Bush first finds time for church, then a Lincoln-esque sound check
NEW YORK -- It was President Bush's big day, and he began it in prayer.
Bush yesterday attended a morning service at Church of Our Saviour, a Catholic church on Park Avenue. The sermon: "Courage in the Face of Evil."
Then he headed across town to Madison Square Garden. It was his first glimpse of the "theater in the round" setup in which he delivered last night's speech. Bush has occasionally done town hall-style campaign events, wandering a stage and mingling with audience members. Nonetheless, last night's format was unique for a high-profile national political convention, and Bush showed up hours before his speech to test it.
He spent about 20 minutes on a microphone sound check, during which he recited snippets of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
Star sightings Seeking to match the star wattage at the Democratic convention, GOP organizers put the word out that they wanted celebrities at parties and on stage. But the most famous taker -- Britney Spears -- was turned down.
Instead, the Republicans offered country singers Brooks & Dunn, the Gatlin Brothers, and Third Day, a new rock band with a Grammy award in hand but little-noticed outside the Christian music world. The Democratic convention, in contrast, had Wyclef Jean, John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson, Carole King, and hip-hop darlings Black Eyed Peas.
Justice on four wheels The protests here have, at times, turned quite chaotic, and perhaps no one knows better than Courtney Lee Adams, a New York musician with roots in Brookline, Mass. She was arrested Tuesday night during a confrontational march and thrown in a bus holding all female arrestees. One detainee wriggled out of her handcuffs and as police pounced, the chaos caused the driver to lose control.
The bus sideswiped two parked cars, she said. Then, it glanced off a passing SUV. No one was injured, and the bus continued on to the police station.
"It was like 'Speed,' the movie," said Adams.
Once at the station, she spent three hours waiting in the bus to be processed.
Marcella Bombardieri, Kenneth J. Cooper, and Geoff Edgers of the Globe staff contributed to this report. 