GOP convention opens with appeal for Gustav aid
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By DAVID ESPO / The Associated Press
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Republicans, determined to propel John McCain to the White House, opened their storm-shortened national convention on Monday amid distractions involving running mate Sarah Palin. Police made more than 50 arrests in the surrounding streets as anti-war protests turned violent.
Delegates had scarcely settled into their seats when it was disclosed a lawyer had been hired to represent the Alaska governor in an investigation of her firing of the state’s public safety commissioner. The other disclosure was personal, not political — the pregnancy of her 17-year-old unmarried daughter.
The convention’s opening session was abbreviated as Hurricane Gustav hit the Gulf Coast, sparing New Orleans the type of damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina almost exactly three years ago.
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President Bush skipped his planned speech to go to disaster and relief centers, determined to avoid a repeat of the mismanagement of Katrina.
McCain was in Waterville, Ohio, where he helped pack supplies to be sent to the Gulf.
Both men’s wives sparked cheers when they appeared before the delegates, shunning politics to urge contributions to help storm victims.
Virtually the only political business of the convention’s 2½-hour session was approval of a platform that sidestepped the Iraq War, one of the key issues in the campaign between McCain and Democrat Barack Obama.
“The waging of war — and the achieving of peace — should never be micromanaged in a party platform. ... In dealing with present conflicts or future crises, our next president must preserve all options,” it said.
Outside the Xcel Center was a reminder of the passions the war stirs. 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.
Police used pepper spray to disperse demonstrators, and reported making at least 56 arrests.
The convention was less than 15 minutes old when Mike Duncan, chairman of the Republican National Committee, asked delegates to use their cell phones to text a five-digit code that would make a donation to the Red Cross for victims of the hurricane.
It was a theme that first lady Laura Bush and Cindy McCain picked up more than an hour later.
“This is a time when we take off our Republican hats and put on our American hats,” McCain said.
Added the first lady: “Our first priority for today and in the coming days is to ensure the safety and well-being of those living in the Gulf Coast region.”
Behind the two women was a giant screen showing the names of state-approved charities in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
There was money news of a more conventional type, when John McCain’s aides announced he had raised at least $47 million last month for the fall campaign against Democratic rival Barack Obama. It was the largest monthly amount to date for the GOP candidate.
While the opening day convention program was shorn of political rhetoric, aides said McCain was likely to deliver his nomination acceptance speech as scheduled on Thursday.
The program for Tuesday was in flux, officials said, although they said it was likely there would be more overt political speechmaking than on the opening day of the convention.
Some Republicans were eager for a more traditional convention week.
“When the storm passes and we can see that there are enough resources and that lives are not in danger any longer and help is on its way or in place, then that’ll be the green light for us to enjoy the celebration we’re all here for,” said Kelly Burt, a delegate from California.
But what there was revolved around Palin, little know nationally until McCain named her his running mate last Friday.
An attorney has been hired to represent Palin in the legislature’s investigation into the dismissal of public safety commissioner Walt Monegan, who was dismissed after he refused to fire a state trooper who had divorced the governor’s sister.
“We have been hired to represent the Governor and the Governor’s Office” in the investigation, wrote Anchorage attorney Thomas V. Van Flein.
“We fully welcome a fair inquiry into these allegations. ... Please know that we intend to cooperate with this investigation,” the lawyer said.
As for Palin’s daughter, McCain’s campaign aides said Monday’s statement was issued to rebut Internet rumors that the governor’s four-month-old baby was, in fact, daughter Bristol’s child.
“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,” Sarah and Todd Palin said in the brief statement.
The father was identified in the statement as Levi, but the campaign said it was not disclosing his full name or age or how he and Bristol know each other, citing privacy.
Aides said Palin had informed McCain about her daughter’s pregnancy before she was picked to be his running mate. At several points during the discussions, McCain’s team warned the governor that the scrutiny of her private life would be intense and that there was nothing she could do to prepare for it.
“Senator McCain’s view is this is a private family matter. As parents, (the Palins) love their daughter unconditionally and are going to support their daughter,” said McCain spokesman Steve Schmidt.
“Life happens,” he added.
Prominent religious conservatives, many of them long cool to McCain’s candidacy, 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.”
Associated Press reporters Amy Forliti, Sara Kugler, Liz Sidoti and Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this report.
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This young girl is in for a rough few months because of the spotlight her family has been thrust into. As an Obama supporter, I hope that the young woman involved is kept far away from any new coverage and that she is given the room to do what she needs for her future. However, the issues involved continue to be important and need to be discussed.
It is becoming amazing how many "stories" are coming out all of the sudden (and during a hurricane which is otherwise refocusing attention) - the baby, Sarah Palin's husband's DUI, her involvement in an Alaska-first separatist group, and particularly the fact that she's lied about her views on the "Bridge to Nowhere" which was so obviously a key reason the McCain campaign thought she could be a "reformer." Now it appears that she was before the bridge before she was against it, that even though there is no bridge, the state still took Federal money to build the road that was going to lead to it (instead of losing the money altogether) and kept the bridge money for other projects. Add to that her hiring of a lobbyist to get MILLIONS of dollars for the town she was mayor of (population of less than 10,000) and her leadership role in a Ted Stevens 527 group (groups that McCain supposedly opposes) and this is turning into a real political soap opera. All together showing that John McCain made a rash decision and picked a woman he really knew nothing about as a cheap political ploy to gain a few moderate women's votes (unlikely). That doesn't bode well for what his judgment would be like when a real national emergency arose. "
safe in the White House with the Democrat President of the U.S.? How about the Democrat running for President and the questionable WhiteWater
case and several party cases vented?? How about a Dem running for Pres.
that bot a mansion from an indicated criminal? Oh in my school days sex
education was taught at HOME, never knew of a school mate years before me
and after me that was pregnant or even sleeping together. Gee, wonder
how that happened when we didn't have sex education taught in school??
Oh yeah, we did go to Sunday School and Church in those days and learned
RIGHT AND WRONG and God's Will.!!!!! "
..don't be fooled that it helps one America as McCain would imagine.. "
The reason there's some Republican bashing is that they're so hypocritial: touting "family values" and morals and such, while they let their own children go astray. But wait, I suppose the father Levi is a dangerous Democrat. That has to be it! "
My problem with Palin regarding her daughter's pregnancy,is that she had to know the intense scrutiny (if she's as intelligent as the GOP claims she is) her family would face after she was named the new VP candidate.Since she knew of the girl's pregnancy,she would know that kid would me vilified (duh!).Yet she chose to expose her daughter to this.Seems to me she puts her political ambitions before the good of her child.I can tell you,I would and have sacrificed a lot for my grown child and I will not allow her suffer one second of this kind of public shame.Shame on Sarah Palin and her husband.
P.S.I am a conservative Christian who's undecided but now my choice is being made clear!IF I vote at all,it won't be McCain!!!! "
And what did the daughter do to you? What makes it your right to get involved in HER business?! I realize this is an excellent opportunity to try to draw blood in this political battle...but think about whose blood you're drawing. By attacking Sarah Palin, you don't just attack her, but you attack the daughter as well. Perhaps she hasn't made the wisest choices, but she doesn't deserve the scrutiny and insults from the entire Democratic party. "
The issue isn't the daughter herself... it's the hypocrisy of the GOP in touting their "family values" only to have it blow up in their faces every time there's a scandal in their own personal lives that contradicts everything they've said publicly about their "family values." "