John McCain’s nomination speech was so flat, so disjointed, so utterly devoid of any vision or affirmative plan for the U.S. — it’s hard to say much about it, other than it sucked. That’s basically what CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin was driving at when he panned it in historic proportions on Thursday, declaring it the "worst speech by a nominee" since 1980. It was, Toobin added, a "shockingly bad," "boring," "theme-less" train wreck. (More after clip.)

Another pundit, former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson, said McCain’s poor policy emphasis in the speech represented a missed opportunity:

Finally, former Republican White House official and uber-pundit David Gergen criticized McCain’s "rerun" of "thin" policies. "I think the country is looking for fresh answers," he said. "It’s hard to separate yourself out from President Bush when you essentially have the same economic policies as President Bush."