Bush in low-key role at McCain convention

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush tried on Tuesday to rally support for John McCain as the Republican presidential nominee, even as their party's convention relegated the unpopular Bush to an eight-minute satellite message.

"He is ready to lead this nation," Bush said in excerpts of a speech to be broadcast from the White House to Republican delegates in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Bush had been scheduled to deliver a keynote address at the Republican National Convention on Monday but flew instead to Texas to check on the emergency response to Hurricane Gustav, which hit America's Gulf Coast with less force than feared.

Though Bush was added to the convention's agenda on Tuesday, his role was reduced to a brief satellite hookup to the Republican faithful who will nominate McCain as the party's candidate for the November 4 election.

His cameo appearance amounts to little more than a minute for each year of his two-term presidency. He will speak before the major U.S. television networks start their prime-time coverage of the convention.

Bush remains a favorite of his party's conservative base but his approval ratings with the American public are stuck at around 30 percent, near the low of his presidency.

The White House brushed aside any notion that Bush's reduced role at the convention was a snub to the president. But his absence could help spare McCain from Democratic criticism that his election would amount to a third Bush term.

Despite that, Bush cited McCain's experience as a leader and a war hero to make the case that he would keep America safer than Democratic rival Barack Obama.

"We need a president who understands the lessons of September 11, 2001 -- that to protect America, we must stay on the offense, stop attacks before they happen, and not wait to be hit again. The man we need is John McCain," Bush said.

Bush praised McCain for backing his strategy in the Iraq war, despite opinion polls showing most Americans want U.S. troops to return home.

MCCAIN IN NEED OF BOOST

McCain could use a boost as his nomination has been clouded by questions surrounding his choice of first-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate.

Disclosures about Palin's family, in addition to the news that she has a private lawyer in an ethics probe in Alaska, led some to raise concerns about McCain's judgment.

Obama, the first black nominee of a major U.S. party, has sought to link McCain directly to Bush, saying their failed Republican policies were responsible for a faltering U.S. economy and a decline in America's standing in the world.

McCain has at times sought to distance himself from Bush -- they have hardly ever appeared together on the campaign trail -- though the Arizona senator has embraced many of the president's policies.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino earlier called it a "mutual decision" between the White House and convention organizers that Bush deliver his rescheduled speech from the White House rather than in person.

She cited Bush's desire to stay in Washington to keep close watch on Gustav's aftermath as well as logistical problems of getting him to St. Paul on short notice. She said in the process, his speech had been shortened from an original 15 minutes to less than eight minutes.

Bush was in fact planning to fly to Louisiana on Wednesday to survey the damage from Gustav as he tries to reassure Americans his administration has learned the lessons of the botched handling of Katrina in 2005.

(Additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky, Editing by Howard Goller)