Tale of two speeches: Latino crowd gives polite applause to McCain, standing ovation to Obama

[unapatriciated]

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain has called on his Democratic rival Barack Obama to meet him face to face in town hall-style debates across the country. It was easy to see why today after the two gave competing speeches to crowd of prominent Latinos.
McCain, a four-term Arizona senator well known and respected by Hispanics, gave a stock economic speech repeated word for word from the day before. He won only polite applause.

Obama, largely an unknown among Latino votes only months ago, drew a standing ovation after delivering a rousing populist speech aimed directly at their core concerns - immigration, education and health care.

Lidia Pope, a Cuban American who lives in Virginia and works for the federal government, said she was leaning toward McCain before hearing Obama address the League of United Latin American Citizens. She said she would be listening to Obama very carefully, looking for specific plans and ideas. "This is not any old election," she said. "People are worried."
After hearing Obama, Pope was more than impressed. "He was so energetic," she said. "I think he understands the issues."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/08/MNQ311LPD5.DTL


:toast: for more standing ovations

[DerekJ]

1. Here is a kick for a positive thread...

Wow I haven’t posted anything on DU for quite a while now.

[TwilightGardener]

2. Wow--great news. I don't think he has anything to worry about.

[grantcart]

3. Saw it on TV his closing was great asking them to stand with him