As purported evidence that Sen. John McCain “has skated free” during the Democratic National Convention, MSNBC political analyst Pat Buchanan falsely suggested that no speaker at the convention had mentioned the Bush administration's use of the Pentagon detention facility at Guantánamo Bay. Buchanan stated that in his August 27 convention speech, “he [former President Bill Clinton] just touched on Katrina, torture, cronyism, and the crowd started rising. And yet, they've never given them anything, the red meat they want. Has anybody heard the word 'Guantánamo' mentioned this entire convention? They're not doing the job that they ought to be doing for their party.” In fact, during his August 27 convention speech, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. John Kerry (MA), asserted that “President [Barack] Obama and Vice President [Joe] Biden will shut down Guantánamo, respect the Constitution, and make clear, once and for all, the United States of America does not torture, not now, not ever.” But MSNBC did not televise it, cutting to commercial just before Kerry said the word “Guantánamo.”

During Kerry's speech, MSNBC aired commentary from NBC News political director Chuck Todd and NBC's Meet the Press host Tom Brokaw. Just before commercial break, host Keith Olbermann announced: “Coming up -- the reaction from our own Rachael Maddow, plus David Gregory and Andrea Mitchell on the convention floor. We now await Joe Biden's speech about an hour from now. Bill Clinton's is in the books: 'Barack Obama is ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world, ready to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United States.' You're watching MSNBC's live coverage of the Democratic National Convention.” MSNBC then showed Kerry saying: “And we must use all the weapons in our arsenal, above all, our values. President Obama and Vice President Biden will shut down” -- cutting to commercial a fraction of a second before Kerry said “Guantánamo.” Kerry made the statement at 9:35 p.m. ET.

From the 10 p.m. ET hour of MSNBC's August 27 coverage of the Democratic National Convention:

MADDOW: I do think that there was a lot of red meat in Clinton's speech. I think that when Clinton talked about -- as I said -- Katrina, torture, cronyism, the most unequal America we've had since the 1920s -- he's talking about the Bush legacy, he's putting it right on McCain, and certainly there's ways to go at it more directly. John Kerry speaking earlier today was brutal. He said -- Kerry said: “When John McCain stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier three months after 9-11 and proclaimed, 'Next up, Baghdad,' Barack Obama saw even then an occupation of undetermined length, undetermined cost, undetermined consequences that would only fan the flames of the Middle East. Well, guess what,” Kerry said, “mission accomplished.”

That's sort of -- that's sort of going right at him, not saying “the Bush legacy,” but going right after McCain and what he has done wrong, we'll get more of that tonight.

NORAH O'DONNELL (MSNBC chief Washington correspondent): What about that, Pat?

BUCHANAN: McCain has skated free this entire convention in my judgment.

O'DONNELL: Skated free?

BUCHANAN: Skated free. He certainly has. Look, Bill Clinton started off tonight, that crowd was ready to rock and roll. It was cheering for five minutes. He had to silence them, and it was a fairly listless response at the end. And look, as Rachel says, he mentioned -- he just touched on Katrina, torture, cronyism, and the crowd started rising. And yet, they've never given them anything, the red meat they want. Has anybody heard the word 'Guantánamo' mentioned this entire convention? They're not doing the job that they ought to be doing for their party. What happened to the fighting liberalism of yesterday? Excuse me.

O'DONNELL: Yeah, but John Kerry talked about his position -- his changing on tax cuts and climate change and all of that. We're going to talk more about that.

BUCHANAN: Well, what did I say about --

O'DONNELL: Beau Biden is coming to the stage now to introduce his father, so I'm going to send it back to Chris and Keith for all of that.

From the 9 p.m. ET hour of MSNBC's August 27 coverage of the Democratic National Convention:

OLBERMANN: Coming up -- the reaction from our own Rachael Maddow, plus David Gregory and Andrea Mitchell on the convention floor. We now await Joe Biden's speech about an hour from now. Bill Clinton's is in the books: “Barack Obama is ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world, ready to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United States.” You're watching MSNBC's live coverage of the Democratic National Convention.

KERRY: And we must use all the weapons in our arsenal, above all, our values. President Obama and Vice President Biden will shut down --