Nicholas F. Benton's White House Report:

NEW YORK — My "Media Upchuck Award" for coverage of the Republican National Convention, at least up to press time last night, goes to Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, the once-revered journalistic sleuth who broke the Watergate story in 1973.

Less than 24 hours after Sen. John McCain soiled his credibility with a speech that deceitfully claimed the invasion of Iraq was an extension of, rather than a diversion from, the war on terror and the hunt for Bin Laden, Woodward, who knows better, had a chance to hold the Senator's feet to the fire on CNN during the Larry King Show last night.

Instead, Woodward asked the penultimate non-journalistic, pandering, softball, kiss-up question, one of the weakest and most slavish from an alleged media professional I've heard, even from the shameless pro-Bush sycophants at Fox News.

"Why, Senator," Woodward asked, after bathing McCain with a slobbery and effusive strain of praises, "Aren't more people like you?"

There went my meal. "Why, that's a very good question, Bob," McCain grinned.

Michael Moore, in his column carried in USA Today during the convention, chided McCain for remarks during his speech criticizing Moore's film, "Fahrenheit 911," without his ever having seen it. He also chided the GOP for failing to notify McCain that he, Moore, would be taking his seat as a credentialed member of the press corps during McCain's speech, causing a major hubbub.

Actually, Moore's arrival created a massive freak-out by Secret Service and GOP officials before he ever got inside Madison Square Garden. He was detained inside a dark tunnel leading to arena by some three dozen dark suited persons. All one looking in could see was a red baseball cap surrounded by a sea of black suits and ties. No one was allowed in or out of that tunnel while Moore was detained and questioned for 15 minutes.

In the concourse outside the tunnel, GOP officials were running up and down in a tizzy on their walkie-talkies. "Why do they have any problem with him being here," one journalist wondered. "The Democrats let Fox News into their convention?"

But even Moore's USA Today column failed to take McCain to task for the devious double-speak way in which his speech linked al Qaeda and Hussein.

Speaker after speaker at the GOP convention has sought solely to justify everything the Bush administration has done militarily and to emphasize the need to maintain Bush in power in the context of that. "Which leader is it that has the backbone to protect America?," blustered Sen. Zell Miller last night, echoing the sole, repeat sole, message of the GOP convention.

Outside, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators marched and rallied. One of the most poignant was a peaceful one held in the shadow of the Garden Monday afternoon, where an hours-long string of welfare workers, trade unionists and immigration reform activists documented the dark side of the Bush administration's impact.

No one inside the Garden wanted to hear any of it. They were inside cheering the sensory overflow of patriotic music and shallow demagoguery.

"Nothing makes this Marine madder than to hear our troops called occupiers rather than liberators," Sen. Miller roared like a foully abusive domestic tyrant, equating Bush's unprovoked invasion of Iraq to America's prosecution World War II, and in lying duplicity suggesting that everyone who criticizes the administration's invasion policy is criticizing the troops, themselves. Miller, a nominal Democrat, was the keynote speaker preceding Vice President Cheney last night. (It was noted by Jeff Greenfield of CNN later that Bush, himself, has used the term, "occupier." Also, in post-speech TV interviews, Miller could not defend many of the groundless anti-Kerry allegations he made).

Actually, Miller's speech was a serious blow to the GOP's effort to use the convention as a bridge to undecided voters and Democrats. He exposed the raging, intolerant and frightening inner soul of the party in a way that more than cancelled out the somewhat more sophisticated deceptions of McCain and others up to that point. CNN's Wolf Blitzer said Miller "sounded like an angry, rabid elephant." He was just plain scary to some, and drove others to derisive laughter.

Keep Miller out there, boys. I'm sure Bob Woodward will kiss his softer side, but the image of his hell-fire verbal violence will drive millions away from his candidate of choice.