McCains, Palin going to region threatened by storm

[trof]

Source: AP

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Likely GOP presidential nominee John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, are traveling to Mississippi on Sunday to check on people getting prepared for Hurricane Gustav.

Their trip comes just as delegates are preparing for the Republican National Convention, which begins Monday.

Aides say McCain and his wife Cindy will join Palin in traveling to Jackson, Miss., Sunday at the invitation of Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour because of concerns about people threatened by the storm, which was heading into the Gulf of Mexico and menacing the same area ravaged by Hurricane Katrina three years ago. The storm could hit the United States as early as Monday afternoon.

The McCains and Palin will receive a briefing at the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency — a permanent operations center monitoring hurricane response.

Read more: http://www.al.com/newsflash/washington/index.ssf?/base/washington-0/1220154843222020.xml&storylist=washington

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Just...WHY?
How is this going to help us here on the gulf coast?
How is coming down to Jackson, MS with your entourage and secret service troops going to alleviate the situation one iota?

Oh I know you hope this will be a good photo op.
You good ol' bud Haley Barbour will be there to embrace and slobber all over you.
And you'll be showing your 'concern', weeping a few crocodile tears.
But are you bringing any food, water, ice, shelter to help out?

How about y'all just stay out of the way up in Minneapolis and lets us deal with this.
Thanks.

[Raven]

1. Start counting the sand bags that don't get filled because people

have to "brief" this idiot!

[Buns_of_Fire]

17. And Cindy! Don't forget Cindy! She has to be "briefed" too!

And maybe Kissyface will also have to be there to remind him that, believe it or not, Louisiana does NOT border on Minnesota (even though they both end in "a")!

I vote everybody send him a nice piece of birthday cake with white icing, c/o the RNC, St. Paul, so he doesn't forget THAT, either!

[opihimoimoi]

2. He will be a distraction...be in the way...hinder efforts...

Photo Op is not good in these sits

[PA Democrat]

14. Good on Obama because he made a statement that he was closely monitoring the situation

but would not fly to the region because he knew his appearance would cause a disruption in preparations. Gee, who's the celebrity trying to get their wrinkly old mug on the TV?

[kwolf68]

15. If TRUE and IF reported

Obama will win this election.

If the American people hear that Obama bypassed a photoop so the people down there could properly prepare while McLumpy and Palin are down there causing all kinds of commotion with their bullshit no way do the American people go for that.

McCain is already showing he's putting party ahead of America

With this, McCain would be putting party over people.

[PA Democrat]

18. Oh, it's true. I read it here:

<snip>

Obama said he did not have plans to visit the area, adding: “We can be a distraction in these situations.”

He declined to say whether President Bush should attend the Republican National Convention, where he is scheduled to speak on Monday.


http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/13012.html

[opihimoimoi]

23. McCain/Palin have a way to avoid Pain

McCain/Palin should make Themselves real Heros and join Obama by conceding in the interest of National Unity

Better than bitter defeat

Play the Odds as they do in Texas Hold um Poker

Fold um at the RIGHT TIME

AMERICA before Vanity/selfinterest....how refreshing a message it would be.....but alas...its not in his mind....yet

[C_U_L8R]

3. McCain needs to get out of the way

He is absolutely no help at all.

Yet another photo-op Republican.. I want to puke.

[Brotherjohn]

4. Not to mention Jackson is at ZERO risk of anything. Of course, perception...

... is everything, and we know that's why they're doing this.

The only thing they could really do to help is get out of the damn way!

[girl gone mad]

5. Don't stop in Jackson..

keep going.

Follow that hurricane to the gates of hell!

[liberal N proud]

6. That is all these people need, celebrities showing up for photo-ops

That is the only fucking reason these bags of shit are going down there. THE ONLY REASON - Photo-OP.

[gademocrat7]

7. Maybe Barbour will have a cake to share with Mcsame and co.

Will people see this as nothing more than a photo op? I hope so.

[rzemanfl]

8. Fuckwads! n/t

[ima_sinnic]

9. the POP (Photo Op Party) is sending its candidates to the latest area of tragegy & disaster

Instead of organizing relief efforts from afar, soliciting supplies and equipment to be rallied and sent (the way Democrats--good-hearted people--do), modestly and humbly, without attention to themselves, they have to make sure everybody sees their face in the area.

We need to remind people that McPain wasn't running for office in 2005, so he didn't give a shit about Katrina and yukked it up with the equally uncaring bushit a-hole, cutting cake and generally being their true callous selves.

[ksimons]

10. Unfortunately, it's genius

I hate to say it, but he'll probably end up looking like the 2008 version of Teddy Roosevelt, riding into the eye of the hurricane with his own little Annie Oakley, and they'll milk it for all its worth. Plus, he'll be able to show he ain't as old an invalid as people make him out to be. He'll be storm chasin' and all.

Face it folks, that party knows how to pick up coffee grinds off the toilet seat and brew a cup of the best stuff out there - it is no accident. Saddleback, if people haven't forgotten, was a case in point where he was supposed to come off looking like a clod and he ended up breezing by, inside straight or not. They prepared and executed.

The Obama Biden folks need to work on the 'American Epic' that they have not done so far on the personal level before Teddy and Annie cement their visuals of the dual mavericks, riding into harms way and into the minds of Americans. What do you think people will remember more? Someone standing at a podium speaking for 50 minutes (as good as it was) or someone in the midst of hailing rain and winds, pulling folks out of harm's way - all the while erasing the old Katrina images and replacing them with new, non-Bush ones. Besides, he stinks at a podium so this is a freebie if he can pull it off.

I wouldn't be surprised if they take a military helecopter out of there and land at the convention center in St. Paul - this is THEATER folks - it has to be, because the visuals are what people remember! Obama did it in his helicopter shot over Iraq as well - so it isn't something he is unfamiliar with - just something he need to keep competing on.

[trof]

16. Central Mississippi, over 24 hours before the storm hits,

in an adjoining state, 300 miles away, ain't exactly the eye of the hurricane, but I see what you're getting at.
The only photo op they'll have is in front of a weather map, with the governor of Mississippi, and a lot of tsk-tsking and head shaking.

[undeterred]

11. Keep going

and when you get there, stand there and experience the rising waters until they are over your heads. Only then will you understand Katrina.

[Lost River Ledger]

12. You all clearly do not get it......

He is taking the straight talk express down to give the displaced a ride to one of his many homes/investment properties......no doubt she is going to parade that poor child around so that survivors can understand that....."It could be worse, you could have down syndrome, so count your blessings"...... or better yet....to tell them to stop their complaining, because "I run an entire state, cook and clean for my husband/family and fight the forces of evil every day, not tomention run for VP.....you on the other hand get a vacation from work cuz its raining......"

[liberal renegade]

13. Palin will bring her assault

rifle and start capping looters.

[lynnertic]

19. I guess they're not evacuating the entire region.

I wonder if the McPair are going to stand in the rain and get blown around in the wind for the cameras the way that the poor newscasting redshirts have to.

[MaineDem]

20. Keep the fuck out of the way! Good lord.

Stay out of the way of these poor folks trying to get out of town. What a pandering move on McCain's part.

[demgrrrll]

21. Time for some photos of him eating cake on his birthday like he did

the last time this happened.

[IndianaGreen]

22. Getting in the way of emergency personnel and evacuees for a political stunt is pathetic!

Put this alongside Bush's photo op in Saint Charles square.