This day is a gift to the GOP

By Marsha Mercer
Published: August 31, 2008

Happy Labor Day! As many Americans enjoy a last weekend at the beach, the Republican National Convention opens today in St. Paul, and the GOP begins making the case for John McCain for president.
It sounds like terrible timing, but a Labor Day convention start is not necessarily bad for McCain. Republicans know that most people won’t be watching the convention tonight anyway, and they’re using the evening to get two obligatory guests out of the way.
The party faithful will watch speeches by President Bush and Vice President Cheney, who likely will reward them with partisan red meat. In his last hurrah at a GOP convention as president, Bush will focus on why McCain’s the right person to be president — and why Democrat Barack Obama isn’t. Cheney always relishes the attack dog role.
Bush will not reprise his own eight-year tenure in the White House, said press secretary Dana Perino. That’s surely a relief to convention organizers.
Bush won’t even stay overnight, leaving McCain and Co. three more days to distance themselves from the current administration.
This Labor Day is a political anomaly. The unofficial last weekend of summer traditionally kicks off the fall election campaign. The national political conventions are over in August, and Americans return from their three-day weekend ready to start paying attention to the presidential race.
Most years, political observers say, the presidential candidate ahead in the polls at Labor Day carries the lead on Election Day. That was true with George W. Bush four years ago, as with Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996.
All bets are off this year, though. The Olympics and other factors pushed the conventions later than ever. A convention traditionally gives the party’s presidential nominee a temporary bounce in the polls, so Labor Day polls this year are even less indicative than usual.
By announcing his running mate and scheduling the Republican convention days after the Democrats’ confab, McCain hopes to change the subject to his qualifications and plans not just for this week but into the fall. When the GOP convention ends Thursday, the election will be only two months away.
McCain goes to St. Paul also benefiting from the gentle treatment he received in Denver. Speakers at the Democratic convention hardly laid a glove on him. The worst they said was that McCain was wrong on the issues.
Nobody expects Republicans to return the favor. If past GOP conventions are a guide, each night will feature plenty of Obama bashing.
John McCain knows the value of a good punch. In his debut speech on the national stage at the 1988 convention, McCain said of the Democratic presidential nominee: “Michael Dukakis seems to believe that the Trident is a chewing gum, that the B-1 is a Vitamin pill, and that the Midgetman is anyone shorter than he is.”
In his acceptance speech that year, the first George Bush uttered the famous line, “Read my lips: no new taxes.”
On Election Day, it wasn’t even close. Bush beat poor, short Dukakis 53 percent to 47 percent.
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