RNC Snorefest Drives Journalists to Join Ron Paul Rally

Ron Paul's Minions, 10,000 Strong, Rallied in Minneapolis' Target Center on Tuesday

The Xcel Center in St. Paul, Minneapolis, wasn't in the path of Hurricane Gustav, but, judging from the defections in the ranks of Republicans citing it as the reason they were MIA in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Labor Day (and the Tuesday after), Minnesota might well have been.

First among the no-shows were President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Last time Hurricane Katrina struck in New Orleans, President Bush waited 84 days to make it down to Louisiana for photo ops. This prompted Barack Obama, during the final night of the Democratic Convention in Denver, Colorado in his acceptance speech to decry a president who "sat on his hands while a major American city drowned."

The Bush administration's Powers-that-Be responded this time by rushing off to the Gulf, so that their inaction last time would not reflect poorly on this season's Republican candidate, John McCain.

Therefore, Bush was immediately off to the races (in his case Texas), rather than the eye of the storm, which, as of midnight Monday was closer to Mobile and other Gulf Coast states, rather than Texas. (It was explained that the President felt his presence in the storm area might detract from relief efforts.)

Vice President Cheney also didn't show. This distancing from the current unpopular administration suited John McCain just fine. Arnold Schwarzenegger phoned it in, citing a budget crisis in California. Republicans were left with Laura Bush and Cindy McCain to carry the speech torch into battle. All eyes and all major press were on the Gulf. Katie Couric was here earlier, but, like Anderson Cooper et al, she took off to rub shoulders with Geraldo and the gang in the windswept, rain-drenched streets of New Orleans.

By Tuesday, Hurricane Gustav had been downgraded to a tropical storm, but it appeared that the Republican Convention was not going to be "a really big show." (Picture Ed Sullivan saying that, if you're old enough to remember who he was.) "Wouldn't be appropriate," said one missive sent out.