US President George W. Bush saluted Republican John McCain as the man to replace him on Tuesday at a convention featuring assaults on Democrat Barack Obama and a strong defense of McCain?s No. 2, Sarah Palin. Bush, in a rarity for recent incumbent presidents, did not attend the party?s St. Paul convention to nominate McCain for president, instead speaking briefly from the White House by satellite.

The stated reason for Bush?s absence was his need to manage the Hurricane Gustav emergency, but it could in the end have helped McCain distance himself from the unpopular Bush at a time when Democrats seek to join them at the hip politically. Bush said progress in bringing stability to Iraq through a US troop build-up was the direct result of the Arizona senator?s firmness in insisting that it take place in the face of Democratic opposition and the war?s unpopularity. «The man we need is John McCain,» Bush said. «He?s not afraid to tell you when he disagrees. Believe me, I know,» said Bush, who has had an uneasy relationship with the 72-year-old McCain and defeated him in the 2000 race for the Republican nomination.

The Obama campaign fired back. «The man George Bush needs may be John McCain, but the change America needs is Barack Obama,» campaign manager David Plouffe said. On the first night of convention speeches after a delay prompted by the hurricane, police used pepper spray and teargas to drive protesters away from the Xcel Energy Center, where the convention was held.

«Country matters more than party»

The confrontation followed a peaceful march on behalf of poor people by more than 1,000 demonstrators. Republicans will nominate McCain and vice presidential running mate, Palin, 44, as their candidates this week to face Obama and Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, in the Nov. 4 election.

Obama drew heavy fire from convention speakers who want to use the week to try to define the Democrat on their own terms after Obama, a first-term US Illinois senator, got a boost in public opinion polls from his convention last week in Denver. Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, a close McCain ally who calls himself an independent Democrat, described the Obama, 47, as a «gifted and eloquent young man,» but said «eloquence is no substitute for a record, not in these tough times.» «I?m here to support John McCain because country matters more than party,» said Lieberman, the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000.

Former Tennessee Republican Sen. Fred Thompson, in the most fiery speech of the day, dismissed Obama as «the most liberal, most inexperienced nominee to ever run for president.» He said McCain?s foreign policy expertise was far more expansive than Obama?s, citing Obama?s speech before 200,000 cheering Germans in Berlin in July. «The respect he (McCain) 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,» Thompson said.

Palin?s disclosure that her unmarried 17-year-old daughter is pregnant and the news that she had hired a private lawyer in an ethics probe in Alaska have triggered a media firestorm. Some have questioned McCain?s judgment in picking Palin and how thoroughly the relatively unknown first-term governor?s background was examined before her selection.

Thompson blasted «Washington pundits and media big shots» who had been critical of Palin. «Let?s be clear ... the selection of Gov. 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.» Comparing Palin to Obama without mentioning the Democrat?s name, Thompson said she «has actually governed rather than just talked a good game on the Sunday talk shows and hit the Washington cocktail circuit».

There was every indication McCain and other Republicans would stand by only the second woman ever picked as a major party?s vice presidential nominee, despite the controversy. Republicans like her anti-abortion and pro-gun stances and her history of government reform in Alaska in her two years as governor. «He absolutely keeps her,» said University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato. «If he drops her, the election is over.»