Did Gustav or deserting TV anchors hobble the RNC?

"Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony."

--- Larry Fishburne's Morpheus from the first Matrix movie.

Conservative media conspiracy theorists may rail about liberal bias, but it became obvious Sunday that the approaching Hurricane Gustav was not going to allow Republicans the same 15,000-journalist bath of publicity the Democrats got last week.

Beginning at noon Sunday, I started getting e-mails indicating the big network anchors would be headed to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast to see whether Gustav would bring a reprise of Hurricane Katrina nearly three years to the day after the Republican-led federal government's disastrous response shocked the world.

That Gustav has pulled the tablecloth from under the GOP convention on this sad anniversary is a bit of karma way too eerie to contemplate. Gulf Coast residents can at least console themselves with the knowledge that every Republican politician in the country has a vested interest in making sure the response to Gustav wipes the memory of Katrina from our collective consciousness.

CBS was first to announce that Katie Couric would be headed to the Gulf Coast for her evening newscast, e-mailing journalists at about 12:30 p.m. Sunday. ABC and NBC followed a few hours later, announcing that Charlie Gibson and Brian Williams would be headed to New Orleans as well.

By 4 p.m. Sunday, John McCain was announcing that Monday's GOP convention activities would essentially be canceled, to avoid juxtaposing the infomercial of a modern political convention with scenes of storm-swept damage in the wake of Gustav. Even convention diehard Jim Lehrer threw in the towel at that point, choosing to helm PBS's Gustav coverage from Washington D.C. today.

Each network has their political journalism stars back in St. Paul: George Stephanopoulos for ABC, Bob Schieffer for CBS and Tom Brokaw for NBC. But increasingly, it seems the world's attention will fall on the other side of the country, as we all hold our breath and hope, improbably, that all the local, state and national officials who screwed up the first time will handle this emergency better the second time around.

Looks like Harry Shearer called it right once more.

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Comments

[Mark Jeffries]

Ray Nagan was a DINO who only joined the party because that's the only way you win elections in New Orleans, wingnut moron.

But of course, your idols Loofah Felafel and Rush Vicodin don't tell you that.

And what's your opinion of African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans, Native Americans, Jews, women, gays and lesbians--as if we didn't already know?

[Bill]

It's so unfortunate to see this storyline of republican failure after Katrina continue because it's only half the truth. New Orleans was let down first, in just as a big a way, by it's democratic mayor and the state's democratic governor. Remember those buses sitting in the floods that should have been used for evacuations? Neither did anything to help the area prepare for the storm and then stood cluess on what to do next for help. Yes, FEMA's follow up stunk, but the smell started when the democrats in charge did nothing and the democrats who need the government to tell them what to do did nothing as well. We never had anything near the problems here in Florida during 2004-2005 since our elected officials planned, prepared and responded. When we tell the story of Katrina, let's tell the whole story.

[Mr News]

As of this moment, Gustav is nowhere near as bad as Katrina was, as the storm comes ashore southwest of N.O. The evacuations and preparations have been handled much better this time, mainly by state and local authorities.

That said, there is some poetic justice in the (now reduced) possibility of reduced RNC coverage. The administration's pathetically negligent response to Katrina has formed its own eyewall around their convention.

Maybe McCain can order FEMA troops to occupy Louisiana for "100 years," and send in Palin to shoot any looters.

[Mr News]

As of this moment, Gustav is nowhere near as bad as Katrina was, as the storm comes ashore southwest of N.O. The evacuations and preparations have been handled much better this time, mainly by state and local authorities.

That said, there is some poetic justice in the (now reduced) possibility of reduced RNC coverage. The administration's pathetically negligent response to Katrina has formed its own eyewall around their convention.

Maybe McCain can order FEMA troops to occupy Louisiana for "100 years," and send in Palin to shoot any looters.