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You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2008 / Everything is Good News for John McCain, Hurricane Edition

Everything is Good News for John McCain, Hurricane Edition

by John Cole|  September 1, 200810:18 am| 27 Comments

This post is in: Election 2008, Did You Know John McCain Was A POW?

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MSNBC- Storm politics present risks and rewards

Slate- The hurricane upsets the GOP Convention but may be good for the GOP.

I swear they are trying to put the Onion out of business.

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Previous Post: « Gustav Open Thread
Next Post: What Does She Believe In? »

Reader Interactions

27Comments

  1. 1.

    dmsilev

    September 1, 2008 at 10:25 am

    ABC reports that the partying must go on, contrary to the “Oh, aren’t we sooooo noble” atitude that the Republicans are trying to project:

    As residents of New Orleans were fleeing Hurricane Gustav, top Republican party officials donned pink boas and swigged vodka shots at a wild whirl of corporate and lobbyist-paid parties this weekend in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
    […]
    Yet, last night lobbyists for the National Rifle Association, Lockheed Martin and the American Trucking Association put on a raucus six-hour party at a downtown bar featuring music by the band “Hookers and Blow.” There was no evidence of any actual prostitutes or cocaine.

    Satire has been lapped by reality.

    -dms

  2. 2.

    ThymeZone

    September 1, 2008 at 10:26 am

    Dickerson sounds like he is writing a theme paper for a high school creative writing class.

    It’s …. profoundy.

  3. 3.

    bootlegger

    September 1, 2008 at 10:27 am

    John-
    Word of the raids and arrests on potential protesters at the RNC convention needs spreading.
    http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/31/raids/index.html
    Can you link to some of the independent journalism Glenzilla reports? The MSM apparently will sit this one out and what is going on there is absolutely chilling.

    (and no, I don’t know how to embed links)

  4. 4.

    SGEW

    September 1, 2008 at 10:28 am

    I swear they are trying to put the Onion out of business.

    They might try, but I think they’re only making the Onion even better. See, e.g.,
    Portrayal Of Obama As Elitist Hailed As Step Forward For African Americans.

    (Favorite bit: Fox News is given a civil rights award from the NAACP.)

    The media might try and outpace the Onion, but the Onion will continue to beat them to the punch.

  5. 5.

    ThymeZone

    September 1, 2008 at 10:30 am

    I just saw video of water going over the sea wall at New Orleans. If there’s a failure and flood, McCain can leverage that opportunity, and then when that dies down, he can move on to showing up at traffic accidents and offering first aid.

  6. 6.

    demkat620

    September 1, 2008 at 10:32 am

    John,

    We’ve had this press for awhile now, they did this in 2000 and 2004. This is SOP. Why are you still surprised? The only question left is, what isn’t good news for McCain. At this point, I can’t identify one thing including a loss in November.

    I can’t wait to watch the press spin a possible Palin crash and burn as a win for Maverick McCain.

  7. 7.

    Incertus

    September 1, 2008 at 10:36 am

    You know, if the trade off is that we can either have Republicans partying callously in Minneapolis or getting in the way in the Gulf region, I’ll take the former and cheer them on.

  8. 8.

    smiley

    September 1, 2008 at 10:44 am

    Over at the GOS, they’re all about the vetting.

  9. 9.

    raff

    September 1, 2008 at 10:45 am

    Oh my. Just caught this bit over at TPM:

    First Lady Laura Bush will introduce a video of the various Gulf Coast state governors (all Republicans, I believe) this afternoon and Cindy McCain will also address delegates, urging support for hurricane victims. [snip]

    “We will try not to overly politicize it,” McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said on the call, referring to the additions of Bush and McCain to today’s agenda.

    Well, that’s mighty magnanimous of Davis isn’t it? “We will try not to overly politicize it.” So, basically, the McCampaign will, as stated, politicize an impending natural disaster, but they’ll try (no promises… nasty Barak could say something mean & then the gloves are off & mean ol’ Barak brought it on hisself) not to over-do it. Well, that’s a comforting balm. I’m relieved that McCain is trying to run an honorable & decent campaign… if it wasn’t for those darned kids & their dog…

  10. 10.

    Karmakin

    September 1, 2008 at 10:48 am

    I’m up to about even money that Palin won’t be the VP nominee.

  11. 11.

    joe from Lowell

    September 1, 2008 at 10:54 am

    You have to admit, not having to follow Barack Obama’s acceptance speech definitely has its upside.

  12. 12.

    b. hussein canuckistani

    September 1, 2008 at 11:02 am

    Has anyone been mocking the Republicans who were praying for rain at the DNC?

  13. 13.

    gbear

    September 1, 2008 at 11:10 am

    Has anyone been mocking the Republicans who were praying for rain at the DNC?

    Yes, lots of people have but it ran off the praying republicans’ backs like water off a duck. Now they’re saying that they were successful in praying gustav down to a category 2 storm. You can’t win with christianists.

  14. 14.

    Svensker

    September 1, 2008 at 11:24 am

    I dunno. The Palin pick has energized the base for McCain. Meanwhile, he’s looking all presidential being on the spot for the storm while Obama seems out of the picture, and worse, old news. I agree with Tristero over at Digby’s place that so far, Gustav HAS been good for McCain.

  15. 15.

    LiberalTarian

    September 1, 2008 at 11:36 am

    Svensker Says:

    I dunno. The Palin pick has energized the base for McCain. Meanwhile, he’s looking all presidential being on the spot for the storm while Obama seems out of the picture, and worse, old news. I agree with Tristero over at Digby’s place that so far, Gustav HAS been good for McCain.

    This is a long game. Don’t be getting your panties all bunched up over 4-days MSM silliness.

    You really want to be sure in November, start your GOTV activity now.

  16. 16.

    jake

    September 1, 2008 at 11:46 am

    As residents of New Orleans were fleeing Hurricane Gustav, top Republican party officials donned pink boas and swigged vodka shots at a wild whirl of corporate and lobbyist-paid parties this weekend in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

    Great, cut that up with photos of people waiting in long lines to evacuate and NO getting swamped. Throw in pictures of McBush laughing over a big old birthday cake with pictures of Katrina.

    Do I need to point out that if even one member of the DNC is seen smiling today the fReichtards will piss acid?

    Didn’t think so.

    “We will try not to overly politicize it,” McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said on the call, referring to the additions of Bush and McCain to today’s agenda.

    He then added “We will treat this situation with the same discretion we treat Senator McCain’s status as a POW. That’s a Prisoner of War. You know, because he was taken prisoner. During a war. POW, POW, POW. That’s what John McCain was.”

  17. 17.

    oh really

    September 1, 2008 at 12:20 pm

    More good news for McCain...

    Bristol Palin is pregnant.

    Her mom is proud she is going to have the baby and proud to become a grandparent, but doesn’t mention being proud that Bristol apparently didn’t pay attention during her abstinence only sex education class.

    I wonder if they’re going to name the baby “Gustav?”

    This is great news for McCain.

  18. 18.

    Incertus

    September 1, 2008 at 12:30 pm

    Don’t forget that the Palins are also marrying their kid off to her boyfriend–at 17. Think about that for a second, and then imagine the increasing number of people who’ve seen their kids who got married young and then struggled and got divorced screaming and running in the other direction.

  19. 19.

    Brachiator

    September 1, 2008 at 12:54 pm

    oh really Says:

    Bristol Palin is pregnant.

    Her mom is proud she is going to have the baby and proud to become a grandparent, but doesn’t mention being proud that Bristol apparently didn’t pay attention during her abstinence only sex education class.

    This is kind of sad, and Palin’s personal business.

    On the other hand, I don’t know for sure whether Palin advocates abstinence-only sex education. This would be a valid domestic policy question for both her and McCain.

  20. 20.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    September 1, 2008 at 1:11 pm

    Kind of funny:

    Why McCain can’t stop saying “my friends.”

  21. 21.

    oh really

    September 1, 2008 at 2:05 pm

    On the other hand, I don’t know for sure whether Palin advocates abstinence-only sex education. This would be a valid domestic policy question for both her and McCain.

    From the Eagle Forum Alaska:

    3. Will you support funding for abstinence-until-marriage education instead of for explicit sex-education programs, school-based clinics, and the distribution of contraceptives in schools?
    JB: We should not exclude abstinence-until-marriage education programs.
    SP: Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.

  22. 22.

    Tony J

    September 1, 2008 at 2:08 pm

    It’s funny, isn’t it, that in all the MSM coverage of McCain’s mavericky efforts to exploit a potential disaster in order to distance himself from the Bush legacy, and conveniently avoid the PR hit of a genuine – for which read: fractious and dangerously unpredictable – Convention, not one journalist has even mentioned just who it was hooking-up with El Residente back during Katrina for a cake-based photo-op?

    Plenty of talk about why it’s politically smart for McCain to differentiate his response to Gustav from Bush’s response to Katrina, and lots of quotes about how he’d have acted if he’d been President at the time, but not a single reference to the fact that McCain’s actual response to Katrina was to meet with Bush, when there was no doubt how bad New Orleans was going to be hit, and say, apparently, nothing at all to the guy he thought should be personally flying Air-Force One down to the disaster zone with a cargo of sandbags and blankets.

    You’d almost think no-one wanted to talk about it at all. Lime I said, funny dat.

  23. 23.

    LiberalTarian

    September 1, 2008 at 2:13 pm

    I guess I’m biased. In my experience, moms stick around and raise the kids. There are some great dads out there doing most the care giving, but I don’t have statistics. It would be an interesting research project.

  24. 24.

    oh really

    September 1, 2008 at 2:19 pm

    Tony J Says:
    You’d almost think no-one wanted to talk about it at all.

    Adam Nagourney’s got a new piece up at the Times explaining what a sacrifice St. John is making for the good of the nation.

    I found this especially moving:

    Still, the way Mr. McCain responded to the hurricane – from the moment he surprised convention organizers here by raising the possibility that he might suspend the convention to the decision to head to Mississippi — is perhaps the strongest evidence to date of how much his organization has sharpened over the summer. Hurricane Gustav is, in many ways, a bad break for Republicans. But it has provided some opportunities to Mr. McCain that his campaign has aggressively seized, and managed to do so, at least so far, without appearing to be acting politically.

    The Times pays Nagourney to write. I wish they’d pay him to think.

    I swear if McCain held up a piece of glass and told the MSM it was concrete they wouldn’t be able to see through it.

  25. 25.

    Tony J

    September 1, 2008 at 2:36 pm

    I swear if McCain held up a piece of glass and told the MSM it was concrete they wouldn’t be able to see through it

    Clearly, he would be making a symbolic and electoraly advantageous point about how strength of will and a maverick view on the world can endow even a fragile, glass-like campaign with the durable, rock-like qualities of a substance made with the sweat and toil of genuine, hard-working, white Americans.

    They always know what he really means. And it’s always something better than you might initially have assumed from hearing him say it.

  26. 26.

    oh really

    September 1, 2008 at 2:49 pm

    Tony J

    Well said.

  27. 27.

    Nancy Irving

    September 2, 2008 at 3:10 am

    Well, it *has* allowed them to drop Bush and Cheney from the speech-giving lineup; that’s certainly a plus for the GOP.

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