"For decades, the Washington sun has been rising in the East - Washington has been looking to the eastern elites, to the editorial pages of the Times and the Post, and to the broadcasters from the coast," Mitt Romney said Wednesday night at the Republican National Convention. "If America really wants change, it's time to look for the sun in the west, cause it's about to rise and shine from Arizona and Alaska!"

 

This would Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, as Eastern a state as they come, cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School.

 

He flung the "L word," that would be liberal as an invective.

He painted a picture of fear, of a nation besieged by liberal influences including, if you believe it, the Supreme Court.

What Washington is Mitt Romney talking about here?

 

"But let me ask you, what do you think Washington is right now, liberal or conservative? Is a Supreme Court liberal or conservative that awards Guantanamo terrorists with constitution rights? It's liberal! Is a government liberal or conservative that puts the interests of the teachers union ahead of the needs of our children? It's liberal!

"Is a Congress liberal or conservative that stops nuclear power plants and off-shore drilling, making us more and more dependent on Middle East tyrants? -- It's liberal!

 

"Is government spending - excluding inflation - liberal or conservative if it doubles since 1980? -- It's liberal!

"We need change all right, change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington, throw out the big government liberals and elect John McCain!"

 

This goes down as the wiftiest convention speech of recent memory, a staunch Republican painting George Bush’s Washington and the John Roberts-Sam Alito-Antonin Scalia court as liberal.

Now, former presidential candidate and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckbee is attacking the "elite," something the wealthy Romney is in no postition to do.

“Give the woman a chance to at least have two or three weeks of answering questions before you say, ‘Oh, she’s not prepared to be president or vice president,’ ” former New York mayor and presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani told ABC's Good Morning America.

There are only eight weeks to go until the election. Giuliani says the party's presumptive vice presidential nominee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, should be given a grace period.

Republicans have been branding Democrats and the press "sexist" for criticizing Palin.

However, Democrats and the press were equally tough when George H.W. Bush pulled an 11th hour surprise and named the relatively unknown Dan Quayle to be his running mate.

By the way, despite Fred Thompson's inspired speech last night about John McCain, and Joe Lieberman's followup, all scrutiny in the press and blogsophere turned again today to Palin, understandable given that she speaks tonight.

Still, McCain and staff should do something to gain control of this convention and make the focus the top of the ticket.  

That's what Sarah Palin called the war in Iraq. Snippets of the Alaska governor's speeches are emerging on YouTube. She's scheduled to address the Republican National convention in St. Paul tonight.

In a speech to her Assembly of God church, Gov. Sarah Palin called the war in Iraq "a task that is from God...There is a plan and that's God's plans."

The talk shows Palin speaking without notes. In addition to having a habit of dropping her "g's" in speaking, the presumptive vice presidential nominee has a casual, anecdotal speaking style.

"You guys are all a bunch of cool-looking Christians," she tells the youth congregation. "People are going to be interested in Jesus because of the way you look."

It's a little after 2 p.m.  Do you know what your Republican National Convention is doing?

Taking a cue from presumptive nominee John McCain, the Republican convention qualifies for maverick status, only putting out its theme and schedule a few hours before starting.

Having lost the first day to Hurricane Gustav, the convention only released the schedule of tonight's activities at 2:02. Tonight's theme? Reform. Dress accordingly.

Here's the schedule, but remember times here on the east coast are an hour later.

2008 Republican National Convention Announces Program for Wednesday Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and Vice Presidential Nominee Sarah Palin Among Featured Speakers SAINT PAUL, Minn. - The 2008 Republican National Convention today announced the full program of events for Wednesday, Sept. 3. The evening’s program will feature remarks by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican Party’s nominee for vice president. Among the other speakers participating in this evening’s program are former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. The speakers’ remarks will reflect the convention’s overall theme, "Country First," and the theme for Wednesday’s events, which is "reform." Participants are organized by hour of participation: 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Call to Order, Introduction of Colors: U.S. Sen. Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) Presentation of Colors: Law Enforcement Memorial Association (Minn.) Pledge of Allegiance: Sharon Clahchischilliage and Mary Leavitt Singing of "America the Beautiful": John Shillington and Ruby Brown Invocation: Father Edward Reese Speaker: U.S. Sen. Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) Video: "Country First: Prosperity," with narration by Robert Duvall Speaker: Anne Beiler Speaker: U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman (Minn.) Speaker: Renee Amoore Speaker: State Sen. Abel Maldonado (Calif.) Speaker: Carolyn Dunn 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Speaker: Dr. Elena Rios Speaker: Ruth Novodor Speaker: Christy Swanson Speaker: Texas Railroad Commission Chairman Michael Williams Speaker: Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico Luis Fortuno Speaker: Meg Whitman, former President and CEO of EBay Video: Sen. McCain’s Economic Reform Package Speaker: Carly Fiorina, former Chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard Prayer: Bishop Thomas Wenski 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Speaker: GOPAC Chairman Michael Steele Speaker: Former Gov. Mitt Romney (Mass.) Speaker: Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (Ark.) Musical Performance: John Rich, Gretchen Wilson, and Cowboy Troy 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. Speaker: Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani (N.Y.) Speaker: Gov. Linda Lingle (Hawaii) Video: Sarah Palin Speaker: Vice Presidential Nominee Sarah Palin 10 p.m. to Conclusion Procedural Activities Required for Nomination of the Presidential Candidate: U.S. House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio) Roll Call: Sec. Jean Inman, Assist. Sec. Connie Nicholas, and Assist. Sec. Rosie Tripp Benediction: Rev. Eva Rodriguez Adjournment: U.S. House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio) About the Republican National Convention The 2008 Republican National Convention will be held at Saint Paul's Xcel Energy Center from Sept. 1-4, 2008. Approximately 45,000 delegates, alternate delegates, volunteers, members of the media and other guests are expected to attend the convention. Minneapolis-Saint Paul is expected to receive an estimated $150-$160 million positive economic boost from the four-day event. For more information about the 2008 Republican National Convention, please visit our website at www.GOPConvention2008.com and join our social network sites on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

How is Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin preparing for the political speech of her career. Apparently, she's been holed up in a hotel room with John McCain's top advisers getting a crash course on the talking points according to this superb Washington Post article.

Most revealing is that the vice presidential speech had already been written but had to be tossed for being "very masculine."


As the Post reports: 

Sitting around a dining room table, the McCain team has talked to her about Iraq, energy and the economy but has focused on what she should say in her speech, struggling almost as hard as she has to prepare for what will be, along with a debate in October, her main opportunity to shape the way she is viewed by voters. Not anticipating that McCain would choose a woman as his running mate, the speech that was prepared in advance was "very masculine," according to campaign manager Rick Davis, and "we had to start from scratch."

Two hours, 39 minutes.

That's how long it takes a commercial aircraft to fly from Washington, D.C., home of President George Bush and characterized last night as a swamp of politics as usual, to St. Paul, Minn., where the Republicans are gathering. Probably, it takes Air Force One even less time to get there.

Yet. using the rescinding threat of Hurricane Gustav as a reason, the highly unpopular president - with a 28 percent approval rating with the general electorate and perhaps even lower with the presumptive Republican candidate - stayed at the White House Tuesday night. Instead, he offered an eight-minute speech - eight, count 'em, eight minutes - to honor McCain. It was solid support. But his wife, who was in attendance, seemed more genuine in her enthusiasm. Bush and McCain are two men who do not share much affection. Since McCain all but secured the nomination, Bush has appeared for one 20-second photo op with the senator on a tarmac.

Unfortunately for the Republicans, Bush was off the air two minutes after the three old networks began airing their one hour of convention coverage. During those eight minutes, Bush used broad strokes to paint John McCain as the original maverick and to tar any opponents as malcontents.

"If the Hanoi Hilton could not break John McCain's resolve, you can be sure the angry left never will," Bush said.

That was one of the undercurrents of the evening's themes. The Republicans are happy people. The Democrats? Uhmm, not so much.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, who has five children like presumptive vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin, as well as 23 foster children, characterized the convention's host state as "friendly happy people" enticing some viewers to break out into the similarly named REM song. "We have a lot of liberals in Minnesota," Bachmann said of the state that produced Eugene McCarthy, Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale, "but they're happy liberals." Other liberals? Not so happy, as subsequent speakers stressed throughout the evening.

Conventions are about telling stories, selling candidates and messages as products that are palatable to American voters. Tuesday's story was about John McCain as a war hero, a maverick with a tough independent streak.

 Having lost Monday to the storm,  speakers repeatedly spoke of putting the country first but, by doing so, politicized Gustav as much as Democrats have used Katrina to their favor. It's hard to be humble, and true humanitarians, if you're always calling attention to personal sacrifice and good works.

Still, the convention organizers and McCain's brain trust were inspired in scrapping the original schedule. Out went keynote speaker Rudy Giuliani, a former opponent on the campaign trail, who doesn't know McCain that well. Also out: California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, claiming that state budget battles kept him from attending. The evening resembled a society dinner party where former foes beg off using reasonable excuses when they know they're not wanted. To be fair, Giuliani is expected to speak Wednesday night.

Instead, the convention called upon independent Sen. Joe Lieberman, a close McCain ally, and former Sen. Fred Thompson to create vivid portraits of the nominee. This was the evening for the convention to reclaim its mission.

Thompson, giving the best speech of the evening, turns out to be as good on script as he proved poor off during his dismal run for the White House. There's a reason why the man has earned far more money acting than he ever did in politics. Finally, at 10 p.m. EDT, someone took to the podium to inspire the listless crowd that had been abandoned on Monday and had to wade through moving, but poorly executed speeches by an endless parade of everyday heroes. The Republicans, who have branded Barack Obama as the "biggest celebrity in the world," took pains to free their stage of any of them.  The performers, speakers and faces in the crowd (except for the arrival of Poppa and Bar Bush, and a brief glimpse of Jon Voight) were not notables, which stressed the theme but made for less than memorable oratory.

The night's biggest applause was reserved, unsurprisingly, for Ronald Reagan. Every time his name was mentioned, or image shown, the crowd cheered, far more than for the frequent references to Abraham Lincoln or Teddy Roosevelt. Is history what we learn, or only what we remember?

As a fellow naval pilot and war hero, George H.W. Bush received a gracious welcome when he entered the Xcel Energy Center. His story and photographs were intertwined with those of McCain's past. It was a fitting tribute, though the utter silence on Bush's son was chilling. It was as if he had been erased from the record.

The Republicans are trying to have it both ways. They're trying to run against Washington, D.C., which has been governed by a powerful Republican president for eight years. It's somewhat ironic to have a senator and former senator belittle Washington when their candidate has served in the U.S. Senate for 20 years. Lieberman, who has served just as long, loses credibility when he rallies against the place that brought him to the podium.

"America First" is the convention theme. If Democrats played on voters' fears for their wallets and health insurance, Republicans returned to the threats from foreign countries. McCain's unparalleled military history feeds this story. As Thompson put it "a character tested like no other candidate in the history of our country."

Images returned of Sept. 11. Chances are Tuesday won't represent the last of them. Both parties capitalize on fear while peddling hope, independence, change and other beautiful buzz words. In the end, they're both selling leaders who, they claim, will protect voters from powerful forces that can potentially destroy whatever peace, prosperity and health they currently enjoy.  

A few minutes after midnight, early Wednesday, the schedule had yet to be produced for tonight, which will introduce Sarah Palin to the faithful and the nation. The script is constantly being rewritten in this most unusual of conventions. 

John McCain has never met "my friends" he hasn't liked.

So, to make this week go more smoothly, we suggest the Republican convention drinking game center around the presumptive nominee's love of "my friends."

Last week, my colleague Dan Rubin suggested the Dems drinking game be wedded, or rather liquored, in "change."

This week, let's hoist a St. Pauli Girl or three to "my friends," John McCain's mantra.

Slate.com has a wonderful post of the use of the phrase, and it's importance in political history.

Read it here slate.com

Hot air or frank talk? Some politicians, like Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, know how to speak the latter.

Graham, one of John McCain's two closest friends in the U.S. Senate (the other being tonight's scheduled speaker, independent Joe Lieberman), said this to the New York Times at a lunchtime gathering.

“We got fired in 2006,’’ Mr. Graham said, referring to the party’s loss of its congressional majority during the mid-term elections that year, but that Democrats were doing no better.

“The Congress has transcended party for the first time in my lifetime,’’ said Graham who served in the House for four terms before being elected to the Senate in 2002. “People think we all suck.”

 

Amazing. If you check the website for the Republican National Convention at this very moment, there's no schedule posted for this evening.

Nothing. Zip. Zero.

It takes months to plan a convention, years to arrange sites, and yet the GOP has not released a schedule for today. (Wonder how Twin Cities restaurants welcomed the news Monday night of a session that adjourned a little after 5 p.m.?)

The Democrats claim to be the party of change but look at all the fast work the Republicans are doing.

Former New York City mayor and Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani was to have given the keynote address Tuesday night. That's been scratched. No reason has yet been given.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was supposed to have spoken tonight. Now, he's engaged in his state's budget battles and won't appear.

Instead, independent Sen. Joe Lieberman, a close McCain ally and once-possible veep candidate, and former Sen. Fred Thompson, will introduce McCain's biography and celebrate their close friendship with the presumptive Republican nominee. Thompson's speech is titled "The Courage and Service of John McCain," and Lieberman's is titled "The Original Maverick, John McCain," Republican officials said.

Lieberman is very close to McCain, and was thought to have been his first choice as running mate, which would have made history. The Connecticut senator would have been the first man ever to run twice, for different parties, for the post.

This change in schedule should help bring all discussion and focus back to McCain.