Hurricane Gustav has forced the cancellation of all but the most basic activities on the first day of the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul tomorrow. “This is a time when we have to do away with our party politics, and we have to act as Americans,” said presumptive nominee John McCain.
According to Politico, “four days of festivities were to open Monday, but now a party business session is all that is scheduled.” There will be no “political rhetoric,” according to McCain’s campaign manager, Rick Davis.
Depending on what happens with Gustav (and, I might add, Hanna, though I don’t know if they’re tracking that one yet), officials hope to return to a more traditional convention schedule later in the week:
Convention planners said McCain hopes to show up later in the week to accept his party’s nomination, but there was no guarantee of it, and he is not required to be in the hall for the nomination to be official.
Officials said they will execute “certain basic minimum requirements” of party rules, including receiving the report of the credentials committee, adopting rules and the party platform and electing officials of the convention. …
Davis said the convention will be decided day to day, with delegates notified by e-mail and text message. Davis said the convention hopes to conduct a roll call, but doesn’t know when that will be. …
McCain said he “can hardly wait” to get to St. Paul. “I hope and pray we’ll be able to resume some of our normal operations as quickly as possible,” he said. “But some of that is, frankly, in the hands of God.”
The delegates will also raise funds for disaster relief efforts, and the companies planning convention parties are being asked to “be respectful of the situation that exists in the Gulf” and link those events with the fund-raising efforts. In addition, there may even be some sort of joint charity effort with the Obama campaign, though that remains to be seen.
Many in McCain’s campaign hope — privately, of course — that Gustav will provide them with an opportunity to repair the damage done to the GOP’s image by Hurricane Katrina three years ago. In addition, the fact that McCain’s convention will no longer include speeches by President Bush and Vice President Cheney is not exactly seen is a political detriment, according to Politico.
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7 Comments
1. doctorj2u:It certainly would help me in healing the wounds of the past. One problem would be in trusting in the motvation. I have become so cynical (with reason) since Katrina. I would like to believe in my country again. I would like to believe in my party again. It will be hard though.
Aug 31, 2008 - 6:18 pm 2. Tom:the contrast of the DNC and RNC conventions will not be missed on most people – the RNC is doing the right thing – get the legal business done, and move on to planning the inauguration. Of course, expect the incoming letters re this is just one huge pandering effort to make the O’s convention look like a narcissistic event (which it was)….
Aug 31, 2008 - 6:57 pm 3. Brendan Loy:Considering that the McCain campaign is already using its alleged non-partisanship to score partisan points, I daresay doctorj2u’s cynicism is looking increasingly vindicated and Tom’s “contrast” is looking increasingly phony.
The RNC is doing the right thing, as you say, Tom, but they need to do it without preening about it, patting themselves on the back, and arguing that it makes them better than the other guys. As for the “narcissistic event” concept… um… if it weren’t for Gustav, the RNC would be all about McCain, just like the DNC was all about Obama. That’s what conventions are. There wasn’t a hurricane during the DNC, so you can hardly fault them for doing what’s, y’know, completely normal.
Aug 31, 2008 - 7:02 pm 4. Tom:normal for the DNC – you can look up the planned events online in a couple places, even if the RNC did the full program, it’s not even close to what the DNC had. and doesn’t seem anywhere that the RNC is preening about – just a matter of fact statement that the events have been cut back, don’t see anyone arguing that it’s better either, just that the DNC is what it is, all show and no substance
Aug 31, 2008 - 7:14 pm 5. David B:While we’re all being cynical, I might add that hopefully Michael Moore isn’t too disappointed this evening, now that it looks like New Orleans may be spared a worse case scenario. What is it with him and a couple other Dems (former DNC chair Don Fowler and Rep. John Spratt) gleefully looking forward to Gustav disrupting the GOP convention? That if they get their wish many, many people may die, I guess is of no concern. Pathetic.
Aug 31, 2008 - 7:40 pm 6. Brendan Loy:The “preening” I was referring to was not in the articles about the RNC changes (which I totally agree with, and have no problem with any of those statements) but in the above-linked partisan attack on Obama, under the guise of “non-partisanship,” by McCain’s campaign manager. Totally inappropriate, unbelievably unsubtle, and entirely contrary to the spirit of what McCain is supposedly trying to do with the convention. Hopefully he denounces it and Davis apologizes
Aug 31, 2008 - 7:41 pm 7. Brendan Loy:David: Michael Moore is an idiot and a jackass. Tarring all Democrats for his statements is a bit like tarring all Republicans for Ann Coulter’s statements. As for Don Fowler, apparently he was making an unfortunate Jerry Falwell reference that got taken out of context. He shouldn’t have said what he said, but he was hardly gleefully celebrating people’s tragedies. I mean, let’s get real. Graveyard humor is a wonderful thing, and we all do it. Most of us don’t end up on YouTube.
Put another way: if the ten most inappropriate attempts at humor that you’ve ever made in a private conversation ended up on the Internet, how would you fare in the public’s perception?
McCain’s campaign manager, on the other hand, wasn’t attempting to make a bad joke. He was deliberately using the disaster for partisan gain with a nonsense holier-than-thou attack on Obama’s actions vis a vis Gustav, as contrasted with McCain’s “country first” approach. Really pathetic and transparent and just gross. Ugh.
Aug 31, 2008 - 7:49 pm