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The man made a good speech. And on substance, it offered strong arguments for conservatives to support him. It doesn't change the fact that he is, charitably speaking, a jerk.
There was one other tiny thing that bothered me about his speech. Several times therein, he said that when he disagrees with conservatives, he at least does so while respecting that most of them (us) act, as he does, from principle. That's nice for him to say. The problem is that he has not ACTED that way, for years, which is one reason for the animus against him. Instead, he consistently has criticized conservatives' motives or their integriry, usually in nasty terms. What he needed to do today was not just to say, belatedly, that he respects us even when we disagree, but that he is SORRY for sometimes letting the heat of the moment get the better of him by leading him to question our motives and disrespect us. There is STILL no sense from him that he regrets his own actions, or that he has ever transgressed. Look, disagreement on some issues is fine, if done respectfully. Disagreement while shoving a shiv in our ribs is another thing. McCain is famous for the shiv. And he seems not to regret it in the least.
I LOVE all the conservative stances McCain has taken over the years. I think it is crazy to suggest that we would be better off with Hillary than with him. But today's speech is just the first, tiny step that he needs to take if he wants conservatives to back him enthusiastically enough to do the work that will be required for him to win in the fall.