Teddy

First reaction: the speech was scattershot in every sense of the word. In stark contrast to Clinton and Carter, Kennedy didn't even try to tie together his various themes. Some of the attack lines were clever and insightful, and some were silly. Most of the attempts at humor were just lame. Unless my ears failed me, Kennedy seemed to have compared the Bush administration to apartheid South Africa, Hannoverian domination of America, and Stasi control of East Berlin. A Kerry victory, he suggested, would be a modern day Boston tea party. The mollifying element in all this was a really bland and abstract run-through of early American history.

Kennedy spoke in a hoarse, rather shrill tone, and his voice cracked several times. His content and delivery left plenty of material for the Republicans to pick up on. Fortunately for the Democrats, Fox News Channel missed its opportunity to influence the PR spin around Kennedy's performance by opting to air a discussion between Bill O'Reilly and Michael Moore rather than broadcast the speech.

UPDATE: Via Instapundit, the line that Kennedy co-opted from FDR should be red meat for the Republicans:

Suggested TV commercial:

FADE IN: on Ted Kennedy, on the podium, partway through his garbled
convention speech, as he delivers the line, "The only thing we have to
fear is four more years of George W. Bush!"

CUT TO: New York City skyline. The old one. With the World Trade
Center.

TITLE/ANNOUNCER: Really?

Sounds like somebody got served.