Pigs are flying - pundits on Obama's speech

[NOTE: Last night I liveblogged the evening's events from the interesting accommodations for press-credentialed bloggers at Invesco field. See video, photos and and my thoughts: "Finally at Invesco, feeling like a sardine (but happy to be here to witness history)"]

The bacon gained speed trotting down the runway and improbably soared, aloft in the clouds -- the reaction to Barack Obama's acceptance speech earned glowing reviews all across the political spectrum:

MSNBC Pat Buchanan – “It was a genuinely outstanding speech. It was magnificent. It is the finest – and I saw Cuomo’s speech, I saw Kennedy in ‘80, I even saw Douglas MacArthur, I saw Martin Luther King – this is the greatest convention speech, and probably the most important because unlike Cuomo and the others this is an acceptance speech. This came out of the heart of America and he went right at the heart of America…”

FOX Bill Kristol – “Barack Obama faced very high expectations tonight and honestly I think he met them and I honestly think he exceeded them…He eloquently explained America’s promise. He explained why the Bush Cheney administration had fallen short of that…I thought it was an awfully impressive performance.”

CNN David Gergen – “In many ways it was less a speech than a symphony…It was a masterpiece”

MSNBC Tom Brokaw – “It was a wonderfully crafted political speech and the Republicans I’m sure were looking in and wondering what they’re going to be able to do next week to match it”

CNN Paul Begala – “He went fearlessly at John McCain’s greatest strength, national security. He went proudly into the social issue terrain that Democrats are usually so afraid of. He went boldly attacking the status quo of George Bush, Dick Cheney and John McCain, and then he went very comfortably in your living room…This is my ninth convention, it was as very nearly a perfect convention speech as I can imagine…”

MSNBC Chris Matthews – “I thought it was amazing – I’ve written speeches all my life, of course nothing like this…It was a great way of throwing back the other side’s best shot and saying it’s full of crap”