GOP convention back on track; Ill. Republicans fired up
MINNEAPOLIS — The fight is back on, Republican officials told delegates here this morning.
With the worst of Hurricane Gustav over and New Orleans not as devastated as it was by Katrina, the Republicans are resuming a regular schedule of bashing Democrats here at their convention, though they will keep up a philanthropic thrust to send relief to hurricane victims in Louisiana, GOP officials said.
After a brief truce to make sure the Gulf Coast survived Gustav, President Bush will address delegates via satellite tonight and Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Joe Lieberman and former GOP Sen. Fred Thompson will likely address delegates in person.
“You ready for a fight?” former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele asked Illinois Republicans Tuesday morning. “Because you know we’re in one ... You are in the eye of the storm ...Thank you Illinois. God bless you. Let’s go fight.”
Steele and former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton were among the speakers brought in to rally Republicans from Barack Obama’s home state this morning.
Part of their mission, as with other speakers all over the Twin Cities today, is to blunt the charges against Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
John McCain’s vice-presidential pick is fending off attacks from the liberal blogosphere about her 17-year-old daughter’s pregnancy, Palin’s former membership in Alaska’s Independence Party — which has pushed for a vote on Alaska seceding from the U.S., and an ongoing probe into whether the Alaska governor improperly fired a public safety commissioner who wouldn’t fire Palin’s ex-brother-in-law.
“On this Sarah Palin thing, they don’t know what they’re biting into here — they have no idea,” Steele said. “I know Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin is a friend of mine. They’re not ready for Sarah Palin.”
Bolton cautioned people not to be fooled by the former beauty queen’s good looks. Anyone who thinks Palin was chosen “because she was blessed with great attractiveness is going to make a great mistake because under that facade is a mind with a steel trap,” Bolton said.
On a trip to Alaska a year ago, Bolton sent some time at the governor’s mansion in Juneau and was very impressed with Palin’s command of gun owner’s rights and Alaska’s role in America’s missile defense program.
“In the past 24, 48 hours we have seen some of the vilest things said about her that I can remember in American politics,” Bolton said.
“Sen. Obama was right when he said he’s not going to dignify any of these comments with his own. But let’s be clear: the attack machine is at work out there. They did the same thing to my law school classmate and now Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas [and] Robert Bork — I’ve had a little experience with it myself.”
But Bolton and Steele repeated the Republican arguments that Palin’s experience as chief executive of Alaska, even if only for a year and a half, is still more executive experience than Obama has had.
“As a courtesy, I just remind the other side that Sen. Obama is running for president and not Vice President. If he’d really like to compare credentials, I’m sure we could arrange for a debate on credentials between Sen. Obama and Gov. Palin,” Bolton said.
Palin is scheduled to address delegates Wednesday. The Republicans decided at 5 a.m. today to proceed with the regular schedule today, though former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, originally scheduled to speak tonight, has been pushed back to Wednesday or Thursday.
Also on the schedule tonight is a family — who, like the McCains —adopted a Bangladeshi refugee child.