A lull in the storm

The levees seem to have held in New Orleans and Hurricane Gustav was less dramatic than first predicted. But it was too late to save the party in St. Paul, Minn. Almost all of the events scheduled for the first night of the Republican convention were postponed or cancelled. Delegates gathered in the Xcel Center were encouraged to text donations to the Red Cross to help victims of the storm. John McCain said, "This is a time when we take off our Republican hats and put on our American hats." Someone should remind him we don't wear fedoras anymore.

Mother Nature just gave the GOP a gift. She saved them from having to listen to a speech by George W. Bush, while at the same time giving them the opportunity to publicly pretend to care about the less fortunate. You can't buy that kind of PR.