Bush invokes 9/11 as reason to elect McCain

McCain defends Palin selection
The convention is seeking to reintroduce Americans to McCain and provide a high-profile introduction for Palin, who was providing an unwelcome distraction after her announcement Monday that her unmarried 17-year-old daughter is pregnant and that a private attorney has been retained to represent the governor in an investigation into the dismissal of the state public safety commissioner.

So far, Palin has not conducted a formal news conference or taken questions from reporters. But in a legal filing made public Tuesday, Palin said she wanted the state’s personnel board to review the allegations surrounding her firing of the public safety commissioner, The Associated Press reported.

The revelations raised questions about whether Palin’s background had been fully explored before she was picked late last week.

McCain, touring a Philadelphia fire house, told NBC News: “The vetting process was completely thorough , and I’m grateful for the results.” His advisers say he had known about the governor’s daughter’s pregnancy.

For her part, Palin met with the board of directors of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

“We had a good, productive discussion on the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship, and we were pleased that Governor Palin expressed her deep, personal and lifelong commitment to the safety and well-being of Israel,” Josh Block, a spokesman for AIPAC, said after the meeting, which Lieberman also attended.

Newsweek magazine, citing unidentified campaign officials, reported Tuesday that the McCain camp has assembled a team of former Bush White House aides to tutor Palin on foreign policy issues, write her speeches and prepare her for her Oct. 2 debate against the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware.

The report said Steve Biegun, the former No. 3 official on the National Security Council under Condoleezza Rice, has been hired as Palin’s chief foreign policy adviser.

Protests continue outside
Outside the Xcel Energy Center, police contended with thousands of protesters, some of whom attacked a group of Connecticut delegates.

Police told NBC News said 286 people had been arrested by Tuesday afternoon, including about 130 who had been charged with felonies involving rioting. They said some demonstrators smashed cars, punctured tires and threw bottles.

Cheri Honkala, national organizer of the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Committee, an activist group based in Cleveland, said Tuesday that protesters intended “multiple acts of civil disobedience.”

Matthew E. Berger, Tom Brokaw, Andrea Mitchell, Kelly O’Donnell and John Yang of NBC News and NBC affiliate KARE of Minneapolis contributed to this report.

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