NFL COMMISSIONER ROGER GOODELL WITH WALL STREET JOURNAL

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell With Matt Futterman, Wall Street Journal August 14, 2008 Q: Do you go into a season with the mindset of what story you want to tell? What is the big picture for 2008? Commissioner Goodell: No, I think that’s the great thing about football. I’ve said it repeatedly before. We’re the ultimate in reality television. We don’t know what the story is. Stories will unfold. We never would have been able to anticipate the Brett Favre story 45 days ago. Stories develop as the season goes on. Young players come through and perform, whether through injuries by somebody in front of them, or whether they just come in and perform at extremely high levels. I think that’s one of the things that makes the game so great – the unexpected always happens in the NFL. Does last season’s success translate into an improved bottom line? Is there a direct correlation if there’s a huge amount of attention on the field with great stories, or is your reputation pretty well locked in place? It’s not a direct or immediate benefit like that. What it really does to us is it just continues to grow the popularity of our game. When you can have the size of the audience that watched the Super Bowl last year be able to be so entertained and so excited by that game, it carries over into the next year and it develops new fans and it gives people another way to get involved with our game. And that’s what we’re in the business of doing – growing our game. On the current situation with the owners opting out of the CBA and taking the position that the players have been given too much revenue: I don’t look at it like that. I look at it as the labor agreement, when you negotiate a labor agreement, has to work for all parties, in this case, the owners on one level and the players on the other level. And it wasn’t working for the owners. And that’s why they took the step to say, let’s trigger out, which was an option they had, and let’s make sure that we start addressing the issues to make sure it works for all parties. And that’s simply what they did, and so that starts the clock and gives us the ability to start negotiating so that we can address the issues of what wasn’t working for the owners. Of course, if the players have issues that aren’t working for them, we’ll look at that also. But the reality of it is, the labor agreement has got to be flexible enough to address all of these issues and make sure that the game stays strong. In the past would you say the owners have been satisfied with the status quo and generally pleased before this labor agreement? I don’t know if I’d say that. I think there’s always been a give and take in the previous negotiations. It’s a structure where there are different forces at play during a period of time in any agreement, and the forces now are becoming pretty extraordinary. We have significant economic conditions that are changing the environment for owners and for every other business, by the way. Consumers are feeling it directly. We’re all feeling it. So there are factors that we’d have to consider there. There are risks in the marketplace as a result of that that changed the economics for the owners. There are aspects of the arrangement that just aren’t working for the owners that need to be addressed as soon as possible, and that’s why we terminated now. Is big-market/small-market discrepancy at the root of some of this owner dissatisfaction? No, those are two different issues. That was something that got mistakenly mixed together in the last negotiations. Those are two separate issues. The NFL has the greatest amount of revenue sharing of any professional sports league, and it’s one of the fundamental aspects of our league, of why we continue to be successful and why we continue to be the leader in professional sports; because we have done revenue sharing in an intelligent and responsible fashion for all clubs, and it allows all our clubs the ability to be able to get the revenue to compete. The labor issue is, simply, are the labor costs too high? So you’re getting dispute about the labor costs being too high for high-revenue or low-revenue clubs. It’s not working for the majority of clubs, which is why we had a 32-0 vote. So I don’t mix those two issues. We will always look at revenue sharing. We have looked at revenue sharing. We share all of our national revenue equally. We share our gate on a 1/3-2/3 basis, and even some of that is pooled equally in terms of visiting team shares. So I think there are a lot of things that we do very intelligently in our revenue sharing. We have continued to make modifications to that, and we will. But this is about the labor costs. Does the revenue sharing have to be fixed as much as the labor costs do? No. You always modify the revenue sharing based on where we are as a league. Where are the revenues coming from? Are they coming from local or are they national? You obviously have to keep your eye on that and make modifications as you go. We did that when we realigned the league several years ago. What we did is we essentially pooled the VTS, so there were no financial ramifications by realignment. That was an intelligent thing to do and allowed us to make the best possible decision for our fans on how the league is aligned. That’s the kind of intelligent decisions we make on a regular basis so that revenue sharing continues to be one of the fundamental aspects of our success. How important was it to you to get Brett Favre back on the field once he said he wanted to play? I think you have two things here. One is if he decides he wants to play, he has certain rights as a player wanting to play. At the same time, the Green Bay Packers have rights. They held his rights as a player. So they had competing interests there. They had equal rights which needed to be resolved. I was interjected at one level because of a tampering rule, but I was also interjected from the standpoint of he had to be reinstated by the commissioner. I wanted to make sure both rights were respected and that they reached some kind of a compromise that they both felt comfortable with. I don’t make a decision about who signs him or who doesn’t sign him; once he went back to the Packers, they resolved that matter between the two parties, which is the way it should be. Does it feel good knowing Favre is still part of the equation, in terms of being on the field after his great season last year, and the fact that he’s been a face of the NFL for a decade or so? Sure. Having Brett Favre on the field playing in the National Football League is great for us. I’m very direct about that. If he wants to play, it’s a great thing for the NFL, so we welcome him back. But as far as the rights between the team and the player, those are issues that have to be dealt with on the club level. That’s not something the commissioner directly gets involved with, other than to make sure that our policies and procedures are properly respected. Is your biggest frustration these days the NFL Network? I wouldn’t say it’s the biggest. I would say that it’s frustrating for us because we think we have very compelling product and we know there’s demand from our fans. We hear it repeatedly, and we’re looking for broad distribution of the network. We think it’s important to us strategically over the next several years, but more importantly, it’s about delivering more football to more fans. We would like to get that broad distribution and we’re working hard trying to figure out the best way of doing it. You’ve been making the same argument for the NFLN that a lot of independent channels have been making for a long time. Is there a sense two to three years into it that this argument for broad distribution of the network isn’t going to get anywhere? No, I wouldn’t say that. I think, if you look back at the history, and I’m not an expert as it relates to distribution of cable channels, but it’s not unusual that you have these types of disputes among cable operators and programmers about how they get distribution. So I don’t find that terribly unusual in this industry, from what I’ve observed. We just find it unfortunate the consumer, our fans, are losing at this point in time because they’re not getting this high-quality entertainment, and that’s what we want to try to resolve. We’re going to look at various ways of being able to do that, whether it’s improving the content and the product; how we can make the NFL Network better so we can get the distribution that we believe it deserves. Has it been a money-losing proposition for the NFL so far? No, that’s not the issue. We’re making money on it. Our issue is getting broad distribution so our fans get to see our games. That’s another fundamental aspect of our media policies – to make sure that our games are available to the broadest possible audience. That’s what we’ve done successfully with broadcast television. We’re one of the few sports leagues to be able to continue to place product on broadcast television. We want all of our games, when they appear, not to be in 40 or 45 million homes. We want them in 80 or 85 million homes. It’s proven that our content has that kind of demand. Its ratings and its audience levels are very consistent with the most popular programming, if it’s not the highest programming, in all of entertainment. That’s why we believe there’s demand for our product. If you want to get the broadest distribution, why not just make a deal with ESPN? RG: It depends on what deal you’re talking about with ESPN. What we’re looking for is to get the broadest audience with the best-quality product. We’re looking at what we can do to make this the most attractive programming and most attractive content out there. It has to be done in an intelligent fashion because this is an important strategic asset for us. We want to have something that talks about football 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We’re not talking about something that’s promoting other sports or other entities. We’re talking about something where people can go to find football 365 days a year. Is it something you think can be solved in the near future? I don’t know. I sure hope so. We’re working towards it, but again, this is a long-term strategy. We’re going to continue to negotiate and try to find creative ways to make sure we get this distribution, and we’ll do it as fast as we possibly can because we know the consumers want it. But we’re only one side of the party here. Is it difficult to keep your eye on that long-term strategy in the face of the short-term headaches? No. I think the most important thing for us to do is always keep the eye on the long-term. The National Football League was not built in a short period of time, and its success is really reliant on us making sure we continue to keep the long-term focus on our challenges and our opportunities going forward. In terms of going forward and how people are going to consume the NFL, and new media, including internet strategies, do you see games being digitally delivered down the road, or would that take too much away from the valuable broadcast packages? The premise is to continue to be successful on broadcast television. What we’re finding with various experiments going on with digital media, whether it be the recent experience with the Olympics, or what we hope to be able to determine through our experiment with NBC this season, are that these digital media opportunities are supplementing and adding to the audience for broadcast television. It appears in the short-term that may be a very positive development. So that would be a reason why we would continue to do these experiments – to learn more about it and learn how we can use these technologies to be able to broaden our television audience. So you’re trying to prove to the broadcast networks that digital media wouldn’t detract from the broadcast audience, but potentially add to it? Again, the fear always is that these are going to detract from the broadcast audience. It doesn’t appear to be the case. In fact, what it does is create greater interest in the broadcast. So what we’re looking toward is what it is we can do with our digital media assets to broaden that audience, to create more excitement, to create more interest, so that we broaden our broadcast audience and become more successful on broadcast television. The broadcast outlets are always going to want more. Are you in a position where you’re going to be able to give it to them? There’s been talk of shortening the preseason and extending the regular season. Do you think you’re heading down that road? That’s a little different. What we’re trying to do is make sure that all of our content is high quality, and it meets the standard of what we think the excellence of the NFL content is. So what we’re looking at is whether the preseason is really that high quality that we expect from NFL programming, and I don’t think it is. So what we’re looking to do is say, can we convert some of that programming into high-quality regular-season programming? We play a 20-game season right now – 4 preseason and 16 regular season. We’re evaluating whether we’re better off with a 17-3 ratio or an 18-2 ratio, again, to improve the quality of that content even further. And it does provide more content in that fashion. Do you have a preference for which way it would go – would you start before Labor Day or go longer? Interestingly enough, we do have the option to move the Super Bowl later. The current analysis would indicate that we would go after Labor Day, a week later in the season or two weeks later in the season. So you’d stick with starting it when you do now? Yes. That’s when football season is. We celebrate the start of football season with Kickoff when we come back from Labor Day and everyone’s done with summer vacation. It’s football season. Do you have to end the season by the Daytona 500? No. Our view is, when we’re getting into that late season, we really own that calendar, and that’s an opportunity for us to continue to build our game. Do you see a team in London or Paris by 2025? Very possibly. Our experience in London in the short-term has been extremely positive. We played our first regular season game there last year. The mayor told me we could have sold the game out ten times over, and that’s in a 90,000-plus seat stadium. We came back again this year with another game and we sold out the tickets in, I think, an hour and a half. We have a tremendous interest and a tremendous fan base over there. We have great media interest over there. So I think that’s a marketplace that clearly could support an NFL franchise, and that’s one of the things that we’re looking at. How do we continue to play more regular-season games over there and develop that interest so that it could handle a franchise at some point in the future. Would an overseas franchise go to London first? I wouldn’t foreclose it. It could go someplace else, but the UK is a very developed media market and a very developed NFL market. We have a strong fan base there. So I would think that’s probably the leader in the clubhouse. In the shorter term, could there be an NFL team in Canada? I don’t know. Right now we’re doing what we can to try to broaden the fan base for our Buffalo Bills. Several years ago we worked to regionalize that team in western New York. It’s been very successful, but as that market continues to have challenges, we’re looking to see how we can broaden it even further. So they’re playing a game in Toronto, as a matter of fact, this evening, and there will be a regular-season game later this year there. That has really helped the Buffalo Bills be stronger in Buffalo, and that’s what we’re hoping to do. But it’s also reached out to another set of fans that we know we have in Canada that are able to come and attend a game in Toronto. Being from the Buffalo area, is it a high priority for you that there always be an NFL team in Buffalo? I think it’s a high priority for us to make sure all of our teams are successful, and we look to see what we can do to make them successful.   ###

NFL COMMISSIONER ROGER GOODELL WITH BOOMER ESIASON AND CRAIG CARTON

From NFL Media.com

NFL COMMISSIONER ROGER GOODELL

WITH BOOMER ESIASON AND CRAIG CARTON

WFAN Radio – September 3, 2008


Q: Welcome back to the show, Roger. How are you doing?


Commissioner Goodell: Great, Craig. It’s good to be with you.

On thoughts about Gene Upshaw’s death:

It was a sad day. We had a memorial service for him in Washington yesterday and it was a terrific service for a terrific man. I’ve said many times that I don’t know if there are many people who have contributed more to football as an individual, both as a player and as the NFLPA executive director. He’s done great things for football and it was a sad day for all of us.

On how Upshaw’s death will affect labor peace and negotiations with the NFLPA:

I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about it because we’ve been so focused on losing a great man, but he clearly is going to leave a void because of the great leadership Gene had provided. On the other hand, he’s created a tremendous organization in the NFLPA. They represent the players extremely well; they’re going through the process to select a successor to Gene. I’m sure they will find someone who is very capable and we’ll sit down at the table and discuss it. As you mentioned, we have some time here. This is not a focus for fans in the short term, I’m confident we’ll be able to sit down at the table and get these issues resolved.

On what types of activities are going on before the game as part of the spectacle that is Kickoff Weekend:

Boomer, you know we don’t do anything small in the NFL and tomorrow is no exception to that. We’re having a big event in Columbus Circle; there will be free football and a music event. We’ll have Usher, Keith Urban, Natasha Bedingfield and a lot of great Hall of Famers, a lot of great Jets and Giants on hand to celebrate the return of football and the kickoff to the 2008 season.

Do you get giddy like a fan on the eve of the opening game or is it too business-like for you?

Absolutely, I’m still a fan at heart. I’ve been thinking about this for the last several months. The buildup to the season is always great for us; we have great stories coming into the season and I have no doubt it is going to be an even better season than last year, and that is a hard mark to beat. I have as much enthusiasm and excitement as every other fan.

On Brett Favre in a New York Jets uniform:

It is great to see Brett back playing football. When he retired in February everybody knew they were going to miss a great player and when he decided to come back and play it was great for the NFL and the Jets were the beneficiary of that. This year they have the opportunity to have #4 playing in the Jets’ green and that is great for Jets fans and it is great for all football fans because it will be something wonderful for them to follow.

On role in Brett’s return to the Packers and NFL:

It wasn’t particularly difficult, Craig. My job as commissioner is to make sure that all of our rules are followed. Brett had rights as a player who wanted to continue his playing career and the Packers had right also and I just wanted to make sure those were respected. Eventually they got together and resolved that it was better for Brett to move on. They went and had discussions with a number of teams and the Jets ended up being the winner for Brett. I think that is great for all of our fans and I think it may end up being one of those circumstances that turns out to be great for Packers fans and for Jets fans.

From a commissioner’s standpoint, do you prefer the story of a player playing almost his entire career with one team and retiring with that team?

You’re right, there aren’t many players that have greater credibility and reputation as Brett Favre does both on and off the field. I would only argue this point: having Brett Favre on the field and having our fans have an opportunity to enjoy the way he plays the game, which as you know has genuine excitement and enthusiasm, I think that is great for a fan. I may disagree from the standpoint of seeing him retire. It’s great that he is still playing football and we’re glad to see him back on the field.

On the fan conduct policy:

First off, it was not a reaction to the Jets’ circumstances. This is something we have been looking at for the past couple of years. It is something we have heard from our fans about, and the core issue that we are trying to address here is to allow anyone to come to an NFL stadium and enjoy the experience and not have it ruined by somebody else. We want people to come and have a good time. We’re not trying to create an atmosphere that lacks in enthusiasm. We’re trying to create an atmosphere where everyone in the stadium is enjoying themselves and can bring anyone they want to the stadium knowing they are going to have a positive experience.

I’m comfortable that that is going to happen and each club is going to deal with it in their own way because it is different in each community.

On whether this policy is in response to what other fans have asked you to do based on their in-game experiences:

That is absolutely right, Boomer. It is something I’ve heard consistently from fans, that it is getting harder and harder for them to go to the stadium because of the behavior of some of the other fans. It is a very limited number of fans that behave in that fashion. We want to make sure we say to those individuals, “Listen, you have to come and enjoy the experience responsibly, and don’t ruin it for others.”

On tailgating:

Craig, nobody tried to say we’re getting rid of tailgating. Let’s try to keep this in perspective here. We’re not suggesting that you’re going to stop enjoying yourself going to the stadium and that you’re not going to stand up and show a lot of enthusiasm. That is an overstatement and it is just not fair.

On the Personal Conduct Policy and if it will lead to fewer off-field problems now:

I certainly hope so. We have 2,000 young men and almost every one of them are outstanding young men, as both you and Boomer know. You always have a few guys that just don’t understand their responsibility as NFL players and their roles as players in their communities. It’s something that we thought was important to do because most of our players – virtually all of them – are doing great things in the community, and the ones that aren’t reflect poorly on them as a group, and on the NFL. So I think it’s something that was important for us to do, and I do believe our players understand it and support it. They were part of developing the policy and I think it’ll have a positive impact, but this is something that will take some period of time to get through because it’s got to reach everybody – not only NFL players, but every college player and every high school player so they know if they want to play at this level, you’re going to have to represent the league and your team and your community in a positive way.

On the situation in New Orleans and the Saints playing their home opener Sunday in the Super Dome:

Yes, the Super Dome came through with very minor damage. They’re still working on getting electricity back, but we are going to be playing the game as scheduled – 12 pm local time, 1 pm east coast time. It should be an exciting start for them because it represents so much to that community and it represents so much the spirit of those people in that community and how they continue to come back from Hurricane Katrina, and certainly now with the latest incidents, they really have just done themselves proud. We’re happy to be part of that celebration to show that New Orleans is going to continue to be a great community.

On the use of PSLs with many new stadiums:

I’m not offended by them. In fact, I think more customers are starting to understand there’s value to the PSLs. This is something now that they own and they can sell that at some point in the future if they so desire and get value for that. The experience we’ve had in other communities is that the PSL was actually a benefit to the fans, and also, it’s a way to get new stadiums built and it’s been effective in other communities. This is a privately funded stadium. You know the price tag, and it’s an expensive project, and this is a way to try to close that gap.

On whether there is a concern that this will price out blue-collar fans:

Yes, absolutely. I think it concerns our teams, too. I think both the Jets and the Giants have been very sensitive to that. They’re taking different approaches to how they’re pricing PSLs, but they’re both very concerned with that and making sure that their fans can continue to come to the stadium and support both teams. I think that’s something you always have to be concerned with. You always have to recognize that it’s a heavy load for consumers, and it’s a great piece of entertainment, but you want to make sure everyone has that same access.

# # #

Ms. Palin's Performance Wednesday at the RNC

The Republicans ran more effective campaigns in 2000 and 2004. They are adept at campaigning, and despite awareness of the tactics, adopting Rove's guidelines remains an effective, albeit eristic, tool for them.

But Palin's performance was merely the exectution and staging of a speech she didn't write. The GOP had a VP acceptance speech prepared, as you've probably heard/read elsewhere, but determined it was too macho and determined they had to start over from scratch on short notice when Palin was named.

So while the defense is well-orchestrated - and one would expect nothing less - the fact is it leaves most if not all of the real questions not merely unanswered, but unaddressed. None of the words were Palin's choice: the content reflects nothing but GOP talking points, and while Ms. Palin delivered them creditably she adopted the role of a talking head, revealing to neither the media nor the voters anything beyond her ability to handle somebody else's prepared rhetoric.

Credit the speech writers for what substance there was, although the AP questions the veracity of many points. But make no mistake:

That wasn't "Palin's speech" at all; Sarah Palin was delivering a well-scripted performance. It concealed her by cloaking her in familiar old-school GOP platitudes and rhetorical barbs, many of which such as the tax refrain have been debunked and disproven already. But the GOP has seldom lost relying on time-tested Rovian tactics and lies, have they?

Barack Obama and Joe Biden May Look At Criminal Charges Against Bush

VP candidate Joe Biden said to the Guardian UK that if he and Barack Obama are elected, they would look at the allegations against George Bush that could lead to criminal charges.

Gov. Sarah Palin Speech Poorly Delivered To RNC

Tonight Alaska Gov. and now Vice Presidential Nominee Sarah Palin gave a well-written, but poorly delivered speech to the Republican National Convention.

Guiliani And GOP Insult Community Organizers and Populists

I'm watching former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani talk on and on ..and on, but what is so galling is that he can't "do" a good speech. Geez, he's droning on and on and on. The speech is too long.

Ok, back to business. It was a politically stupid speech, because Rudy just insulted and alienated every community organizer and populist and quite possibility kissed that vote good by.

Community organizers bring people together for a common goal, be it getting elected officials to act on a problem or making sure than a neighborhood gets the services they need. Community organizers can work for non-profits or for organizations like the police department in your city.

What a dumb speech. I'm sorry, it just was. Rudy should be ashamed of himself.

DNC Tuesday Higher Ratings Than RNC Tuesday - 4.5 Million Difference

According to the Nielsen ratings service the Tuesday night of the Democratic National Convention drew more viewers than the Republican National Convention, 26 million viewers to 21.5 million, respectively.

Here's the breakdown:

All Households 14.2 16,235,000
Persons 2+ 7.3 21,528,000
Women 18+ 9.7 11,200,000
Men 18+ 8.8 9,519,000
Persons 12-17 1.4 220,000
Persons 18-34 3.7 2,508,000
Persons 18-49 5.4 7,226,000
Persons 55+ 16.1 11,427,000
African American Persons 2+ * 5.8 2,133,000
Hispanic Persons 2+ * 1.8 847,000
White Persons 2+ * 8.5 18,045,000

Gov. Sarah Palin: No Double Standard Applied To Palin

http://zennie2005.blogspot.com -- There's no double standard in how Governor Palin's being covered at all. She's vieing for the second most powerful position in the World. Indeed, Palin may be getting a pass by some. Suppose she was black and we saw photos of her kids friends -- teenagers -- holding rifles and guns? That would be an outrage. Why is that not the case here?

Governor Palin is in a position tonight where she has to give "that speech" it's a tradition by which presidential and vice presidential candidates are measured by. If she does not give anything less than "that speech" forget it.

George Bush: President's Address to GOP Convention 9.2.08

This is President Bush's speech endorsing Senator John McCain's run for President of the United States.

The Republican Convention Does Not Represent America

This is my short take on the RNC Convention and speeches of Tuesday, September 2, 2008. I hold that the Republican Party presented at the RNC does not represent America.

The convention consists of a part of America -- older, white, and mostly male -- and it's entirely focused on the war or matters related to it, at a time when we need to pay attention to rebuilding Amerca.

i did not like Senator Fred Thompson's speech, though I have the greatest respect for him. The surge did not work. It's that simple. What's true is that we have killed more than 80,000 iragi civilians and wrecked the culture of that nation.

Senator Joe Liberman stood up and comitted political suicide tonight. He attacked the Democrats and Senator Barack Obama, who Senator Liberman asked to help him get reelected in 2006, and Barack did so.

Now, Liberman's stabbing him in the back.

The Republicans have seemed to forget the plight of the working person.

Palin's selection as McCain's VP candidate raises questions - lots of questions.

According to Paul Kane, writing at WashintonPost.com, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin employed a lobbying firm to secure almost $27 million in federal earmarks for a town of 6,700 residents while she was its mayor, according to an analysis by an independent government watchdog group. McCain is proud of his recent opposition to earmarks, though. Is that not what he wants from his Vice President, too?

Well, you could point out that Palin has also decried earmarks, citing her opposition to a $223 million bridge in Alaska. "As governor, I've stood up to the old politics-as-usual, to the special interests, to the lobbyists, the big oil companies, and the good-ol'-boy network," she said on Friday, yet she favors fostering those same big oil companies desires to drill in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. Is that really standing up to big oil and politics as usual?

Wasilla, a town of under 7,000 people, did not receive any federal earmarks in the first few years of Palin's term as mayor, but after she checked off on the retention of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh, an Anchorage-based law firm that lobbies in D.C., the earmarks started rolling in. The account was handled by partner Steven W. Silver, the former chief of staff to Senator Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican Senator, coincidentally indicted in July on charges of accepting illegal gifts. Is that McCain's idea of standing up to special interests and the good old boy network in D.C., or Palin's?

In FY 2002, Wasilla took in $6.1 million in earmarks, on the heels of the $15 million rail project, in 2001 intended to connect Wasilla with the town of Girdwood, where Senator Stevens has a house. Is Sarah Palin really all that worried about change, or is she a savvy Republican working the system for all it's worth?

Sarah Palin, who would possibly be in line to become President, was once been a member of a group that advocates secession from the United States. Is that who we want as our potential Commander in Chief?

How much do you know about Sarah Palin, and what motivated McCain to pick her? Do you think there's likely more to it than pandering for women's votes? Naturally - there must be, right? I think we'd all like to learn more about this first-term Governor. So follow the money.

Meanwhile, in the interest of fairness, I'd like you to meet Joe Biden, too.

read more | digg story

RNC - Senator Joe Lieberman and former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson Speak

The Hurricane Gustav crisis seems past, so the Republican National Convention is going to reboot its program starting today with this schedule posted on the RNC website:

The 2008 Republican National Convention today announced the program of events for Tuesday, Sept. 2. The program will feature speeches by U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman and former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson. Their remarks will reflect the convention's overall theme, "Country First," and the theme for Tuesday's events, which is "service." 

"We are excited to announce Tuesday's featured speakers, who will share John McCain's remarkable record of leadership and service with millions of Americans tonight. We are looking forward to showcasing John McCain's life-long record of putting his country first," said Republican National Committee Chairman Robert M. "Mike" Duncan.

"From his days as a POW who refused early release to his 20-year career in the U.S. Senate, John McCain has always put country first. Tonight's program will reflect his unmatched commitment to service and his vision for increasing Americans' participation in service and volunteer activities," said Rick Davis, McCain 2008 campaign manager.

Among the other speakers announced today are President George W. Bush (via satellite), First Lady Laura Bush, U.S. House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio), U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman (Minn.), and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.).