Bush nominated as GOP unites Schwarzenegger, first lady praise leadership

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NEW YORK – Delegates to the Republican National Convention were brought to their feet Tuesday night when Laura Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger extolled President Bush as a pillar of confidence in times of great uncertainty.

“You can count on him, especially in a crisis,” said the first lady.

“He’s a man of perseverance. He’s a man of inner strength. He is a leader who doesn’t flinch, doesn’t waiver, does not back down,” the California governor added in prepared remarks that blended high praise for the president with assurances to immigrants that the party welcomes them. “We Republicans admire your ambition. We encourage your dreams. We believe in your future.”

Schwarzenegger and the first lady had their turns at the Madison Square Garden podium as 2,508 delegates formally bestowed their nomination on the president for a second term in office. “Four more years,” they chanted in unison. The sound system blared the song “Knock on Wood.”

Maine’s delegates and alternates were thrilled by the double-bill presentations, if not a tad star-struck. Jerry Hudson, an alternate from Brewer, said Laura Bush was “a class act” and a “first-class lady.” Hudson said Schwarzenegger “epitomized the American dream.”

“He has proven that anyone who’s willing to work hard and believe can achieve the American dream,” he said.

Schwarzenegger’s story has become nearly legendary in America. An enthusiastic body-builder turned action movie star turned politician, Schwarzenegger – born in Austria – quickly gained the admiration of the delegation.

“To stand here and speak in behalf of the president of the United States, that is an immigrant’s dream,” he said.

The California governor recounted his early years in Europe and living in constant fear “of the Soviet boot.” The delegates went wild when he told them a real Republican believed that the United States is the “best hope for democracy and not the United Nations.”

The crowd went off the charts as Schwarzenegger reminded them that anyone can prosper as long as they’re willing to work hard and take a chance on success.

“To those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say: Don’t be economic girlie men,” Schwarzenegger said as the crowd roared, “AH-nie AH-nie” approvingly.

He encountered sharp criticism in his home state earlier this year when he ridiculed Democratic legislators who opposed his budget as “girlie men.”

“He understands the issues that face the American people and he knows President Bush is the man that solve them,” said Dwayne Bickford, executive director of the Maine Republican Party. “He’s incredible.”

Other delegates were clearly caught up in the hype, brandishing blue-and-white “Arnold” signs and chanting “four more years.”

“This is great,” said Philip Roy, a delegate from Fairfield. “Let’s terminate those Democrats. Isn’t this amazing.”

Bush, locked in a tight re-election race, campaigned across three battleground states during the day and worked to extinguish a convention-week controversy of his own making.

“In this different kind of war, we may never sit down at a peace table. But make no mistake about it, we are winning, and we will win” the war on terror, he told an American Legion convention in Tennessee, one day after saying he didn’t think victory would be possible.

“I probably needed to be more articulate” in his earlier comments, he conceded in a radio interview with conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

Bush’s Democratic rival, Sen. John Kerry, spent the day at home in Nantucket, Mass., as his campaign settled on a plan to place $45 million in television advertising in 20 battleground states through Election Day.

The commercials will run on broadcast stations and cable, and include appeals to minority voters whom Democrats need to turn out in large numbers on Nov. 2 if they are to deny Bush a second term.

A poll by The Washington Post showed the race to be a dead heat, 48 percent apiece, but found that the president is moving ahead of his rival on national security issues and pulling into a virtual tie on handling of the economy.

Bush arrives in New York on Wednesday, a day ahead of his nomination acceptance speech that is expected to sketch out a second-term agenda. Vice President Dick Cheney addresses the convention tonight.

Both the first lady and Schwarzenegger praised Bush’s leadership in terms that bordered on extravagant in speeches that did double political duty.

For the first lady, that meant what aides called a glimpse at the personal side of the commander in chief; for the governor, an attempt to appeal to new and unregistered voters who are not part of the president’s conservative base.

“No American president wants to go to war,” said Mrs. Bush, neither Lincoln nor Roosevelt nor her own husband.

But in a description of a commander in chief that most Americans never see, she said, “I remember some very quiet nights at the dinner table” after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

“George was weighing grim scenarios and ominous intelligence and potentially even more devastating attacks. … And I remember sitting in the window of the White House, watching as my husband walked on the lawn below. I knew he was wrestling with these agonizing decisions that would have such profound consequences for so many lives and the future of the world,” she said.

In a contentious day in the streets around the convention hall, police made more than 270 arrests on a day of varied protests. Some activists donned pig snouts and rolled around in bogus $100 bills bearing an unflattering likeness of Cheney.

Others demonstrated outside the offices of Fox News Channel, which they accused of a right-wing bias. Others protested near the site of the World Trade Center – Ground Zero in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks, who guided U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, was a late addition to the speaking program as the campaign worked to strengthen Bush’s claim as a steady commander in chief.

The script also called for something of a Bush family hour, with twins Jenna and Barbara introducing their father the president, who would in turn make remarks by remote hookup to present his wife for her speech.

In her prepared remarks, Mrs. Bush said that Bush’s leadership has helped 50 million men, women and children win freedom over the past four years, a reference to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“I want to talk about the issue that I believe is most important for my own daughters, for all our families, and for our future: George’s work to protect our country and defeat terror so that all children can grow up in a more peaceful world,” she added.

Schwarzenegger’s praise of Bush echoed his Terminator character mantra of “I’ll be back.”

“America is back. Back from the attack on our homeland – back from the attack on our economy, back from the attack on our way of life,” he said in a reference to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.

The world outside the convention delivered jarring news in the global war on terror.

A suicide bomber was blamed for an explosion near a busy subway station in Moscow. Hamas took responsibility for blowing up two buses in Israel.

And a Web site offered a link to a video purporting to show the methodical, grisly killings of 12 Nepalese construction workers kidnapped in Iraq.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.