Campaign Diaries

In a remarkable ninety minutes that verged on schizophrenia, the GOP convention made as strong a start as it could have considering that George W. Bush was the first speaker. In short succession, Fred Thompson and Joe Lieberman did their best to do what they had been send to do - make the country forget that they were watching a Republican convention.

Sure, the second half of Fred Thompson’s speech delivered the Democrat-bashing red meat the base had been waiting for, but that was mostly to prepare the crowd to cheer for a man they despised just eight years ago. Just last week, in my review of the Democratic convention’s second night, I faulted Mark Warner for having given a speech that “could just have easily (and with minor twitches) been read at the Republican convention.” Forgive me for quoting my own post, but I believe this perfectly explains what we witnessed tonight:

Warner’s argument is exactly what Republicans want voters to think and what many of them will no doubt be telling voters next week - forget that we are Republicans and that Obama is a Democrat. For months, the GOP has been worried about how it can best escape the electorate’s viscerally anti-Republican mood; we have been documenting how some of its candidates are literally shunning away from the party label and Gordon Smith’s bipartisan ads are in a category of their own. McCain cannot win if voters think of this election as a choice between a Democrat and a Republican, which is why he has sought to make it about character and style of leadership.

And here comes Mark Warner, boosting McCain’s improbable bid to get voters to forget the candidates’ party labels. Said Warner: “I know we’re at the Democratic Convention, but if an idea works, it really doesn’t matter if it has an R or D next to it. Because this election isn’t about liberal versus conservative. It’s not about left versus right.” That could have worked for Democrats in 94, and could work for the GOP next week.

Exactly a week later, it was Joe Lieberman’s turn to take the stage, and he echoed Mark Warner’s words. “It shouldn’t take a natural disaster to teach us that the American people don’t care much if you have an R or a D after your name,” he said. Tonight, the GOP channeled the Democrats’ 2004 convention, appropriated Barack Obama’s theme of post-partisanship and confirmed last week’s keynote would have been a better strategic fit for St. Paul.

The night was not about parties, nor about issues - the McCain campaign knows it cannot win on those grounds. It was all about character. In the night’s grand finale, Lieberman was more explicit than any Republican speaker could have afforded being, as he urged voters to forget their partisan affiliation and cast their ballot not as Democrats or Republicans but as Americans who put their “country first.”

This is no ordinary election, because these are not ordinary times, and John McCain is no ordinary candidate… So tonight, I ask you whether you are an Independent, a Reagan Democrat or a Clinton Democrat, or just a Democrat: This year, when you vote for President, vote for the person you believe is best for the country, not for the party you happen to belong to. Vote for the leader who… has always put our country first.

Lieberman portrayed McCain as a sincere reformer who was not afraid of taking on politicians of all parties, an “original maverick” whom voters can trust and whom has little to do with President Bush. Some Democrats, Lieberman said, “are spending so much time and so much money trying to convince voters that John McCain is someone else. I’m here, as a Democrat myself, to tell you: Don’t be fooled. God only made one John McCain, and he is his own man.” That was very reminiscent of Al Gore’s acceptance speech in 2000, when the incumbent vice-president tried to free himself from Bill Clinton’s shadow.

In a year in which Democrats have an overwhelming advantage in partisan identification, this call to transcend party allegiances is the only message that could carry McCain to victory.

That that message was delivered only minutes after the satellite connection to the White House got interrupted will make it more difficult for the campaign to be heard. The night was a (once again) gamble whose success depends on whether Joe Lieberman retains credibility in the eyes of the country’s Democrats and independents and whether viewers susceptible of being moved by Lieberman’s post-partisan message managed to make it through Bush’s address and Thompson’s red meat.

If Democrats and independents were listening and if enough were willing to give Lieberman the benefit of the doubt, McCain certainly scored a political coup tonight as Lieberman went as far as he could have in making this convention a non-partisan affair (that ought to be an oxymoron, but that’s how big a challenge the GOP faces) without being booed off the stage. Lieberman was not Zell Miller. He did throw pointed attacks at Obama, but he went on stage as an independent, spoke to independents and worked to portray McCain as a maverick.

That the Republican base that was assembled in the hall cheered him on (though sometimes only faintly) was truly a sight to behold. These conservative delegates applauded Bill Clinton’s name. They applauded Lieberman’s praise of McCain’s role in the Gang of Fourteen. These delegates - the ultimate defenders of conservatism -  applauded as Lieberman said McCain would not hold himself to GOP orthodoxy. And they listened politely as Lieberman referred to the need to fight global warming and admitted that viewers had “good reason” to be angry at the government.

Until he got to his attacks, Lieberman threw the crowd few bones, and that made his post-partisan declarations sound more sincere. “I’m here to support John McCain because country matters more than party,” he said. And as he then attacked Obama, it was not on the basis of policy and ideology - a stark contrast to Zell Miller’s depiction of Kerry as an extreme liberal. Lieberman was there to attack Obama’s lack of bipartisanship and his inexperience. “Senator Obama is a gifted and eloquent young man who can do great things for our country,” he said. “But eloquence is no substitute for a record.” After weeks of GOP attacks on Obama’s preparedness, the rhetoric could have been stronger but the theme was there.

Lieberman’s speech was effective, and it hit all the points McCain was hoping it would while keeping the support of the crowd - though as I said whether it touched anyone it targeted depends on how much credibility Lieberman retains in the eyes of conservative-leaning Democrats and independents. But now that Palin is on the table and that Obama has a post-convention bounce, the GOP is aware that it needs to do more - it needs to attack Obama frontally to discredit his character, and that is what Fred Thompson was entrusted with.

In what was the night’s main red meat, Thompson did more than argue that Obama was not “ready to lead” - he borrowed the GOP’s arsenal from earlier in the summer and sought to portray Obama as a vapid celebrity driven by the quest to power and blinded by fame. Describing McCain, Thompson said, “When he travels abroad, he prefers quietly speaking to the troops amidst the heat and hardship of their daily lives.” And in seeking to portray McCain as known commodity whose values voters could trust, Thompson was taking veiled - though quite clear - swipes at Obama: “It’s pretty clear there are two questions we will never have to ask ourselves, ‘Who is this man?’ and ‘Can we trust this man with the Presidency?’ ”

Those are the GOP’s standard attacks, but the crowd was quite obviously content that someone was finally entertaining them. Thompson also made sure to provide some Democrat-bashing, seeking to energize the GOP base around issues that have always unified them, abortion (”we need a President who doesn’t think that the protection of the unborn or a newly born baby is above his pay grade”) and taxes. On the latter, Thompson delivered the usual Republican stump speech against tax-and-spend liberals:

Now our opponents tell you not to worry about their tax increases. They tell you they are not going to tax your family.

No, they’re just going to tax “businesses”! So unless you buy something from a “business”, like groceries or clothes or gasoline … or unless you get a paycheck from a big or a small “business”, don’t worry … it’s not going to affect you.

They say they are not going to take any water out of your side of the bucket, just the “other” side of the bucket! That’s their idea of tax reform.

Usual does not mean ineffective, quite the contrary. When the goal is to electrify partisans, routine attacks are most often the most powerful. But it was undoubtedly the first half of Thompson’s speech that was the highlight of his address - and perhaps of the night. Thompson detailed McCain’s years as a POW, detailing his service and sacrifice. Thompson is an actor, and there was little doubt as to why he had been selected. On a stage, narrating an emotional story in front of a captivated crowd, Thompson was in his element. Even if the details of McCain’s captivity have been tone countless of times and President Bush had used similar lines just minutes before Thompson took the stage, this was as dramatic a rendition as the audience could have hoped to witness.

Too dramatic, perhaps. Advisers to the McCain campaign had said two weeks ago that they did not think they were invoking McCain’s years as a POW enough and that by the end of the convention everyone would know about his years in Hanoi Hilton. Tonight, they stayed true to their word as Thompson’s speech - accompanied by giant background pictures - and the hours of honoring the troops that preceded it made as explicit a connection between McCain’s years as a POW and the strength of character he would exhibit as President:

John McCain cannot raise his arms above his shoulders.

He cannot salute the flag of the country for which he sacrificed so much. Tonight, as we begin this convention week, yes, we stand with him.

And we salute him. We salute his character and his courage.

Tonight, that was the message that all the speakers emphasized - Barack Obama is inexperienced and a risky move, while John McCain has the character to become president, as he demonstrated by his strength during his years as a POW.

That message might not work, but it is difficult to see what else the GOP could do. After all, some variation of it did narrow the poll numbers during the summer. The question now is whether Sarah Palin’s distraction combined with the Democratic convention’s increasing Obama’s support among Democrats and improving the country’s perception are enough shields to protect Obama’s lead against the GOP’s strategy.

And the second question is whether the GOP’s strategy has any chance of functioning as long as the party remains attached to Bush. And the night did begin with a speech by Bush - a speech McCain did all he could to minimize. Not only was the incumbent President speaking via satellite from a thousand miles away, but he had also been exiled to the 9pm hour, before the primetime hour. But as the networks picked up coverage, all started by retransmitting Bush’s address, ensuring that any viewers who were tuning in to see the convention’s proceedings were first treated to 10 minutes of Bush. “We need a president who understands the lessons of Sept. 11, 2001,” Bush said. “The man we need is John McCain.” Unfortunately for McCain, Bush’s endorsement might as well be cut out for Obama ads.