Blogging From The Convention Floor – Michael Steele

I am in in the auditorium with the delegates (in the stands, not on the floor), and so far, I have a connection with which to blog. With any luck, I’ll be able to live-blog the two keynote speakers for tonight’s main event: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Laura Bush.
Right now, I’m watching the Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, Michael Steele. This man impresses the heck out of me. He connects to the audience in personal terms, but he easily charged up the crowd with a wonderful crescendo as he discussed his values and the values of the GOP. Completely at ease at the podium, he seems to be a man with a future in the party.
Steele works extensively in the media, both alternate and mainstream. He writes for such varied publications as the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the Washington Times, and more. He also appears on the radio in his own lunchtime radio show and has made a number of other radio and television shows. He’s got the exposure and the talent to move to the first squad at his next opportunity. Keep an eye out for him.

Lynn Swann Supports Bush!

swann.jpgI grew up a rabid Pittsburgh Steelers fan, ever since I watched the Immaculate Reception in the playoff game against the Oakland Raiders. One of the best players on the team that won four Super Bowls was the incredibly acrobatic wide receiver, Lynn Swann. Despite having gone to USC, Swann had a grace and determination on the field that not only won him a spot in the Hall of Fame, but almost definitely made him one of the best slow-motion reply subjects ever in sports.
We found out yesterday that Swann would be appearing at the convention, one of a number of celebrities that have made their way to New York to support the President’s re-election bid. I’ve been careful about fan-boy posts, but in this case, I hope my readers will forgive me for ensuring that this moment gets archived for posterity.

Hugh Hewitt: Terry McAuliffe On Hugh’s Show

You can listen at this link.
hughmac.jpgUPDATE: Hugh slaughtered McAuliffe. I don’t have any of the audio, but I can tell you from being there and listening, that Hugh took him out. First off, he got McAuliffe to admit that his job is to tell everyone that Kerry’s winning regardless of whether it’s true. He also folded on Christmas in Cambodia. As always with Hugh, everyone parted friends … but those of us who were nearby the interview knew it went badly for McAuliffe. What can he do? He’s been dealt a loser hand.
UPDATE II: More lefty meltdowns, this one from last night (at Wizbang). Apparently Al Franken wants to get elected to the Senate by garnering the bully vote.

General Tommy Franks: I Support Bush For President

franks.jpgGeneral Tommy Franks announced today that he will support George Bush for president at our blog conference at the Republican National Convention.
Q: General, do you support George Bush for President?
A: Yes.
Q: With regards to consistency, did George Bush hurt himself with his remarks on Matt Lauer that maybe we can’t win a war on terror?
A: Absolutely not. We won a Cold War, didn’t we? And we didn’t do that in 15 minutes.
Q: Did Ronald Reagan show that kind of doubt in his effort to win the Cold War?
A: I don’t know that there was any doubt shown at all. I think that we’re talking about consistency, and persistency, and anybody who looks at this thing over the last three and a half years is going to have a heck of a hard time trying to point out when he was not consistent or persistent. You got a lot of people who look at the other side, see, and they’ll say, well, my goodness, he shouldn’t have been so persistent. By gosh, he should have changed his mind. Well, absolutely not.
Q: He did clarify himself on Rush Limbaugh.
A: I didn’t see that. I didn’t hear that.
Q: He did clarify his Matt Lauer comments.
A: What’d he say?
Q: He basically said that he misstated it. Well, he clarified his point that it is a winnable war, it’s not going to have an official end. It won’t —
A: Well, yeah.
Q: It won’t end in a treaty.
A: Yeah, and I think that it’s one of those kind of things where you have to look real hard to find a parade after the Cold War. You know when the wall came down? The greatest standoff of our time. A nuclear standoff crisis that went on for decades. I believe if you had asked any president, during that time, and asked, “What do you think? Is it winnable?”, he might well have said, “Well, I don’t know, it’s kind of standoffish.” But the fact of the matter is that the war on terrorism is winnable. But it’s not winnable in 15 minutes or in 12 months. It’s going to go for a while.
Q: Do you think John Kerry can fight an effective war on terror?
A: Well, I support George W. Bush. You know what? I know what John Kerry is against. I’m having a little trouble figuring out what he’s for.
Q: Is our successful fight against Moqtada al-Sadr in Najaf diverting us from the more important effort in Ramadi and Fallujah and the rest of Western Iraq?
A: No, I don’t think so. I think what you have to do in Iraq is you have to play each day at a time. You know, we can criticize ourselves for not having the perfect plan, at any juncture we want to criticize ouselves. We can break out the sackcloth and the chains and all that sort of stuff, but the fact of the matter is when we were talking about 25, 28 million people, and they have been in the circumstances they’ve been in for the last three decades, then what you’re going to find is that fractious behavior by the al-Sadrs, you’re going to find situations like Fallujah, you’re going to find situations in Mosul or Tikrit on a given day. We rise to them as they come up.
Q: General Franks, there has been a lot of criticism with some people saying that President Bush did not have a plan to win the peace. Can you address that?
A: Sure. Of course he had a plan to win the peace. Of course he did. Of course the United States had a plan to build the largest coalition the world has ever seen. And did it. Of course the United States had a plan to lead a coalition to remove one of the most despotic regimes we’ve seen in the last 100 years. Of course the United States of America has a plan to lead the coalition that will permit and assist the Iraqi people in claiming a new Iraq for themselves, a free Iraq. And all of that is going to take longer than a flash in the pan associated with popping a balloon.
You guys OK now?
Q: On the Swiftboat controversy, when you were first asked about it —
A: Yes. I’m still not — I’m still not a big guy into hyperbole. I mean, I’m not a big guy into hyperbole, on either end of the continuum. I think he had two issues, and I think Senator McCain has pointed them out very well. You have situations that went on where the Swiftboat guys were on down in Vietnam, I was in Vietnam, John McCain was in Vietnam, John Kerry was in Vietnam, and the vets were in Vietnam. And I don’t have anything to say about that. On the other hand, my concern is what happened after Vietnam, after Senator Kerry returned from Vietnam, and I may well have something to say about that.
Q: They said that if Kerry would apologize for his 1971 testimony, they would drop all future Swiftboat ads from the campaign. Do you think that’s fair?
A: Oh, in my personal view, it’s not a matter of dropping something. I’ve said right from the start —
Q: That’s what the Swiftvets said today. They offered it to Kerry if he would apologize.
A: Wouldn’t that be great? You know why it would be great? Because the people of the United States of America could focus on what’s important, and that’s our children and our grandchildren and the next four years of leadership for America, where we are faced every day with one of the most serious threats we’ve faced in 100 years and that’s terrorism. We’re going to have to display consistency, character, be persistent in the face of the difficulty. And that’s what America’s going to have to draw from her President. Where are we going to get that kind of leadership? It’s one thing to know what a man is against; it’s an entirely different thing to know what a man is for.
Q: Thank you, General Franks. [Applause]
It appears that George Bush has the fresh troops ready for the final push. Having a man with the credibility of General Tommy Franks on the trail pushing George Bush will raise confidence in Bush’s leadership on national-security issues at the moment when Kerry already sees his support eroding on this critical quality. And it sounds like the former General has plenty to say, now that his retirement allows him to speak out.
UPDATE: Matt Margolis at Blogs for Bush has the audio.

Rumble In The Blogger Jungle: Hannity Vs. McAuliffe

An interesting confrontation took place just in front of Bloggers Corner a few minutes ago. Sean Hannity has a booth just a few feet from our tables, and we’ve had front-row seating for his show yesterday, today, and the rest of this week, too. While on the air, Democratic Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe passed by the booth — on his way to the Air America table, no doubt, which is located right around the corner from our booth. The two of them began yelling at each other, with Hannity demanding that Kerry apologize to the vets he smeared since 1971 as war criminals. McAuliffe finally walked off, laughing, but people stood and looked at each other, surprised at having seen real news (of a sort) occur at a political convention.
Georgia Senator Zell Miller is on air with Hannity at the moment, and he looks sharp. I can’t wait to hear his speech tonight.
UPDATE: Hannity has McAuliffe on the air in a moment …
hanmc.jpgUPDATE II: Hannity and McAuliffe went toe to toe on the air, and we got ringside seats. Hannity started off by talking about Unfit For Command, which McAuliffe admitted he has not read. When Hannity pressed him to say whether the 200+ combat veterans were all liars, McAuliffe instead said that he had personally spoken with three or four of Kerry’s shipmates (the band of brothers), and he was convinced they were telling the truth.
Hannity also tried to press McAuliffe for answers on these questions, all of which McAuliffe refused to answer:
* Christmas In Cambodia (several times)
* John Kerry’s support for a nuclear freeze during Reagan’s term
* John Kerry’s vote against the death penalty for terrorists during Bush’s term
Interestingly, just before the last two questions, McAuliffe had complained that Hannity wouldn’t discuss Kerry’s Senate record. As soon as he did, however, McAuliffe kept changing the subject back to George Bush’s National Guard service.
Hypocrisy, thy name is McAuliffe…

Being The Story

While we have not had to deal with the overwhelming media interest that bedeviled the Boston convention bloggers, we are getting our share of attention, especially given our proximity to Radio Row. Yesterday I made a last-minute appearance on Hugh Hewitt’s show, along with John Hinderaker, and we may appear again there. Right now, both of us are being interviewed by our hometown paper, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, by reporter Sharon Schmickle. Later today, I am also scheduled to appear on Kevin McCullough’s show around 2:45 and I’ll also call in to Cam Edwards show around 3:20 this afternoon, and supposedly I’m appearing on Right Talk, but that looks like it’s falling through.
The only danger in getting too caught up in this attention is that we lose focus on our own stories. I think as the convention heats up, everyone but Hugh and Kevin will lose most of their interest in the bloggers. We’ll eventually lose our novelty.
That’s when we’ll really know we’ve arrived.
UPDATE: Just finished doing Kevin’s show, and what a pleasure that was. I’ll be back later on this week to talk more about blog alliances.
UPDATE II: Now I’m being photographed by the Star-Tribune’s Stormi Greener. No, James, I am not making the names up, and they have been very nice to me. When you see my bald head, I may change my mind, of course …

An Oasis In A Dry Garden

One of the challenges we faced yesterday was the lack of beverages available at the Garden, an unusual problem that I hadn’t anticipated. I assumed that we would have all of the concession stands open, but they seem to be closed, presumably to simplify security for the convention.
coffee.jpgStepping into the breach to soothe dry throats is Political Grounds, which describes itself as “America’s Politically-Incorrect Coffee”. They’ve set up a booth giving away free bottled water and very good cups of coffee to anyone who wants to stop by their booth. Julie also gave me a pound of their coffee, which comes in eight varieties. I selected Osama’s Mama, which states that it’s “dedicated to our fighting men and women searching those caves for the evil one who brought us the events of 9-11. Only a mother with a foot-long beard could love this guy. Osama, where’s your mama?”
How can I resist posting about that? Check out their other offerings as well. I’ll tell Julie you say hello.

Blogging Coverage: Open Thread

I received this e-mail from a reader last night when I returned to my hotel room:

You, and all the rest of the bloggers at the convention, are making the same mistake as the bloggers in Boston. You are all sounding like, “whee, look at me! I’m a hick in the “Big Apple!”
Do some professional reporting. Make us proud!

Agree? Disagree? Let me know your thoughts. Bear in mind, however, that conventions rarely generate “news” stories. The value, I think, is in the background we can provide on candidates, issues, and back-scenes machinery that most people rarely see.
I’m anxious to get a sense of what you think, so fire away.

Day 1: Final Thoughts

Our first day on the job provided challenges in droves to Bloggers Corner. For one, the IT connections had not all been established, and it took several hours before all of us were able to reliably get on line and post to our sites. Our strategic placement meant that we could get some good interviews, but that our access to the convention floor was quite limited. In fact, we have to traverse four flights, one down and three up, to get into the main hall, and then we can’t get onto the floor itself. Add in the generally lost feeling of not knowing your surroundings and the overwhelming blitz of traffic coming around our area, add a dash of the tightest security I’ve ever seen, and you get the idea that we could be forgiven a bit of disorientation.
On the whole, after reviewing our work as a group yesterday, I’d have to say that we did pretty well. We stayed mostly focused on the political stories coming out of the convention, and more importantly, we worked together as a unit. One can certainly make the argument that we compete with each other in the marketplace (although I disagree with that somewhat), but we formed a loose bond amongst ourselves pretty quickly. I think you’ll see our product improve as the week wears on.
My lasting impression of the convention itself has to do with the message the Republicans sent last night — they’re not backing away from 9/11 or the war on terror. Speaker after speaker addressed both and made it clear that the GOP will not apologize for liberating 50 million people in Southwest Asia. Nor will they back away from securing America from attack, even when it doesn’t suit the cash flow of countries that make millions and billions by undermining international sanctions against dictators and genocidal madmen.
One clear distinction has already been made between the two conventions. Both conventions talked about war. One party could only talk about one that was concluded thirty years ago, while the other talked openly about the war being waged against the United States by foreign terrorists right now, a distinction that I hope was not lost on those Americans who tuned it to see John McCain and Rudy Giuliani speak. It shows the lack of Democratic focus on the issues facing the country now. They’d rather celebrate the war most of them fought to end disgracefully a generation ago.
One last thought was something I noticed during Giuliani’s speech last night. He spent more time on John Kerry’s Senate record than Kerry himself did in Boston. That should provide another clue to the American electorate about the choices we face in November.

The Keynote Speeches of 8/30: John McCain

I had the opportunity to make it to the floor to see the last three speeches of the day, as bloggers took turns going into the hall to make sure Bloggers Corner remained staffed. Tom Bevan, John Hinderaker, and I sat with the North Carolina delegation to see John McCain speak on behalf of President Bush, in a speech that has been highly anticipated ever since Kerry’s abortive run at McCain for running mate boosted the Arizona Senator’s credibility among both parties.
McCain did not disappoint. I supported McCain in 2000, and while he’s a bit stiff at the podium, his gentle voice played well in invoking the tragedy of 9/11 — a subject that the Democrats avoided in their convention, and one which they will protest the Republicans using in New York. However, how can they avoid it? It would be akin to a failure to mention the elephant in the living room. The terrorist attack on 9/11 was the single worst foreign-based attack in our history, and the response to this vicious act of war should be fair game for reviewing the performance of George Bush.
The Democrats want to attack Bush for taking on Iraq — and McCain had something to say about that as well — but the Democrats do not want people to understand Iraq in the context of 9/11. Iraq not only was a critical piece of the overall war on Islamofascist terror for geographical and political reasons, but also for clear military reasons. After 9/11, we cannot afford to wait for known threats to develop into imminent danger. Even the 9/11 Commission recognized this, and at one point scolded members of the current national-security team in public hearings for not invading Afghanistan in January 2001, even though the 9/11 plot had moved outside of Afghanistan long before that.
McCain focused on 9/11 during his entire speech, and thanks to John Kerry’s earlier courtship, McCain has the credibility to speak to it. In fact, he is only second in that credibility to Rudy Giuliani, who lived through it at Ground Zero, and who spoke later. McCain had a number of ovation-garnering quotes, but what struck me more was the obvious passion and commitment that he communicated to the American people about the necessity of fighting this war:

It’s a fight between a just regard for human dignity and a malevolent force that defiles an honorable religion by disputing God’s love for every soul on earth. It’s a fight between right and wrong, good and evil. …
Like all wars, this one will have its ups and downs. But we must fight. We must.

McCain tried reaching out across the aisle to Democrats in his speech, talking about the similarities in our philosophies in order to reduce the partisan rancor that threatens our war effort. He gave them the benefit of the doubt and honored their intentions and even agreed with their policy goals, to a point:

My friends in the Democratic Party — and I’m fortunate to call many of them my friends — assure us they share the conviction that winning the war against terrorism is our government’s most important obligation.
I don’t doubt their sincerity.
They emphasize that military action alone won’t protect us, that this war has many fronts: in courts, financial institutions, in the shadowy world of intelligence, and in diplomacy. They stress that America needs the help of her friends to combat an evil that threatens us all, that our alliances are as important to victory as are our armies.
We agree.
And, as we’ve been a good friend to other countries in moments of shared perils, so we have good reason to expect their solidarity with us in this struggle. That is what the President believes.
And, thanks to his efforts we have received valuable assistance from many good friends around the globe, even if we have, at times, been disappointed with the reactions of some.
I don’t doubt the sincerity of my Democratic friends. And they should not doubt ours.

But McCain didn’t hesistate to go on the offense with the lunatic-fringe quotient of the Democrats, the hard left that started off supporting Howard Dean. McCain specifically took on the very large target of Michael Moore in a moment that threatened to bring the house down with roars of approval from the Republican delegates. In an unscripted moment, he made an allusion to a “disingenuous filmmaker who would have us believe that Saddam’s Iraq was an oasis of peace” — you won’t find that in his prepared remarks — referring to the kite-flying children’s paradise that Moore portrayed in his film, Fahrenheit 9/11. Fox News reported that Moore (a credentialed media representative here) reveled in the attention, “thrusting his arms upwards” and calling McCain “dumb” afterwards.
This … is the face of today’s Democrats.
McCain finished strongly as he built up to a crescendo at the end of his speech, exhorting the delegates and Americans across the country to keep fighting until victory is assured:

But remember we are not enemies, but comrades in a war against a real enemy, and take courage from the knowledge that our military superiority is matched only by the superiority of our ideals, and our unconquerable love for them.
Our adversaries are weaker than us in arms and men, but weaker still in causes. They fight to express a hatred for all that is good in humanity. We fight for love of freedom and justice, a love that is invincible. Keep that faith. Keep your courage. Stick together. Stay strong.
Do not yield. Do not flinch. Stand up. Stand up with our President and fight.
We’re Americans.
We’re Americans, and we’ll never surrender.
They will.

McCain delivered one of the most stirring speeches I’ve heard in this election cycle, and I’m glad he’s on our side. It’s just a shame that you missed it if you don’t get C-SPAN.