hurricane hannah 2008 - McCain eyes Gustav, ‘festive’ convention

August 30th, 2008 · No Comments

hurricane hannah 2008 -

by Mark Silva

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Sen. John McCain, keeping a watchful eye on Hurricane Gustav - now a Category Five monster steaming into the Gulf of Mexico - says the storm also could have an impact on the staging of the Republican National Convention that opens here on Monday.

“You know, it just wouldn’t be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster,” McCain says in an interview with FOX News Sunday that will be shown tomorrow, “so we’re monitoring it from day to day, and I’m saying a few prayers too.

Three years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi and inundated New Orleans, Gustav arrives in the Gulf with a force similar to what Katrina first threatened.

Gustav has reached Category Five - Katrina had achieved the maximum category, Five, before making landfall as a Category Three.

The predicted path of the storm includes New Orleans.

Chris Wallace asks McCain, for FOX News Sunday: “Hurricane Gustav is bearing down on the Gulf Coast. Are there any circumstances under which you would consider suspending the Republican convention if the hurricane really bashes that part of the country?”

“I’m afraid, Chris that we may have to look at that situation and we’ll try to monitor it,” McCain replies in the interview, an excerpt provided by FOX.

“I’ve been talking to Govs. Jindal, Barbara O’Reilly, Christ, I’ve been talking to all of them, but you know it just wouldn’t be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster, so we’re monitoring it from day to day, and I’m saying a few prayers too.”

The Republican National Committee says the convention is still on, for now, but they are monitoring events.

The Naional Hurricane Center said, just before the most recent upgrade: “GUSTAV BECOMES AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE…WESTERN EYEWALL DIRECTLY IMPACTING THE ISLE OF YOUTH… A HURRICANE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE CUBAN PROVINCES OF PINAR DEL RIO…LA HABANA…CIUDAD DE LA HABANA…ISLA DE JUVENTUD…MATANZAS…AND CIENFUEGOS. PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY IN THE HURRICANE WARNING AREA SHOULD HAVE ALREADY BEEN COMPLETED.”,,

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