ABCNEWS Karen Travers reports:
In an interview with Fox News' Chris Wallace that will air Sunday morning, Sen. John McCain indicated that the GOP convention could be suspended because of Hurricane Gustav.
"It wouldn't be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster," McCain told Wallace.
This is what McCain was doing three years ago with Bush on the day Katrina ravaged New Orleans:
Being "FESTIVE"!!
Did John McCain say, "Mr. President, I know you need to address Katrina, perhaps I should let you go deal with Katrina"?. No. Instead? John McCain got on Air Force One and flew with Bush to a fundraiser.
In the rest of this report we discover how suddenly 'concerned' McCain and the GOP have become after the fact of a massive failure of leadership:
"I'm afraid, Chris, that we may have to look at that situation and we'll try and monitor it. I've been talking to Governors Jindal [La.], Barbour [Miss.], Riley [Ala.], Crist [Fla.], I've been talking to all of them," McCain told Wallace. "So we're monitoring it from day to day and I'm saying a few prayers too."
A Republican convention official tells ABC News, however, that at this point, there are no plans to cancel the convention but there are several contingency plans that are being looked at in terms of delegation travel and the program of speakers. Both Crist and Jindal are scheduled to speak at the convention this week, but no decisions have been made yet on their plans to come to Minneapolis-Saint Paul.
This official says the Republican National Convention Committee is "still moving forward with opening the convention on Monday" as planned and notes that there is official business that has to happen at the convention, like the actual nomination of John McCain and the platform ratification.
The RNCC has issued the following statement from 2008 Republican National Convention President and CEO Maria Cino:
"Like all Americans, our prayers are with those who will be affected by Hurricane Gustav. We continue to closely monitor the movement of the storm and are considering necessary contingencies. We are in communication with the Gulf state governors to make sure the convention is taking all the appropriate steps as the hurricane progresses. The safety of our affected delegations is our first priority and preparing for Gustav comes before anything else."
Where was all this concern on their part three years ago? Where was the mobilization we've seen this week following the exact same 'advance' disiater declaration three years ago from Bush?
Saliently, where was McCain's concern three years ago? Why wasn't he urging Bush to suspend his parties and fundraisers rather than waiting five days as an American city desperately cried out for help?
Rev James Dobson prayed for Obama's event to be rained out. Didn't happen. Now, a castastrophe looms, and suddenly McCain and the GOP are all concerned. Uh huh. Well, now their convention is threatened with the prospect of either cancellation, or TV viewers seeing partying Republicans as yet another devastating storm cuts a swath of incredible destruction.
BTW, two Katrina personal stories:
We took in a family from New Orleans for 3 months following Katrina. They bought the house 2 doors down and we're really great friends.
Also, friends from Thibodaux, LA - in the bullseye of the projected path - arrived here about 2 hours ago after driving from 4 am this morning. After getting up at 1 am this morning they're now sleeping soundly. We are all certified Red Cross volunteers who will be heading to one of several Red Cross shelters here in Nashville to help out over the weekend.
Prayers for all those along the path of Gustav.