LIEBERMAN, THOMPSON KICK OFF FIRST FULL NIGHT

What was scheduled to be the second night of festivities at the Republican National Convention in Minnesota was instead a crammed schedule of conservative speakers focusing on the theme of “Country First – Service.”

There were so many great lines from a number of great presentations about Republican nominee John McCain. Sen. Joe Lieberman and former Sen. Fred Thompson closed the night in prime time and were absolutely on point.

Thompson hammered home the courageous story of McCain and offered a very personal touch on the Arizona Senator. Lieberman made a plea to independent, undecided and even Democrat voters, and he absolutely knocked it out of the park.

To borrow from MSNBC host Keith Olbermann, both speeches were a “Grand slam. Grand slam out of the ballpark, across the street. Across the buildings across the street.” Just in completely different ways.

I’ve posted the highlights below the jump:

U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman…

What, after all, is a Democrat like me doing at a Republican convention like this? I’m here to support John McCain because country matters more than party. I’m here tonight because John McCain is the best choice to bring our country together and lead our country forward. I’m here because John McCain’s whole life testifies to a great truth: being a Democrat or a Republican is important. But it is nowhere near as important as being an American. [...]

It shouldn’t take a natural disaster to teach us that the American people don’t care much if you have an “R” or a “D” after your name. What they care about is, are we solving the problems they are up against every day? What you can expect from John McCain as President is precisely what he has done this week: which is to put country first. That is the code by which he has lived his entire life, and that is the code he will carry with him into the White House. [...]

My Democratic friends know all about John’s record of independence and accomplishment. Maybe that’s why some of them are spending so much time and so much money trying to convince the American people that John McCain is someone else. I’m here, as a Democrat myself, to tell you: Don’t be fooled. Trust me, God only made one John McCain, and he is his own man. [...]

As a matter of fact, if John McCain is just another partisan Republican, then I’m Michael Moore’s favorite Democrat. And I’m not. I think you know that I’m not. Senator Obama is a gifted and eloquent young man who can do great things for our country in the years ahead. But eloquence is no substitute for a record — not in these tough times in America. [...]

Governor Sarah Palin, like John McCain, is a reformer who has taken on the special interests and reached across party lines. She is a leader we can count on to help John shake up Washington. That’s why the McCain-Palin ticket is the real ticket for change this year. The Washington bureaucrats and power brokers can’t build a pen strong enough to hold these two mavericks. [...]

I know many of you are angry and frustrated by our government and our politics and for good reason. You may be thinking of voting for John McCain but you’re not sure. Some of you have never voted for a Republican before and in an ordinary election, you probably wouldn’t. But this is no ordinary election, because these are not ordinary times, and John McCain is no ordinary candidate. You may not agree with John McCain on every issue. But you can always count on him to be straight with you about where he stands, and to stand for what he thinks is right regardless of politics.

U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson…

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.

Let’s be clear… the selection of Governor Palin has the other side and their friends in the media in a state of panic. She is a courageous, successful, reformer, who is not afraid to take on the establishment. Sound like anyone else we know? She has run a municipality and she has run a state. And I can say without fear of contradiction that she is the only nominee in the history of either party who knows how to properly field dress a moose … with the possible exception of Teddy Roosevelt. She and John McCain are not going to care how much the alligators get irritated when they get to Washington, they’re going to drain that swamp. [...]

[H]ere tonight is John’s 96-year-old mother, Roberta. All I’ve got to say is that if Roberta McCain had been the McCain captured by the North Vietnamese, they would have surrendered. Now, John’s father was a bit of a rebel, too. In his first two semesters at the Naval Academy, he managed to earn 333 demerits. Unfortunately, John later saw that as a record to be beaten. A rebellious mother and a rebellious father – I guess you can see where this is going. [...]

[His Vietnamese captors] put him in solitary confinement…for over two years. Isolation… incredible heat beating on a tin roof. A light bulb in his cell burning 24 hours a day. Boarded-up cell windows blocking any breath of fresh air. The oppressive heat causing boils the size of baseballs under his arms. The outside world limited to what he could see through a crack in a door. We hear a lot of talk about hope. John McCain knows about hope. That’s all he had to survive on. [...]

John was beaten for communicating with other prisoners. He was beaten for NOT communicating with so-called “peace delegations.” He was beaten for not giving information during interrogations. When his captors wanted the names of other pilots in his squadron, John gave them the names of the offensive line of the Green Bay Packers.

Whenever John was returned to his cell — walking if he could, dragged if he couldn’t — as he passed his fellow POWs, he would call out to them. He’d smile … and give them a thumbs-up. For five-and-a-half years this went on. John McCain’s bones may have been broken but his spirit never was.

Now, being a POW certainly doesn’t qualify anyone to be President. But it does reveal character. This is the kind of character that civilizations from the beginning of history have sought in their leaders. Strength. Courage. Humility. Wisdom. Duty. Honor. [...]

This man, John McCain is not intimidated by what the polls say or by what is politically safe or popular. At a point when the war in Iraq was going badly and the public lost confidence, John stood up and called for more troops. And now we are winning. [...]

The respect he is given around the world is not because of a teleprompter speech designed to appeal to American critics abroad, but because of decades of clearly demonstrated character and statesmanship.

There has been no time in our nation’s history, since we first pledged allegiance to the American flag, when the character, judgment and leadership of our President was more important.

(Photo: Getty Images)