Hurricane Gustav prepares to make land fall on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana or Mississippi
In what seems like a stroke of bad luck, President Bush and Vice President Cheney are canceling their appearances at the GOP convention in St. Paul Monday night to deal with Hurricane Gustav. Many GOPers see this as a tragedy because that basically guts all of their star power from opening night. The McCain camp however may have been hoping that something would keep the President away.. some reports claim that there was a plan in place for the President to suddenly cancel due to any kind of "crisis". Unfortunately for the McCain campaign, Hurricane Gustav reminds many Americans of Hurricane Katrina of just three years ago.. and John McCain stands to lose the most from that memory.
Let's rewind to the fateful day of August 29th, 2005: An enormous hurricane has barreled past Cuba and is heading right up the coast at Mississippi. It is hurricane season and President Bush leaves Washington DC aboard Air Force One headed out to Arizona with FEMA in the hands of one of his incompetent friends, Michael D. Brown. President Bush arrives in Arizona to enjoy a birthday celebration for Senator John McCain, cutting the cake in front of Air Force One and enjoying a private party along with many GOP supporters and fundraisers. Hurricane Katrina batters New Orleans, Louisiana and the coastal regions of Mississippi as well.
Now, that story alone should give some pause to John McCain to take hurricanes lightly because Katrina certainly left a very bad taste in many people's mouths and may have led to a major part of the reversal of the Republican's fortunes in the 2006 elections. So, while the hurricane ensured that a President with near-record low ratings does not speak it also puts the pressure on a Republican Administration to help a Republican Governor in a redo of 2005. Will there be a big difference? Will even the slightest error give Democrats a lead and ruin the "bump" of the Republican convention? Will President Bush take the blame for Katrina's response as he did in 2005? Can Bobby Jindal prove he is the new young face of the Republican party with a stellar performance in dealing with Hurricane Gustav?
All great questions! Do you have the answers? If you do, comment... show us what you've got.
2 comments:
the truth is they got lucky....they knew that if they went (if the storm didn't exist) their speeches would be hammered by the dems and if they didn't come they would be called chicken...
I think that by putting W and Cheney on the first night then having them basically left out of the picture until the final night where he accepts the nomination gives a pretty clear picture as to how much he wants to distance himself from the current administration. It is also very possible that McCain had pressured them both to stay away or to keep their appearances dull to keep all that press down
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