After California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) decided not to attend the Republican National Convention, the RNC replaced him with former senator Fred Thompson, who gave the speech originally intended for Schwarzenegger. The California governor told Der Spiegel that he was ordered to focus on McCain’s biography; that way, the campaign could prevent him from talking about “centrist policies”:

SCHWARZENEGGER: The speech I would have given is the one that Fred Thompson gave. I gave him my speech because I did not go to the convention. It was a great speech because it talked in minute detail about McCain’s torture and his being a POW, and that’s the speech that the party wanted me to give. Why? Because this way I don’t go and talk about centrist politics and maybe rub some people the wrong way. That’s another stage.

Though Schwarzenegger endorsed McCain, he has since criticized him, giving McCain’s climate plans a grade of “F.”

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has claimed that he can cut up to $100 billion in earmark spending, a major tenet of his plan to balance the budget. The Wonk Room has noted, however, that McCain’s budget numbers do not add up. In a Tuesday event at the RNC, a host noted that the total cost of earmarks pales in comparison to the war in Iraq, Social Security, and health care spending. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) admitted that the earmark pledge is in reality just “symbolic”:

KYL: It is true that the question of earmarks is more symbolic than it is significant in terms of the total amount of money. But if he combines that with the notion of ending wasteful Washington spending…And so if addition to earmarks, which are relatively small, you begin to focus on not just raising taxes but to reducing spending here and there, that is a big deal.

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Kyl also said that the frequent conservative catch phrase “wasteful Washington spending” is just political rhetoric. “The reason that I use it is because the consultants who look at the polls tell us that if there’s anything that drives American taxpayers crazy it’s that phrase ‘wasteful Washington spending,’” he admitted. “They hate it.”

At a reception in St. Paul on Wednesday for Catholic Republicans, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) — a fierce opponent of abortion — said that he is “very concerned that many of our schools and universities have lost their way.” They have become “bastions of moral relativism and moral compromise with the culture of death.”

As a solution, Smith suggested that “students must find the God of the Bible and Biblical values in the classroom”:

SMITH: Our schools need to become oases of goodness, sound moral teaching and, they must become agents of change in the culture. Our students must find the God of the Bible and Biblical values in the classroom, on the campus. I believe we need to do more to find effective ways to educate and inform policy makers and hold them to account.

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Smith’s call for “Biblical values in the classroom” could easily be interpreted as a call for the promotion of Christianity in American schools. But, as the First Amendment Center has pointed out, “the courts have been clear that public school teachers cannot teach religion to their students or read the Bible to the class as a way of promoting their faith.”

Smith’s comments appear to be more radical than Rep. Steve King’s (R-IA) claim last year that “every child” in American schools needs to learn “the tenets of the Christian faith.” While King conceded that if “the tenets of Christianity” are to be taught in school, “other faiths” should be taught as well, Smith said no such thing.

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In her speech on Wednesday night, Sarah Palin attacked journalists for scrutinizing her record. “I’ve learned quickly, these past few days, that if you’re not a member in good standing of the Washington elite,” she said, “then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.”

During an interview with ThinkProgress in St. Paul yesterday, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough told us, “The McCain campaign has made a very calculated decision they’re going to run against the press. Personally, I don’t think it works.” He continued:

Attacking the press for conservatives, for Republicans, it always provides a sugar high. It excites the base. It is never ever worth the pay off. … Don’t engage in a war. I think McCain’s campaign is making a mistake. Because that never pays off in the end.

But, they’ve adopted that strategy. Make no mistake of it. They’ve adopted the strategy publicly, privately. They’re fighting behind the scenes. And we’ll see — maybe it works this year. I don’t think so though.

The McCain campaign recently said journalists are creating a “faux media scandal designed to destroy the first female Republican nominee.” In a jeering and sarcastic column this past week, Politico’s Roger Simon wrote, “On behalf of the elite media, I would like to say we are very sorry” for asking basic questions about Palin’s record.

Scarborough said he’s always had a better relationship with the Obama campaign than with the McCain campaign. He added, “The Bush White House — not a big friend of mine. I think they stopped talking to me after Hurricane Katrina.” Watch it:

When Palin was first announced last Friday as John McCain’s vice presidential running mate, Scarborough declared that she had too little foreign policy experience for the job. Earlier this week, ThinkProgress questioned whether Scarborough was backtracking a bit from his initial criticism.

But during the interview yesterday, Scarborough reiterated his initial concerns. In the wake of developments in Georgia and Pakistan, Scarborough said now is “no time to have a vice president that has so little experience. And I still agree with that.” That being said, he added, “she has a remarkable resume.”

Media Matters reports:

During their September 2 and September 3 coverage of the Republican National Convention, MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News each dedicated more on-air time — significantly more in most cases — to speeches and other official Republican convention programming during the most-watched portions of their coverage than each channel dedicated to official convention programming during the same times on comparable nights of the Democratic National Convention one week earlier.

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On Tuesday at the RNC, ThinkProgress spoke to Jennifer Stockman, co-chair of Republicans For Choice, a conservative organization that supports abortion rights. When asked about how the choice of Gov. Sarah Palin would affect women’s rights, Stockman said it would mean they would have to “work harder.” She said she hopes McCain won’t touch women’s rights issues because he “doesn’t care” about them:

Well, it means we have to work harder. We have to make sure that the McCain-Palin administration…don’t make these issues, the social issues, the central portion of their policy agenda, as Bush has done. We have a lot of work to do. We don’t believe McCain would — he really doesn’t care much about the issue, even though he has almost perfect pro-life voting record.

On the prospects of McCain overturning Roe v. Wade, Stockman said, “The only thing that gives me comfort is that Democrats are going to win the Senate.” Watch it:

McCain’s lack of knowledge on women’s issues is well-documented. In July, a reporter asked if it is “unfair” that insurance companies cover Viagra but not birth control. “I certainly do not want to discuss that issue,” he said, pausing uncomfortably for several seconds. “It’s something that I had not thought much about.”

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During the Republican National Convention this past week, Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) campaign worked hard to put distance between the senator and President Bush. Bush spoke briefly via satellite and Vice President Cheney didn’t address the crowd at all.

Despite these attempts, what was most evident during the convention was how similar the two men’s policies were. New ideas to address the country’s problems and actual policy discussions were given little attention. As FiveThirtyEight notes, instead, much attention was given to “the three P’s — Palin, Petroleum, and POW.”

ThinkProgress has put together an analysis based on the prepared remarks (a total of 40,752 words) of the convention speakers, looking at how many times Republicans said various words. A glimpse at conservatives’ priorities:

The New York Times has an analysis of the Democratic convention here.

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UPDATE 9/8: This count has been updated to fully reflect non-prime-time speakers.

In an interview with Investor’s Business Daily last July, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) took issue with those who say that drilling for oil in the U.S. will not solve America’s energy problem. “I beg to disagree with any candidate who would say we can’t drill our way out of our problem,” Palin argued. Yet last night during her speech accepting the Republican nomination for Vice President, Palin mocked her “opponents” for reminding her that “drilling will not solve all of America’s energy problems” :

PALIN: Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America’s energy problems – as if we all didn’t know that already. But the fact that drilling won’t solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all.

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Last night during her speech to the Republican National Convention, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) sought to play up her experience as mayor of a small town in Alaska by mocking community organizing:

PALIN: And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a “community organizer,” except that you have actual responsibilities.

Today, the nation’s leading organization’s responded to Palin’s attack:

– Center for Community Change: When Sarah Palin demeaned community organizing, she didn’t attack another candidate. She attacked an American tradition — one that has helped everyday Americans engage with the political process and make a difference in their lives and the lives of their neighbors.

– Assn. of Community Organizations for Reform Now: ACORN members, leaders and staff are extremely disappointed that Republican leaders would make such condescending remarks on the great work community organizers accomplish in cities throughout this country. The fact that they marginalize our success in empowering low- and moderate-income people to improve their communities further illustrates their lack of touch with ordinary people.

– USAction: These groups, and the millions of individuals they represent, are dismayed by the recent dismissal of their efforts in the form of political attacks. Community organizations have been at the heart of every major reform in modern history – from the Boston Tea Party to the civil rights movement for example, the quest for civil rights began when community organizers mobilized the disenfranchised.

– Community Organizers of America: The last thing we need is for Republican officials to mock us on television when we’re trying to rebuild the neighborhoods they have destroyed. Maybe if everyone had more houses than they can count, we wouldn’t need community organizers. But I work with people who are getting evicted from their only home. If John McCain and the Republicans understood that, maybe they wouldn’t be so quick to make fun of community organizers like me.

Faith In Public Life has more responses from leading community organizers.

Check out The Sarah Palin Digest.

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