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August 31, 2008
A SCALED-BACK CONVENTION.... With Hurricane Gustav's landfall expected tomorrow morning, mandatory evacuation orders are being heeded -- by one estimate, 95% of coastal residents have fled their homes -- and the National Guard is already in place in coastal areas. And what the Republican National Convention? It will begin tomorrow, at its regularly scheduled time, but only to take care of some official business, and will wrap up shortly thereafter.
One assumes convention planners will have to consider just how serious the effects of the storm are before planning the rest of the convention, and officials may not have a real sense of the damage until Tuesday. There were reports earlier that McCain might deliver his acceptance speech "from the devastation zone," and Rick Davis suggested at a press briefing today that this remains an unresolved issue. —Steve Benen 7:15 PM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (73)Comments
he real reason why the opening night of the convention was cancelled: the planned theme, "experience." The set design most likely featured huge, red light bulb-rimed letters spelling out EXPERIENCE much like Elvis did. Now they quickly have to change it to UNQUALIFIED. Obama roared out his convention with the message coming loud and clear: McCain equals four more years of Bush. McCain's immediate reaction (and reaction is the word) was to choose a wholey unqualified hack who's only benefit is firing up....GEORGE BUSH'S BASE. I wonder which storm really rained on their party: Gustav or Palin? Posted by: on August 31, 2008 at 7:23 PM | PERMALINKIf he gives the acceptance speech from a hurricane ravaged area, I am going to be PISSED. What a blatant politicization of a disaster. Posted by: Poika on August 31, 2008 at 7:30 PM | PERMALINK“It just wouldn't be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near-tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster,” McCain said. What? No birthday celebrations with Bush in Arizona this time as a hurricane bears down on NO? Funny how putting country first becomes priority one during an election year. And this idea of broadcasting his acceptance speech from the devastation zone reeks so much of political posturing not anything unlike what we have experienced during the last 8 years. Seriously senator, what in the hell do you think you would add by staying around NO other than a major distraction? Talk about presumptuousness. If you don't put country first are you afraid the country is going to leave you? Posted by: lou on August 31, 2008 at 7:31 PM | PERMALINKThe Republican Convention IS a devastation zone. Looks like the FBI are disappearing hippies for nothing. This is really the best thing that could happen for the Repubs. The only thing that could bring drama to their pathetic get together. Posted by: Dale on August 31, 2008 at 7:35 PM | PERMALINKThere were reports earlier that McCain might deliver his acceptance speech "from the devastation zone," You have GOT to be kidding. Methinks this election will be a good test of what happens when you pit a craps addict against a poker player. Posted by: lobbygow on August 31, 2008 at 7:41 PM | PERMALINK If McCain makes a speech from the devastation, we really need ot hit him hard for politicizing this. Obama can do his 'now is the time to bring the nation together, to rebuild, not to try and score political points from tragedy' shtick he does so well. Or words to this effect: "Rain, torrential, biblical rain, umbrella aint gonna help you rain . . ." Gotta keep your sense of humor. Posted by: Chimpcharming on August 31, 2008 at 8:04 PM | PERMALINKOr words to this effect: "Rain, torrential, biblical rain, umbrella aint gonna help you rain . . ." Gotta keep your sense of humor. Why hasn't anyone started a campaign against Focus on the Family?? They brought this hurricane and devastation upon us with their selfish conservative agenda which has absolutely nothing to do with Christianity and more to do with social engineering. God saw this and got pissed. It's clear as day to me. Posted by: Mick on August 31, 2008 at 8:43 PM | PERMALINKWhat the hell is this guy doing. He's a senator from Arizona, not president. He has no business dispatching Lieberman to Georgia to check on the Russians or himself to Mississippi to check on the disaster plans. He's just getting in the way. I hope the American people tell him just that. Posted by: tomeck on August 31, 2008 at 8:43 PM | PERMALINKWith Hurricane Gustav's landfall expected tomorrow morning, mandatory evacuation orders are being heeded -- by one estimate, 95% of coastal residents have fled their homes -- and the National Guard is already in place in coastal areas. -- Benen Good to know that *some* lessons from Katrina had been absorbed. I also noticed in passing (through the TV room) that Bush was at the FEMA command room, looking very tiredly-presidential; they're not about to risk a repeat of the '05 publicity. Though, if Gustav is as bad as predicted, I don't see how they can escape it. FEMA's been gutted (financially), NO is still nowhere near its pre-Katrina vibrant self, and the state of the levees is a subject to be avoided. On the Convention front however, it's a win all around for them: Since their post-Convention bounce was likely to be negligible anyway, they're not losing anything. Posted by: exlibra on August 31, 2008 at 9:16 PM | PERMALINKSo local leaders busy trying to get ready for Gustav now have to take time to brief and otherwise take care of McCain, Palin, and their associated posies. Why don’t McCain and Palin just get the hell out of the way? Because they see a chance to stand in front of the cameras. And the Repubs call this leadership? Posted by: fafner1 on August 31, 2008 at 9:28 PM | PERMALINKI hope that, once the "conventional" hoopla is over (for both sides), Benen will revive the very young but very popular not-yet-tradition of the weekend "Open Thread" (Also, "This Week in God"; can't live without it). In the meantime, there's this, for your enjoyment, from the Electoral Vote website: Really Bad Veeps Veeps are in the news now. Nobody knows if either Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) or Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) would be a good Vice President yet. In general, Vice Presidents don't do much since their only constitutional duty is breaking ties in the Senate, which are pretty rare. President Bush delegated an unprecedented amount of work and authority to Vice President Cheney, but that is very much the exception. Many Veeps have gone on to be President, but some of them were pretty awful. Time Magazine has drawn up a list of the 15 worst in history. The first five winners (?) chronologically are as follows. These are old enough not to be controversial * Aaron Burr (Jefferson's VP) shot and killed former treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton in a duel. Hamilton was so respected he is now on the $10 bill. The other 10 are: John Breckinridge, Hannibal Hamlin, Thomas Henricks, Thomas Marshall, Calvin Coolidge, Henry Wallace, Richard Nixon, Spiro Agnew, Dan Quayle, and Dick Cheney. Posted by: on August 31, 2008 at 9:42 PM | PERMALINKHow convenient that Bush and Cheney can duck out of attending now, THe PTA beauty queen won't have to get-up and show how crappy she is at giving a speech, and McSame won't have to have his speechmaking skills compared to Obama.... Posted by: The Spoiler on August 31, 2008 at 10:07 PM | PERMALINKMcCain carries his own devastation zone with him. Posted by: Mark on August 31, 2008 at 10:23 PM | PERMALINKThis whole thing violates one of the cardinal rules of show business: Never let 'em see you sweat. Posted by: AndrewBW on August 31, 2008 at 10:24 PM | PERMALINKas others have noted, this is the best thing that could have happened to the GOP. What could be worse than actually having to put a convention on? A bunch of bored, angry rich middle aged white guys trying to drum up enthusiasm for an old, angry rich white guy who they spent the last eight years despising? Now that is must see tv. Another in the "open vein" thread (the one from the Electoral Vote was mine, too. Pox on systems which force me to remember to plug in my data every time!). This one is for Zeitgeist: Wherever this guy goes it's a disaster area. Posted by: Kenji on August 31, 2008 at 11:18 PM | PERMALINKI think the worst case for this storm was overhyped. Probably for the sensible reason that we wanted to be sure people in its path would take the evac orders seriously. Tuesday morning, when NO is still intact it will seem like a letdown. The real damage will be to offshore oil and gas rigs (and the LOOP oil import terminal), but it will probably take a while for gas prices to register the fact that our oil and natural gas situation has deteriorated. In any case, they will probably try to revive the convention, but will have lost the first day or two to the storm. Posted by: bigTom on August 31, 2008 at 11:23 PM | PERMALINKModern political conventions are essentially a several-day-long TV ad for the political party throwing them. This is reflected in the traditional "convention bounce" in polling for each party's ticket. If the GOP abbreviates or terminates its convention, they are allowing the Dems to have a giant unanswered tv ad, and an uncontested polling bounce. While it may benefit individual Republicans to not have to appear with their toxic national leadership, for the party as a whole it's a major lost opportunity. Posted by: jimBOB on August 31, 2008 at 11:42 PM | PERMALINKAs a volunteer with a disaster relief organization, I can tell you that the last thing anyone there will need is a politician staging a nomination acceptance speech in a disaster zone. I can't believe anyone in authority would allow him. The man has absolutely lost his mind. The Republicans are up a river without a paddle on this one and I'm sure there are many who on the verge of nervous breakdowns over what a freak show McCain and his campaign have become. Posted by: Varecia on September 1, 2008 at 1:24 AM | PERMALINK...or believe. Ah, delusion is exactly the right word there. Posted by: on September 1, 2008 at 3:19 AM | PERMALINKThank God! More time for lobbyist-sponsored parties!!!! Posted by: Lukeness on September 1, 2008 at 3:53 AM | PERMALINKSomeone needs to be blogging about the Gestapo-like raids in St. Paul on the homes of protestors. Posted by: The Conservative Deflator on September 1, 2008 at 6:37 AM | PERMALINKYou have to be glad McCain did say this is not a time for celebration, so we don't have to see another birthday cake celebration,he did not say he would not exploit it for all it is worth. Posted by: JS on September 1, 2008 at 8:00 AM | PERMALINKIf you have to do it, you might as well do it right. 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