WE'VE MOVED! Democratic Convention Watch is now at http://www.DemocraticConventionWatch.com
I do not wish to understate the potential devastation of Gustav. For most people, most disasters are abstractions. For many of the people I know personally, 9/11 was bad, but impersonal. For me, and all the other native New Yorkers, it had that abject terror of spending that morning trying to find our relatives and friends who worked in the World Trade Center. (The three hours that my dad and I spent looking for my brother, who was thankfully found alive, was something I wouldn't wish on anyone.)
As a doctor who watched in horror as patients died during Katrina, I am terrified at the low numbers of patients who have been evacuated. Yesterday, 43 gravely ill people were evacuated, and the goal number this morning was 1000 by the end of the day. The hospitals had originally intended to stay open, but then decided they could not.
If you live on the Gulf Coast, I know I speak for all of us here at DCW when I say that we hope you have evacuated, and are reading us safely inland. If you have friends and relatives who live in the danger zone, you have our greatest hopes that your people have left, and too are safe.
Having said AND MEANT that, as we await what will hopefully be a logistic nightmare with NO deaths, we may want to consider the Republicans. (Just to take our minds off things.)
I heard John McCain speaking today, and he said that they "need to be Americans today, and not Republicans." Yes, I know what he meant, but still, it's a fun image.
So let's think about what the Republicans will do this week to show that they ARE Americans and not Republicans. Remember that during the impending Midwest floods this spring, John and George went to Iowa, stayed 35 miles apart, and made speeches. Barack Obama drove out and filled sand bags.
Please use the comments to say what you think the Republicans should do.
Your take:
Logging you in...
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SLCScott 74p · 864 weeks ago
As far as what they SHOULD do, I really don't know. I've thought about what the Democrats should have done if this had happened a week earlier. This is a lousy situation. In practical terms, there's no reason that most of them shouldn't go ahead and have the convention. Jindal obviously had to back out, and Bush and Cheney should too. They have things they need to be doing in relation to the storm.
But Senator John or Jane Doe from some state without a coastline? People--including some nonpartisan people in Minnesota--have been preparing for this event for a long time. There's nothing that elected officials from distant states should actually be doing right now, except for standby offers of help (willingness to fly in emergency personnel and the like). But they can monitor that kind of thing without giving up on the convention. Yet they'll get criticized if they go with business as usual.
It's the same kind of feeling I get when an opponent's star player gets hurt during a big game. Yeah, I want to win, but not that way.
My sympathies and prayers to those in the Gulf Coast, first. But I'll spare a little sympathy for all the volunteers who have worked for so long on the Republican convention (and yes, I know they were short on volunteers) only to see it getting screwed up by a storm a thousand miles away.
Karen Anne · 864 weeks ago
But the word is that the Salvation Army was much more effective during Katrina in getting help in there. I have never felt comfortable donating to the Red Cross since those serial prolonged reports of mismanagement and money going missing.
Leah 85p · 864 weeks ago