Republican National Convention: George W. Bush Accepts GOP Nomination, Takes Aim at Clinton, Gore
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A lot of talk this morning, Daryn, what happened last night. Check the newspaper, "The Inquirer" today, a curtain of confetti that rained down last night after Governor Bush finished with his speech here, the quote on the right: "We will confront the hard issues." You can bet, over the next three months, those issue indeed will be talked about. That's the story this morning in Philly. Also live today, across town the candidate will embark on a three-month race that he hopes will end in the White House. That race starts again today. A prayer breakfast right now about to get under way in downtown Philadelphia, first stop thus far this morning. Dick Cheney is there, his running mate, along with Governor Bush and his wife Laura. Several polls show Bush leading his rival, the vice president, Al Gore. But last night, Bush predicted a tough race, and one that could go down to the wire. We'll cover his departure rally from Philadelphia coming up in the 10:00 hour this morning, right now scheduled for 10:20 a.m. Eastern time, 7:20 a.m. on the West Coast. That is before the Texas governor heads out to Pennsylvania, then Ohio this weekend. But there were moments in his speech last night when Bush took direct aim not just at Al Gore, but also at the president, Bill Clinton. A look back now. Here's CNN's Kate Snow on that.</s>KATE SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was the inevitable conclusion to a well-scripted convention.</s>GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mr. Chairman, delegates, and my fellow citizens, I proudly accept your nomination.</s>SNOW: Bush accused the Clinton-Gore administration of squandering opportunities.</s>BUSH: Now they come asking for another chance, another shot. Our answer: not this time, not this year. This is not the time for third chances, it is a time for new beginnings.</s>SNOW: The governor said he would seize this moment of economic prosperity.</s>BUSH: If you give me your trust, I will honor it; grant me a mandate, I will use it; give me the opportunity to lead this nation, and I will lead.</s>SNOW: Much of the speech was devoted to issues: on the armed forces...</s>BUSH: We will give our military the means to keep the peace. And we will give it one thing more: a commander-in-chief who respects our men and women in uniform, and a commander-in-chief who earns their respect.</s>SNOW: ... on education...</s>BUSH: When a school district receives federal funds to teach poor children, we expect them to learn. And if they don't, parents should get the money to make a different choice.</s>SNOW: ... on Social Security...</s>BUSH: Now is the time to give American workers security and independence that no politician can ever take away.</s>SNOW: Bush used humor to go after his opponent, making light of Vice President Gore's repeated criticism that Bush's plans are risky schemes.</s>BUSH: If my opponent had been at the moon launch, it would have been a "risky rocket scheme." If he'd been there when Edison was testing the light bulb, it would have been a "risky anti-candle scheme." And if he'd been there when the Internet was invented...</s>SNOW: It was in some ways a family affair. Bush praised his wife, Laura, his daughters, his mother and father.</s>BUSH: Dad, I am proud to be your son.</s>GEORGE P. BUSH, NEPHEW OF GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH: It's a new day. Es un nuevo dia.</s>SNOW: And Bush's nephew, George P. Bush, reached out to Hispanic voters. In his acceptance speech, George W. Bush talked about a wall between the haves and the have-nots in America.</s>BUSH: On one side are wealth, technology, education and ambition. On the other side of that wall are poverty and prison, addiction and despair. And my fellow Americans, we must tear down that wall.</s>SNOW: Ninety-five days now to the election and George W. Bush wasting no time getting right back on the campaign trail, hoping to build on some of the excitement, the momentum coming out of this convention. He and Dick Cheney will board a plane later this morning. From here in Philadelphia, they'll fly to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They'll attend a rally there, and then they get on a train for a whistle-stop tour, that tour taking them to Newcastle, Pennsylvania later this afternoon, and then on to Akron, Ohio tonight. Bill, back to you.</s>HEMMER: All right, Kate. Kate Snow outside the First Union Center here. Once again, quick reminder: Bush due to leave Philadelphia later this morning. There is a send-off rally for the candidate a bit -- less than an hour and a half from now, 10:20 a.m. Again, the scheduled departure from Philadelphia, we will have live coverage when that happens. Time now for a grade. Here's the dean back with us again this morning. It's been a good week being with you, Bill.</s>WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: A pleasure.</s>HEMMER: And Bill Schneider, by the way, if you haven't seen him just yet.</s>SCHNEIDER: Or Dick Cheney.</s>HEMMER: Yes, your words. Listen, Bush came in last night with a serious tone -- very serious tone.</s>SCHNEIDER: Yes.</s>HEMMER: He needed that for credibility. Did he pull it off?</s>SCHNEIDER: I think he did. The question that a lot of people asked is, is he going to look presidential? because, you know, he has kind of a thin resume -- not a lot of national or international experience, typical for a governor. It hasn't -- it didn't prevent Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter from getting elected. But yet he had to look like a president, and I think he did.</s>HEMMER: A couple good lines, too: "We will use these good times for great things." We'll track that, and also a quick sample from last night, quickly here.</s>BUSH: I believe great decisions are made with care, made with conviction, not made with polls.</s>HEMMER: Direct attack last night on we know where.</s>SCHNEIDER: Oh, yes, indeed. That was on Al Gore.</s>HEMMER: You mentioned three things that you'd be watching closely for that speech. You talked about substance, poetry and message. First substance.</s>SCHNEIDER: Substance -- what he advertised was his willingness to take a risk with bold ideas: a major change in the Social Security system, a missile defense plan, a big tax cut. Those things aren't particularly popular; they're risky. Look, Social Security is supposed to be the third rail of American politics. As he said in his speech, you're supposed to die if you touch it. And advertised the fact that he had a bold agenda. That was good.</s>HEMMER: Many people think Ronald Reagan perfected poetry in his speech. How was the poetry last night?</s>SCHNEIDER: Didn't hear a lot of poetry. It was a prosaic speech, it was well-delivered, short, direct. I thought it was skillfully done, but didn't hear even his father's poetry when he talked about a "thousand points of light" and a "kinder, gentler nation."</s>HEMMER: What about the message?</s>SCHNEIDER: Message -- that was what was very clear. The message was, they're politicians, I'm a leader; they follow the polls, they change their clothes every time the public seems to change its mind, but I go with my own principles and convictions. And he drew that very clearly. And, I tell you, the convention did that, because this was the most non-political political convention I've ever seen.</s>HEMMER: Two more items to get to quickly. A lot of people assumed the smirk that we have seen in the past on the campaign trail is a measure of arrogance. We did not really see that last night.</s>SCHNEIDER: We didn't see the smirk. And you know what else we didn't see? We hardly saw him smile. I think he got some advice there: Don't smile because when you smile people think you're smirking and you look too cocky.</s>HEMMER: Now to the convention bounce. We should get a better measure of this in the next day or two over the weekend.</s>SCHNEIDER: Right.</s>HEMMER: History tells us a lot what comes out of convention. What do we know here about Republicans?</s>SCHNEIDER: What we know about Republicans is that the typical convention bounces, it gives the nominee a six-point boost. The biggest bounce we ever saw was in 1980 after the first Reagan convention. He was nominated. He got a 13-point boost. Wow! But even his father in 1988 got a six-point boost from a convention that was supposed to be a disaster because that's where the party nominated Dan Quayle and created all that controversy. But George Bush, then vice president, earned points by standing up for his guy against a howling press mob. So we're expecting a bounce somewhere in the neighborhood of six points. If it's any more than that, it'll be better than usual. If it's any worse, it'll be worse than usual. People don't know much about this man so they might have watched out of curiosity. On the other hand, we know that the convention audiences are not as big as they used to be because the suspense isn't there. You going to go grab a hammer now?</s>SCHNEIDER: We got to tear this place down.</s>HEMMER: Yes. Stand by. We'll talk to you next hour.</s>SCHNEIDER: OK.</s>HEMMER: Bill Schneider, again, thanks.