Per the Tampa Bay Times, “in partnership with Politico”:
TAMPA — The first day of the Republican National Convention was canceled Saturday because of the approaching threat of Tropical Storm Isaac, which forecasters expect to become Hurricane Isaac as it creeps up Florida’s Gulf Coast and begins lashing the bay area overnight tonight.
Party officials made the decision after consulting Gov. Rick Scott and other local, state and federal officials. They fear the wind and rain could be so bad by Monday that it would make conditions too risky to transport delegates staying in Pinellas County hotels.
Delegates would have to ride high-profile buses across bay area bridges into Hillsborough County, assuming the storm hasn’t already shut the bridges down.
“We’re not going to put delegates on a bunch of buses on bridges between Clearwater and St. Petersburg,” said Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus, “when we can’t predict how severe the wind is going to be and how bad the damage will be.” …
Anybody else suspect that Chairman Reince “RNC PR BS” Priebus would just as happily reduce the Tampa convention to a three-hour, pre-edited prime time package — just so as to avoid unpredictablity and other bad damage, and I don’t mean from the weather?
… Officials said tonight’s private kickoff party at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg is still on. Set to begin at 6 p.m., it is expected to draw 20,000 delegates, dignitaries and journalists.
Saturday’s developments were reminiscent of 2008, when the GOP canceled the first day of its convention in Minnesota because Hurricane Gustav hit the Gulf Coast…
The first day of the convention was not set to be broadcast on network television. Monday’s featured speaker was to be former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Also set to speak were House Speaker John Boehner, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and one Democrat: Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn….
Yeeeaah, these are all good speakers for firing up The Base in private; for attracting the low-information ‘independent’ voter just tuning in after ignoring all political talk for the last two/four/twelve years, not so much. Also, how many reporters will file stories starting with ‘jokes’ about how the elements just don’t seem to respect the RNC any more?
… The convention is expected to draw 50,000 delegates, journalists and others to the Tampa Bay area. As officials across the state prepared for the approaching storm, delegates continued to arrive at Tampa International Airport.
Jerry Lathan, 56, a delegate and contractor from Mobile, Ala., said he’s not concerned with the storm. He said he brought rain gear with him and he’ll enjoy having Monday off.
“There’s plenty to do here. We’ll have fun,” Lathan said. …
Insert your own jokes about a middle-aged guy in a raincoat looking to have fun in a town famous for its titty bars.
… While GOP leaders opted for a one-day cancellation, protest leaders said their ranks remain undeterred.
“The only thing that could get us to call things off is if the Republicans leave town,” said Jared Hamil, spokesman for Monday’s Coalition to March on the RNC.
The Coalition March, the largest permitted protest, promised to draw more than 5,000 people for a march through downtown.
“People are already here and they’re still arriving,” Hamil said. “The march will go on, rain or shine.”
The Rev. Bruce Wright, a local activist who helped organize the 2,000-strong Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign march for Monday, said it was too soon to see how the storm would affect their plans. He said protest groups need to balance their safety with losing their chance to be seen and heard at the convention.
“We’re still going to march,” Wright said. “If we have to change that plan, we’ll do it later, when we can better tell how the storm is going to affect us.”
Tara Colon, a protester at the “Romneyville” encampment of pink tents behind the Army Navy Surplus Market on N Tampa Street, said people there will see how bad it gets before deciding to stage protests. But other members of the camp seemed emboldened.
“That leaves the convention center open for us,” John Penley said. “That’s where we plan to go.”…
And there will be a lot of media people looking for a story to cover — not just political reporters, but all those meteorologists contractually obliged to find eyeball-attracting photo ops full of local color as they put on their own rain gear for yet another thirty-second spot assuring their viewing market that tropical storms bring wind, rain, and unpredictability. Here’s hoping that the weather, over the next few days, brings only minimal damage to Floridians and maximal meme-friendly viral-marketing damage to the RNC!
nitpicker
There are people who truly believed Hurricane Katrina damaged New Orleans because of the gays and DC was hit by an historic earthquake because of the satanic politics that flow from it. One wonders how they might think of this. If you believe God sends messages in such a manner, then what message is being sent here? Hmmm?
JGabriel
I don’t think Tampa will be outta the storm by Tuesday night either. Here is the NOAA hurricane track — look at the storm locations for 8:00 pm Monday and Tuesday.
I get the feeling that maybe the RNC won’t be getting the post-convention bounce they were expecting and hoping for.
JGabriel
__
__
@nitpicker:
Knowing the fundies, they’ll probably think it’s punishment for nominating a Mormon and a papist VP.
.
Yutsano
@JGabriel: Nah. They’ll just blame the Islamokenyanfascistsocialistusurper soiling up THEIR White House. Emphasis on white.
Omnes Omnibus
I am just waiting for some Republican to be turned into a pillar of salt.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: I guess that would be devine retribution for going to a titty bar.
ruemara
Now these motherfuckers believe in science? Fuck all, get in that damned auditorium and let your faith in Free Market Jesus fucking protect you. Particularly that sunovabitch Paul “Rape is just another form of contraception” Ryan.
Yutsano
@Omnes Omnibus: Des this make Tampa Sodom or Gomorrah?
dance around in your bones
Well hell, why can’t they pull out their pistols and shoot that fucking storm out of the sky?
It’s the only way to be sure.
Omnes Omnibus
@Yutsano: Yes?
JGabriel
__
__
Yutsano:
Republican Delegate: [Spoken in a drunk, Republican accent (which is remarkably identical to a Loud Asshole accent)]: “Con-vent-shin? Sod’em, and gemorrah dem Tampa titty bars fer me … Hope dis rain neber enz.”
.
nitpicker
@JGabriel: Amen. I’ve been saying for weeks that it’s the right that’s been pushing belief as a political issue for 50-plus years and I’m fine if that comes back to bite Republicans in the ass because the fundamentalists they’ve been kowtowing to realize the differences between their own beliefs and those of Latter Day Saints.
mdblanche
Weren’t they planning to hold the roll call on Monday?
Dennis SGMM
Reince Priebus? Sounds like a 1920’s European luxury car:
“Osgood’s twelve-cylinder Reince Priebus swept to a majestic halt in front of the Hotel Ritz.”
BillinGlendaleCA
@Dennis SGMM: Everytime I see Reince Priebus on my TV her reminds me of a young Larry Flynt. And no, I wasn’t drinking then or now.
JGabriel
@Dennis SGMM:
“Osgood jumped out, or tried to. He tripped on the Reince Priebus’s running board and fell flat on his face into the gutter. After extrication and presently finding himself standing upright, he exclaimed, “Bertie! Is Jeeves around? Ann is going to dump me for Sir Romney and I’m going to need his help. He still eats a lot of fish, what?”
.
kenpedersen
Wow, I didn’t know the weather had a liberal bias.
blingee
Clearly this is a sign from god that they have not been practicing their faith enough and praying enough. Oh, and also god is upset about this whole Akin thing and hasn’t had an opportunity to strike him and Huckabee down with lightning just yet. Maybe at the convention he will get a shot at Huckabee.
princess leia
Unfortunately, the projections also suggest a possible Category 3-4 landfall at New Orleans in 72 hours. Not that they have any consensus yet, but, man, that would not be good.
elaine benes
@JGabriel:
Add insult to injury: Charlie Crist just heartily endorsed Obama in the Tampa Bay Times. A must-read.
dance around in your bones
Didn’t this same thing happen in 2008 during the RNC convention with Hurricane Gustav? I seem to recall all these brave Republicans (Bush, Cheney, McCain) cancelling appearances right left and sideways.
It’s almost like Gawd/Gaia don’t like these dudes. Har de har.
wrb
This could get good. “See what God thinks of a RINO Mormon”
PeakVT
@princess leia: A Cat 3/4 at NOLA is outside the current consensus, which is CAT 1/2/3 somewhere around Pensacola.
wrb
No, no. Huck is bringing wrathful God on the back of the storm to strike the Mormon and the papist.
Gotta keep the sides straight.
Ronzoni Rigatoni
Damnation. A Category 2 or 3 near Apalachacola. Think of the Oysters!
max
Huck is bringing wrathful God on the back of the storm to strike the Mormon and the papist.
Ayup. That’s just the first take, though. After that, obviously, the libtards created reality with all that fake data and caused global warming. If only we had refused to believe those darn scientists and bought into the whole global cooling thing, it’d be snowing in Tampa right now. Which would be good, because wearing all that polyester in the heat is really sweaty.
just so as to avoid unpredictablity and other bad damage
They’re going to give Romney a big dose of antibiotics before he gives his acceptance speech, because when he’s finished, he’s going to get the Klap.
max
[‘I wonder if Tide is doing a lot of advertising for the convention?’]
Chuck Butcher
I had really hoped there would be no weather interference so they could put their entire craziness out there to thorough effect. Well, wishes and fishes (though I never did quite get how that worked).
raven
@Ronzoni Rigatoni: Ah,the wonderful St George Island and Bob Sykes Cut.
Michael Bersin
Todd Akin, the republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Missouri who almost everyone in the republican establishment wishes wasn’t, can thank his impeccable timing for not having to worry about being in Florida during a Hurricane.
Meanwhile, Senator Claire McCaskill, has a very interesting meme she’s been hanging on the republican party:
…So I think the election has, has occurred, Todd Akin was elected by the people of his party. I think to overturn that is a pretty bold and radical thing…
magurakurin
@PeakVT:
Navy site has the storm making landfall in Mobile around midnight of the 26th with sustained winds of 95kts and gusts to 110 making it a category 2 hurricane.
WereBear
Karma is cumulative.
I believe the faith-based, rip off the rubes, blatant psycho selfishness of the Republicans has emptied the tank of any goodwill and sincerity it ever had; which never was much.
The spectacle of a hurricane disrupting the convention is, I hope, a harbinger of more massive irony, back for revenge.
Good luck to everyone in danger…
Alex S.
I recall that the DNC opted to shorten their convention by a day because of funding problems. Well… now that advantage of the Republiucans is gone, too.
Elizabelle
@elaine benes:
Here’s the link.
Charlie Crist endorses Barack Obama, from the Tampa Bay Times.
pablo
Pussies! Get those delegates on the damn buses, take them to the Howard Franklin Bridge. Park them in the middle, and have Tony Perkins and Pat Robinson alight and pray for God to give them a sign.
Holy FSM!
kay
@Elizabelle:
Smart day to roll it out. They’re good with endorsement timing.
Bill E Pilgrim
There’s nothing about Republicans in a hurricane that wearing three wetsuits won’t fix.
Princess
You know, this hurricane is going to sit on the news cycle wherever it makes landfall this week, even if Tampa is spared. How is it going to look to have the Republicans whooping and hollering in Tampa as people get rained out in Alabama and north Florida? Not their fault (for once), but you’ve got to love the timing and the optics of this.
mikefromArlington
Imagine all the sign from God warnings of Dems being heathens if this were the other way around two conventions in a row.
Now, if thier next convention takes a direct hit from a tornado I might just become a believer myself!
Emma
@nitpicker: The message will be that the organizers should have picked a god-fearing, religious city instead of a sinful place like Tampa. It’s never about them, you see.
maya
You know, when I was a Young Republican, I had to walk 5 miles through a field of meadow muffins just to hear the other Barry speak at the Cow Palace republican convention. Pussies.
The Ancient Randonneur
I guess ol’ Isaac wasn’t into giving a bunch of crusty old white guys a blow job, eh?
The Ancient Randonneur
Happy Birthday to NY Times Puzzle Editor and NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday Puzzle Master Will Shortz!
Matt McIrvin
Here’s hoping FEMA is ready in Mobile, or wherever it ends up. New Orleans is still within the cone of probability for the storm center.
Palli
No really, I think the republican powers that be are just rescinding the decision to schedule “yet to be indicted” Walker speak on Monday.
Elizabelle
@kay:
I had to come to Balloon Juice for the Crist endorsement. Not on the opening webpage of the NYTimes, LATimes, WaPost or CNN.
Although WaPost has room for Olympia Snowe whining about the GOP message and women.
Matt McIrvin
@Princess: What I’m worried about is that it hits New Orleans (still quite possible), and someone screws up badly enough that we all finally get the fabled Obama’s Katrina. The feds better be on top of this one, even if state and local officials aren’t.
Elizabelle
Love this from McClatchy.
Melanie Sloan and CREW are challenging Fox TV’s broadcast licenses in DC and Baltimore.
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/08/22/163105/foxs-us-tv-station-licenses-challenged.html#storylink=omni_popular#storylink=cpy
Linda Featheringill
@Elizabelle:
That’s funny! Sux to be spox.
amk
@Elizabelle:
LOL. Perfect.
bjacques
That Monday lineup looks like a parade of also-rans headed by the might-have-been. A Bush dynasty is a busted flush, so it’s no great loss if Jeb doesn’t get his say. On the other hand, despite the younger brother’s exploits, the Bush name does confer on the party something approaching class, so Jeb will land another spot later in the week.
As for the also-rans, the party will also have to shoehorn in Rand Paul. He represents the Libertarian wing without which the spirit of convention lunacy would only sing the same tune, solo. Not enough to fill out a four-day playlist. The others are disposable.
The best thing about the convention losing a day is that the crazy will be distilled into the other four, for higher volatility. This after already arranging things so that the stars get their share of the spotlight that will shine only one hour per night.
kay
@Elizabelle:
I’m okay with it, though. Obama runs 50 state races, along with a national race. People in Florida will know, and they’re who he needs to reach.
The Times has that they can’t budge Ohio, Romney isn’t gaining traction here, stuck at 45 (Times didn’t say 45, but I know that to be true) hence the welfare and race-baiting.
I had a house party yesterday, women only, and one older lady said she thinks the vitriol directed towards women is DELIBERATE, to up Romney’s ‘manhood’ cred among white working class men, that they’ve given up on women and are just focusing on large margins w/white men. Divide men and women, in other words. Pit one against the other.
I think it’s a decent theory.
Valdivia
The Do Over.
Love the Obama people, they really do know what they’re doing.
SiubhanDuinne
@bjacques:
Picky of me, I know, but Jeb is actually six years younger than Dubya.
arguingwithsignposts
The NYT has a sloppy wet kiss for the libtards today. Wonder what will happen at their confab today?
SiubhanDuinne
@Valdivia: That is just great. Gotta love Team O!
Valdivia
@SiubhanDuinne:
I know right? I really really can’t wait to see how they continue to play Romney. I personally think that Obama’s comments about the debate in the interview yesterday were designed to totally head fake Romney.
amk
@Valdivia: LOL. Nice ad. Rated N – Not.Gonna.Work.
arguingwithsignposts
@Valdivia: @SiubhanDuinne:
One thing I wonder is who there is in the wings? I realize this election isn’t over, but whether Obama wins or loses, the dems will need a new standard-bearer in a couple of years. Who’s that going to be? And will that person bring along the Obama team?
It certainly isn’t going to be HRC or Biden.
I’ve heard Booker and O’Malley (? Maryland) names tossed around, and Cuomo, but the dems will need to slot in a potential candidate for 2016 in this year’s convention. Any others come to mind?
Elizabelle
@amk:
I absolutely loved that.
Elizabelle
@arguingwithsignposts:
New faces, non-dynastic variety:
Martin O’Malley, governor of Maryland
California has a whipsmart attorney general, Kamala Harris.
Who else?
Jennifer
Getting back to the hurricane…maybe this makes me a bad person, but remembering Eric Cantor’s response to the Joplin tornado (“give us what we want or no aid for you!”), I can’t help but kinda halfway wish the hurricane would score a direct hit at the convention center when it’s packed with delegates and full of party muckety-mucks, if for no other reason than to give them the official answer that we’ll work on getting some help to them just as soon as we figure out how we’re going to offset the cost.
Though I would settle for Cantor himself being stranded on a lone hammock surrounded by snapping alligators, searching for a way to climb higher to avoid the snapping jaws until the necessary cuts could be made to send him some help.
Seriously, I don’t know why there aren’t ads about the GOP reaction to the Joplin disaster running in heavy rotation 24/7 in SW MO; those folks will turn out and vote 70% (or higher) GOP like they always do without a reminder of who it is they’re actually voting for.
TR
@Valdivia:
AWESOME.
Nutella
A tweet from someone named @DougSaunders
If the GOP convention had been hit with a *legitimate* hurricane, it would have naturally resisted the wind.
Elizabelle
@Jennifer:
Recall that the famous DC earthquake was epicentered in Eric Cantor’s district.
Anya
@Valdivia: Loved it! I particularly enjoy the last part: Rated N for not gonna work.
Anya
@arguingwithsignposts: I have a feeling O’Malley can bring along the Obama team. He’s been a great surrogate. He’s telegenic, a very successful governor and he has a broad appeal. I don’t think Cuomo will win the primary. He’s hard core corporate tool and he’s been really tough on unions and cutting social programs. Aside from the gay marriage issue he cannot point to anything that will appeal to liberals. He’s stated top goal in 2012 is the reduction of public employee pensions. WTF!
Xecky Gilchrist
Anybody else suspect that Chairman Reince “RNC PR BS” Priebus would just as happily reduce the Tampa convention to a three-hour, pre-edited prime time package
Oh yes. I have a feeling that for once, the Republicans’ secret weather prayers have actually been answered.
LanceThruster
I hear a Gopper talking about rain gear and I’m thinking wetsuits and golden showers.
1badbaba3
Do they bring May flowers, pray tell?
danielx
@nitpicker:
No titty bars for you, nit diddlers!
steve
@Valdivia: Can you summarize? many of us can’t watch video.
karen marie
@Omnes Omnibus: That would imply that a Republican would have to look back in concern for another person. Not going to happen.
Sherlock Hound
I’m a Masshole and I have to respond to Judas the Potato god in another thread:
In my district (MA-6), I am the engineer on a public-access TV show that had Richard Tisei-R as a guest; he’s running against Tierney, who has had the seat for some years.
Listening to him with one ear in the control room, while watching dials and occassionally hitting the key on our graphics machine, the discussion came to Obamacare (or Romneycare, or Massassachusetts-care, whatever.)
Tisei says something about state’s rights and another something about how we should feel lucky to live in Massachusetts since we do things our way.
I was gobsmacked. If I were a liberal in any other state, I would despise this guy if he got elected.
Judas, I have been a Masshole voter for 30 years and I don’t believe there is any such thing as an undecided pure “independent”. No.
“Independents” here are libertarians, followers of Saint Barbara Anderson. I know. I was one for too many years. (We had no less than three major radio stations in Boston with libertarian hosts. Imagine being immersed in that for the better part of 20 years.)
They’d be OK with whatever Tisei, Brown or their masters would come up with.
(For my part, after being an “unenrolled” voter for eons, and voting Democrat for the past 10 years, I decided to give up the pretense…)
kerFuFFler
@nitpicker:
I suppose they’ll assume it is because they have not fought hard enough to ban abortion, defund planned parenthood, eliminate the teaching of evolution in schools and silence climate scientists.
I kind of hope the storm is a doozy. If it ends up being just run of the mill lousy weather, behold it shall be seen as a miraculous intervention by Jeebus Himself!
LosGatosCA
@Yutsano:
St Pete is Sodom and Tampa is Gomorrah. Or the other way around. Disneyworld is Masada and Daytona is Solomon’s Temple.