|
Republicans salute Bush in convention opener
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-08-31 08:52 US Republicans opened their four-day national
convention on Monday with salutes to President Bush's wartime leadership and
repeated reminders of his aggressive response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
At an opening session in New York, Republicans frequently invoked the memory
of the attacks and described them as the proving ground where Bush had become a
strong and decisive commander in chief.
"In this city George W. Bush confronted one of the greatest tests of
leadership ever to face a president," Marc Racicot, chairman of Bush's campaign,
told delegates in New York's Madison Square Garden. "Under President Bush, we
have a safer, more hopeful America."
Lt. Col. Joseph Repya(Ret.) from Eagan, Minnesota, leads the Pledge of
Allegiance at the prime time program of the 2004 Republican National
Convention at Madison Square Garden in New York, August 30, 2004.
[Reuters] |
The gathering is in New York, less than four miles from the gaping hole where
the World Trade Center once stood, in part to showcase Bush's leadership after
the attacks.
Bush, on a week-long tour of key swing states on his way to his arrival in
New York on Wednesday, told a rally in New Hampshire he was filled with
"absolute determination and resolve" to defend the United States.
"You know where I stand: I believe that we must never yield," Bush said at an
event in Nashua.
Convention delegates approved a conservative, nonbinding party platform that
endorses constitutional bans on gay marriage and abortion and vigorously defends
Bush's conduct of the war in Iraq. They drew an implied contrast with Bush's
Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.
"While others may hesitate and equivocate, the Republican Party will support
our president as he makes America and the world stronger," said Tennessee Sen.
Bill Frist, chairman of the platform committee.
Republicans began the convention in an upbeat mood, with a flurry of new
polls showed Bush gaining ground and slightly leading Kerry nationally and in
several key swing states.
Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in the hall to chants of "Four more
years!" Cheney watched as he and Bush were nominated for second terms and the
states began a roll call vote that will conclude on Wednesday.
On the streets outside, the pace of protests slowed dramatically after
hundreds of thousands of demonstrators marched through the city's streets on
Sunday.
Tom
Roepke, a New York City public school teacher, sunbathes next to a sign
protesting the war in Iraq on the Great Lawn in New York's Central Park on
Sunday, Aug. 29, 2004, the day before the start of the Republican National
Convention. [AP] |
Poor people
living with the HIV virus or AIDS and the homeless protested against Bush's
economic policies. At a rally outside U.N. headquarters, about 1,000 people,
watched by at least 100 police officers in riot gear, held up signs saying "The
Poor Will Be Heard" and "Housing is a Human Right."
SEPT. 11 TRIBUTE
Monday's evening session will be highlighted by a tribute to Sept. 11 victims
and appearances by two party leaders who appeal to moderates, former New York
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain.
"He has been tested and has risen to the most important challenge of our
time, and I salute him," McCain said of Bush in prepared excerpts of his speech
released by the campaign.
Three victims' relatives will address the convention on Monday and Giuliani,
who has been hailed for guiding the city through the aftermath of Sept. 11, is
expected to focus on that day, its consequences and Bush's reaction.
Giuliani, McCain and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who will appear
on Tuesday, are the stars in a lineup of moderate speakers designed to soften
the party's conservative image and show a more inclusive face to swing voters in
key states.
"In choosing a president, we really don't choose a Republican or Democrat, a
conservative or liberal. We choose a leader," Giuliani said in his prepared
remarks.
"And in times of danger, as we are now in, Americans should put leadership at
the core of their decision," he said, comparing Bush's fight against terror to
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's battle with Nazi Germany and U.S.
President Ronald Reagan's opposition to the Soviet Union.
McCain, who lost to Bush in a bitter Republican presidential primary struggle
in 2000, has become Bush's regular campaign trail companion and will join him at
events on Tuesday and Friday.
"I salute his determination to make this world a better, safer, freer place.
He has not wavered. He has not flinched from the hard choices. He will not
yield, and neither will we," McCain said in prepared excerpts.
Kerry was on vacation in Nantucket, Massachusetts, and ceding the spotlight
to Bush for most of the week, but his vice presidential running mate, North
Carolina Sen. John Edwards, condemned Bush's foreign policy in a speech in
Wilmington, North Carolina.
"For 50 years, our presidents have led America down this strong and peaceful
path. Until now, until this president," Edwards said in his prepared text. "We
have seen what this administration's approach does to our standing in the world.
It isolates us. It costs us respect from our allies."
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top World
News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
