Hi from those of us on the Gulf Coast. We're really looking forward to the arrival of Hurricane Gustav, 'cause he's gonna make John McCain and company look really bad during the GOP convention!
Sweet!
That'll show the GOP!
Seems like some people here are excited too:
Hurricane Gustav, an uninvited guest for the Republican Convention
The current track of Hurricane Gustav suggest that it will make landfall somewhere in the Gulf on September 1st...just in time to serve a a perfect backdrop for the first day the Republican National Convention.
For those of us in its path who have spent the last three years attempting to rebuild our lives, I can assure you that the only "backdrop" it'll be is a backdrop of more pain, misery, and stress.
John McCain didn't feel it then; John McCain will not feel it now. Nor will George W. Bush. Nor, it seems, will those who see natural and unnatural disasters (like levee collapses) as backdrops -- as just another way to make the Republican party look bad. (Believe me, we don't have the rosiest view of the Democrats either.)
Hurricane Gustav could ruin GOP Convention
It won't be good to juxapose devastation while people party in minnesota as McCain accepts the nomination.
The last thing the GOP wants is a Hurricane on America's doorstop on the during their convention. And it looks like that is what they are going to get.
Edit: I am not wishing destruction or anything liek that. I am simply noting the incredibly timing of the events, and how it could hurt the GOP during their big party.
Thanks for the edit. It makes all the difference. But as long as it hurts the GOP, it's got its upside, right?
Trust me: as much as the GOP may not want a hurricane on America's doorstep, I want one on my own doorstep even less.
Will Bunch over at Attytood expressed much the same emotion in a piece called A Mighty Wind for the GOP Next Week?
I hope for the sake of the beleaguered Gulf Coast that this doesn't come to pass -- but from a realpolitik point of view, there is a potential nightmare for the Republican Party swirling around the warm Caribbean waters right now.
Actually, Will: from a "realpolitik" point of view, people down here are likely to die. Others are likely to lose everything they've worked to rebuild over the last three years. I'm glad you hope it doesn't come to pass, but it's damned interesting where your mind goes right after that thought, because trust me: when I was in line today for batteries and water and gassing up the car, the Republican convention was the last thing on my mind.
If the networks are going to intersperse McCain's nomination with live shots of sandbags along the Mississippi, the party is in big, big trouble.
Given both the Democratic and Republican response to the last storm, Will, you won't be seeing sandbags. You'll be seeing bodies.
I'm not going to give in and say what I really want to say here...but there are people on Daily Kos who live on the Gulf Coast, and there are many more people who have loved ones there, and there are still more that cannot come home. And I don't know why anyone would want to add to their pain for a cheap political shot.