Tuesday night was, practically speaking, the first night of the Republican convention, and it felt that way. Prime time started with the Reagan tribute video, which was very nice. (I always think that Reagan memorial videos are too short, but that’s just my bias shining through.)

President Bush’s brief appearance at the convention was broadcast on the humongous screen via satellite. Laura Bush gave the real “President Bush” speech in her introduction of her husband. Bush’s own appearance was brief. It was good, but too removed from the audience to really connect, and far from the stirring speeches he gave in previous conventions. He endorsed McCain, said a few words, and got out of the way. Sad, if you’re the kind of Republican who finds much that is admirable about Bush.

Fred Thompson’s speech was folksy, fun, and a bit lumbering. Not a home run, but good. Thompson had one flash of eloquence when he described in gory detail the torture that McCain experienced at the hands of the North Vietnamese. Most of that, I hadn’t heard. Unfortunately, Thompsons’s speech was so heavy with anti-Obama one-liners at the end that it was easy to forget how effectively he discussed McCain’s torture. The one-liners were fun, every bit as much as those peppered liberally throughout the prime time speeches of the Democrats. But in this case, they obscured Thompson’s more serious message.

And then Lieberman. Sure, there were a few wayward Republicans last week at the Democratic convention, but Joe Lieberman is a real coup for the Republicans — nothing less than the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate in 2000, who feels that Democrats have moved too far to satisfy single issue extremists, and has an independent election victory to prove it.

Joe Lieberman was at ease and having fun. He did more than just stick his finger in eye of the Democratic party by backing his friend John McCain. Lieberman endorsed the entire Republican ticket and attacked Obama. That’s as newsworthy as the substance of his actual attacks. Lieberman’s not the most engaging speaker. But his speech was on the short side, and he finished before the novelty of seeing Lieberman address the Republican convention wore off.

As the night drew to a close, it struck me that changing the program so that Monday night was a non-event upset the rhythm of the convention, and things didn’t seem to have momentum. It lacked a convention-type feel, and seemed more like an out-of-the-blue, prime-time special on the Republicans.

The next night, Wednesday night felt more like a convention, which demonstrates how the multi-night format creates a sense of continuity for the event.

Romney gave a very good speech about the battle between liberal and conservative principles in America. It was very Romney, in his red meat mode, delivered in his fired-up voice. It was a better speech and a better delivery than Biden’s, but it was not a home run.

Huckabee has a different speaking style than Romney. He’s got a simple kind of charm, and an average-guy, working-class delivery. His speech was quite good until the end. He spent that last several minutes telling this story about veterans and school desks that fell more flat than Elder Bednar’s gospel/pickle analogy.

Rudy Giuliani’s speech was excellent. He’s not a great orator, but he’s still a great communicator. Giuliani is the Steve Jobs of political speakers, delivering his speeches with an easy air of authority. And he took apart Obama’s convention speech with great alacrity.

Interesting, Goeff j had written in a comment about Obama’s speech last week,

I will say that the Republicans ought to be careful of trying to go with the nitpicky sour grapes rebuttals to aggressively.

At the time, I completely agreed, but I’ve changed my mind. Giuliani’s pulled it off. His speech was the first home run of the convention. And as Giuliani finished, it seemed very likely to me that his speech would eclipse Palin’s.

And only Giuliani, the New Yorker, could so effectively mock Obama, from Chicago, about being concerned for how cosmopolitan someone’s city is.

Palin’s speech started slow, and she seemed a bit nervous. And it took a little while to get used to her accent (for me, anyway; I’m an Easterner). After a few minutes, she found her rhythm — and what a rhythm. To be sure, she’s a natural. And what a speech. Very reassuring to anyone not fond of politics with angels wings, from a politician with her spurs on, not making accommodations.[*] This candidate has backbone and resilience.

She was beaming with pride for her family, she was lucid on energy policy, she was humorously derisive about Obama, and she was determined and forceful in endorsing McCain. Most of all, toward the end, she described briefly just a few of the details of John McCain’s torture, things we’d heard before. It was genuinely moving. That’s a pretty impressive range of emotions for a single speech. Palin’s speech plays in a whole different league from Biden’s. Given the context of the attacks on her this week, Palin’s speech is the first really memorable VP speech at a convention.

Verdict: Better than Giuliani, and that’s saying a lot.

In fact, Palin’s speech was the best political speech given by a Republican since Elizabeth Dole addressed the 1996 Republican Convention, perhaps since Reagan addressed the 1992 Republican Convention.

*This last sentence paraphrases Tod Honderich’s characterization of A. J. Ayer. [return]