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NEW YORK - President Bush's unwavering and seasoned defender, Vice President Dick Cheney, took center stage at the Republican National Convention last night, slipping comfortably into a role he has perfected on the campaign trail this year as chief attacker of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry.

He dismissed Mr. Kerry's 20 years in the U.S. Senate as years without direction or distinction. He castigated the Massachusetts senator for voting to give the President the authority to go to war in Iraq, then voting against additional aid, a move Mr. Kerry defined clearly at the time as a protest vote against an invasion without a clear plan for peace.

Mr. Cheney accused Mr. Kerry of not understanding the post-9/11 period and "how the world has changed," by portraying him as someone who would be soft on terrorists in contrast to President Bush.

The vice president pilloried Mr. Kerry's decision-making process, which the senator's admirers like to describe as a careful, nuanced way of looking at all the facts before making important decisions and an openness to reassessing them.

Vice President Cheney defined that process as the mark of someone who does not know where he stands, emphasizing an argument that, after months of repetition, has crept into the consciousness of American voters.

"His back-and-forth reflects a habit of indecision, and sends a message of confusion. And it is all part of a pattern," Mr. Cheney said. "Senator Kerry says he sees two Americas. It makes the whole thing mutual. America sees two John Kerrys."GOP delegates responded with chants of "flip flop, flip flop" and some waved flip-flop sandals.

On national security, Mr. Cheney, who received five deferments from service in Vietnam, noted Mr. Kerry's decorated service in that war. "And we honor him for it," the vice president said.

He then launched into an extended critique of Mr. Kerry's record, saying it is on national security where the differences between Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry are sharpest.

"Time and again Senator Kerry has made the wrong call on national security," he said.

The senator, he said, wants to please allies rather than lead the world with strength.

"George W. Bush will never seek a permission slip to defend the American people," he said to thunderous applause from delegates shouting "USA! USA!" and hoisting signs that read "Let Freedom Reign."

Mr. Cheney's vice presidential rival, Sen. John Edwards, responded that Democrats would do better than this administration at home and abroad.

"There was a lot of hate coming from that podium tonight," Mr. Edwards said last night. "What John Kerry and I offer to the American people is hope."

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, picked up that line earlier in the night with a slingshot at Mr. Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry and the Heinz family.

"This nation can't afford presidential leadership that comes in 57 varieties," Mr. Romney said.

In a stark contrast to Senator John Edward's sunny message on his night at the Democratic National Convention in Boston that "hope is on the way," Mr. Cheney painted a dark and dangerous world where the U.S. is engaged in a struggle against an enemy as driven as the Nazis in World War II and the Soviet communists of the Cold War.

It is "an enemy who seeks the deadliest of weapons to use against us," he said.

"Moments come along in history when leaders must make fundamental decisions about how to confront a long-term challenge abroad and how best to keep the American people secure. This nation has reached another of those defining moments," he said.

He picked up the central theme of this convention: that President Bush's decisions to invade Iraq and Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists attacks were the bold actions of leader that would shield his country at any cost.

The message: If Mr. Bush is not re-elected, America will be vulnerable to attack.

"On the question of America's role in the world, the differences between Senator Kerry and President Bush are the sharpest, and the stakes for the country are the highest," Mr. Cheney said. "History has shown that a strong and purposeful America is vital to preserving freedom and keeping us safe; yet time and again Senator Kerry has made the wrong call on national security."

Weighing in along with Mr. Cheney last night in the scorching assault on Mr. Kerry was Democratic Senator Zell Miller of Georgia, the new pariah of the Democratic Party, who gave the GOP convention's keynote address. He said Mr. Kerry was not the man for the Oval Office because "the world just cannot afford an indecisive America."

"Which leader today that has the vision, the willpower and, yes, the backbone to best protect my family? The clear answer to that question has placed me in this hall with you tonight," Mr. Miller said.

He criticized Mr. Kerry as liberal, "more wrong, more weak, and more wobbly than any other national figure."

"Listing all the weapon systems that Senator Kerry tried his best to shut down sounds like an auctioneer selling off our national security.

"This is the man who wants to be the commander in chief of our U.S. Armed Forces? U.S. forces armed with what? Spitballs?" he told the approving GOP delegates.

The speech was a departure for Senator Miller. After he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000, he introduced Mr. Kerry at a 2001 event for Georgia's Democratic Party as "one of this nation's authentic heroes" and one of the party's "best-known and greatest leaders."

Just 12 years ago, as Georgia governor, gave the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention and said then-President Bush - who was in the audience last night - was as an "aristocrat" and "a timid man who hears only the voices of caution and the status quo."

Mr. Miller's Senate term will end in January and he has announced that he is not seeking re-election.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Block News Alliance consists of The Blade and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Maeve Reston is a reporter for the Post-Gazette.

Contact Maeve Reston at:
mreston@post-gazette.com.

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