Where are those self-sacrificing Republicans now that Hurricane Ike is threatening "certain death" to anyone who doesn't evacuate from the Galveston area?
The first day of the Republican convention was largely canceled because of the potential disaster of Hurricane Gustav. Instead of the scheduled speakers President Bush and Vice President Cheney, First Lady Laura Bush and potential First Lady Cindy McCain appeared together to appeal for donations towards the disaster relief. In the end, President Bush was unable to attend the convention at all due to his need to focus on the hurricane.
It all sounds appropriate, but in reality the Republicans played Hurricane Gustav like a fiddle. Now that there's a really serious hurricane blowing into Texas, where are they?
Hurricane Ike or not, President Bush keeps to political fundraising schedule.
President Bush kept to his plan and raised money for John McCain and other Republicans, as Hurricane Ike neared Texas. . . . He arrived not far away in Oklahoma on a cloudy morning, spoke to a forum on health savings accounts -- and did $1 million worth of political fundraising.
At the fundraising luncheon in Oklahoma City, Bush spoke behind closed doors to ...
... people who paid as much as $25,000 each to boost John McCain's presidential bid and the Republican Party.
I tried and tried to find some evidence that the McCain campaign had mentioned Ike, were "praying" for Texans, etc., but I found nothing. Not even on McCain's website, which instead has upfront and center their newest ad called "Disrespectful." I won't link it here, as it's not worth watching. Basically, instead of giving us any idea of a plan to fix our economy, get our troops home, solve the energy crisis, or help hurricane victims, the McCain campaign wants to win by calling names.
The McCain campaign's deafening silence on Hurricane Ike shows that they really couldn't care about what the American people are going through. Perhaps they are so busy putting together attack ads that they haven't paid attention to the wall-to-wall coverage of the "certain death" warning for Hurricane Ike.
By contrast, Senator Obama released this statement:
As another storm threatens the Gulf Coast, I'm praying for the safety of all those in Hurricane Ike's path and urge everyone to heed the warnings of local authorities and seek safer ground immediately. Those who choose to stay are putting not only themselves at risk, but the emergency personnel working to ensure their safety. Now is the time to help those who want to leave but aren't able to - and once the storm passes, we must work to provide swift relief wherever it is needed.
In addition, Senator Obama will postpone his SNL appearance out of respect for the severity of Hurricane Ike.
Sen. Obama has been monitoring the hurricane thus far from the campaign trail. He received a midday briefing on Friday from FEMA Administrator David Paulison and spoke later in the day with Houston mayor Bill White. White told Obama that Houston is prepared for the hurricane, Obama spokeswoman Linda Douglass said. Obama offered to do whatever he could to help, including using his website to raise funds for relief efforts.
Obama has a solicitation of help for Hurricane Ike victims on the home page of his website now: http://www.barackobama.com/...