Media unimpressed by 'subdued' John McCain

PAPERS UNDERWHELMED BY MCCAIN'S BIG SPEECH

After a week of Sarah Palin hogging the headlines, her boss, John McCain, finally gets some attention at the Republican party's convention - but the verdict on his acceptance speech is, at best, mixed.

"McCain freely acknowledges that oratory is not his greatest talent, and his speech lacked the flourishes and drama of two others [Barrack Obama's and Palin's] delivered during the conventions," says the Washington Post.

"While at times subdued, McCain brought the delegates to their feet with a rousing call to arms in its final moments."

The New York Times says the speech "at times seemed low on energy, and the crowd responded less enthusiastically than it did the night before for Palin".

However, it adds: "Towards the end, McCain recounted, in detail, his captivity in Vietnam, drawing repeated ovations."

Watching the speech for the New Republic, Michael Crowley thought it was flat. "It's not over yet, but this is a very underwhelming speech," he writes. "Familiar points explained in pedestrian terms. No overarching themes - right now it's sounding like a State of the Union laundry list. Even the crowd in the hall isn't jazzed."

Michael Tomasky, writing in the Guardian, thought it was "intentionally awful".

In a withering critique, he says: "John McCain sounded like the vestry board chairman speaking at the church social about the success of the raffle. Or, as a colleague just put it: he looked like the guy who'd been the office accountant for 40 years giving his retirement address. After he'd eaten a little too much Chicken Kiev."

* Washington Post: McCain Accepts GOP nomination
* New York Times: McCain vows to end 'partisan rancour'
* The Stump: The New Republic
* Guardian: Wake me up when it's over

The New York Times has a fascinating graphic on the most common words used by speakers at the Republican and Democratic conventions.

For the Democrats, "change" was the top buzzword, while for the Republicans it was "God".

* New York Times: The words they used

ZARDARI POISED FOR PAKISTAN PRESIDENCY

Pakistan's Asif Ali Khan Zardari seems more certain of becoming president and, to mark his likely election, both the FT and Guardian carry thoughtful profiles of Benazir Bhutto's widower.

"To some," writes Jason Burke in the Guardian, "Zardari is a corrupt, bullying chancer who was a political liability for his late wife. To others, the 53-year-old politician is a likeable, experienced and sharp-witted middle aged man who finally has his chance. For a few, he is all these things at once."

The FT says Zardari doesn't have the authority of his wife, but is "eager to emerge as unifying figure in country in which militancy is on the rise".

The paper believes he faces a "tricky path between helping curb world terrorism and avoiding inflaming domestic opinion".

* Guardian: Profile: Asif Ali Khan Zardari
* FT: Tasks for Zadari

CULTURAL OLYMPIAD GETS SHORT SHRIFT

The launch of the Cultural Olympiad, the four-year programme of arts events ahead of the 2012 London Games, gets short shrift in the Times.

Tim Teeman, the paper's arts and entertainment editor, says it is stunt that "mitigates against the imaginative and daring".

He complains that the programme is full of "pleasing rather than stunning events" and sits awkwardly with the need for art to be provocative.

The Guardian's art critic, Jonathan Jones, doesn't like it either. "It strikes me as positively offensive that it so blatantly sets out to engulf culture within the nationalism that disfigures modern sport," he says.

But the flag-waving Telegraph loves it. "This is art that inspires people to come together in a collective moment of wonder and awe," its critic, Sarah Crompton, declares.

* Guardian: Keep culture out of the 2012 Olympics
* Times: Britain's real art runs rings round official events
* Telegraph: Shock and awe

DEFIANT MET CHIEF BATTLES ON

Few of the papers can resist the story of a son who was reunited with the father he thought he had cremated five years ago.

It happened after John Reneham saw his father on TV programme about missing people, the Independent reports.

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan police chief, Sir Ian Blair, insists he is back from the dead.

He rebutted claims in the Times yesterday that detailed plans had been drawn up to oust him, saying: "The report of my death is an exaggeration."

The Times stands by its story today. "At no point did we say the commissioner had died," it drily notes.

* Independent: The man who cremated his father, then saw him turn up on telly
* Times: Reports of Sir Ian Blair's thundering riposte are greatly exaggerated
* Guardian: 'Report of my death has been exaggerated'

'KING KEV' ENDS NEWCASTLE REIGN

By the Daily Mirror's count, it is day four of "the week football went mad".

Kevin Keegan has finally resigned as the Newcastle United manager, while David Beckham has been dropped from the England team in favour of Theo Walcott, the paper says.

The Sun shows a Newcastle fan chucking his shirt into the Tyne in disgust at Keegan's forced resignation.

Hundreds of fans chanted "sack the board" outside St James' Park, the Newcastle Journal reports.

* Sun: Fury as Keegan quits Magpies
* Newcastle Journal: Fans react with fury as Keegan quits NUFC