RIO RANCHO — Republicans turned to a lifelong Democrat on Tuesday night to make the case for John McCain as the Arizona senator seeks to win the presidency. McCain’s quest comes at a time when Americans are seriously weighing whom to make the nation’s next chief executive as the country is mired in an unpopular war and the economy is in the doldrums.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., gave the last speech of the night at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday. And the irony of Lieberman’s task was not lost on the Democrat, who quipped for the crowd — "What, after all, is a Democrat like me doing at a Republican convention like this?"

In many ways, the answer was simple: Lieberman’s presence was meant to reinforce the message that McCain is above partisanship, which many Americans believe has ground any real work to a halt in Washington. Lieberman knows about crossing party lines. He ran as the Democratic vice presidential candidate in 2000 only to lose his party’s primary in 2006. Lieberman won re-election as a petitioning candidate and has listed himself ever since as an Independent Democrat.

As well as lauding McCain for engaging in bipartisanship, Lieberman also stressed the Arizona senator’s capacity for being a change agent and appealed to discouraged and/or undecided Democrats to vote for McCain.

"Both presidential candidates this year talk about changing the culture of Washington, about breaking through the partisan gridlock and special interests that are poisoning our politics. But only one of them has actually done it," Lieberman said to the GOP crowd in St. Paul, Minn. "Only one leader has shown the courage and the capability to rise above the smallness of our politics to get big things done for our country and our people. And that leader is John McCain."

Lieberman wasn’t the only speaker at Tuesday’s convention of course.

Former U.S. Sen. and GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson  showcased his resonant speaking voice and thespian talents to run through McCain’s biography, including his time spent as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War, and the time that the GOP nominee was the King of the Troublemakers during his younger days.

Thompson also took a swipe at critics of McCain’s VP nominee, Sarah Palin, calling her a "breath of fresh air." Thompson went on:
 

Some Washington pundits and media big shots are in a frenzy over the selection of a woman who has actually governed rather than just talked a good game on the Sunday talk shows and hit the Washington cocktail circuit.

Well, give me a tough Alaskan governor who has taken on the political establishment in the largest state in the Union — and won — over the Beltway business-as-usual crowd any day of the week.

The message of the night was that McCain’s proclivity for troublemaking, especially within his own party, as well as his tendency toward bipartisanship, would make him a good president, the speakers said.

In many ways, it was another example of how both McCain and his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, who accepted his party’s nomination in Denver last week, are working to lure independent and undecided voters to their sides with two months to go in the presidential election.

Pres. George W. Bush was not at the convention Tuesday night, having decided not to attend after Hurricane Gustav disrupted the RNC’s schedule on Monday. But the president did speak via satellite and told the convention crowd that Americans live in a dangerous world and that it is McCain to whom they should turn because he is ready to lead. And in keeping with the theme of the night, Bush also made sure to mention McCain’s independent streak.

 

"John is an independent man who thinks for himself,” Mr. Bush said via satellite from the White House, in an eight-minute speech intended to reinforce the McCain campaign’s theme that the senator is no clone of the president. “He’s not afraid to tell you when he disagrees. Believe me, I know.”