PRESIDENT BUSH delivered two speeches in Madison Square Garden last night. One was a fairly pedestrian affair -- a laundry list of domestic policies and promises that sounded like a State of the Union address. The other was a soaring defense of his record as commander in chief since Sept. 11, 2001. There couldn't have been much doubt which part ...

JUST WHEN you thought it was only Democrats who promised everything to everybody, President George W. Bush made his own promises and hoped Americans would have amnesia. After Zell Miller, Dick Cheney, and a host of others did the dirty work in tearing apart John Kerry in the first three nights of the Republican National Convention, Bush accepted ...

NEW YORK YOU CAN always try putting lipstick on a pig, as President Bush did last night, but the result is rarely helpful, much less transforming. Promises of tax reform that contain not a syllable of specifics, the confusion (usually attributed to liberals) between legislation and results on education and prescription drug costs, the rehash of a vague, four-year-old idea ...

ALL WEEK a succession of well-meaning friends insist George W. Bush is a great date. They make him sound so appealing that you consider giving the guy a second shot. But when he finally knocks at your door, you remember, as that Amy Dalley country song puts it: "Shoes don't stretch, and men don't change."

PRESIDENT BUSH spent significant time on domestic policy in his speech last night, yet his principal purpose was clear: to persuade voters that he, not Democratic nominee John Kerry, is the best choice to defend America in the age of terrorism. The twin themes of the Republican National Convention in New York City this week have been strength and resolve, ...