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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCNN moving top anchors from convention to New Orleans
TAMPA -- In a move that signals how Tropical Storm Isaac threatens to eclipse the Republican convention, CNN has announced that it is sending Soledad O'Brien and Anderson Cooper to New Orleans.
The storm, which is bypassing Tampa and on course for the north Gulf Coast (and very possibly New Orleans), could now pose far bigger problems for the Republicans than high winds and waves ever would. There is a very real fear among Republicans that a natural disaster in New Orleans (seven years after Hurricane Katrina) or nearby could all but eclipse the convention -- or, worse, create an unfavorable "split-screen situation" in which images of Hurricane damage are juxtaposed with the theatrics of Mitt Romney's nomination.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/08/cnn-moves-obrien-cooper-to-nola-133310.html
Meanwhile:
Heightening GOP fears that Tropical Storm Isaac will rob the party of its week in the spotlight, a spokesperson with NBC News tells POLITICO that audiences should "expect to see a lot of split screens" during the network's coverage of the Republican convention.
"NBC -- along combined with the resources of The Weather Channel, MSNBC, CNBC, and Telemundo -- has resources from Haiti and Cuba to up the entire coast of Florida, across the panhandle, and all the way west to New Orleans," the spokesperson told POLITICO. "We've been able to deploy those anchors, correspondents, and crews without disrupting our coverage of the Republican convention in Tampa."
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/08/nbc-expect-to-see-a-lot-of-split-screens-133337.html
And what really scares the GOP is this possibility:
Consider for a moment the juxtaposition of President Obama marshaling his administrations forces and personally visiting New Orleans or Mobile, Ala., in the aftermath of the storms landfall, all while the convention hall is filled with delegates dressed in funny hats listening to partisan speeches.
Consider, too, the practical reality of the public and news media being forced to choose between watching a staged political event or coping with the aftermath of a natural disaster.
http://www.boston.com/politicalintelligence/2012/08/26/while-romney-campaign-talks-forging-ahead-isaac-may-prompt-convention-cancellation/D1rB5Sxn1uoqSNF1qgrUIN/story.html
central scrutinizer
(11,665 posts)and refuse government handouts while waiting for the magic hand of market forces to make everything all right.
babylonsister
(171,102 posts)Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)than any potential loss of life along the Gulf Coast.
arikara
(5,562 posts)with Katrina either. Bush carried blithely on with his birthday party while NO drowned.
malaise
(269,219 posts)It was McGramps
BlueStreak
(8,377 posts)I'm sure if I tune into the GOP convention coverage, the split-screen will remind me who it was that had birthday cake instead of looking after the needs of New Orleans.
The GOP message of "Screw everybody. We're giving all the money to billionaires" should blend nicely with the coverage of another weather disaster.
ProgressiveEconomist
(5,818 posts)While Republicans were cavorting in Minneapolis (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Republican_National_Convention ), the eyes of most voters were diverted 1000 miles away to 48 deaths in Louisiana due to Hurricane Gustav (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Gustav ).
central scrutinizer
(11,665 posts)if a big one hits New Orleans
Historic NY
(37,454 posts)Qutzupalotl
(14,335 posts)That's the traditional open G chord shape, but one fret higher, making it a dissonant G/G#. No wonder the real musician appears concerned.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Anderson Cooper who has just come out as gay (if I am wrong, please correct me) and whose reports from the GOP bigots I would also like to see.
Come on now. This is not good news. This is the Republicans' dream. I wonder which of the big Republican honchos requested their transfers.
sadbear
(4,340 posts)AverageJoe90
(10,745 posts)ashling
(25,771 posts)so she won't be raining on their parade . . . so to speak?
or more likely, taking attention away from their idiot platform meets nominee fiasco?
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)She would not ask only easy questions. I fear that this is a move to get potentially tough questions off the air.
SheilaT
(23,156 posts)and is now expected to hit New Orleans. Couldn't CNN just fire Ms. O'Brien and Mr. Cooper if they want to get rid of them? Sending them off to be in a hurricane seems, oh, I don't know. Stupid?
Catherine Vincent
(34,491 posts)I like that. I'd rather watch a hurricane come in than watch the republican convention. (just kidding)
OmahaBlueDog
(10,000 posts)Meanwhile, if five tree branches fall on Bourbon street, the GOP will scream that Obama cares less about NOLA than Junior Bush did.
nolabear
(41,995 posts)Right now the worry lies in New Orleans East. They're outside the levee system and way low. Time to head for higher ground for a few days, folks.
Bertha Venation
(21,484 posts)that the convention is not upstaged by the ts/hurricane. I don't want people to die or to be flooded out of their homes and livelihoods just so the other party's party is ruined.
FSogol
(45,555 posts)sibelian
(7,804 posts)It's so UNFAIR.
lpbk2713
(42,769 posts)Scheduling their convention in a coastal Florida city in the middle of hurricane season is only
surpassed in its infinite wisdom by whoever thought it was a great idea to schedule 25 live
TV primary season debates. What a fuggen laugh riot circus that was. LMAO.
vaberella
(24,634 posts)Blue Idaho
(5,060 posts)The ghost of Katrina will gut the GOP like a fish. Let's all remember what its like when republicans controlled the handles of power.
randome
(34,845 posts)SoCalDem
(103,856 posts)grasswire
(50,130 posts)...while GOP is railing against government services!
That will be the conundrum.
BeyondGeography
(39,386 posts)it couldn't happen to a more obstinate bunch of climate change deniers.
Wednesdays
(17,450 posts)Could it be a way for TPTB to get her out of the way and avoid having to answer tough questions?
applegrove
(118,842 posts)in NOLA. So they would be the people to send to NOLA out of anyone.