BLOGOSPHERIC INPUT into Bush’s speech? Hmm. Could be. [LATER: And maybe here, too.] Meanwhile, Virginia Postrel writes:

After hearing Bush compared to Reagan, Churchill, and Roosevelt all week, I was ready for him to look embarrassingly small by comparison. He did better than that. The speech was competent and at times moving. It just wasn’t inspiring, at least not to me. But it wasn’t addressed to me, and it seems to have done quite well, at least among the punditocracy. John Kerry made Bush look even better with his petulant and rambling midnight address. What was he thinking? Doesn’t Kerry have advisers to tell him not to give poorly prepared speeches that project desperation?

Apparently not. (Mickey Kaus: “That’s the way the coccoon crumbles.”) I blame the staff!

UPDATE: You should read all of Stephen Green’s wrapup, but here’s an excerpt:

There was no overriding theme to President Bush’s speech, except for the unspoken one: “This is who I am.” No, wait — let me amend that. The unspoken theme was, “This is who we are.” As Americans.

For all its faults, for all its overtly- and overly-religious tones, this small-l libertarian prefers George Bush’s America to John Kerry’s. I don’t care for NASCAR. I’m not much for country music, Sundays at church, blue-eyed soul, or faith-based initiatives.

But Bush made me feel welcome all the same. No, wait – let me amend that statement, too. Bush made me feel like his place is somewhere I’d like to spend some time and get to know the locals. You know — down a few beers, chat up the natives and learn their quaint customs.

I don’t feel as welcome, as at home, in the America Kerry painted for us tonight.

Read the whole thing, which zeroes in on what’s likely the key contrast in the campaigns. Meanwhile Rick Richman parses the language and notes a surprising JFK parallel.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Eric Olsen has a wrapup post on where the election stands.

Meanwhile, Ann Althouse pans Kerry’s late-night appearance:

So, your big answer, after all of these attacks, is that you somehow “will not have” any questions. I simply will not have it. You hear that? He does not want to be questioned. He went to Vietnam, and therefore, he simply will not have any questions about whether he has the qualifications to be President. Come on, that’s a roar, isn’t it?

And by the way, any man who didn’t volunteer to go to Vietnam who was of age at the time–all you Baby Boomer men who had student deferments or even if you served in the National Guard, I mean were in the National Guard–you were all refusing to serve.

Boy, Kerry’s staff sure is doing him a lot of harm, making him say things like this.