing problems, although many Republicans do not believe "we are completely on the wrong track." Democrats counter that Obama is the one who can change the country with his economic policies to boost jobs, health care and education. They question how Republicans can change Washington when they are the ones who controlled the White House for the past eight years. "I agree with Republicans that we need change, but if you vote for John McCain you are voting for a continuation of the last eight years," said U.S. Rep. James McGovern, D-Worcester. Peter Brock, a Democratic activist from Foxboro, said he did not see the bipartisanship that Republicans said they were offering. Speakers at the Republican convention, especially Palin, seem more interested in bashing Obama than offering solutions, he said. Barrows disagreed with Brock's assessment, saying the Republicans did not bash their opponents. Poirier added that McCain clearly presented his proposals to delagates. "He laid out his plans, exactly what he's going to do on all facets of the economy," she said. "He did a great job." One thing both Democrats and Republicans agreed on was that Palin sparked the Republican convention and gave a boost to McCain's chances. "It was a great speech and it breathed some life into that ticket," McGovern said. "It was just what our party needed," Fish said. With the general election about two months away, Barrows said he is optimistic that the Republican Party will be victorious. "We've got some work to do," he said. "But, hopefully, we're going to be successful going forward."
Post Your Comments ps911fan wrote on Sep 10, 2008 7:43 AM: " Leave it to sue blais to give away signs to get someone to support their failed ticket.......even at $4.55 putting up a mcsame sign is a huge waste of natural resources, use your own resources to promote your candidate " ricknkim wrote on Sep 8, 2008 12:24 PM: " Chiman - as for Obama writing his own speeches, I think you are missing the point here. I think he is known for having a larger hand in his own speechwriting compared to other hacks, I mean politicians but he still employs speechwriters??? End of the day, who cares? Does the fact that he does or doesn't employ speechwriters make any difference in his ability or inability to lead? " ricknkim wrote on Sep 8, 2008 12:15 PM: " Vlad - you are correct, I mistakenly noted Obama's yes vote on the bill containing oil company subsidies. It was something I heard that is in fact not fact. I think it is difficult to really tie Obama to any controversial economy/oil/etc. votes for 2 reasons: all votes he did cast for his 2+ years in the senate were with the 2008 presidential race in mind; he rarely votes . . . he's missed 46% of the Senate votes. Of course that is not nerly as bad as McCain missing 64% of votes! " GOPSue wrote on Sep 7, 2008 6:50 PM: " If you are a McCain supporter you may find the following information interesting: The AttleboroGOP will have available McCain/Palin pins (at cost $2.00 each) and will be offering 25 FREE McCain/Palin yard signs to the first 25 Attleboro Voters who request one (only one per household please). Voters outside of Attleboro or those wanting additional signs can get them at our cost of $4.55 each. Everyone is invited to stop by the Republican City Committee Meeting on Monday night (Sept 8) at 6:30 pm at All Saints Anglican Church Hall on 1188 South Main St, Attleboro or visit the website at AttleboroGOP.com to request signs or pins. If you come to the meeting on Monday we start with a free dinner, which will be followed by an open discussion from the floor about Governor Sarah Palin. " realist wrote on Sep 6, 2008 10:24 PM: " vladimir1 - It's not clear how that would "force" the oil companies to invest in alternative energy. " chiman1111 wrote on Sep 6, 2008 5:42 PM: " Anna DeMarinis you must be a feminist arent you? I actually was a Hillory supporter and then went with Obama. I have nothing against strong,intelligent woman that have proven results with issues that go beyond only 6000 people in a country. Mrs Alaska can go back and tend to her 5 children rather than a whole country. As far as proof about if Biden and Obama write there own stupid speech you should learn how to use the dam internet! http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1837368,00.html you who all hate Obama stick with the Geriatric and a five child momma yeah that will get this country back on track...idiots! " vladimir1 wrote on Sep 5, 2008 10:50 PM: " To ricknkim: You really need to check your facts and not pull stuff out of your butt like that. Fool the vlad, no way, no how. The bill, sumitted by Obama on January 4, 2007, is S. 115 and it reads, "To suspend royalty relief, to repeal certain provisions of the Energy Policy of 2005 and to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal certain tax incentives for the oil and gas industry." Subsidies. He did this in an effort to force the oil and gas industries to invest in alternative, renewable and cleaner alternative energy sources. And Palin/McCain continue to line their pockets with oil money. " realist wrote on Sep 5, 2008 5:01 PM: " Anna DeMarinis -- A line item veto would take a constitutional amendment. It's unlikely most of today's pols would vote away their pork. " ricknkim wrote on Sep 5, 2008 2:30 PM: " To Chimin - if your reason to vote against someone is solely based upon age, you do little to support our democracy in an intelligent way. As for writing his own speach, I assume he and Biden take liberty in defining "writing my own speach" to say they had a hand in it with consultations with writers and staff. That is similar to former presidents penning their own biography's . . . please don't tell me you are so gullable as to believe they had no assistance from professionals. As for Vladimir's post that Obama voted against the bill with oil subsidies, please check the record, he voted in the affirmative on a bill that DID provide subsidies to big oil. McCain is supposedly against lobbyists and insiders in Washington but has a long history of be cozy with them over the past 25 years. Obama has all this international experience and part of important legislation . . . he's been there 2 years folks and been running for president more than half the time so that's complete bull. " Anna DeMarinis wrote on Sep 5, 2008 1:56 PM: " Realist: Maybe a new line item veto could be instituted? After all, the Supreme Court today is a bit different than the Supreme Court of the Clinton period. Worth a try. By making the process transparent, which the current Dem leadership promised they would do while running in 2006, and then reneged on, would also go a long way to exposing pork and getting it removed from spending bills. " Realist wrote on Sep 5, 2008 1:52 PM: " To Anna DeMarinis -- unfortunately for the president there is not much that can be done about ear marks, which are a nice way of saying pork barrel. If a bill is presented to the president he must either sign it or veto it, the Supreme Court struck down the line item veto (which is what helped Clinton balance the budget). To chiman1111 - do you have a game where you keep count of the responses to your moronic posts? The only group you haven't insulted are ethnic minorities. BTW -I could find nothing that says Obama writes his own speeches. " Anna DeMarinis wrote on Sep 5, 2008 1:42 PM: " Re: age, the same thing was said about Ronald Reagan. He was 70 to 78 during his presidency and he was one of our greatest presidents. " vladimir1 wrote on Sep 5, 2008 1:40 PM: " Socal1 - a good speech, ah, except for the lies. "Its not so much that you're willing to fight, what matters more is what you're willing to fight for..." like a war that should never have been prosecuted, maybe. Then there is the base - That poor couple who had to go to work because they lost their real estate INVESTmENTS. Aw, that sucks. I guess they want a free market and a guarrantee. Then there is taxes. Obama wants to cut federal subsidies to oil corporations - McCain and Co call this "raising taxes." But, on a high note, Ole Walnuts didn't collapse before the end of his speech. By the way, how another republican administration keep the country safe if they can't even keep protesters out of "energy" arena? " Anna DeMarinis wrote on Sep 5, 2008 1:36 PM: " jose21: the question was not "when does life begin?" but "when does a baby get human rights?" It was an easy question with only three possible answers: at conception, at viability or at birth. To weasel out of a simple question like that shows his character clearly. Of course, given his record in IL and how babies who survive botched abortions should be handled.... " Anna DeMarinis wrote on Sep 5, 2008 1:31 PM: " Feminist idiots? Keep talking' chiman; Gov. Palin's looking better every time a liberal man opens his mouth. " Anna DeMarinis wrote on Sep 5, 2008 1:29 PM: " jose21: We know that McCain will not stand for earmarks. There are Billions of dollars wasted every year on local pork (Dem and Repub). McCain has never sought any earmark spending, I believe. I was driving through Needham the other day and saw the Michael Dukakis Memorial something or other (pool?). Taxpayer money went to building that, I'm confident. And every idiotic museum in the nation that is built these days has taxpayer money footing the bill. By vetoing legislation that has earmarks and making the earmark process transparent, McCain could save Billions. " chiman1111 wrote on Sep 5, 2008 1:17 PM: " Actually yes Obama did in fact write his own speech. Do the research and you will find out the truth. Biden wrote his own speech as well...without any low blow shots to the other party to read from a telepromt. McCain is at an age that most people are retired. I dont need a grandpa to run the country. No thanks. Sp skeptic before you ask me if I believe who wrote what do some homework and get back to me with facts not questions. McCain,pow,old,the guy will be dead before most of us even retire. Dont need a senile old guy as the leader of a country that already is upside down. Give him some warm milk and change his depends and move over for Obama. " socal1 wrote on Sep 5, 2008 11:23 AM: " Give the man his due-his speech and delivery were good. He did a good job last night and his supporters should be proud. " skeptic wrote on Sep 5, 2008 11:16 AM: " to jose21 -- Obama was going to a conservative Christian church. He should have expected questions on abortion and when life begins issues. At his age he must have an opinion. A flip answer that sounds like one a government bureaucrat would give when asked about why a form is needed in triplicate does not sound presidential to me. " ricknkim wrote on Sep 5, 2008 11:12 AM: " Jose - I think it is just interesting that most pols can't answer a candid question with a candid answer for fear of the impact it may have on their pol numbers. Regardless of what the question is, wouldn't it actually be refreshing to hear a pol give you a straight answer for once? Obviously this is why I'm not in politics, call them as I see them. " realist wrote on Sep 5, 2008 11:12 AM: " jose21 - remember that many of our presidents have some sort of military background, be it Lincoln in the Illinois militia or a five star general like Eisenhower. Many saw combat (Truman, Kennedy, Ford and others) Granted I don't think many have gone through the trauma of beatings and torture like McCain, but overall I think military service is an asset. As for chiman1111 - For the record, McCain isn't retired. As for not getting his first choice for VP no one in either party would have taken an independent as a running mate. While it would make a feel good subplot for the West Wing or some other lefty show an independent, by definition, has very little political base. An independent cannot count on support from either party. Every issue would be a struggle. In the event of the president's death or resignation an independent would be the worst kind of lame duck. Personally, I like Lieberman. He's smart and stands up for his beliefs. Unlike members of his former party who campaign and govern byweekly poll results. " ricknkim wrote on Sep 5, 2008 11:09 AM: " Chiman111 - I hope when you say "these people are fake" you are including Obama and Biden. They (politicans) are whatever the current public opinion demands them to be in order to sell themselves. Instead of standing by ones' principles, they sell them to the highest bidder. Stating the obvious here . . . As for speeches - they all use teleprompters to deliver prepared speeches fed to them by professionals writers. They may have input, but they are delivering someone elses material. So we should judge them on their delivery of someone elses lines? Sounds like what we do when we go to the movies . . . oh yeah, one in the same! " jose21 wrote on Sep 5, 2008 11:02 AM: " Skeptic - Why does it matter when/where he thinks life began? Maybe he didn't feel that was a question he needed to answer. " saywhat wrote on Sep 5, 2008 10:58 AM: " No president writes their own speeches. John Hay (for whom the Hay library at Brown U is named) was Lincoln's speechwriter which included the Gettysburg Address. They certainly, obviously, have great input, but speeches, especially nowadays, are written by professional writers. Clinton, Bush, McCain, Obama all employ speech writers. The delivery, however, is orginal for each. " skeptic wrote on Sep 5, 2008 10:54 AM: " to chiman1111 -- You believe that Obama and Biden write their own speeches? When confronted with a tough question about when does he believe life begins, Obama copped out with a remark about being "above my paygrade". That's a leader? He won't say what he believes without a writer approving it. Reminds me of Clinton saying "It depends on what the definition of is is". As for second choice VPs, JFK took LBJ as his VP because the party demanded it not because idealogical considerations. " chiman1111 wrote on Sep 5, 2008 10:49 AM: " If you people like his speeches then perhaps you should vote for his writers. The guy is older than rock! He was a prisoner of war not a hero. Heros save POW's he diddnt he needed to be saved. His running mate diddnt write her shots at Obama she read it from a screen that someone else wrote for her. These people are fake! He wanted Leiberman but his people choose a woman to win over feminist idiots. This guy gets voted in we all lose big time. Who really wants a retired senior citizen to run our entire country? Go to an old folks home and lets vote them in too...yeah ok!!!! " jose21 wrote on Sep 5, 2008 10:18 AM: " McCain is easy to like, how could you not respect someone with a past like his. Although whenever I see a leader with a military background like his, I have visions of Martin Sheen's character in 'The Dead Zone'. But I'd love to know how he plans on doing everything he promises without raising any taxes? I know Obama's plan, he laid it out. At least I have some idea of what those taxes will go towards. " jose21 wrote on Sep 5, 2008 10:08 AM: " He is a do'er! he brought HR totals down for 60- 70 to 40 -50 single handed. Who else was able to tackle the incredibly important issue of steroids in baseball. " celt wrote on Sep 5, 2008 9:51 AM: " McCain is not "a talker, he's a do-er." Isn't that what they said about Bush? How did that work out? " Anna DeMarinis wrote on Sep 5, 2008 9:47 AM: " To Hojo20, McCain isn't a talker, he's a do-er. His speech last night was excellent in its content. Good pick-up on the Sun Chronicle's bias, realist. " realist wrote on Sep 5, 2008 9:27 AM: " I read the speech. It was good. I can't comment on the delivery. I would like to comment on the fact that when the Sun Chronicle ran their adoring piece on 8/29 summing up rock star Obama's appearance they did not seek the quotes of any Republicans. But for some reason the SC needs to insert a quote from Jim McGovern (D-Havana). Is this called balanced reporting or making sure that Obama and McGovern are mentioned in the paper everyday. I guess Barney Frank wasn't home? " Hojo20 wrote on Sep 5, 2008 8:27 AM: " Whoever said this was a great speech is clearly lying. McCain was terrible in his delivery even with a teleprompter in front of him. " or
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