Bush praises McCain via satellite

ST. PAUL -- President Bush became the first president since Lyndon Johnson to skip his party's national convention Tuesday — a weather-related absence that best served the interests of Bush and the man who wants his job.

The president delivered his speech a day late and 1,100 miles short of the Xcel Energy Center here. He appeared by satellite hookup from the White House, rather than in person. He spoke for eight minutes rather than the 15 planned for Monday, before Hurricane Gustav sent him to Texas instead of Minnesota.

Keeping the president in Washington was a "mutual decision" of the White House and the McCain campaign, said Dana Perino, Bush's press secretary. With one storm gone but others approaching the Gulf Coast, she said, "it's appropriate that the president be able to be here at the White House." Bush, who was criticized for his response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, is to travel to Louisiana today.

Although Bush's role was reduced, his rhetoric for John McCain was not. Bush lauded the man he defeated for the nomination in 2000 — and who has kept him at a distance in this year's campaign — as someone who's "not afraid to tell you when he disagrees — believe me, I know."

"No matter what the issue, this man is honest and speaks straight from the heart," Bush said.

McCain's disagreements with Bush are many: over tax cuts, global warming and the execution of the war in Iraq, among others. Yet Bush thanked the Arizona senator for backing last year's increase of troops in Iraq, which has been followed by reduced violence.

"John McCain's independence and character helped change history," Bush said in his remarks. "Some told him that his early and consistent call for more troops would put his presidential campaign at risk. He told them he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war.

"That is the kind of courage and vision we need in our next commander in chief."

Bush's absence — the first by a president since violence between police and protesters kept Johnson away from the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago — prompted different reactions from delegates and analysts.

Delegates said they would have welcomed a president who enjoys favorable ratings from two-thirds of Republicans. "The president is still the leader of our party," said House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

"I'm not disappointed in his presidency to the point I wouldn't want him to be here," said Loras Schulte, 58, who lives near Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "I don't agree with everything that he has done as president, but he's the Republican in chief."

Because Bush's overall approval rating is 29% in the latest USA TODAY/Gallup poll, however, analysts said his absence and reduced role were a blessing for McCain.

"It's McCain's convention," said Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institution, a veteran of the Eisenhower and Nixon administrations. "Certainly, the president is a drag."

Democrats here have tried to tie Bush and McCain together through a campaign they have called "More of the Same." It features photos of the two men in a friendly embrace.

"I know the Democrats are going to push very hard that they're the same person," said Mitt Romney, who sought the Republican presidential nomination and was a finalist for the vice presidential spot on the ticket that went to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. "I don't think that's going to work."

Bush cited one issue on which he is not a drag: his effort to prevent another terrorist attack on the United States, which Republican pollster Frank Luntz called "the one component that John McCain should attach himself to."

"We live in a dangerous world," Bush said. "And we need a president who understands the lessons of September 11, 2001: that to protect America, we must stay on the offense, stop attacks before they happen, and not wait to be hit again. The man we need is John McCain."

First lady Laura Bush appeared in person to introduce her husband. She also applauded Palin, the first woman to run on a Republican ticket, as "a strong executive and a proven reformer."

"I'm proud that America's first female vice president will be a Republican," she said.

Contributing: Alan Gomez