RNC possibly delayed by Tropical Storm Gustav?

Natural disasters, evacuated oil rigs might cause a PR disaster for the GOP 8

According to the Washington Post, Republican officials are considering delaying their convention in St. Paul because of Tropical Storm Gustav, which might hit the Gulf Coast as a full-force hurricane next week.

If it does reach land during their convention, it would hit a sore spot for Republicans, whose current representative in the White House has been blamed for mishandling the response to Hurricane Katrina almost exactly three years ago.

And there's another possible environmental faux pas -- they've already evacuated the offshore oil rigs due to the threat, which puts in question the safety and reliability of drilling, which the party has been pumping up of late as the solution to high gas prices. Here's the nugget from the Post:

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.

Kate Sheppard is Grist’s political reporter.

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  1. Russ Posted 7:57 pm
    28 Aug 2008

    appropriateHow appropriate that the RNC is being disrupted by the (so far) specter of Gustav, three years after what was for most Americans the great wake-up call.
    As bad as Katrina was for the poor of New orleans, all decent people must still thank fate for it every day, because by finally, definitively laying bare the utter incompetence, stupidity, and callousness of the Bush adminstration, it's the only thing that saved us.
    While Katrina did not prove to be the wake-up call on climate change that some thought it might, it was the wake-up call on Iraq, and on the Bush admin in general.

    Until Katrina, America showed no signs of seeing the true nature of these things. Afterward, everything changed, and it was this sea change which led to 2006.
    Otherwise, I don't want to think of where we'd be.
    And now, as if there really were cosmic justice, the pirates' big orgy is forced to face the reality-based world again. The specter of Katrina, which would have loomed anyway, will be all the more stark.

    (This should be a part of the message - the Reps are "the party of Katrina".)
    And how funny that everyone has to scramble from these vaunted offshore oil rigs which are, according to the party of Katrina, supposed to be our salvation.
    That's all the republicans are - disaster capitalism and drilling.

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  2. amazingdrx's avatar

    amazingdrx Posted 11:04 pm
    28 Aug 2008

    Big oilDesperate for a lobbyist win this time around (again) might try to hold gas prices down despite the storm.  With gas over 4 bucks this Nov how can they win?
    If Obama wins they lose, big time.  Then wall street will try to kill the economy and oil will go for the sky.  The corpor-right tantrum will be huge and that will be their undoing.
    It will be time for re-regulation and the removal of oil from its kingpin status in our economy.  it's going to be painful, I think we should counter with a rationing plan to snap these suicidal boardroom babies back to reality.  Take the bottle out of their mouths and let them cry themselves to sleep.

    http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

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  3. Delay And Deny's avatar

    Delay And Deny Posted 11:48 pm
    28 Aug 2008

    Or maybe......they are just concerned about the people there.
    Ever think of that?

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  4. Bob Wallace Posted 1:29 am
    29 Aug 2008

    I'll nominate this one for...

    "...they are just concerned about the people there."
    Joke of the Year!
    If the Republicans were concerned about the people of New Orleans they would have fixed the levees by now.

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  5. Delay And Deny's avatar

    Delay And Deny Posted 2:05 am
    29 Aug 2008

    You Don't Have To Be Democrat, To Love Levees

    http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008145 ...
    <blockquotes>Since Katrina, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been reinforcing and repairing the 325 miles of levees and floodwalls that protect New Orleans and neighboring parishes from the storm surges and flooding that accompany hurricanes.

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  6. archigeek Posted 2:34 am
    29 Aug 2008

    Yes, but...Apparently, according to an article published in the Houston Chronicle(?), most of the new pumps which were installed were not tested under the full-capacity load conditions required to fully perform the job they were built for. In fact, approximately 4-6 pumps were tested and several had "catastrophic" failure. In addition, it turns out that Jeb Bush has direct investment connection with the manufacturer of the pumps. Sorry I don't have the link. I read it yesterday(8.28.2'8) and didn't think to save it.  

    The mellotron is your friend.

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  7. Delay And Deny's avatar

    Delay And Deny Posted 10:40 am
    29 Aug 2008

    Spurious

    A quick Google search on your assertions shows little or no back up articles except from a few fringe rags.

    Obama receives news about McCain VP pic

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  8. Tasermons Partner Posted 2:49 pm
    29 Aug 2008

    On the other hand......if the hurricane raises crude prices, they may try to use it as parat their "drilling expansion" platform, by sayin' that by having drilling on multiple caosts, we can still have energy production runnin' should one coast be faced by such a disaster.
    ...it won't be true, of course, but they might use it nonetheless.

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