CNN's Live From... co-anchor Kyra Phillips introduced the August 31 edition of the afternoon news show with a line that could have been written by the Republican National Committee (and, indeed, recalled the words of former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Senator John McCain (R-AZ) on the floor of the Republican National Convention August 30). Following a clip of President George W. Bush's speech at an American Legion convention in Tennessee (“We are winning and we will win [the war on terror]”), Phillips delivered this voice-over: “President Bush with a strong message: victory in the war on terror.”

The program then cut immediately to the floor of the RNC. Not until a segment with CNN national correspondent Bob Franken a few minutes later was any indication given that Bush's statement was a flip-flop. Franken noted that Bush had “changed his tune” from a comment the previous day, during an interview on NBC's Today show: “I don't think you can win” the war on terror.