Wednesday-Night

Links for coverage of the convention, including the NYT Caucus , CNN Election Center,  Politico, TIME’s Swampland, even Fox  (we aim to offer balanced reporting)

‘Country First’: 2008 Republican National Convention Announces Full Program

September 1 - 4 2008
Minneapolis-Saint Paul

From September 1-4, 2008, an anticipated 45,000 delegates, alternate delegates, party officials, volunteers, members of the media, and convention guests will gather in Minneapolis-Saint Paul for the 2008 Republican National Convention. The host cities will be showcased on an international level as the Republican Party highlights its strong principles – and nominates the next President of the United States.
The convention’s overall theme, “Country First,” reflects John McCain’s remarkable record of leadership and service to America. Each day of proceedings will center on a touchstone theme that has defined John McCain’s life and will be central to his vision for leading our nation forward as president. Read more…

As predicted, in the final days leading up  to the Convention, John McCain announced his running mate. Sarah Palin was not, the predicted choice, or even amongst the many lists of possibles. How she will help or hinder him remains to be seen, but her presence as the Vice Presidential candidate has already added some interesting dimensions to the first days of September. However, in true Bobby Burns fashion, the first victim of Hurricane Gustav, before landfall, was the RNC.

The Real John McCain
By the time John McCain took the stage on Thursday night, we wondered if there would be any sign of the senator we long respected — the conservative who fought fair and sometimes bucked party orthodoxy.
Certainly, the convention that nominated him bore no resemblance to that John McCain. Rather than remaking George W. Bush’s Republican Party in his own image, Mr. McCain allowed the practitioners of the politics of fear and division to run the show.
Party in Power, Running as if It Weren’t
(NYT News Analysis) ST. PAUL — The nominee’s friend described him as a “restless reformer who will clean up Washington.” His defeated rival described him going to the capital to “drain that swamp.” His running mate described their mission as “change, the goal we share.” And that was at the incumbent party’s convention.
After watching two political conclaves the last two weeks, it would be easy to be confused about which was really the gathering of the opposition. As Senator John McCain accepted the Republican nomination for president, he and his supporters sounded the call of insurgents seeking to topple the establishment, even though their party heads the establishment.
McCain Vows to End ‘Partisan Rancor’
ST. PAUL — Senator John McCain accepted the Republican presidential nomination Thursday with a pledge to move the nation beyond “partisan rancor” and narrow self-interest in a speech in which he markedly toned down the blistering attacks on Senator Barack Obama that had filled the first nights of his convention.
4 September
Palin Assails Critics and Electrifies Party
… [John McCain’s] nomination was a sideshow to the evening’s main event, the speech by the little-known Ms. Palin, who was seeking to wrest back the narrative of her life and redefine herself to the American public after a rocky start that has put Mr. McCain’s closest aides on edge. Ms. Palin’s appearance electrified a convention that has been consumed by questions of whether she was up to the job, as she launched slashing attacks on Mr. Obama’s claims of experience.  Video and text of speech
The bottom line on Palin’s speech, George Stephanopoulos on ABC
Palin speech changes the race
Palin On The Issues
Memoir Politics
(Truthdig)  Palin, unlike most Americans, would like to see abortion banned even in cases of rape or incest. Her record as a mayor and a governor is that of a talented rising star, but it’s a politician’s record, full of reversals and compromises. And nothing we know about her suggests that a rhetorical stroll through the minefields of foreign policy would have been a good idea.
Instead, she offered one message: Here’s who I am. Career woman, mother (specifically, lipstick-wearing hockey mom), loving wife, avid hunter, caring daughter, fierce fighter, product of her own spunk and determination. After the speech, Republican strategists were rapturous over her potential appeal to women voters who perform similar feats of multitasking every day without complaint or recognition. The hope was not that these women would agree with Palin’s views, but that they would see their lives reflected in hers.
… after the two conventions, it looks as if Obama and Biden are going to do their best to focus voters’ attention on issues—the economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, energy and the environment. And it looks as if McCain and Palin have decided to run on a platform of personal history.
3 September
In a More Diverse America, A Mostly White Convention
(Washington Post) ST. PAUL, Minn. … some African American Republicans have found the Xcel Energy Center depressing this week. Everywhere they look, they see evidence of what they consider one of their party’s biggest shortcomings.
As the country rapidly diversifies, Republicans are presenting a convention that is almost entirely white.
Only 36 of the 2,380 delegates seated on the convention floor are black, the lowest number since the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies began tracking diversity at political conventions 40 years ago. Each night, the overwhelmingly white audience watches a series of white politicians step to the lectern — a visual reminder that no black Republican has served as a governor, U.S. senator or U.S. House member in the past six years. [Note: WSJ cites the following statistics: Hispanics now account for more than 15% of the U.S. population; About two-thirds of Americans are non-Hispanic white, while about 12% are non-Hispanic black, according to the Census Bureau.]
(NYT) ST. PAUL — President Bush proclaimed Senator John McCain “ready to lead this nation” in a farewell speech to the Republican convention here on Tuesday night. But far from being the kind of unifying send-off and baton pass engineered for Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, the evening only highlighted Mr. McCain’s eagerness to get the president off the stage.
Republican convention to resume
The US Republican Party’s national convention is due to return to its main agenda now that the threat from Hurricane Gustav has passed.
1 September
In St. Paul at the Ghost Town Convention
On day one, it was Gustav far more than John McCain demanding attention. It was Gustav settling in as a whirling multi-colored ghost on the corridor TV screens as the Republicans gathered, some making grim jokes about what exactly they thought they were doing.
Laura Bush, Cindy McCain turn focus to Gustav
(MSNBC) ST. PAUL, Minn. - First lady Laura Bush and Sen. John McCain’s wife jointly addressed delegates to the Republican National Convention on Monday, but their message was directed to Gulf Coast states hit by Hurricane Gustav: Now is the time to aid the victims, not wallow in partisanship.
Scaled-Back Convention Opens With Focus on Storm
Instead of a line-up that was to have included President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, the first night of the proceedings in the Xcel Center will feature appearances by First Lady Laura Bush and Cindy McCain, the nominee’s wife, who were to call for help for victims of the storm. Trying to strike the right tone, organizers of glitzy parties being staged around the Twin Cities were also converting them into fundraisers. Mr. McCain visited a relief center in Ohio.
… Republicans still opened the convention this afternoon and planned to conduct internal party business as a necessary prelude to formally nominating Mr. McCain later this week.
As a Storm Swirls, a Campaign Sharpens Focus
… the way Mr. McCain responded to the hurricane – from the moment he surprised convention organizers here by raising the possibility that he might suspend the convention to the decision to head to Mississippi — is perhaps the strongest evidence to date of how much his organization has sharpened over the summer. Hurricane Gustav is, in many ways, a bad break for Republicans. But it has provided some opportunities to Mr. McCain that his campaign has aggressively seized, and managed to do so, at least so far, without appearing to be acting politically.
31 August
McCain Suspends Most GOP Convention Programming
(Fox) ST. PAUL — The Republican National Convention has suspended all but the most necessary activities to constitute a convention Monday and then will adjourn until further notice, John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee announced Sunday.
Gustav prompts ’substantial’ changes to RNC agenda
WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney will not attend the GOP convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, because of Hurricane Gustav, White House press secretary Dana Perino said Sunday.
Sen. John McCain said Sunday it wouldn’t be appropriate to hold a political celebration during the storm.”We must redirect our efforts from the really celebratory event of the nomination of president and vice president of our party to acting as all Americans,” said McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
Republican Govs. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Charlie Crist of Florida, Haley Barbour of Mississippi and Rick Perry of Texas — whose states lie in the path of the Category 3 Gustav — will skip the GOP convention because of the storm.
Bush: No to convention, plans Gustav trip to Texas
(Denver Post) WASHINGTON—Bracing for a storm that could surpass Hurricane Katrina, President Bush on Sunday said he would skip the Republican National Convention and head instead to Texas to be with evacuees and emergency responders. He warned a jittery Gulf Coast that it could face “significant flooding.” [We are sure that refugees and responders alike are thrilled to hear that “the president’s quick change of travel will put him in the region on the very day that Gustav was expected to slam into the United States”. See below]
GOP sees potential redemption in Gustav
(Politico) ST. PAUL, Minn. — Republican officials say their radically curtailed convention offers a big political opportunity for the party to redeem itself on the competence issue — and for John McCain to step out of President Bush’s shadow once and for all.
There’s no doubt it’s a bit morbid to think about (and write about) the politics of a potential natural disaster and the thoughts — and prayers — of those gathering here are keenly focused on the Americans who face potential peril in Gustav’s path. That’s true for Republicans, Democrats and members of the media alike.
But this is a national political convention and the potential political fallout of Gustav is a topic that was consuming Republican Party and McCain campaign officials on Sunday — one day before the official start of what had been planned as four days of festivities here.
The convention ends up being about John McCain showing the best way to serve a cause greater than yourself.”
The storm carries with it political risk, too: if the government botches the emergency response it could further erode the public’s confidence in the GOP’s governing competence.
The looming storm ravaged convention plans, forcing Bush and Vice President Cheney to cancel live speeches and the media to turn its focus to what could be another Hurricane Katrina or worse.
But, in cold political terms, this could be a very good thing for McCain. At the very least, it pulls an unpopular president and vice president away from here at a time when Democrats are ready to hit McCain with a barrage of ads and talking points linking him to Bush.
Campaigns Shift as McCain Choice Alters the Race
Mr. McCain’s choice of a running mate comes at a pivotal time in the campaign. It follows what even Republicans said was a successful convention here by Mr. Obama. And it comes on the eve of Mr. McCain’s convention, with Republicans nervously watching Hurricane Gustav as it heads into the Gulf of Mexico, an unwelcome reminder of how the Bush White House’s halting response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 hurt the president and his party politically.
Mr. McCain, in an interview taped for “Fox News Sunday,” said the convention program might be reduced or suspended for a day or two if the storm turned out to be destructive.
Aides to Mr. McCain, who has frequently criticized Mr. Bush’s slow response to Hurricane Katrina, said Saturday he would go to Mississippi on Sunday for an inspection of storm preparations. [In our opinion, a really inconsiderate move: If YOU were preparing for a natural disaster, wouldn`t you be thrilled to have your neighborhood, or downtown area, clogged with candidate-related hoopla and traffic, as you were lugging sandbags, or packing the kids, dog, cat granny, grandpa and food into the car for a trek out of harm`s way … or maybe you could run into the candidate`s entourage at the grocery store as you were trying to pick up essentials. NOT a vote-getter.]

McCain needs Bush to admit mistakes made
Senator keeps his distance from unpopular President
ST. PAUL, MINN - With the Republican National Convention set to begin on Monday, Senator John Mc-Cain faces the delicate task of accepting the political baton from George W. Bush while maintaining a certain distance from the departing U. S. President.
… Many conservative Republicans openly questioned Mr. McCain’s suitability as their party’s nominee during the primary, suspicious of his position on abortion rights and his open disdain for right-wing Christian evangelicals.
A newly emerged draft of the party’s 2008 platform, which will be debated during the convention, contains differences with Mr. McCain on issues including immigration, stem-cell research and climate change. More from the National Post on the election
Aug 27
Storm could swamp GOP convention
Planners of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul held emergency conversations Wednesday about what to do if a tropical storm continues on its track as a potential Category 3 hurricane threatening New Orleans.
Gustav’s projected path suggests possible landfall on the convention’s opening day — Labor Day.
The storm could threaten everything from President Bush’s Monday night address to the broader Republican message of effective government management. [How ironic]
Local officials fear a Katrina II — a rerun of the storm that ravished New Orleans and badly damaged Bush’s image. Aides said Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu planned to leave the Democratic National Convention in Denver and head back home.

Cindy McCain: Painful secrets
(The Independent) Americans don’t know a lot about the prospective Republican First Lady, apart from the crucial fact that she is a fabulously wealthy heiress to the Hensley beer fortune in Arizona.