August 1, 2000 – CBS World News Roundup: Late Edition – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
August 1, 2000 – The Republican Convention was in full swing on this day. Inside was a parade of war heroes and confetti. Outside was a parade of teargas and mounted police.
On this day it was words of praise from George Bush Sr. Nancy Reagan and former Bush rival John McCain. McCain’s address was expected to strike a conciliatory tone, with no reference to the Campaign Finance Reform issue he had battled with Bush over during the primaries. Tonight it was one big “come to Jesus” moment in the City of Brotherly Love.
However, outside it was another story – Protestors clashed with Police, who in turn brought out the horses and the teargas and had made some 90 arrests so far this day.
But George Bush wasted no time attacking President Clinton over Clinton’s remarks about Bush’s ability to lead the country. Even Bush Sr. was getting involved. Never a fan of Clinton in the first place, Bush Sr. was reported to have told Clinton to “lay off his son”. This in reaction to a recent fund raiser where Clinton was reported to have raised big doubts about the younger Bush’s abilities to lead a country, based on his somewhat dubious record leading the state of Texas as Governor as well as owner of a Baseball team. Bush Sr. threatened to get personal. Campaign season had arrived.
Meanwhile, about a thousand U.S. Marines were being called in to fight dozens of wildfires scorching the West. They were to join National Guard and reserves already on the fire lines. Civilian firefighters were being stretched to their limits and help from the Pentagon was badly needed.
And Air France was grounding all its Concorde flights, pending the outcome of the investigation of a crash the previous week.
And that’s a small slice of what happened, this August 1, 2000 as reported by The CBS World News Roundup: Late Edition.