McCain's separation anxiety

From what I'm hearing, Bush and Cheney will both be speaking at the GOP convention this week.

I'm just curious: won't it be difficult for McCain to separate himself from the group that's given us the last 8 years if Bush and Cheney are going to be two of the keynote speakers? (And who else is there? Condoleeza Rice? Guilliani? Rumsfeld?)

Haven't they cancelled due to Gustav?

Looks like it.

Doh! I leave my post in limbo too long before posting. Medellia beat me to the punch.

I am guessing the Rs will be cutting the whole shindig short. Which will be a relief for me and my TV watching self.

how do you read the books? I'm New!!! HEHE....

#2: I'm not sure how seriously to take this Gustav thing. I suppose they have plausible deniability that it would be disrespectful to have the convention during a state of national emergency. Truly, if there's serious damage in New Orleans and the Republicans are seen as being off the ball again, they will never live it down. But it does seem a little convenient since Ron Paul was going to have his alternate convention down the street from the GOP.

Actually, I'm more curious about what this will do for Jon Stewart's plans. The postponement no doubt leaves the Daily Show in a bit of a bind.

I think McCain is thanking his lucky stars that Bush won't be at the convention. And if the only way he could avoid it was to hold it in the ninth ward surrounded by water and crocodiles, I bet he would.

Absolutely, Tim. When I first asked this question just a few hours ago I hadn't heard anything about postponement or cancellations. Since then, I've heard that now Bush won't be speaking tomorrow, and Cheney won't be speaking tomorrow either.

Not to be cynical, but I think this is nothing more than spin--a way of saying, "We will not put this convention ahead of the needs of the American people."

But instead of delaying the convention, they'll "have" it, just tone it down (translation: eliminate the people McCain doesn't want the people to be reminded of anyway).

If that's how it goes, the "thinking of the victims and not about ourselves" angle, it may score some short-term points but I don't think that's the kind of spin that will sway people come November.

This will be interesting. If he gets just enough (but not too much) coverage, he will have the perfect opportunity to act Presidential without actually having to go through the typical convention motions (e.g., host a four day event in which the commentators are constantly pointing out uncomfortable facts along the lines of, "Interesting fact here, Bob: eight of McCain's fellow sitting Republican Senators were either too embarrassed or too afraid of losing their respective seats to attend this convention. And the shocking thing? These decisions were made well before news of Gustav had sank in!" And so on).

With too little coverage? No bump.

Too much coverage? Critical comments like the one posed above.

But if his porridge is just right... It could be trouble for Obama.

The whole thing is dicey, and I don't think anyone knows how to handle it. You'll notice the Dems also stepped back from their political response center in St. Paul. Nobody wants to look like they're profiting from the event.

I suspect things will ramp back up, though, as the storm seems to be weakening and veering west. I suppose that's not good for those people, although I'm glad the house of LibraryThing employee Chris--evacuated from Mobile--won't get a direct hit.

The GOP would have preferred for everyone to forget all about Katrina and GWB's subsequent dismal approval ratings; but another hurricane is now associated with Republican politics. No matter what else happens, on a visceral level the damage has been done.

At present it looks like Gustav, thanklfully, will be something of a bust. It came ashore as a cat 2 and will blow itself out much faster than previously imagined unless it turns around and heads back into the Gulf. Not likely at this point. Although, I have heard of flooding in the Ninth Ward (both North and South) with a few levees o'ertopped, but nothing serious so far. We'll see.

I can't help but recall the Dobson attempt to sabotage Obama's speech by praying for rainfall of Biblical proportions. God, as He has told us on more than one occasion, will not be mocked. I expect this is punishment for the presumptuousness of Dobson's crowd for attempting to use God. We, as humans, "use" God at our own peril.

The worst of all possible scenarios I think for the Republicans is they put up a show of support for the Gustav victims and Gustav is a bust. Now, showing their organizational skills the Republicans are left with a political bust of a convention while Gustav's "victims" are busy returning to their homes after the "big blow".

Blame this one on Dobson, folks.

Now what will "Rev." Dobson say to this:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/01/palin.daughter/index.html
Now I admire the Gov. Palin and her daughter for handling this in a mature way, and I do not think she should be criticized too much, stuff hapens and all that.

However, if this were Biden's daughter, hypothetically speaking, I imagine Dobson would call her a fornicator, or speak to the moral bankruptcy of the Democratic party, or pray for lighting to smote the young lady, or something equally repulsive. So now what I ask, where are his self-righteous comments now.

</i>i doubt McCain knew.

Actually if you read the article, he states that he did know.

Reuters reports that his campaign officials state other-wise.

I don't think that link goes where you think it's going.

Picky, picky, picky... Don't you have some I-tags to leave open or something? Link edited.

The first line of that article states " Senior McCain campaign officials said McCain knew of the daughter's pregnancy when he selected Palin last week as his vice presidential running mate." Are you disagreeing with my post or NativeRoses, Jesse?

NR's. Cross-post, sorry.

No problem, I was a bit confused is all :).

My guess is that McCain didn't know. I think he's just afraid to look judgmental--to say he didn't know implies that it would have influenced his decision (which might suggest that he's insensitive, a no-no for any campaigner). He's just hoping that it doesn't become a big issue, but I cannot imagine that he knew.

And Madcow is so right: if this were Biden's daughter they'd be all over it--Dobson and company would litter it with terms like "a senior in high school" and "out of wedlock".

I just think it will be interesting to see how their convention is affected now. The storm was significant but not like they thought. Bush and Cheney could easily return on Tuesday--if McCain WANTED them there.

If the Rs VP candidate accepted the offer from McCain without telling him, well, that does not bode well.

That lucky bastard seems to have weaseled out of the dilemma by having Laura Bush speak instead. She's speaking right now. :P

In the meantime, Junior's down in Texas fending off Gustav by the power of his mostly errorless grammar.

Of course it is convenient for McCain that the cancellation of Monday's programs has kept Bush and Cheney off TV screens across the country. And appealing for charity contributions is a nice touch, although I wonder how much was actually raised. (I have heard - don't know if it is true - that the suggestion to donate to the Red Cross was not exactly warmly received.)

But McCain had more than one reason to take the low-key approach to convention activities during the approach of hurricane Gustav. Does anyone remember where McCain was when Hurricane Katrina struck? Celebrating his 69th birthday with George Bush at the Pueblo El Mirage RV Resort and Country Club near Phoenix. One liberal blogger posted this photo montage of August 29, 2005.

thanks, oregonobsessionz, a very interesting piece.

will you stop ignoring the girl!!!! answer her question - the one who said 'how do you read books' near the top

She did not inquire about the method employed in reading books, but rather about how you read THE books, with a HEHE added. I suggest she could have gone on to say: “Well, this is a library aint it?”

Yes, I would also like to know how to read the books. It is a library, so you should be able to read the books. Someone please answer, I need this for a class.

On the off-chance that this isn't sort of bizarre joke, this is a site for cataloging books that you already have or read in the past, or maybe want in the future, but you actually have to read the books somewhere else.

thank you very much. I didn't realize. I mean, the name IS library. No, it wasn't a joke. Thank you for responding.

Melody09, you might try looking at these pages; maybe they will be of help:

LibraryThing tour:
http://www.librarything.com/tour/

A very short introduction to LibraryThing:
http://www.librarything.com/quickstart.php

You might also check with your teacher, and find out exactly what s/he wants you to do with LibraryThing for your classwork.