GOP Back To Business On RNC Day 2

CBS News Reports Convention Will Resume Tuesday With Revamped Lineup Of Speakers

(CBS/ AP)  The Republican Party hopes to get back to the business of getting John McCain elected president in the remaining sessions of its national convention, CBS News reports.

The GOP scaled down a normally boisterous opening day out of deference to Americans caught in Hurricane Gustav while struggling to put out fires that sprang up around his little-known female vice presidential pick.

Just hours before the Republican political festival opened in the Minnesota capital, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin disclosed that her unmarried 17-year-old daughter is pregnant. It also was revealed Monday that an attorney had been hired to represent Palin in a state ethics probe and that her husband, Todd, had been arrested for drunken driving two decades ago.

McCain senior adviser Nicolle Wallace told CBS' The Early Show Tuesday that the candidate knew about the pregnancy and within the campaign "this did not give anyone any pause."

The man who led McCain's vice presidential search team said he thought everything that had come up as a possible red flag during the background check had now been made public.

"I think so," Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr. told The Associated Press. "Yes. I think so. Correct."

Hurricane Gustav, which pounded ashore 1,000 miles to the south, provided some distraction from the news surrounding Palin. Yet initial reports showed the storm was not as devastating as feared, and attention quickly returned to the 44-year-old mother of five, known as a maverick who has routinely challenged the Alaska state political machinery.

Gustav, while reminding Americans of how the administration of President George W. Bush bungled the response to Hurricane Katrina three years ago, gave McCain's Republicans a chance to show they could do better this time as they pushed hard to strengthen the relief effort.

Convention organizers stripped out pageantry normally attached to the opening day of a political convention, and Republicans scaled back attacks on Democratic candidate Barack Obama.

Instead, first lady Laura Bush and her would-be successor, Cindy McCain, provided the day's star power, appealing for delegates to open their wallets to help those caught in Gustav's path.

"This is a time when we take off our Republican hats and put on our American hats," said Cindy McCain, reprising a line her husband used Sunday.

The plan for Tuesday is a revamped lineup, highlighted by scheduled speeches from former Tennessee Senator and presidential nominee Fred Thompson and Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., who was on McCain's short list for vice president, CBS News reports.

Also, President Bush will address the convention via satellite, CBS News reports.

On Monday, Mr. Bush and his vice president, Dick Cheney, canceled their appearances even before Republican convention organizers decided to scale back the first day's events. Mr. Bush headed to Texas to be nearer hurricane relief efforts.

McCain visited a relief center in Ohio and helped pack cleaning supplies and other items into plastic buckets to be sent to storm-hit states along the Gulf of Mexico.

The hurricane hit the heart of Louisiana's oil and fishing industries but appeared to spare New Orleans the catastrophic flooding of Katrina.

Democratic nominee Obama also scaled back his political activities and turned his attention to the Gulf Coast. After stops in Michigan and Wisconsin, he was returning to his Chicago headquarters to monitor the storm's progress and decide his schedule for the rest of the week. He urged supporters to donate to the American Red Cross.

As Republicans assembled, outside the Xcel Center protesters smashed windows, punctured car tires and threw bottles, and there were reports that delegates from Connecticut were attacked as they stepped off their bus to attend the day's convention session.

An estimated 8,000 to 10,000 anti-war protesters marched toward the convention, some of them smashing windows, puncturing tires and throwing bottles along the way. Police used pepper spray on the demonstrators and made at least five arrests.

Melida Arredondo Alexander brought a coffin to the protest, as well as a photograph of her stepson, Corporal Alexander Arrredondo, who was killed in Iraq at age 20, reports CBSNews.com political reporter Brian Montopoli. She handed out copies of one of the letters Arrredondo sent from Iraq, which read in part, "I am not afraid of dying. I am more afraid of what will happen to all the ones that I love if something happens to me."

The war was likely to get a second day of attention outside the convention on Tuesday as U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, a former Republican presidential candidate who opposes the Iraq war, was expected to speak to supporters at a Minneapolis rally. Separately, a group advocating for the poor was planning a protest march toward the convention center.

The hurricane marked a pause in what has been the most compelling U.S. presidential campaign in memory. Both McCain and Obama were given little chance at the outset of their parties' primary campaign of winning the nominations.

McCain, 72, a veteran senator and former Vietnam prisoner of war, would be the oldest first-term president in U.S. history. Obama, 47, a first-term senator, would be the first black president.

McCain added further spice to the race last week by naming a Palin, a virtual unknown, as his running mate - the first Republican woman ever picked as a vice presidential candidate. Palin is a strong opponent of abortion and her selection was seen as boosting McCain's support among the party's base of Christian conservatives, many of whom have been reluctant to back him.

For a second day Tuesday, Palin had no public events scheduled. Her only public comments Monday came in a brief statement with her husband, Todd, about their daughter's pregnancy and decision to marry the father, who was identified only as Levi.

McCain's campaign aides said the statement was issued to rebut Internet rumors that the governor's 4-month-old baby was, in fact, Bristol's.

"Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family," the Palins said in the brief statement.

In Monroe, Michigan, Obama condemned rumors involving the children of candidates and echoed the McCain campaign argument. Said Obama: "I think people's families are off limits, and people's children are especially off limits."

Prominent religious conservatives issued statements of support.

James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, commended the Palins for "for not just talking about their pro-life and pro-family values, but living them out even in the midst of trying circumstances."

The decision to hire a lawyer for Palin stems from an investigation into whether the governor fired Alaska public safety commissioner Walt Monegan after he refused to fire a state trooper who had divorced Palin's sister.

In July, a legislative oversight committee approved $100,000 to investigate whether Palin abused her power.

The dispute over the dismissal has dogged Palin for nearly two months and is likely to do so for another two months leading to the Nov. 4 election.

The legislature's investigating committee disclosed the attorney's hiring on Monday. The committee released an e-mailed letter it had received from the lawyer on Friday, the day McCain announced Palin would be McCain's running mate.

Tucker Eskew, a senior McCain adviser, said the state, not Palin herself, hired the attorney to represent her in her capacity as governor, and he has been working for several weeks.

"The governor of every state gets legal counsel, and this attorney is part of a weeks-old effort to provide this governor defense in a series of outlandish politically motivated charges," Eskew said.

[hhroams]

The problem is ole John going to be walking around with a big old woodie all the time and he''s liable to have a heart attack, or party girl Cindy will get jealous of a younger better looking woman and attack her or John or possbilily both!!!!

[hhroams]

Some reporter needs to ask Gov Palin is she stills supports Alaska seceding from the USA. She used to promote this actively.

[hhroams]

I was watching the RNC live a minute ago and they had someone on who does not fit in at all with their WASP born-again christian(we never sin and we''re better than you attitude) image. She was of mixed race, good looking and was giving the old tongue and hunch singing to the microphone that appeared to me to make many of the older conservative religious right type folks very uncomfortable(now it didn''t bother me at all cause as young man I often frequented places that people like her might be working in-bars, strip clubs, etc, I might frequented some as a midaged man, and even as a senior citizen, but I don''t practice hypocrisy so it doesn''t matter what I do) I felt it was strange for this type of entertainment at a Christian political party meeting.

Do you think after she loses the election for VP that there is any chance Sarah might give it all up for an appearance in Playboy magazine?

[hypnotoad72]

I feel sorry for anyone needing to go to the hospital located nearby...

Now it''s only a couple of blocks away, and with all the major roadways blocked like a large intestine, anyone needing fast attention is going to be in trouble.

Was the DNC convention a couple blocks away from a hospital? If so, I''ll feel better. (After all, they did free speech zones and it''s nice to see things done equally from both camps...)

[briannorwood]

Officials of the Alaskan Independence Party say that Palin was once a member of their party, which since the 1970s has been pushing for a legal vote for Alaskans to decide whether or not residents of the 49th state can secede from the United States.

Lynette Clark, the chairman of the AIP, tells ABC News that Palin and her husband Todd were members in 1994, even attending the 1994 statewide convention in Wasilla. Clark was AIP secretary at the time.

AIP founder, Joe Vogler man who said, "I''m an Alaskan, not an American. I''ve got no use for America or her damned institutions." Volger also said, "The fires of Hell are glaciers compared to my hate for the American government."

I suspect McCain and his aides didn''t know about any of this. Indeed, they couldn''t have -- they didn''t vet her. But now that this revelation has come to light, what''s the defense?

[sistatee-2009]

Google palin on wikipedia.com and read all the footnotes. Even her mother-in-law is unsure of her.

Posted by BajaJohn1 at 06:06 PM : Sep 02, 2008

You can write anything you want and plaster it in Wikipedia. It''s a BS site.

[elizabeth444]

The only real story would have been if Bristol Palin had terminated her pregnancy. Then liberals would certainly have attacked the Palins for not practicing what they preach. This isn''t what happened. Unfortunately, this is a sad story that happens all the time. How many of our parents "had" to get married? How many of the audience here, as young men and women, were involved in a terminated pregnancy? Definitely there is no room to cast stones at anyone in this story. Move on.

[elizabeth444]

On one side we have wisdom, experience, courage and honesty (McCain), along with a fresh outlook and great potential (Palin); and on the other, bitterness, anger and deception cloaked by smooth rhetoric (Obama), and buffoonish goofiness (Biden).

Not a hard choice for me.

[sharncedar]

"Which of the two vice president nominees,

should they become president,

would you rather have answering

the three-oclock AM phone call in

The maternity ward.?,,,,,,,


Sarah Palin or Joseph Biden.?"



joe biden would be ther procuring an abortion for his 27-year-old mistress, oh I''m sorry that''s "off limits" for the press. It''s ok to smear a little girl, 17 years old, who is not a public figure in any way, but Joe Biden''s disgusting filthy extramarital affairs are "off limits". That''s the rules as the Democrats paint them, hope you all remember now.

They are sleaze, they will commit any evil, start wars (Yugoslavia), spy on people (Clinton attack team), everything they blame Bush for, and all with a holy and proud elitist attitude.

Pelosi, lying ho, when is the war in Iraq going to end? Huh? When, lying ho? About when all the othet promises of the Democrats are kept - NEVER.

[sharncedar]

Now we see the real Obama supporters. They were going to run a clean campaign, they were about changing things in washington - just like Obama was going to support his grandmother and reverend wright.

Now its vicious attacks on a 17-year-old girl, smearing her up and down the press, attacking her baby who is still unborn. This is the real Democrats. This is who they are.

What they hate about Palin is that she is a real American, with real problems, not a Haavad elitist who hates America or a rich old creep like Biden. This is what they think about you and me, the Democrats despise us, they hate us, and will turn on us at the drop of a hat. They can''t even pretend for the cameras anymore.

They hate Palin because she isn''t rich, she isn''t priviledged, because she was driving her kids around to hockey games just 4 years ago. and so they smear her daughter on every news site, a coordinated Obama media attack on a defenseless 17-year-old girl.

Was this OK for Cheleas "the ho" Clinton? Was it exposed how Chelsea "the ho" Clinton was involved in bribery, and a huge financial scandal tantamount to felony larceny? Nom she was "off limits". everything is "off limits" untilt he Democrats start losing, then its time for their real selves, the real democrats, vicious attackers of children.

[sistatee-2009]

McCain is now admitting a "senior moment". He meant to nominate Sarah Connor.

[ajaxtheleast]

REMOVED from Bush''s RNC video appearance speech,,,


"Which of the two vice president nominees,

should they become president,

would you rather have answering

the three-oclock AM phone call in

The maternity ward.?,,,,,,,


Sarah Palin or Joseph Biden.?"



That was early morning scratching around
with what the weekend left him to go with,,,

,,,but we''ll see if he came up
with something better.

[dashortround]

Gore & Leiberman in 2000!

Oooops, strike that!

McSame & Palin & Lieberman in 2008!

THAT''S the ticket!

[rushliberal]

%u201CIt%u2019s more than a little sad that with another hurricane heading for the Gulf Coast, Karl Rove is up to the same old attack politics that he practically patented while helping dig a deep hole for our country to get out of,%u201D said Biden Spokesman David Wade. %u201CAmericans deserve better, especially at a time like this.%u201D

[dashortround]

I find it amusing that the most prominent speaker at the GOP convention is Joe Lieberman -- AL GORE''S VP RUNNING MATE!

LOL...

My, how far the GOP has fallen -- and they obviously still haven''t even hit bottom yet!

Joe Lieberman...political savior of the GOP! Hilarious...

[usclimey]

So proud of their record are they that they give the sitting president 8 minutes by satellite, his VEEP 0 minutes and a traitorous democrat top billing. Is this the GOP GOPigs really want to see?

[ddaryl1]

GOP Back To Business of destroying the America dream

[mcvet-1]

Posted by Shouterguy at 04:26 PM : Sep 02, 2008

ROFLMAO You''re funny dude!!

[noloyalisti]

I hope the fascist mainstained media reports on the police riots that are going on at the convention against the brave protesters. God, I wish I was there to give those Greasy Old Perverts a piece of my mind. Here trying to save my small business the fascists are trying to ruin.

[shouterguy]

And on the GOP convention floor, the favorite pastry combo is deep-fried elephant earmarks and baked Alaska.

Followed by a nice dish of humble pie.

Mister McCain said he''d just sit in the corner and eat crow while waiting for his goose to cook.

Should be done right about...NOW.