For a long time tonight, the Republicans appeared to be stalling.

Two hours into the second day of the Republican National Convention, there has been only the slightest whiff of an attack on Barack Obama, whose name has not been mentioned once. Tonight was supposed to feature Rudy Giuliani and the danger of ceding the White House to the Democrats. But instead of a sustained consistent message to build up John McCain or to tear down Obama, the Republicans have offered Jo Ann Davidson, chairman of the RNC Committee on Arrangements, who called Sarah Palin, the presumptive vice presidential nominee, Sarah Pawlenty. Two members of Congress spoke, one about the do nothing Congress, another about how nice people in Minnesota are. There have been history lesson videos about Gerald Ford, Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, all of which had a hard time keeping the attention of the delegates on the floor. (A film about George H.W. Bush received a big hand. Bush and his wife Barbara watched from front row seats in the hall.) An essay about the American flag by a grade-schooler was read over the loud speaker. A father and his adopted daughter came on stage to talk about...adoption. A Christian pop singer sang a song. ("I know I'm not forsaken," she sang.) Then she sang another song. A State School Superintendent from Arizona spoke about schools in Arizona. A Hispanic friend of McCain said "Viva McCain." Laura Bush spoke for the second night in a row, and to her fell the sharpest line until that point, mocking Obama by saying the progress her husband made in helping people with AIDS was "change you can really believe in." President Bush sent a message via video disparaging the "angry left."

It was only when Fred Thompson, the former Senator of Tennessee, Law and Order actor and lethargic presidential candidate, spoke that the Republicans got some red meat and the Republicans began to make the case that character, and inexperience, were the critical questions of the election.

After telling McCain's story as a prisoner of war, Thompson said McCain's courage in the face of great suffering answered any question of McCain's character. Thompson suggested character was a central qualification for serving as the nation's president. McCain he said had "Character you can believe in." Thompson also hit out against "smooth talkers and big talkers" who give speeches "designed to appeal to American's critics abroad." McCain, he said, was running against the "Most liberal most inexperienced nominee ever to run for president."

After a night of drudgery, Thompson finally rallied the convention floor by posing what he suggested was the critical question in the election.

"Who is this man," he said. "And can we trust this man with the presidency."