By Jonathan Allen CQ Staff
Published: 09-03-08
McCain Is Portrayed as a Courageous Independent
With an assist from a longtime Democrat Republicans built their case for electing John McCain president on the first full night of a convention swept up in drama and questions surrounding a surprise vice presidential candidate and the threat of a hurricane that for a time raised fears that it would match the devastation caused three years ago by Katrina.
Delegates packed into the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul as Connecticut Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman former Sen. Fred Thompson and President George W. Bush paid tribute to McCain a onetime party rebel in a full-throated tribute designed to depict the Arizona senator as a lifelong public servant who puts the interests of the country above those of the party honoring him this week.
“I’m here to support John McCain because country matters more than party” said Lieberman the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee whose hawkish views on Iraq cost him his party’s nod to run again for the Senate in 2006 and forced him to win re-election by running as an independent.
During the course of the night McCain’s surrogates said McCain had demonstrated his character as a Vietnam prisoner of war who refused early release and a proponent of the “surge” in Iraq showed his independence by breaking with Republican presidents from Reagan to Bush and proved he can work with Democrats to legislate by putting aside partisanship on the major issues of the day.
They also ripped into Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama .
Thompson called him “history-making in that he is the most liberal most inexperienced nominee to ever run for president.”
Lieberman said Obama’s claims of bipartisanship are just that.
“Eloquence is no substitute for a record not in these tough times for America” Lieberman said. “He has not reached across party lines to accomplish anything significant.”
Republicans had scrapped their planned program Monday night to demonstrate their concern for residents of the Gulf Coast who were besieged by Hurricane Gustav and Lieberman tied that decision to Tuesday night’s theme.
“What you can expect from John McCain as president is precisely what he has done this week: which is to put country first. That is the code by which he has lived his entire life and that is the code he will carry with him into the White House” said Lieberman who caucuses with Senate Democrats even though he is no longer officially a Democrat. “I have personally seen John over and over again bring people together from both parties to tackle our toughest problems we face.”
Bush appearing via satellite from the White House was introduced by First Lady Laura Bush who was in the convention hall in St. Paul. He praised McCain his 2000 primary opponent for what he described as commitment to important principles including the “surge” policy that Republicans say has succeeded in making Iraq more secure.
“He is ready to lead this nation” Bush said. “ John McCain ’s life is a story of service above self.”
Bush detailed the torture McCain underwent as a prisoner of war in Vietnam and his decision to refuse an early release that was offered because he was the son of a prominent admiral.
“When he was released his arms had been broken but not his honor” Bush said. “If the Hanoi Hilton cannot break his resolve you can be sure the angry left never will.”
He noted his political differences with McCain which seemed aimed at Obama’s effort to paint the Arizona senator as someone who voted with Bush 90 percent of the time. “He’s not afraid to tell you when he disagrees. Believe me I know” Bush said. “This man is honest and speaks straight from his heart.”
Thompson gave a more graphic and detailed account of McCain’s days as a prisoner of war in the Hanoi Hilton an account that caused the delegates to fall silent.
“We hear a lot of talk about hope these days” Thompson said in a reference to Democratic nominee Barack Obama ’s oft-repeated mantra of hope. “ John McCain knows about hope. That’s all he had.”
But even as Republican delegates rallied before a massive video screen that flashed images of the American flag throughout the night a series of controversies both serious and silly swirled around their presumed vice presidential nominee Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin .
Palin’s difficulties fueled inquiries into the quality of McCain’s vetting process and his judgment in plucking a first term small state governor from obscurity to be his running mate. While many Republican activists at the convention expressed their support and enthusiasm for Palin there were some who privately worried that McCain’s choice might backfire.
Amid mounting questions from reporters Palin revealed on Monday that her unmarried 17-year-old daughter Bristol Palin is five months pregnant. On the same day it was reported that she had hired a lawyer to represent her in a state probe into whether she improperly pressured a state official to fire her former brother in law from his job as a state police officer.
Yet another story emerged about her association and with a minor party that advocated for Alaska to secede from the United States.
By Tuesday a video had been unearthed of Palin at her church telling fellow parishioners that U.S. soldiers were being sent to Iraq “on a task that is from God.” At one point in the video she tells an unseen male parishioner that he will be a good recruiter for the church because of his good looks. She calls him a “red-headed sasquatch for Jesus.”
Time Magazine reported that she once inquired about how to ban books from the public library in Wasilla the small town where she was mayor.
Republicans are portraying Palin as a breath of fresh air who has proved her mettle in the crucible of small-town politics by beating an incumbent governor in the primary and a former governor in the general election by challenging tax breaks for oil companies and taking fellow Republicans to task on ethics and as the former operator of a commercial fishing business.
And they are making the argument that she is a candidate with more executive experience than McCain Barack Obama and Joseph R. Biden Jr. put together.
Obama took on that last point Monday night in an interview on CNN saying “My understanding is that Gov. Palin’s town Wasilla has I think 50 employees. We’ve got 2500 in this campaign. I think their budget is maybe $12 million a year – we have a budget of about three times that just for the month.”
Alaska’s annual budget is several billion dollars.
Many Republican delegates said they remain excited about the addition of Palin to the McCain ticket but there were whispers of concern.
“I don’t know. Ask me later. I don’t want to say anything on the record” said one senior House Republican from the midwest when asked whether Palin could survive the intense scrutiny of her record and her family.
But others said Palin was being unfairly attacked and continued to offer their support.
“In fact I think it gives her more empathy” said former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois.
“It’s not right what the media are doing to a mother of five children. They’re going after her family” said Rep. Todd Tiahrt R-Kan.
Karin Agness a delegate from Indiana said that Palin was the right pick but must use her much-anticipated speech Wednesday to prove that.
“Everyone here is still excited about her and are really looking forward to hearing her speak” she said. “It could be a real turning point.”
According to the rave reviews from Republicans Palin will have a tough act to follow in Lieberman.
“We’ve just had the former Democratic vice presidential nominee endorse John McCain . It shows he’s going to be able to do things with the other party” said retiring Rep. Thomas M. Davis III of Virginia.
Catharine Richert Alan K. Ota and Richard Rubin contributed to this story.
