INDEPTH: US ELECTION 2004
The Republican National Convention
CBC News Online | September 7, 2004
When the Republican Party officially met for the first
time in 1854, it was a rag-tag assortment of anti-slavery activists
and people who believed the government should grant land free-of-charge
to western settlers. Six years later, Abraham Lincoln was the
first Republican-elected President.
CONVENTION
SPEECHES :
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Aug. 30, 2004
 Watch
Senator John McCain's speech (Runs 25:20)
Read
transcript
Watch
former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani's speech (Runs
39:57)
Read
transcript
Aug. 31, 2004
Watch
California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's speech (Runs
23:40)
Read
transcript
Watch
the speech from Laura Bush, U.S. President Bush's wife.
(Runs 23:58)
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transcript
Sept. 1, 2004
Zell Miller
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transcript
Watch
Vice-President Dick Cheney's speech (Runs 34:12)
Read
transcript
Sept. 2, 2004
Watch
President George Bush's speech (Runs 1:03:10)
Read
transcript
|
In 1861, civil war erupted. During the war,
Lincoln made good on the party's anti-slavery position by signing
the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed slaves. He did it
against the advice of his cabinet.
Controversy and Republicans seemed
to go hand-in-hand for the next few decades. Raucous conventions
continued into the 20th century when a power struggle between
former president Theodore Roosevelt and the incumbent, William
Howard Taft, split the party at its 1912 Chicago convention.
In the years since, most U.S. political conventions have become
calmer and more predictable.
By 1876, the relatively new party had been tagged with the moniker
GOP - or Grand Old Party. It's not clear how that started and
strikes some as odd considering the Democratic Party is 22 years
older than the Republican Party.
In January 2004, the Republican National
Committee announced New York City
would hold the party's convention for the very first time. The
committee said the city "represents the very best that America
has to offer." The location also offered something else: the
perfect backdrop for the Republicans to highlight their record
in light of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The level of security was unprecedented – for an
American political gathering.
The Secret Service, the FBI and New York police joined in a
$60 million operation designed to protect the convention.
There were large demonstrations: organizers claim hundreds of
thousands of people took to the streets to protest against the
policies of the Bush administration. While the protests were
– for the most part orderly – there were hundreds
of arrests on minor charges.
Workers prepare the podium for the Republican Convention
at Madison Square Garden in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto
Matthews) |
A national convention allows a party to stage a show
of support, affirm the party platform and declare the party's
candidates for president and vice-president. This convention
would be no different: George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were
officially confirmed as the party's presidential and vice-presidential
candidates.
The other activity was to confirm
the Republican Party's platform, which the party described
as a focus on "family, faith [and] personal responsibility."
Some of the party's policies include:
- Providing a tax credit that will enable 27 million individuals
and families to purchase private health insurance.
- Allowing 100 per cent deductibility of health insurance
premiums for the self-employed.
- Doubling the child tax credit to $1,000, making it available
to more families and eliminating the marriage penalty.
-
Past
Convention Locations
|
| Baltimore was a
favourite of the Republicans in the early years and
then Chicago and other midwestern cities such as Cincinnati,
Cleveland and Minneapolis became more popular as more
people moved west. Chicago has hosted the greatest
number of conventions: 11 Democratic and 14 Republican.
Other Republican convention cities include San Francisco,
Miami Beach, Dallas, New Orleans, Houston and San
Diego. |
- Creating a tax credit to help build or renovate more than
100,000 single-family housing units in the most poverty-stricken
areas.
- Encouraging entrepreneurship by ending the death tax
and making permanent the research and development credit.
- A $20-billion increase in the research and development
budget of the Defence Department.
- Supporting the traditional definition of "marriage" as
the legal union of one man and one woman.
- Devoting more resources to border control.
- Increased penalties and resources to combat production
and use of methamphetamine and new drugs such as ecstasy.
- No-frills prisons, with productive work requirements.
- Increasing domestic supplies of coal, oil and natural
gas and providing tax incentives for production.
- Expanding the tax credit for renewable energy sources
and providing a tax incentive for residential use of solar
power.
- Strengthening the military and giving the intelligence
community latitude in resources and operations.
Charles Broerman, left, and Anna Bartha, both of of Colorado
Springs, Colo., cheer as his delegation's vote on President
Bush's nomination is announced during the third day of
the Republican National Convention Wednesday, Sept. 1,
2004, in New York. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) |
In the days before the convention, Cheney appeared to
have re-opened a debate the Republicans weren't planning to
have.
Cheney has a reputation as a tough conservative who's fiercely
loyal to President Bush. He also has a daughter who is openly
gay and who works on his election team. Normally, he doesn't
talk publicly about his family or comment on social issues.
But while on the campaign trail in Iowa on August 24, Cheney
said people should be free to enter into any kind of relationship
they wanted. He added that dealing with the issue of gay marriage
should be up to the states and not the federal government.
That's at odds with Bush's position and the Republican Party's
official position as stated in its platform. Earlier this year,
Bush came out in favour of a constitutional amendment banning
gay marriage – a position that pleased the party's conservative
wing. Moderate Republicans are less comfortable with that.
But – in the end – it was a non-issue,
as speaker after speaker instead attacked the Democrats and
their candidate John Kerry. Moderate Republicans – like
California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who's closer to
Kerry than Bush on social issues – emphasized the need
for a strong leader.
In his address to the convention, Cheney called
Kerry indecisive and weak on national security, a key election
issue. "Time and again, Senator Kerry has made the wrong
call on national security," Cheney said.
Cheney was followed on the podium by a Republican
prize: Senator Zell Miller of Georgia, a conservative Democrat.
"For more than 20 years, John Kerry has
been more wrong, more weak and more wobbly than any other
national figure," Miller told an enthusiastic audience.
In his acceptance speech, Bush promised Americans
victory over terrorism, a better life at home and conservative
values.
"We are staying on the offensive –
striking terrorists abroad – so we do not have to face
them here at home," Bush said.
But some of the biggest cheers came when he
said he would protect traditional marriage from activist judges,
and "make a place for unborn children," an apparent
nod to party members who oppose abortion.
The end of the conventions marks the beginning of the final
phase of the election process: the "homestretch"
of the campaign – the part of the campaign where the
parties aren't in complete control of the agenda.
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