Paul Rieckhoff isn't as sure. A New Yorker who helped with search and rescue operations at ground zero and then led an Army Reserve platoon in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Rieckhoff said the focus on Sept. 11 is just a way to avoid talking about the war abroad or safety at home. "I'll tell you, I was at 9/11, I was at ground zero digging bodies out," said Rieckhoff, who now leads a veterans' organization called Operation Truth, and came to Madison Square Garden to see if the Republicans were living up to its standards. "This is an insult to me and to everyone else who was there. If they're trying to take advantage of 9/11 for political reasons, I think it's more of the political posturing crap we've heard from both sides. I want to hear issues. I want to hear what they're going to do to stop 9/11 from happening again."
On the first night of the Republican National Convention, there were a lot of things that nobody heard. In almost four hours of speeches -- speeches devoted almost exclusively to the attacks of Sept. 11 -- Osama bin Laden wasn't mentioned once. The protests in the streets were ignored; a phony convention "floor reporter" said that New York had "rolled out the red carpet" for the Republicans, and delegates universally claimed that they hadn't seen any protesters.
There was also no hint of any discord in the party. The pro-gay Log Cabin Republicans launched a TV ad earlier in the day warning that the religious right was hijacking the party, but the moderates who dominated the prime-time lineup Monday said nothing at all about the party's internal tensions. Although the Log Cabin Republicans view McCain and Giuliani as friends to their cause, those friends did nothing at all Monday to move delegates toward a more moderate view on social issues.
Earlier in the day, delegates ratified platform language that gave the party's right wing just about everything it wanted -- a call for constitutional amendments banning abortion and gay marriage, opposition to any form of legal recognition of same-sex relationships, and tight limits on stem-cell research. The proponents of such hard-right policies weren't on display during prime time Monday, as the Republicans chose to kick off their convention with two of the party's most popular moderates.
Democrats dubbed it a "bait and switch" operation. Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe said anyone who wanted to see just how extremist the GOP really is should "turn down the volume and read the platform."
"They're trying to present one view and one face on the party to the people, and they're trying to keep the focus on those who, frankly, have no influence in Washington, with all due respect," Sen. Hillary Clinton said Sunday. "They're not running the House -- Tom DeLay is. They're not running the Senate -- the Republican Senate caucus largely driven by the most extreme members are unfortunately calling the shots."
Republicans brushed off the charge, saying that the party would be foolish to ignore its most popular politicians during election season. "A party that wasn't smart enough to ask Gov. Schwarzenegger to come and speak would be unworthy of trying to occupy the White House," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Monday at a panel sponsored by the moderate Main Street Republicans.
Christine Todd Whitman, the former New Jersey governor and EPA administrator, said during the panel discussion that she thinks too much is being made of the convention's moderate cast. "I have been somewhat amused as I have gotten questioned at this convention, 'Well, isn't it somewhat hypocritical that you have all of these Republican officeholders who are moderate and are speaking?'" she said. "Well, to think about it, no, they're Republican officeholders, and they're speaking and they're moderate. That's who we are."
Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell said that the parties -- both parties -- have to put on a moderate show to appeal to a country split down the middle. "The Democrats painted a much more moderate image with their speeches and speakers than the Democratic delegates," he told a radio interviewer Monday. "We are putting our moderate stars front and center for the very same reason. The voters that are undecided are in the middle, and both sides are doing exactly the same thing."
Not exactly. In Boston, liberal Democrats like Howard Dean, Ted Kennedy, Dennis Kucinich and Al Sharpton all had prominent speaking spots, and sometimes they used them to speak passionately about their causes. Moreover, the speakers who played most prominently on the Democratic stage in Boston represented -- for better or for worse -- the current power structure of the party.
McCain and Giuliani don't represent the reality of today's Republican Party, and Monday night they didn't even do a particularly good job of representing themselves. McCain tarnished his reputation as a "straight talker" by sucking up entirely to a president he has often opposed. Giuliani, meanwhile, lost some of his good-guy luster by engaging in the kind of fact-challenged smearing favored by the Bush campaign. He fudged facts to make the case that Kerry is a flip-flopper who can't be trusted. He said that Kerry had declared himself an antiwar candidate and then a "pro-war candidate" -- a statement that was half misleading and half untrue -- and he claimed that Kerry had suggested he was supported by some foreign leaders -- true -- who opposed the war in Iraq -- false.
And neither McCain nor Giuliani distinguished himself as a speaker. On the Democrats' first night in Boston, Jimmy Carter, Al Gore and Bill Clinton electrified the Fleet Center crowd. Although Giuliani fired off a few anti-Kerry zingers, the overall tone of the night was flat. Maybe it was because, unlike the Democratic stars, the Republican keynote speakers on Monday night were not the red-meat GOP delegates' favorite sons. Giuliani's speech went on forever, but then it ended abruptly. Within seconds, delegates were filing out of the hall and back to their buses, where through the darkened windows they might catch a glimpse of a very different world outside.
About the writer
Tim Grieve is a senior writer for Salon based in San Francisco.
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