It’s deeply disappointing, really. Today was supposed to be the most uncomfortable day of the Republican National Convention — President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and Senator Joe Lieberman were all scheduled to speak. That’s the Dynamic Duo currently rocking a 30 percent approval rating, plus the traitorous Lieberman who’s basically no longer liked in either party. Having any three of them on the podium automatically shifts some uncomfortable comments and questions onto McCain; having all three of them there makes it high school carnival dunk tank night.
So “scaling back” so as not to offend those worried about Gustav victims — or to avoid the PR disaster of a live reminder of Katrina split-screen with Bush in St. Paul — seems to be just about the biggest Godsend the Republicans have had this campaign season. The single goal for McCain this week should be to get out of St. Paul without the stink of the Bush/Cheney brand on him. Now that Obama’s unveiled the “you voted with Bush 90 percent of the time” line, McCain’s either got to deny, deflect, or act the maverick, and has to convince Americans that the U.S. under McCain will be different than the U.S. under Bush. Hard to do.
Ironically, the one thing he’s talking about doing to close the convention would put him closer to Bush than he apparently thinks it will — delivering his acceptance speech from the Gulf Coast. It smacks of photo op. It smacks of Bush on the aircraft carrier saying “Mission Accomplished,” Bush in Jackson Square right after Katrina saying Katrina will be rebuilt, even Bush on the rubble of the World Trade Center saying we’d get the terrorists responsible (rather than, you know, a completely different group of people in Iraq).
It would be a horrible move. It may be in the works.
And the most talked about RNC-related news item of the day still involves a pregnant 17-year-old.
