Replies

“When the storm makes landfall the people of the area are going to need a tremendous amount of help. Nothing that is going on at the convention will affect that fact.

IMHO the answer to go ahead as planned, make it abundantly clear that everyone who is tending to important business at the convention prays for the storm’s victims. ANYTHING that is at the convention site, or headed that way, that could be better used in the disaster area would be shipped or diverted.”

I agree with you — that would be the sensible thing to do. But there is one important consideration — the media is covering Gustav 24/7 and would not cover even important speeches, and the real purpose of the convention is to reach out to the TV audience. That’s why I was suggesting postponement or extending it a couple of days.

It's a tough call. Really tough. There's a finite limit to how much coverage the networks and other media can provide in the first few days of a storm like this. We saw that with Katrina, they were falling all over themselves trying to find something to report. First it was 10,000 or more dead, bodies were floating in the flood waters, the dome was becoming a third-world country, looters were being shot left and right, the cops were the biggest looters, the list went on and on. It would be better for everyone if the news media stayed away for several days. It's sad that our news media have reached this point in America, but they no longer have any ability to police or control themselves whatsoever! They flood the disaster area with people and they are doing no good at all. Pool coverage by a few good people, people with experience in covering disasters and some helicopter coverage would be more than sufficient. They panic. They fear someone will get something ahead of them and they simply panic. Remember the poor soul whose body was in the wheelchair on I-10 for several days and reported on over and over.

The people who are covering the convention are not the people who would be doing the storm reporting. It's two entirely different worlds.

There's only so much they can do from the storm and there's plenty of time for convention coverage. If the MSM would act even the least bit responsibly there would be plenty for both stories.

I just don't see how you can do anything that flies in the face of months and months of preparation and spending money.

I'm glad it's not my call!