GOP Weighs Delaying Convention For Gustav

Party Officials Say Storm's Potential Impact On Gulf Coast Being Considered

(Washingtonpost.com)  Republican officials said yesterday that they are considering delaying the start of the GOP convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul because of Tropical Storm Gustav, which is on track to hit the Gulf Coast, and possibly New Orleans, as a full-force hurricane early next week.

The threat is serious enough that White House officials are also debating whether President Bush should cancel his scheduled convention appearance on Monday, the first day of the convention, according to administration officials and others familiar with the discussion.

For Bush and Republican presidential candidate John McCain, Gustav threatens to provide an untimely reminder of Hurricane Katrina. A new major storm along the Gulf Coast would renew memories of one of the low points of the Bush administration, while pulling public attention away from McCain's formal coronation as the GOP presidential nominee.

Senior Republicans said images of political celebration in the Twin Cities while thousands of Americans flee a hurricane could be dubious. "Senator McCain has always been sensitive to national crisis," said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds, noting that the senator postponed announcing his presidential candidacy in 2000 because of the war in the Balkans. "We are monitoring the situation very closely."

Matt Burns, a spokesman for the convention, said that as of last night, it is scheduled to open on time. "We are planning for our convention to open on Monday," he said. "Like all Americans, we are monitoring the situation closely in the Gulf."

Staging a convention during a major natural disaster would be a public relations challenge for either political party. But GOP officials say the burden could be especially heavy for their party, whose reputation was tarred by the Bush administration's bungling of Katrina and its aftermath in 2005.

A hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico could also cast unwelcome attention on the offshore oil rigs that McCain has championed as a solution to rising gasoline prices -- they are now being evacuated in the face of the coming storm.

One senior GOP official said he does not anticipate a convention delay at this point, but he said the event would have to be reorganized if a large storm hit a major city on the coast.

"You would have to dramatically change the nature of what you do. Much less partisan. Much less political," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because internal discussions are ongoing. He added that all the speakers would have to retool their addresses to reflect the storm and its impact. "Otherwise, it's the elephant in the room."

Gustav is the first serious storm to threaten the Gulf Coast in three years, and it presents the most substantial challenge to the nation's homeland security apparatus since it was remade in the wake of Katrina, which hit three years ago today.

Gustav formed Monday and came ashore in Haiti on Tuesday as a Category 1 hurricane, trigging massive flooding and landslides that killed 23 people in the Caribbean. Forecasters said the storm could strengthen to a Category 3 hurricane with winds of 111 mph or higher in coming days, before hitting somewhere between the Florida Panhandle and Texas.

To make matters worse, another tropical storm, named Hanna, formed in the Atlantic Ocean yesterday and could turn toward Florida or elsewhere along the southeastern U.S. coast in coming days, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has raised the possibility of canceling his speech at the Republican convention because of the storm, while New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin cut short his visit to this week's Democratic convention in Denver.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said yesterday that it was "premature to say" whether the storm might have an impact on Bush's scheduled appearance Monday night. "These storms have a tendency to change, and so I don't have a scheduling update for you now," she told reporters. "Right now everything is on schedule."

Former White House spokesman Scott McClellan, who said in a recent book that Hurricane Katrina left "an indelible stain" on the Bush presidency, said Bush should be making plans to cancel his speech.

"If it's a major hurricane, I think that they certainly need to show they learned lessons from three years ago, both from a policy and perception standpoint," McClellan said.

He also suggested that McCain could benefit politically from such a scenario: It would allow Bush to mount an effective GOP response to a disaster, while removing the unpopular president from the convention roster. "It could be a two-fer," McClellan said.

Some Republicans bemoaned an apparent GOP curse when it comes to summer storms and noted the contrast between the approach of Gustav and the sunny weather in Denver for the Democrats. "The Republicans can't seem to catch a break when it comes to August and when it comes to the weather," said Karl Rove, a former Bush adviser, on Fox News yesterday.

Hurricane Andrew struck South Florida as a Category 5 storm in August 1992, and the sluggish federal response was castigated by state leaders as well as then-candidate Bill Clinton in his successful bid to defeat President George H.W. Bush that fall.

The current President Bush believed that the nation had dodged a bullet after Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005, only to realize belatedly that New Orleans had flooded and his administration's homeland security apparatus was overwhelmed.

Experts said that key for Bush and perhaps for McCain will be the ability of U.S. officials to respond quickly to unforeseen problems and stay ahead of the unfolding events, something they failed to do in the week after New Orleans flooded.

"This may be the October surprise in September," said George W. Foresman, former undersecretary of preparedness for the Department of Homeland Security. "Public messaging and attention to the public affairs part of the response is going to get added attention."

Michael D. Brown, who was forced out as chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency after Katrina, said all sides appear to have learned the importance of paying attention to disaster response.

"The American people want to know the people they elected are paying attention, care about them and are making decisions they need to make," Brown said. "The smart thing is not to poke their chests out and say what a great job they're doing or going to do, but just to do what needs to be done."

Staff writer Spencer S. Hsu contributed to this report.

[trrrorislamb]

EX-DEM CHAIR JOKES HURRICANE SIGN FROM GOD AGAINST REPUBLICANS...

Don Fowler thinks it is funny New Orleans gets hit by Gustav
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=277Hg6s_qJs

Fat Moore thinks it is funny New Orleans gets hit by Gustav
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5ourFC1Olw

Foul Don Fowler Amused by New Orleans Hurricane
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrBus8ORR78&feature=related

Don Fowler Thinks God Is On DNC Side Because Of Hurricane
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-HrlFPF0aM&feature=related

Obama''s DNC leader laughs at Hurricane Gustav victims
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvf44rwrIDY&feature=related

[trrrorislamb]

BIDEN SAYS HUSSEIN NOT READY,,,

BIDEN SAYS HE IS READY TO RUN WITH OR AGAINST MCCAIN,,,

BIDEN SAYS COUNTRY BETTER OFF WITH MCCAIN,,, THAN HUSSEIN,,,

Joe Biden On Barack Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDVUPqoowf8

[trrrorislamb]

HUSSEIN ADMITTING HE DOES NOT HAVE THE EXPERIENCE TO BE PRESIDENT,,,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BHyqtaECLI

[trrrorislamb]

IMPEACH HUSSEIN NOW,,,

SIGN THE PETITION

Impeach, expel Barack Obama
http://obamaimpeachment.org

[trrrorislamb]

HUSSEIN MORE FOREIGN THAN AMERICAN,,, EVEN ALIEN,,,

Obama''s DNC Message: I''m Like You
CBSNews.com Reports: Democrats To Push Obama%u2019s Similarities With Average Americans

righttttttttttt

HUSSEIN puts foreigns ahead of americans,,,

how many non-muslim americans have a syrian born tony rezko helping you buy a multi million dollar house???

how many non-muslim americans travelled to pakistan for spring break???

how many non-muslim americans say the muslim call to prayer is the prettiests sounds on earth at sunset???

how many americans want to have to learn spanish???

how many americans want to give tens of millions of illegals amnesty???

how many americans want open borders???

how many americans want to send one trillion of their taxpayer dollars to kenya???

how many americans want to spend their taxpayer dollars on slavery reparations when they already paid via the civil war with their blood???

hmmmmm manchurian candidate maybe,,, hmmmm

[no2zeebas]

http://www.ibdeditorials.com/series8.aspx

[creeper00]

Contrast an abbreviated, subdued Republican convention with the multi-million-dollar spectacle staged last week by the Democrats.

That should tell you who the adults are.

[antoniof123]

Here we go again.

[mytoosense]

The CBSNEWS crew must be enjoying the Labor Day Weekend at home.

No story here yet about Bush and Cheney skipping the GOP convention because of Gustav.

Also no opinion yet from CBS that Gustav is a good excuse considering the GOP convention considers these two on the GOP convention stage a liability, not an asset.

[cdfoxtrot2]

You can get blue in the face ill-speaking about the good man McCain, who has proven over-and-over that he puts COUNTRY FIRST, and it won''''t change ANYTHING! Ha!

Posted by AGT-R

If McBush was putting the country first, he wouldn''t have picked someone so totally inexperienced as that woman from Alaska. She only got her passport last year. Prior to that, she''d never even set foot outside the US! McSame''s choice for VP is nothing more than a cynical stunt to try to win over some Hillary supporters. This shows two things: (1) McBush will do ANYTHING to get elected and (2) he thinks women are dumb and will vote for him and his VP on the basis that his VP is the candidate with a va_gina.

[cdfoxtrot2]

It must be a great relief to the Reps. that Bush/Cheney won''t be attending. And they won''t have the embarrassment of asking them not to attend.

[misha128-2009]

With the numerous Republican Senators and Representatives passing on an appearance at the convention this year to improve their chances at the polls. And as more cancellations by Bush, Cheney, Christ and Jindal added due to the storm Gustav. with another possible cancellation by Arnold due to budget negotiations in California. There appears to be a shortage of speakers for the convention. Limiting the number of days could be a benefit.

[mytoosense]

Nothing like a good national disaster to draw attention from the obvious.
Posted by mytoosense

Sorry, I ment "away from the Obvious"

[mytoosense]

The GOP is thanking God for Hurricane Gustov; They now have an excuse, flimsy as it is, to keep Dubya and Darth Vader off the convention stage. The following GOP Senators (presumably up for reelection in November) made prior plans to skip the GOP convention to avoid having their picture taken with these two criminals: Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Ted Stevens (R-AK), Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), Gordon Smith (R-OR), Susan Collins (R-ME), Larry Craig (R-ID), Wayne Allard (R-CO), and John Sununu (R-NH).
Roger Wicker (R-MS) is undecided about whether he will attend.

Nothing like a good national disaster to draw attention from the obvious.

[agt-r]

It''s kind of funny to read all the pro-Osama/BinBiden comments in this site. Hey, the bottom line is that Barack Hussein Osama is having a difficult time in convincing half of this country that he''s of any value-added to this country. Sparraging about the RNC convention is not going to change the many misgivings people have with the DNC ticket. You can get blue in the face ill-speaking about the good man McCain, who has proven over-and-over that he puts COUNTRY FIRST, and it won''t change ANYTHING! Ha!

[taotxzen]

Why all this sudden deep concern about the Gulf Coast. If you recall Bush and chum McCain were eating birthday cake as Katrina bashed the Gulf Coast.

Could that be it??

[ubrew12]

If the GOP delays their convention because of Gustav, there''ll be no pressing ''excuse'' for Bush and Cheney to not be there. If they show up, it could cost McSame/Putin the presidency.

Guilt by association.

[erb0087]

This is so transparent.

"August 31, 2008

Bush, Cheney to skip convention

(CNN) %u2014 President Bush and Vice President Cheney will skip the Republican Presidential Convention due to Hurricane Gustav, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino announced Sunday.

First Lady Laura Bush is still slated to attend.

Bush and Cheney were supposed to address the convention Monday evening."

[vetforobama]

The GOP convention should not be postponed and nobody cares whether or not Pres BUSH is there. McCain, Palin, and the bunch of GOP participants would be of no hope if there were no convention.

My wish for the citizens of the region is that the storm lessons or dies out all together. Unlike the GOP who publically prayed for a storm during the Democratic Convention.

They (GOP) want to talk of postponeing the convention because it makes it sound like they actually care. Mark my words, THE CONVENTION WILL NOT BE CANCELLED.

[foxmulder33]

The hurricane will be a regional situation for the gulf coast. The GOP should consider the impact on the airlines and hotels in St. Paul if they delay the convention. McCain is from Arizona and Palin is from Alaska. I don''t understand how their involvement with a hurricane in Louisiana impacts their convention.