Republicans party on opening night

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">WASHINGTON: Republican Party faithfuls mocked challenger John Kerry''s war decorations by sporting band-aids with small purple hearts on them. They booed and jeered maverick film-maker Michael Moore who has skewered President George Bush in his documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. And speaker after speaker extolled Bush''s virtues as a wartime leader.<br /><br />It was just another day of political jabbing in America, this time from Republicans meeting for their national convention at the Madison Square Gardens in New York. <br /><br />With both Bush and Kerry away on the campaign trail, party delegates found inventive ways to belittle the rival and praise their leader. For the Republicans, ridicule was the weapon on choice on Monday as some delegates passed out adhesive bandages with small purple hearts on them — a mock reference to the gallantry award that Kerry won for action in Vietnam, accounts of which some conservatives say was souped-up. <br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal">While the Bush leadership disavowed any responsibility for the stickers, the Kerry campaign responded swiftly, saying Republicans are "mocking our troops." But party faithfuls insisted their target was only Kerry''s exaggerated war record, even as they wheeled out their own war veterans on the opening night of the convention. <br /><br />One such well-profiled veteran, Arizona Senator John McCain, heartily endorsed President Bush after having challenged him for the presidential nomination last time around. McCain also fired up the crowd when he attacked liberal film-maker Michael Moore, who is at the convention as a columnist for <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">USA Today</span>. <br /><br />"Our choice wasn''t between a benign status quo and the bloodshed of war. It was between war and a graver threat." McCain said as he defended Bush''s Iraq policy. "Don''t let anyone tell you otherwise. Not our critics abroad. Not our political opponents. And certainly not a disingenuous filmmaker." <br /><br />The crowd booed and jeered and chanted "four more years" for nearly a minute as Moore gaily waved from the press gallery and made an "L" sign with his hand to call Republicans "losers." Both McCain and the night''s other major speaker, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, are known to be moderates, and their endorsements of Bush was aimed at consolidating the party''s centrist base.</div> </div>