NEW YORK (ABP) — Amid searing rhetoric on national-security issues, at least two speakers at the Republican National Convention focused on the faith and character of presidents.
Renegade Democratic Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia, delivering the convention's keynote address Sept. 1, cited President Bush's character as one of the reasons he trusts Bush more than his fellow Democrat, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry.
“I admire this man,” Miller said of Bush. “I am moved by the respect he shows the first lady, his unabashed love for his parents and his daughters, and the fact that he is unashamed of his belief that God is not indifferent to America.”
Miller, who is a Methodist, also referred to Bush's conversion to evangelical Christianity. “I can identify with someone who has lived that line in 'Amazing Grace,' 'Was blind, but now I see.' And I like the fact that he's the same man on Saturday night that he is on Sunday morning…. I have knocked on the door of this man's soul and found someone home, a God-fearing man with a good heart and a spine of tempered steel.”
In contrast, Vice President Dick Cheney characterized Kerry as inconsistent, and therefore untrustworthy, on security and foreign-policy issues. “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,” he said.
“History has shown that a strong and purposeful America is vital to preserving freedom and keeping us safe. Yet time and again, Sen. Kerry has made the wrong call on national security.” Cheney cited a litany of Kerry's alleged missteps. “Even in this post-9/11 period, Sen. Kerry doesn't appear to understand how the world has changed. He talks about leading a 'more sensitive war on terror,' as though Al Qaeda will be impressed with our softer side.”
Earlier in the evening, the son of Bush's political hero Ronald Reagan touted his father's faith. Introducing a video tribute to the late President Ronald Reagan, his adopted son, Michael, said his father's character as a president owed to his strong beliefs.
Referring to Ronald Reagan's nickname as “the great communicator,” Reagan said, “He wasn't just a great communicator, he communicated great ideas. Where did his ideas come from? They came from his beliefs.
“My father believed that God had a plan for his life, for every life, and for the life of our nation,” he told delegates. “He believed America was placed between the oceans to be a beacon of freedom for the world, a place where man was not beholden to government, government was beholden to man.”
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