Chris Cillizza gives his picks for the best and worst moments of the third night of the Republican National Convention

* Madison Cawthorn: The Republican nominee in North Carolina’s 11th District beat President Donald Trump’s endorsed candidate in the Republican primary earlier this summer. But he has since been embraced by Trump and every other Republican leader — touted as a future star of the party. And Cawthorn, who is in a wheelchair after a car accident at age 18, delivered on that promise in his speech Wednesday night. Avoiding the sort of one-liners and snarky attacks favored by the likes of Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, he instead urged that rarest of thing in today’s politics: More listening and less talking. “To liberals I say, let’s have a conversation,” said Cawthorn. “To conservatives, let’s define what we support and win the argument in areas like health care and the environment.” (Cawthorn’s speech wasn’t perfect; he wrongly noted that James Madison had signed the Declaration of Independence.) But Cawthorn rising to his feet, with the aid of a walker, to finish his speech was moving except to only the most cynical and partisan people out there.

* Flags, Flags, Flags!: There were American flags on stage at the Andrew W. Mellon auditorium in Washington, DC, where most of the speeches were given. (At least eight, by my count.) Flags stacked behind the podium where Mike Pence gave his speech at Fort McHenry. In the endless cutaways between speeches, there were flags at the Lincoln Memorial, flags at the Washington Monument, flags at locations I couldn’t make out. FLAGS!

* Trace Adkins: If I could sing the “National Anthem” — or, heck, talk — in a voice that low, I feel like I would be more successful. In, like, life.

MISSES

* Live speeches: Donald Trump said this about the Democratic National Convention last week: “They’re taping their speeches. … You want to go to a snooze, you know when you hear, when you hear speeches taped, it’s like there’s nothing very exciting about it.” Uh, OK. The ONLY live speech of the entire third night of the convention was the one by Mike Pence. One live speech! In 150 minutes-plus of programming! Hope you enjoyed your snooze!

* Kristi Noem: The South Dakota governor has ambitions that go beyond the boundaries of her home state. Which made the lifeless speech she gave to kick off the third night of the convention all the more baffling. Noem just read the speech off the teleprompter, with no emotion and very little energy. The only way I knew she had reached the end of her address? The sweeping music playing her out.

* Marsha Blackburn: The Tennessee senator has made a name for herself in Republican circles by her willingness to go straight at Democrats, rhetorically speaking. She more than lived up to that reputation on Wednesday night, delivering a hammer and tongs attack on the socialism that she argued Democrats support. But if you actually listened to what she said, well, it was not only ridiculously over-the-top but also just plain old fear-mongering. One example: “If the Democrats had their way, they would keep you locked in your house until you become dependent on the government for everything,” she said. “That sounds a lot like Communist China to me.” Whaaaaa?

* Ric Grenell: Grenell is the former ambassador to Germany and former acting Director of National Intelligence. Which is an impressive resume! But like, did he really need 15-plus minutes in prime time to speak on the convention’s third night? Can you imagine any staffer on Joe Biden’s Senate staff (or presidential campaign) getting so much time to speak in such a critical moment of the convention? Very odd. And Grenell’s speech was fine. Just fine. Nothing more.