By: Joe Strupp Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National Committee, criticized early media coverage of the Republican National Convention in New York for its emphasis on the "moderate speakers," calling the characterization of such speakers "a sham."
"There is a focus on the moderate speakers, and [not on] our conservative speakers," Gillespie told E&P Tuesday afternoon during an interview on the floor of Madison Square Garden. "They have bought into the Democratic spin."
Gillespie went on to say that coverage could have focused on how broad the mix of speakers is: "We are obviously a unified party." Reporters, he said, "could have been writing that just as easily."
Matthew Dowd, one of President Bush's chief strategist, said he agreed with Gillespie's assessment. Referring to marquee speakers Sen. John McCain, Rudolph Giuliani, Laura Bush and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dowd said, "They are the four most popular Republicans in the country. Those are the natural speakers in the context of what we are doing."
Why did the party choose Democratic Sen. Zell Miller for the keynote address? Dowd said: "We have more conservative Democrats here than they had at their convention."
When asked whether he expected alleged "liberal bias" to affect coverage of the fall campaign, Dowd said, "You play the hand you're dealt. Sometimes it feels like we play every game as an away game, but you can WIN away games.
"But I'm not a press-basher," he added. He also denied, with a laugh, that he was one of columnist Maureen Dowd's conservative brothers. "We've never met," he said.
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