I don’t have time to explain or defend these ratings below, for which I apologize (and which also means I will probably get skewered by readers, especially those who disagree), but….
What REALLY WORKED SUPERBLY:
* Two of the personal testimonials about Romney’s decency, from the couple whose 14 year-old son died and from the woman whose prematurely born daughter lived to 26 years old before dying.
* Sen. Rand Paul’s speech
* Artur Davis’s speech
* Condi Rice’s speech
* Most of Paul Ryan’s speech (although there were some holes — still not enough Kemp-like growth emphasis, among them)
* Susana Martinez’s speech
What worked rather well:
* Ann Romney’s speech
* Rick Santorum’s speech (even though the “hands” metaphor was overextended)
* About five of Clint Eastwood’s lines which were TV-ad worthy, even if his overal presentation was a bit odd
* Mike Eruzione’s remarks
* Mike Huckabee’s speech
* Luis Fortuno’s speech
* John McCain’s speech in total effect, even if it wasn’t perfectly delivered
* Scott Walker’s speech
* Nikki Haley’s speech
* Chris Christie’s speech
* John Kasich’s speech
* a couple of the other personal testimonials to Romney’s kindness or competence
What worked just enough and did at least some good, but were nowhere near a home run:
* Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech
* Marco Rubio’s speech
* Jeb Bush’s speech
While I saw MOST of the proceedings, I did not see ALL of them. Out of an abundance of kindness, I will not list which ones I missed vs. which ones I thought bombed; that way, anybody not listed above can assume I just missed them, because I thought only two or three bombed. No need to insult people who tried hard but didn’t deliver; nobody bombed in a way that was obnoxious or discreditable; the bombs were just in the sense of a failure ever to achieve liftoff.
