Tonight launches the main portion of the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, MN. The convention is the time for the Party to establish the platform for the 2008 election while giving the Presidential and Vice Presidential nominee prime time television coverage to reintroduce them to the voting public. There are many problems facing the Republican Party entering this convention, just as there were for the Democratic Party last week, including the following:

Hurricane Gustav – Turning a historic event (the first time a woman graces the national ticket for the Republicans) into a historic event for different reasons, Hurricane Gustav came ashore in Louisiana around noon time today, stealing the media attention away from the Convention. With almost a week’s notice, many key speakers, including Governor Bobby Jindal, had indicated they were not going to attend the convention if their states were going to be hit. As of right now, New Orleans has been spared the brunt of the storm, though surge waters were cresting over levee walls in many spots around the metropolitan region. We will have to wait till tomorrow to see what happens over night, and what impact the rain (expected to be more than 12 inches in spots) will do as it channels down the Mississippi River.

Hurricane Katrina – Almost three years to the day, Hurricane Katrina leveled much of Southern Mississippi and later caused the levees around New Orleans to fail. As a result, millions of people were displaced around the country while 1600 died. For the flooding of New Orleans, the largest natural disaster in the US in the modern era, the failures of Mayor Ray Nagin, Governor Mary Landrieu, and the head of FEMA became the focus of scrutiny for years. Warnings were dismissed by the general public, evacuation orders were ignored by the local government (as images of school buses flooded where they sat at the local schools), “the buck” being passed by the state government, and the President and head of FEMA appearing as if the situation was not urgent lead to a total revamping of the emergency response procedures. We saw the effect of those changes this weekend, with nearly two million individuals being evacuated out of Southern Louisiana, Interstate and major roads reversing the direction of their lanes allowing for more volume to exit the region, and airlifts being provided for those who could not evacuate on their own.

President Bush – The failures stemming from Hurricane Katrina just added to a growing list of complaints by many in the nation against President Bush. He had already started off his first term on the wrong foot following the hotly contested election in 2000, leaving many supporters of Al Gore feeling that their votes were stolen by the Supreme Court over the contested state of Florida. That quickly followed the after-effects of September 11th, when the brief moment of national unity gave way to accusations that the government ignored warnings and, according to some people, executed the attacks themselves as a means to initiate a broad war overseas. With Osama Bin Laden eluding international forces in Afghanistan and then Saddam Hussein in Iraq, a strong anti-war campaign erupted across the country and carries on to this day.

Iraq/Afghanistan – The mere fact that there are two wars currently active for over five years impedes the incumbent party in their argument that they know how to handle international issues. Being accused of using “Cowboy Diplomacy,” the country decided to shoot first and ask questions later. The successes in Afghanistan have slipped, with insurgents taking bolder actions against allied forces. In Iraq, the idea of a quick and easy victory (falsely based on the successes of the Persian Gulf war), which allowed many Republicans and Democrats to back the renewed assault against the country, quickly gave way to accusations of the government intentionally deceiving the nation into going to war. Some have even called for impeachment over the assumed ‘war crimes’ perpetrated by the President due to the lead up and subsequent battles (and losses) in Iraq.

Protests – As a result of the anti-war movement and anti-Bush crowd, many protests are expected around the convention during the week. Unlike the protests at the Democrats Convention, the protestors will not be as calm or peaceful, most likely leading to confrontations with the police hoping to gain media coverage, which they can then turn around to use in their arguments over the ‘police state’ the Bush Administration has created.

Sarah Palin – In what was a surprise to many, Sarah Palin has entered the scene literally from the wilderness of America. The one-term Governor of Alaska leaped over the likely candidates like Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty to stand side-by-side with John McCain on the stage. With the fact that she is not widely known, there is a lot of exploration that is currently going on by both the Democrats and Republicans, in the hopes to be the first to paint an image of the candidate in the minds of voters. The Democrats will focus on her lack of experience on the national scene while the Republicans will highlight her executive experience as the fact that she is a working mother of five.

Palin’s Children – The fact that there is a lot of exploration going on has lead to the discovery that her eldest daughter of 17 years is currently pregnant out of wedlock. This is currently being used by the fringe members on the left to point out how the Conservative platform of abstinence does not work, even in a pro-abstinence family. Earlier this week, this daughter was also the subject of scrutiny by the fringe left accusing Palin’s youngest son is actually her grandson, born by the same 17 year old child.

This is just some of many story lines the media and political parties will follow during this weeks activities. Unfortunately for Hurricane Gustav, the first day and most likely the second day of the event will be truncated as the attention of the nation is currently on the Gulf region. The Republican Party decided to turn the first day into a telethon of sorts to raise contributions for charity organizations to help those that are impacted and displaced as a result of the storm. Many of the key speakers will most likely address the convention through taped messages. There is event a chance that McCain and Palin themselves might not address the Convention in person as a result of the storm. This week will definitely be ‘historic.’

 

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