George W. Bush, 2000:

I don’t have enemies to fight. And I have no stake in the bitter arguments of the last few years. I want to change the tone of Washington to one of civility and respect.

We sure saw that on display at his convention last night, didn’t we?

Prepare accordingly:

“A Safer World, A More Hopeful America”

They’ve done a great job laying the groundwork for this, haven’t they? Hope is on the way!
Last night Josh Marshall offered one of the better onsite reports on the GOP affair. His conclusion:

This whole confab has been built around militarism, the seductions of the mentality of siege and insecurity both from without and within, and the sort of no-rules-win-at-all-costs-lie-if-it-works mentality that will lead this nation to grief.

Indeed. As I recall, this line in Cheney’s speech drew a wild crowd response:

My fellow Americans, we have already been attacked, and faced with an enemy who seeks the deadliest of weapons to use against us, we cannot wait for the next attack. We must do everything we can to prevent it � and that includes the use of military force.

What the heck is going on in this country? I thought our objective was peace. But you listen to some people and you’re lead to believe that war is America’s desired policy. Look at that softie Kerry–he talks about alliances and diplomacy. Boo! In contrast, Bush has no reservations in launching a war on the mere suspicion of a threat. Yeah, let’s go to war.
Stay tuned tonight. War Hope is on the way.

CNN refuses to air Log Cabin Republicans television ad because it is “too controversial.” Yet it continues to run discredited Swift Boat Veterans spots.
That liberal media.

President George H.W. Bush (41) appeared on Imus in the Morning on Wednesday morning. I didn’t hear the interview, but here’s a couple interesting clips from the transcript:

Imus: “We are talking with the 41st President of the United States George Bush… you also dispel the notion that the President went to war in Iraq to finish the Gulf War and you said essentially that it was nonsense. You told Paula Zahn that the President feels the Gulf War was finished and yet the President told the Washington Times that he did not intend on sending mixed signals to the Iraqi people and cut and run like they did in 1991.”�
Bush: “Yea, I didn’t like that much.”�
Imus: “It doesn’t sound to me like he thought that it was finished, does he?”
Bush: “Well he hasn’t said it again, has he?”
(laughter)
Imus: “No sir, he has not.”
(laughter)
Bush: “No I’m sure there was some background around that statement because I saw that and frankly it hurt a little bit but that’s you know. . .”
Imus: “You don’t need that do you?”
Bush: “I’m getting it from quite a few people. You’re asking about it but in a very gentlemanly way. I appreciate that and I understand the question. But I’m saying it’s a different time and different strokes and I’m sure that there are some people, in the current administration that think it could have been done differently. Well… I’m proud of what we did, proud of the way the war ended and very proud of the way this President is conducting this war which in my view is quite different.”

Bush continues to play the supportive father, but he was obviously bothered by some aspects of Gulf War II. I certainly had differences with Bush the elder when he was in office, but clearly he understands the world better than junior does. And we witnessed the difference once major combat ended.
On a less consequential note, here’s a weird exchange:

Imus: “It seems like the current President for whatever reason, has done, someone has said it�s like a reverse playbook of what you did. You were tough on Israel, he was not. You raised taxes unfortunate, he didn’t. He acts more like a Baptist then a Episcopalian…then this business of emulating Reagan.”
Bush: “He’s Methodist, I think, is what he is.”
Imus: “Is he?”
Bush: “I tell you one thing, you raise a point. I�ll tell you what annoys me. I just finished this book April 19 65 or whatever when Robert Lee surrendered and Lincoln was shot within oh what a few weeks. In that book they talk very convincingly about Lincoln�s faith and what it meant to him and how important faith was. He’d talk about it to the American people. Now in the liberal elite say the President shouldn�t be talking about faith. He shouldn’t have faith. He is not saying that other people ought to do it like he does, Methodist, Episcopalian, whatever the heck it is. He is just saying, this is what sustains me. Don, that is true. I know this guy. I can see it sustains him. Lincoln said you cannot be President without spending some item on your knees. I have repeated that and a bunch of Atheists got all over me. Wait a minute. Does that mean that you cannot be President if you are an Atheist? I say yea that does mean that.”
(laughter)
Bush: “One Nation Under God.”

Uh, 43’s faith is real important, and yet 41 isn’t sure what church he belongs to? That’s odd.

Zell Miller
September 1, 2004:

This is the man who wants to be the Commander in Chief of our U.S. Armed Forces?
U.S. forces armed with what? Spitballs?
. . .
John Kerry, who says he doesn’t like outsourcing, wants to outsource our national security.
That’s the most dangerous outsourcing of all. This politician wants to be leader of the free world.
Free for how long?
For more than 20 years, on every one of the great issues of freedom and security, John Kerry has been more wrong, more weak and more wobbly than any other national figure.
As a war protester, Kerry blamed our military.
As a Senator, he voted to weaken our military.

March 1, 2001 (via Eschaton):

My job tonight is an easy one: to present to you one of this nation’s authentic heroes, one of this party’s best-known and greatest leaders � and a good friend.
. . .
In his 16 years in the Senate, John Kerry has fought against government waste and worked hard to bring some accountability to Washington.
. . .
John has worked to strengthen our military, reform public education, boost the economy and protect the environment. Business Week magazine named him one of the top pro-technology legislators and made him a member of its “Digital Dozen.”
. . .
John is a graduate of Yale University and was a gunboat officer in the Navy. He received a Silver Star, Bronze Star and three awards of the Purple Heart for combat duty in Vietnam. He later co-founded the Vietnam Veterans of America.

Of course for Miller, as for all of us, 9/11 changed everything–including the meaning of “John has worked to strengthen our military.”
After the “Land of Opportunity” program concluded, Miller proceeded to make the TV circuit and dig his hole even deeper. First I saw him on CNN where the anchors rightly pointed out that once upon a time Dick Cheney had also opposed some of the weapons systems Miller blasted Kerry for voting against. Miller couldn’t put together a coherent rationalization explaining why Kerry was wrong but Cheney was right.
Next, it was over to MSNBC, where the Miller meltdown was completed. After fumbling with Chris Matthew’s straightforward questions on whether or not he actually believed Kerry wanted to defend America with spitballs, Miller resort to yelling, “Get out of my face.” Then things turned really bizarre: “I wish we lived in the day when you could challenge a person to a duel.” Fortunately, Matthews was interviewing Miller from a remote location, so no shots were actually fired.
Overall, I thought “A Land of Opportunity” night worked to Kerry/Edwards’ benefit. I don’t see Miller’s over-the-top rhetoric playing well with undecideds. And Cheney’s flip flop speech didn’t seem all that more effective. The Bush campaign is working hard to shore up the base. There’s a real opportunity for Kerry to hone in on the middle if he can focus his message.