I heard the speech last night described as "workmanlike," which is poli-speak for uninspired. That doesn't mean it wasn't effective, but if Palin hit a home run, McCain hit a double. This was not, however, a red-meat speech aimed at the conservative base (although there was a lot in it for conservatives)... it was aimed at independents and swing voters and it may have been effective in reaching out to them...

From Powerline:

McCain's speech can validly be criticized on various grounds, most of which John covered in his post below. It was flat at times. McCain seemed almost to be going through the motions when he talked specifics (sort of) on domestic policy. His recitation of specific hardship cases in various swing states struck me as lame, and he didn't really clear make it clear what he was doing to "fight for" these individuals. (As an aside, one of the cases was the family of Matthew Stanley of New Hampshire. When I was with McCain, he left the reporters on the back of the bus to call that family). And, though McCain perked up when he got to foreign policy, even here he wasn't as compelling as I expected. Thus, in many ways, Barack Obama probably gave a better speech, qua speech, last week.

But with all that said, I think McCain may well have connected better with the American people on an emotional level than Obama did. And nothing matters more than that.

For McCain seemed more real and more sincere than Obama, and he seemed to be speaking more from the heart. This was certainly true when he brought his speech to a rousing close with a humble recitation of his experiences in Vietnam (including the concession that "they broke me"), followed by his seamless transition to an impassioned appeal for service to country.