Reviews of Day 2: Bush's warm-up act
Posted: Wednesday, September 03, 2008 9:31 AM by Mark Murray
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White House
The Los Angeles Times: “The day after Hurricane Gustav led to an abbreviated opening session of the Republican National Convention on Monday, the GOP's effort was two-pronged: to reintroduce McCain to the country after a rocky few days and to denigrate Democratic nominee Barack Obama.”
The New York Times writes, “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.” More: “[O]n a night when Republicans gave top billing to other speakers, the president’s physical distance from the gathering in St. Paul - his huge image was beamed out over an empty lectern to a crowd in the arena that cheered mostly at mentions of Mr. McCain - also underscored the gulf between the Bush camp and the McCain one.”
Per NBC’s Chris Donovan, last night was the first time in 40 years that a sitting president did not attend his party's national Convention. LBJ remained at his ranch for the Democrats' August 1968 Convention, after announcing that March that he would not seek re-election. And it was only the second time a sitting president was a no-show to his own party’s convention in 64 years. According to the Washington Post back in 1968, you have to go back to 1944 when FDR did not attend the Democratic convention. Roosevelt was on a train traveling west for much of the convention. But he did end up accepting the nomination by radio address to the convention in Chicago from the San Diego naval base!
The Boston Globe: "President Bush last night inaugurated their truncated national convention by celebrating nominee John McCain's record of military service and political independence." And it calls Fred Thompson's address, the "most forceful speech of the evening."
Also, "Thompson accused Obama of delivering a 'Teleprompter speech designed to appeal to America's critics abroad'" - though Thompson, himself, was using a Teleprompter last night.
Meanwhile, Lieberman called Obama "gifted," "eloquent," and "young." "But my friends, eloquence is no substitute for a record -- not in these tough times for America."
