http://thinkprogress.org/2008/08/30/mccain...-disaster-zone/

Politico reports that the impending landfall of Hurricane Gustav has forced Republicans to scramble their convention plans. President Bush may not attend at all, and John McCain may deliver his acceptance speech from the hurricane-stricken areas:

McCain was scheduled to deliver his acceptance speech Thursday but now may do so from the devastation zone if the storm hits the U.S. coast with the ferocity feared by forecasters.

“It just wouldn’t be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near-tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster,” McCain said in a taped interview for Fox News Sunday.
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UPDATE: Yglesias writes:
I know that if I lived in an area that was trying to prepare / evacuate in advance of a major national disaster, what I’d really want would be for a presidential candidate to swing by for a campaign appearance, distracting local political officials and drawing down resources of the local public safety agencies. After all, it’ll look good on camera to be engaged with the problem!

No shit, Hardball, huh?

It's all just a BS ploy to try to look presidential and vice-presidential.

What else have they got, in all seriousness?

BTW:

I just watched a repeat of McCain and Palin speaking in Missouri today.

Don't ask, both spouted nothing but pure drivel.

But does anyone else think it appears McCain is looking older by the day?

Or maybe it's that now we are seeing him all the time right next to a youthful looking 44-year old?

I was looking without success at the audience for someone who looked as bad at about his age and couldn't see ONE. And there WERE some seniors there, believe me.

Whatever, he's just looking like hell to me.

Hopefully people will see this for what it is. EXPLOITATION. So in 2005 they ginored the victims and in 2008 they are going to use and exploit the victims and the hurricane for his own political gain. Obama and Biden need to get down there before McCain.

On a more practical level, his visit yesterday to the MS Command Center was horribly inappropriate. I am part of the emergency response command staff in a major Florida city. I assure you the last thing we would want the day before a potential major hurricane landfall would be a couple of politicians conducting a campaign event at our center. Spin it as you want, but this is simple pandering, not unlike his pick of Palin.