Update 7 - 10:37 PM: Lieberman should be up shortly.

- 10:39 PM: He’s up. Second convention in a row we’ve had a Democrat speak at our convention. We remember the first one, right?

- Decent speech by JL. Not a barnburner like Zell Miller’s, but he did good - he tried to appeal to D’s and I’s.

Update 6 - 10:09 PM: Fred Thompson takes the stage.

Starts out by dissing the Dems’ negativity about this country.

He’s fired up - slamming media for what they’re saying about Gov. Palin.

- He’s giving a great speech. Talking about McCain’s long career in the military.

- Says being a POW doesn’t automatically qualify someone to be the president, but it says a lot about character.

- Takes an implied verbal shot at Obama re: his Germany speech

My rating on the speech: An 8. That’s the most fired up I’ve seen Fred Thompson since the beginning of the campaign season. Great job. Lieberman’s up next.

Update 5 - 10:00 PM: Bush gave a great speech. Very gracious to McCain.

Update 4 - 9:45 PM: Laura Bush is getting ready to announce the prez.

Update 3 - 9:05 PM: They just showed former First Lady Barbara Bush and President GHW Bush getting ready to take their seats. They look great!

Update 2 - 8:59 PM: O’Reilly just announced that he’d be interviewing BO Thursday. I think it will be the first time he’s every beein on Bill’s show.

Hannity and Colmes is on now. I was very disappointed for Sean not taking Alan Colmes to task last night for Colmes’ weekend smears of Gov. Sarah Palin.

Hannity just made a great point to Dick Morris: The mediots have been harder on Gov. Palin in the last 4 days than they have ever been on BO.

Update 1 - 8:41 PM: The primetime line up:

9:40 - President Bush (via satellite)
10:10 - Fred Thompson
10:40 - Joe Lieberman

I hear Thompson is supposed to give a speech which will, in part, rip the media. Can’t wait

———
Yesterday the convention was a subdued affair thanks to all eyes being on Hurricane Gustav as it made landfall in both Mississippi and Louisiana. The highlight of the day, after calling the convention to order, was the appearance of both First Lady Laura Bush and Senator McCain’s wife Cindy, both making pleas for people to help hurricane victims (video here). Today, things will be back to (semi-normal). Bush still won’t be appearing at the convention, but will still make a speech via satellite. Here’s the compete schedule of tonight’s speakers. The one I’m interested in watching/hearing the most is Senator Lieberman. As always, you can watch RNC activities here, or via UStream, as they happen. Also, make sure to tune in to NRO’s Corner as well as they are updating often on what’s going on at the convention.

I’ll be updating this post shortly with today’s political headlines in just a few minutes.

——-

—– Ok, first up: McQ at QandO documents a nasty smear being spread about Gov. Sarah Palin by a campaign spokesman for Barack Obama and a campaign surrogate for BO:

In the unseemly lefty feeding frenzy which is the Palin nomination, mistakes are being made. And its funny - they are slamming McCain for not “vetting” Palin well enough, but are ready to run with any rumor that floats by concerning Palin.

For instance, it appears that the Obama campaign went off half-cocked before checking out a rumor floated by Democratic Representative Robert Wexler. That rumor claimed Palin was a Pat Buchanan supporter. The campaign issued a press release which claimed that Palin was a Buchanan supporter and that Buchanan was a “nazi sympathizer”.

Here’s more from that Newsbusters link:

Instead, it was Joe Scarborough who authored the line this morning, directing it at Obama spokesman Mark Bubriski. The cause of Joe’s ire was this email statement Bubriski released to the Miami Herald [emphasis added]:

Palin was a supporter of Pat Buchanan, a right-winger or as many Jews call him: a Nazi sympathizer.

The Morning Joe crew was unanimous in roundly condemning the Obama campaign tactic, rallying around Buchanan, one of its own, who was present on the set. Bubriski was riffing off a similar allegation made by Bob Wexler, a south Florida Dem congressman.

Here’s what Wexler asserted:

Florida Democratic Congressman Robert Wexler of Florida came out swinging at Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain immediately after he named Gov. Palin as her running mate. He accused her of backing ‘Nazi sympathizer” Pat Buchanan in a previous election and said that Sen. McCain’s choice was a “direct affront to all Jewish Americans.”

The real story:

Gov. Palin explained that her alleged “support” of Buchanan consisted of her sporting a campaign button for him in 1999 when he visited the town of Wasilla when she was the mayor. Palin explained at the time she wore the button as a courtesy and that she was an official of the campaign of Republican presidential contender Steve Forbes.

The Republican Jewish Coalition has pointed out that an Israeli flag is a fixture on the drapes in her office. “I think it speaks volumes that she keeps an Israeli flag on the wall of her office,” the group’s executive director, Matt Brooks, explained in an e-mail to Politico.com. “It clearly shows what’s in her heart.”

And I think Wexler’s vicious, unsubstantiated accusation clearly shows us what’s in his heart: pure venom.

So much for a “new style” of politics. Shame on the Obama campaign for this. Shame on them.

—– LOL line of the day (for Monday): CNN’s Anderson Cooper was interviewing Barack Obama last night on hurricane relief efforts and the last question he asked him was related to the experience issue. From the transcript:

COOPER: And, Senator Obama, my final question — your — some of your Republican critics have said you don’t have the experience to handle a situation like this. They in fact have said that Governor Palin has more executive experience, as mayor of a small town and as governor of a big state of Alaska.

What’s your response?

OBAMA: Well, you know, my understanding is, is that Governor Palin’s town of Wasilla has, I think, 50 employees. We have got 2,500 in this campaign. I think their budget is maybe $12 million a year. You know, we have a budget of about three times that just for the month.

So, I think that our ability to manage large systems and to execute, I think, has been made clear over the last couple of years. And, certainly, in terms of the legislation that I passed just dealing with this issue post-Katrina of how we handle emergency management, the fact that many of my recommendations were adopted and are being put in place as we speak, I think, indicates the degree to which we can provide the kinds of support and good service that the American people expect.

First things first: Um - he actually runs his campaign? I thought that’s what campaign managers were for? Seriously - is touting your experience “running a campaign” really something to be bragging about when it comes to relevant experience for the presidency? Second, watch for a pattern here: For all the talk in liberal circles about how Gov. Palin’s 2 years as governor of Alaska are supposedly “meaningless,” note how Obama didn’t mention it, and in fact decided to talk about her time as mayor of Wasilla and he did so in present tense language.

—– Who knows? Maybe Obama’s lame experience argument will work. Gallup has him hitting 50% for the first time this year.

—– McCain campaign manager Rick Davis is in hot water over remarks he made earlier today in which he said that this campaign is “not about the issues” but instead personalities. The full quote in context actually makes sense …

Rick Davis, campaign manager for John McCain’s presidential bid, insisted that the presidential race will be decided more over personalities than issues during an interview with Post editors this morning.

“This election is not about issues,” said Davis. “This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates.”

Davis added that issues will no doubt play a major role in the decisions undecided voters will make but that they won’t ultimately be conclusive. He added that the campaign has “ultimate faith” in the idea that the more voters get to know McCain and Barack Obama, the better the Republican nominee will do.

… but that hasn’t stopped The Usual Suspects from pouncing. That said, I think Davis could have worded that a lot better.

—– Here are excerpts from both Bush’s speech tonight as well as Fred Thompson’s.

—– You’re no good, baby you’re no good: See what RNC convention protesters are up to here.

—– Last but not least, First Lady Laura Bush, Cindy McCain, and Gov. Palin met up today in Minneapolis. CNN’s got a great photo of the three of them together here. (Update: Here’s a bigger version of the pic)