Date: 09/02/08

Bush Praises McCain, Party Defends Palin

By DAVID ESPO
AP Special Correspondent

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) President Bush hailed John McCain Tuesday night as a man "ready to lead this nation" and a courageous candidate who risked his White House ambitions to support an unpopular Iraq war. Republicans defended vice presidential running mate Sarah Palin in the face of fresh controversy.

Reprising the national security themes that propelled him to a second term, Bush said in prepared remarks, "We must stay on offense, stop attacks before they happen and not wait to be hit again." He spoke from the White House in a brief speech that was beamed into the convention.

Inside the hall, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson said Palin, the Alaska governor, was "from a small town, with small town values, but that's not good enough for those folks who are attacking her and her family."

He said McCain's decision to place her on the ticket "has the other side and their friends in the media in a state of panic."

"We need a president who doesn't think that the protection of the unborn or a newly born baby is above his pay grade," Thompson added.

That was a jab at Barack Obama, McCain's White House rival, who said recently it was "above my pay grade" to decide the point at which an unborn child is entitled to rights.

On Monday, Palin and her husband disclosed that their unmarried daughter, 17-year-old Bristol, was pregnant.

Despite Thompson's remarks and McCain's declaration that he was satisfied with the scrutiny his aides had given Palin, there were fresh disclosures.

Among them: that both as governor of Wasilla, Alaska, and as governor, she had sought earmarks for local projects. Her most recent round of requests totaled $300 for every Alaskan.

McCain has frequently vowed to veto any earmark legislation, and has said she will be a force in his battle to wipe them out.

Additionally, the lawyer hired to defend Palin in an ethics investigation said he also is representing her personally and is permitted to bill the state up to $95,000 for work in the current case. The issue involves the dismissal of public safety commissioner Walt Monegan after he refused to fire a state trooper who had divorced the governor's sister.

Still, there were indications that Republicans thought they could turn Palin-related controversy to McCain's gain. Officials said Levi Johnston, the 18-year-old father of the baby Bristol Palin is expecting, was en route to the convention from his home in Wasilla, Alaska.

Republicans handed former Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman the prime spot in the evening lineup, and he blended praise for McCain with criticism of Obama.

"When others wanted to retreat in defeat from the field of battle, when Barack Obama was voting to cut off funding for our troops on the ground, John McCain had the courage to stand against the tide of public opinion," the Connecticut Democratic-turned-independent senator said in excerpts released in advance of his speech.

With his approval ratings in the 30-percent range, Bush was relegated to a relatively minor role at the convention of a party that has twice nominated him to the White House. Bush scrapped a planned Monday night speech because of the threat Hurricane Gustav posed to New Orleans. And 24 hours later, with polls making it clear the nation is ready for a change, the McCain campaign indicated there was no reason for him to make the trip to St. Paul.

One day after a frightening Gulf Coast hurricane prompted a subdued opening to the McCain convention, political combat enjoyed a resurgence.

McCain's aides disputed a claim that vice presidential running mate Sarah Palin had once been a member of a third party — and accused Democratic rival Obama's camp of spreading false information.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said that as far as he'd seen, "the only person talking about her being in the Alaska Independence Party is the head of the Alaska Independence Party."

"Their gripe is with those folks," he said of the McCain campaign.

Despite the spate of disclosures about Palin since McCain's surprise choice was announced last Friday, the Republican candidate said his campaign's "vetting process was completely thorough and I'm grateful for the results."

And former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who was McCain's rival during the battle for the party nomination, said "I haven't seen anything that comes out about her that in any way troubles me or shakes my confidence in her. All it has done for me is say she is a human person with a real family."

Thompson, in his prepared remarks, Thompson extolled McCain as possessing "the kind of character that civilizations from the beginning of history have sought in their leaders. Strength. Courage. Humanity. Wisdom, Duty. Honor."

Well known as an actor for his roles in "Law & Order" and elsewhere, he added that "others were talking reform; John McCain led the effort to make reform happen."

After a political time-out of sorts on the convention's opening day, when Hurricane Gustav threatened New Orleans, Republicans repackaged what had been four days of speechmaking into three.

The schedule calls for former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani to give the convention's keynote speech Wednesday, the same evening delegates deliver the party's nominations to McCain and Palin. The 72-year-old presidential hopeful delivers his acceptance speech before a prime time audience of millions on Thursday.

The newly minted ticket is scheduled to leave the convention city on Friday for an eight-week sprint to Election Day.

The decision to place Lieberman out front on the convention's second night capped an unprecedented political migration. Only eight years ago, he stood before a cheering throng at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles and accepted the nomination as Al Gore's running mate.

In the years since, he lost badly in 2004 when he sought the Democratic presidential nomination, lost a Democratic nomination for a new term at home in Connecticut in 2006, then recovered quickly to win re-election as an independent.

Back in the Senate, his vote allows the Democrats to command a narrow majority, yet he has been one of the most outspoken supporters of the war in Iraq. He has traveled widely with McCain in recent months, and occasionally has angered Democrats with remarks critical of Obama.

Protesters outside the hall vowed to resume demonstrations that turned violent on Monday and resulted in 286 arrests.

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Associated Press writers Beth Fouhy in Philadelphia and Scott Bauer and Martiga Lohn in St. Paul contributed to this story.