McCain Praised as his own man

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By The Washington Post | Tuesday, September 02, 2008 |

Delegate Deborah Singer, right, wears a hat in support of oil drilling in Alaska as she talks with her daughter Katherine during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008. (AP PHOTO)

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Republicans began laying out a vigorous argument Tuesday for electing John McCain to the presidency, using the second day of their national convention here to portray the senator from Arizona as an independent-minded leader who would represent a clean break from the eight-year Bush administration.

   After canceling most of its opening-day program because of Hurricane Gustav, the GOP returned to regular order Tuesday night with speeches from McCain friends and allies who extolled his judgment and character. Among them were Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the Democrat-turned-independent who was Al Gore's running mate in 2000, and President Bush, who spoke by satellite video from the White House and hailed the candidate as ready to make the tough choices necessary for keeping the country safe.

   Bush singled out McCain's vocal support for a troop ``surge'' in Iraq at a time when other lawmakers had lost confidence in the war. ``One senator above all had faith in our troops and the importance of their mission,and that was John McCain,'' the president said in prepared remarks. ``Some told him that his early and consistent call for more troops would put his presidential campaign at risk. He told them he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war.''

   Bush's words served to buttress one of the main goals the McCain campaign had set for the second night of the convention: to present the candidate as a leader who puts country before party and speaks his mind regardless of the political toll. But Bush's presence, even if only on the big screens at St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center, also complicated McCain's difficult task of convincing war-weary Americans that his administration would represent a departure from Bush in a year in which many voters say they want change in Washington.

   To make the case that he, rather than Democratic rival Barack Obama, is the candidate who has the credentials to work across the aisle, McCain turned to his close friend Lieberman, who was ostracized by the Democratic Party for supporting Bush on the war. Said the senator from Connecticut: ``I'm here tonight because John McCain is the best choice to bring our country together and lead our country forward. I'm here because John McCain's whole life testifies to a great truth: Being a Democrat or a Republican is important. But it is not more important than being an American.''

   The delegates also heard from actor and former senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee, who ran against McCain in the Republican primaries but saluted him in his address for his independence and took a shot at Obama's carefully scripted visit to war zones this summer.

   ``He has been to Iraq eight times since 2003,'' Thompson said of McCain in prepared remarks. ``He went seeking truth, not publicity. When he travels abroad, he prefers quietly speaking to the troops amidst the heat and hardship of their daily lives. And the same character that marked John McCain's military career has also marked his political career. This man, John McCain, is not intimidated by what the polls say or by what is politically safe or popular.''

   Even as Republicans tried to regain a sense of normalcy after a tumultuous start to their convention, the atmosphere surrounding the gathering continued to be dominated by debate over the credentials of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain's running mate. The campaign responded strongly coverage of the announcement Monday that Palin's unmarried 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, as McCain advisers and delegates complained about what they view as media bias against their candidate. But questions surfaced about the campaign's repeated assertion that the vetting process for Palin was thorough and complete.

   With the exception of a brief photo opportunity with McCain's wife, Cindy, and first lady Laura Bush, Palin spent Tuesday secluded at a Minneapolis hotel preparing for her convention speech Wednesday night. McCain advisers acknowledged that Palin's address will be one of the two most critical events of the gathering — the other being McCain's speech Thursday accepting the party's nomination — and that it will be an opportunity to make a positive first impression with the American people and to rebut efforts by Democrats to present her as an inexperienced ideologue.

   Speaking with Washington Post reporters and editors early Tuesday, McCain campaign manager Rick Davis dismissed the controversy over Palin as little more than a media creation. Citing what he said were Palin's efforts to fight corruption and wasteful spending in Alaska, Davis said that the vice presidential pick has a ``much better story than what is currently going on in the news media'' and that she has excited the party's base voters.

   McCain broke his silence Tuesday over the turbulent rollout of Palin's candidacy, offering a brief defense of his staff's investigation of her background in response to a question while campaigning in Pennsylvania. ``The vetting process was completely thorough, and I'm grateful for the results,'' he said during a visit with the Philadelphia Fire Department's Engine Company 56.

   Later, in Cleveland, McCain said of Palin: ``America's excited and they're going to be even more excited once they see her tomorrow night.'' He added: ``I'm very, very proud of the impression she's made on all of America, and looking forward to serving with her.''

   McCain has maintained an abbreviated campaign schedule over the past two days as he has prepared for his acceptance speech. He is scheduled to arrive in St. Paul on Wednesday, but will not stay long. He and Palin have scheduled rallies in battleground states — Colorado, Michigan, New Mexico — beginning Friday.

   In a preview of the final two days of the convention, Davis and other McCain surrogates made clear that their ambition is to wrest away the change issue that has been Obama's message. McCain originally made his mark in Washington by bucking his party on issues such as campaign finance reform and taxes, but he has moved closer to party orthodoxy as he has sought to keep a skeptical conservative base in the fold. That shift has exposed him to repeated attacks from the Obama campaign, which has argued consistently that his election would represent a perpetuation of the Bush administration.

   Now, with the selection of Palin, the McCain team is trying to reclaim the image of conservative reformer. In his acceptance speech, ``he will make the best case that `I am ready to change Washington more than the other side,' '' said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a close McCain ally.

   Davis, in the Post interview, also insisted that the race will be decided more on personalities and perceptions than issues. ``This election is not about issues,'' he said. ``This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates.''

   Obama campaign manager David Plouffe responded with a sharp statement: ``We appreciate Senator McCain's campaign manager finally admitting that his campaign is not in fact about the issues the American people care about, which is exactly the kind of cynical old politics people are ready to change.''

   On the convention podium Tuesday night, McCain surrogates began to make the case that he would be an agent for change. ``While others were talking reform,'' Thompson said, ``John McCain led the effort to make reform happen — always pressing, always moving for what he believed was right and necessary to restore the people's faith in their government. Confronting when necessary, reaching across the aisle when possible, John personified why we came to Washington in the first place.''

   Bush focused on McCain's capacity to step in immediately as commander in chief and invoked the 9/11 attacks to paint a portrait of global peril. ``We live in a dangerous world,'' he said. ``And we need a president who understands the lessons of September 11, 2001: that to protect America, we must stay on the offense, stop attacks before they happen, and not wait to be hit again. The man we need is John McCain.''

   Bush, along with Vice President Dick Cheney, was scheduled to speak to the convention in person on Monday night but canceled to focus on preparations for Hurricane Gustav, which made landfall Monday on the Gulf Coast. With storm damage less severe than originally feared, Bush decided to wade back into partisan politics with the long-distance speech.

   McCain aides, while expressing respect for the commander in chief, made clear they did not think Bush's presence would help the candidate. Even Davis did not offer an effusive endorsement of the president's plan to address the convention. ``I think it's fine,'' he said. ``Look, he's the president, he's got a lot of options available to him. I think he did a nice job over the last three or four days in dealing with the hurricane crisis. Our party still uniformly supports him and likes him.''

   White House press secretary Dana Perino declined to be drawn into a discussion of what she called the ``psychobabble'' surrounding Bush and McCain. ``There is nothing I am going to be able to do to disabuse all of the reporters in the world from any storyline that they want to follow,'' she said before the speech. ``What I will tell you is President Bush is very pleased that he's going to have a chance to address the GOP convention tonight.''



EARLIER STORY: Bush praises McCain, Thompson defends Palin

By The Associated Press

ST. PAUL, Minn. — President Bush, relegated to a minor role at the Republican National Convention, praised John McCain Tuesday night as ``ready to lead this nation,'' a courageous candidate who supported the war in Iraq despite risks to his campaign for the White House.

   As Bush addressed the convention from the White House — his speech was to last less than eight minutes — Republicans in St. Paul defended McCain's vice presidential running mate, Sarah Palin. The governor of Alaska is ``from a small town, with small town values, but that's not good enough for those folks who are attacking her and her family,'' former Sen. Fred Thompson said in convention remarks released in advance.

   He said McCain's decision to place her on the ticket ``has the other side and their friends in the media in a state of panic.'' In the days since her selection, Palin has disclosed that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter is pregnant, and that a lawyer has been retained to represent her in an unfolding investigation in Alaska into the dismissal of a state employee.