Republican National Convention: Drumroll Please!

At last the Republican National Convention begins after a 3 day barrage of “other news.” With trepidation receded about Hurricane Gustav and the new revelations about Gov. Sarah Palin taking their spin, the Republicans had one last hurdle; how to distance themselves from Pres. Bush. This was accomplished by beaming him in from the White House where he was presidentially monitoring storm conditions, I suppose, while his wife and parents were in St. Paul. Well, not everybody can be invited to the party.

Nevertheless, the evening went well focusing on the slogans of “country first” and “service” wrapped up in a coating of “strong on defense.” John McCain’s military service was perfectly re-cast by Fred Thompson, former Senator and actor, in a rousing speech that stirred the stadium. First Lady Laura Bush delivered one of the most political speeches of her tenure by way of introduction to President Bush’s address which incidentally was much shorter than her introduction. Former Presidents Bush and Reagan were honored but the implication was that McCain followed closely on the heels of Reagan rather than the current President Bush.

The highlight of the evening was Sen. Joe Lieberman’s speech. Lieberman ran on the democratic ticket 8 years ago as Al Gore’s Vice Presidential pick and is currently classified as an Independent though he still refers to himself as a democrat and votes generally along democratic party lines. Lieberman’s speech was almost well received but it was hard to dismiss that the fact that the Republicans turned him down as McCain potential VP.

The Republicans did the best they could considering the circumstances but it was clear that the fulcrum of the Convention will be Sarah Palin’s speech tomorrow. McCain’s speech is expected to be foregone conclusion since it is clear that he is now running on his military record and does not portend to reach beyond that.