To a crowd chanting "four more years," and following a raucous keynote speech by Democrat Zell Miller, Dick Cheney accepted the nomination for vice president of the United States Wednesday night.\nIn his speech that ultimately turned to national security and terrorism, and finally a stinging criticism of Democratic Presidential Nominee John Kerry, the vice president said the biggest threat the country faces today is "having nuclear weapons fall into the hands of terrorists" and made the case that President Bush is the only choice to keep America safe.\nCheney, in the third night of the Republican National Convention that focused on "A Nation of Opportunity," said the United States is in "one of those defining moments," like the years following World War II.\n"The election of 2004 is one of the most important, not just in our lives but in our history," he said. "And so it is time to set the alternatives squarely before the American people."\nWhile speaking briefly on domestic issues early on, including education, taxes and jobs, Cheney's speech focused largely on keeping America, and the world, safe.\n"Four years ago, some said the world had grown calm, and many assumed that the United States was invulnerable to danger," the vice president said. "That thought might have been comforting; it was also false. Like other generations of Americans, we soon discovered that history had great and unexpected duties in store for us."\nComparing al Qaeda to the Nazis during World War II and the Soviet communists during the cold war, Vice President Cheney said "Sept. 11, 2001, made clear the challenges we face."\n"But if the killers of Sept. 11 thought we had lost the will to defend our freedom, they did not know America and they did not know George W. Bush," he said.\nThe vice president credited President Bush and his administration with fighting terrorism around the world by killing and capturing hundreds of al Qaeda operatives, disbanding the Taliban in Afghanistan and "liberating" Iraq.\n"We dealt with a gathering threat, and removed the regime of Saddam Hussein," he said. "Seventeen months ago, he controlled the lives and fortunes of 25 million people. Tonight he sits in jail." Cheney also said it was through the administration's actions that Libya agreed to abandon its nuclear weapons.\nTo a crowd who chanted "flip-flop" several times during his speech, the vice president continually criticized Kerry for being wrong on defense and almost making a career out of changing his mind on issues. He said the differences between the two presidential candidates are sharp.\n"Even in this post-9/11 period, Sen. Kerry doesn't appear to understand how the world has changed," Cheney said. "He talks about leading a 'more sensitive war on terror,' as though al Qaeda will be impressed with our softer side. He declared at the Democratic Convention that he will forcefully defend America after the country has been attacked. \n"My fellow Americans, we have already been attacked, and faced with an enemy who seeks the deadliest of weapons to use against us," Cheney said, "we cannot wait for the next attack."
Democrat Miller gives \nkeynote address\nIntroduced as the "conscience of the Democratic Party," Sen. Zell Miller, who received a robust applause from the Republican delegates in Madison Square Garden, asked where the country's bi-partisanship had gone and repeatedly criticized Sen. Kerry for supporting the U.S. Armed Forces in the RNC's keynote address.\n"Like you, I ask which leader is it today that has the vision, the willpower and, yes, the backbone to best protect my family?" Miller asked the delegates. "The clear answer to that question has placed me in this hall with you tonight. For my family is more important than my party. There is one man to whom I am willing to entrust their future and that man's name is George Bush."\nMiller continued to condemn his own party and its leaders, saying the Democrats have a "manic obsession to bring down our commander in chief."\n"No pair has been more wrong, more loudly, more often than the two senators from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry," he said. "What has happened to the party I've spent my life working in?" he asked.\nThe delegates booed loudly as Miller began naming defense issue after defense issue Kerry has voted against. The crowd finally began chanting, "Against, against, against," following Miller, for the military programs Kerry has opposed.\n"This is the man who wants to be the commander in chief of our U.S. Armed Forces?" Miller said, to loud boos throughout the Garden. "U.S. forces armed with what? Spitballs?"\nMiller, who sometimes stepped on his applause lines, continued to emphasize the U.S. Armed Forces, saying it is the soldier who has given us freedom of the press, freedom of speech and the freedom to protest. He also said Kerry's 20-year record in the Senate can tell voters much more than "20 weeks of campaign rhetoric."\nThe senator also spoke of 1940 Republican Presidential Nominee and IU alumnus Wendell Willkie, asking, "Where are such statesmen today?"\n"Shortly before Willkie died, he told a friend that if he could write his own epitaph and had to choose between 'here lies a president' and 'here lies one who contributed to saving freedom,' he would prefer the latter."\nThough he was invoking another Republican, the Democrat from Georgia also spoke in 1992 in Madison Square Garden for Bill Clinton, giving the keynote address there as well. The conservative Democrat received a warm welcome from this right-wing crowd, saying his party's judgment has been sorely lacking.\n"In this hour of danger our president has had the courage to stand up," he said in his final remarks. "And this Democrat is proud to stand up with him."
Gov. Santorum speaks on welfare reform\nIn his speech Wednesday night, a few hours before Vice President Cheney and Democrat Miller, Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania focused on welfare reform and emphasized strengthening marriage.\n"The key to a richer culture is a strong family, and the key to a strong family is strong marriages," he said. "That means mothers and fathers doing what they have been doing so well for centuries -- giving love and hope to their children."\nThough he did not mention it by name, Santorum tip-toed around the controversial gay marriage issue, which Republicans have opposed in their official party platform\n"George Bush has shown his compassion by advancing faith-based initiatives, strengthening marriage and fighting to let the American people define marriage, not left-wing judges," Santorum said, referring to Massachusetts recent court ruling to allow same-sex marriage.\nLike Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Tuesday night, the senator spoke of his immigrant roots -- his grandfather came from a small village in Italy.\nSantorum, known for his conservative values and a leader of the religious right, did not speak in prime time, an issue many Democrats have jumped on as a sign the Republican Party is placing its more moderate speakers at a time they would be broadcast nationwide. However, many of Santorum's conservative views have found their way into the party's official platform, which includes limiting stem-cell research and supporting a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.\n-- Contact staff writer Josh Sanburn at jsanburn@indiana.edu.
