Speakers blast Kerry Cheney, Miller go on the attack

NEW YORK – Charismatic moderates cleared the stage Wednesday at Madison Square Garden for two conservative bulldogs who tore the Democratic agenda to shreds during the third day of the Republican National Convention.

Vice President Dick Cheney accused Sen. John Kerry on Wednesday night of a “habit of indecision,” saying the Democratic nominee does not understand the world and cannot be trusted to protect the nation. President Bush, he said, has led with strength and conviction.

Meanwhile, a Democrat who gave the keynote speech for President Bill Clinton 12 years ago offered a blistering rebuke of his party in a return engagement for President Bush. Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia accused the Democratic leaders of jeopardizing American security and placing soldiers in danger by their “obsession” to bring down the president.

“Where is the bipartisanship in this country when you need it the most?” he asked.

In a speech accepting his party’s nomination for a second term, Cheney paid brief homage to Kerry’s service in Vietnam and then said Kerry has been wrong on foreign policy in the three decades since.

“History has shown that a strong and purposeful America is vital to preserving freedom and keeping us safe, yet time and again Senator Kerry has made the wrong call on national security,” Cheney said in prepared remarks.

The night of fiery speeches was not without incident. In the second security breach in a single day at Madison Square Garden, a woman was removed from the building by Secret Service agents after she attempted to hang a banner inside the facility. Cheney seemed to be unaware of the incident.

Maine delegates were wowed this week by moderates such as Arizona Sen. John McCain, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Cheney and Miller hammered home many of the core beliefs of conservative Republicans who controlled the construction of the party platform earlier this week. Although opposed by many GOP moderates, two planks of the platform proposed constitutional bans against gay marriage and abortion on demand.

“Cheney was responsive to the more conservative wing of the Republican party tonight,” Maine delegate Rick Bennett of Norway said. “The vice president is terribly underrated and misperceived. This was about his opportunity to represent himself to the American people and talk about what his role in the administration is and remind people of the tremendous capabilities that he brings to the administration.”

One thing that Cheney did talk about was his personal opposition to the platform’s gay marriage ban that was approved by his boss, President Bush. In a move that stunned many conservatives, Cheney reiterated that his daughter Mary is a lesbian and that gay marriages should be decided by the states.

A frequent target of Democrats for his hawkish views on Iraq, backroom deals with companies that have less-than-perfect environmental records and tax cuts that favor the wealthiest Americans, Cheney was even targeted by some Republicans who wanted to replace him with either McCain or Giuliani.

Lois Snowe-Mello of Maine offered her tacit support for Cheney, although she was at odds with him over one key issue.

“I will always believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman,” said the delegate from Poland Spring. “Still, everybody should have their time. I think McCain and Giuliani might be able to have their time in four years, but I do think Dick Cheney has been a strong vice president. It’s the media that’s done him the injustice.”

Despite the jabs Cheney has taken and his reported dip in the polls, Andre Cushing, a Maine delegate from Hampden, said the vice president is a strong leader whose expertise was needed.

“He’s not in a position to be [elected] the next president, but he has the experience in Mideastern affairs at a time when that is major issue in American foreign policy and our security,” Cushing said. “He has a quiet, steady leadership and he’s not the type of person who needs to have the spotlight and compete with George Bush.”

Cheney and Miller went after Kerry with a vengeance Wednesday night, accusing the Massachusetts senator of trying to straddle both sides of the fence on a variety of issues to win over voters.

“His back-and-forth reflects a habit of indecision, and sends a message of confusion,” Cheney said. “A senator can be wrong for 20 years, without consequence to the nation. But a president always casts the deciding vote.”

“Flip-flop, flip-flop,” chanted the GOP delegates.

Cheney, who received five deferments from service in Vietnam, noted that Kerry “speaks often” of his own decorated service.

“And we honor him for it,” Cheney said before launching a prolonged critique of Kerry’s Senate record, accusing him of taking one side of an issue only to change his mind later.

Miller ignored the cuts in military spending that Cheney pushed as defense secretary under the first President Bush, but chose to focus on Kerry’s votes against cutting-edge U.S. weaponry now deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“This is a man who wants to be the commander in chief of our U.S. armed forces? U.S. forces armed with what? Spitballs?” Miller said.

It was exactly the kind of reasoning that Bennett said was needed to convince disenchanted Democrats to vote for Bush.

“Zell Miller is an example of a lot of Democrats who are really unhappy with the tone and tenor of the Democratic campaign this year with a complete focus on negative politics and hostility rather than offering something constructive and positive,” Bennett said.

Cheney said on the question of America’s role in the world, the differences between Sen. Kerry and President Bush are the sharpest, and the stakes for the country are the highest. “Even in this post-9-11 period, Senator Kerry doesn’t appear to understand how the world has changed,” he said.