Hurricane Ike or not, President Bush keeps to political fundraising schedule

Two weeks ago, as Hurricane Gustav picked up steam through the Gulf of Mexico and took aim at New Orleans, President Bush canceled his plan to speak in person to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. -- during the one hour of prime-time live network television coverage, no less.

Instead, he flew to Texas to inspect preparations for storm relief, and was briefed on evacuations. He spoke to the Republican delegates that night in a low-key eight-minute live video from the White House, just before the major network coverage began.

But these hurricanes are coming along one after another, and today -- even as the impact of the outer edges of Hurricane Ike were being felt from New Orleans to Galveston and beyond -- the president kept to his original agenda and travel plan: He arrived not far away in Oklahoma on a cloudy morning, spoke to a forum on health savings accounts -- and did $1 million worth of political fundraising.

At the fundraising luncheon in Oklahoma City, Bush spoke behind closed doors to ...

... people who paid as much as $25,000 each to boost John McCain's presidential bid and the Republican Party.

The party was held at the home of John Cresap, identified by the Associated Press as a wholesale beer distributor -- the same line of work that feeds the McCain family fortune, or at least that of the presidential candidate's wife, Cindy.

The AP quoted a Republican official, speaking anonymously, as saying Bush would end up raising $1 million today.

As for Hurricane Ike, fierce, but perhaps not quite as fierce as Gustav threatened to be, Bush was given a briefing Thursday via videoconference, according to the White House.

Arriving this morning at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma, he expressed his concern about the "major storm headed toward a large population soon."

He added:

I suspect there's going to be some Texans headed for Oklahoma.  And I know that they're going to find good people up here who want to help them.

He urged Texans in the storm's path to heed the authorities' advice. And then made his way to the healthcare discussion and party contributors.

-- James Gerstenzang

Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press

Comments

[Michael]

Amazing, people will spend $25000.00 to have dinner with a war criminal.

This country is pretty sad.

[Wendy]

Wouldn't it be great if they gave that $1million to the Red Cross instead of McCain. Just a thought, that might do more good politically than any more of those nasty ads slamming the opposition. Not to mention the people it would help ............

[Jerry]

Are you a moron? What is wrong with the president keeping to his schedule? Maybe you think he can stand on the shore of Galveston and it will keep the storm from approaching. He is in touch with every one concerned to make sure emergency procedures are in place. He can do that from Oklahoma or anywheer else, he's the president. And you are certain to bring up that a beer distrubutor is involved. How would you get drunk, as obviously you must be, without beer distributors. Your bias is showing very loud and very clear. Smear politics dominates the news medis and you certainly are not helping the situation in a positive way. Clever wording is not enough to cover your bias.

[Greg]

Wendy isn't a moron, she's merely pointing out that even though "he's the president" Mr. Bush had to cancel his appearance at the national convention to check on progress of a moderate hurricane, yet potentially the most devastating hurricane in U.S. history is approaching the coast at a major population center, and Mr. Bush can attend a fund raiser. Your bias is also clear, as evidenced by your angry, insulting tone that relies more on personal attack than facts.

[vic winkler]

Interesting the degree of hypocrisy that seems to run so dreadfully deep in the Republican political posturing since around 1991 or so (the collapse of the Soviet Union).

When the Soviet Union fell, the Republican party began a slow and yet determined slide toward absurdity. We see one consequence of that today with the ridiculous posturing, the lies and the lack of real issues that the McCain and Palin ticket forward. We now have a party where the head of the party is an old man with a lifelong penchant for exploding in anger and a running mate whose only appeal appears to be that she is a god-fearing woman of the "wears it on her sleeve" vein.

As a former Republican I am aghast at how far the entire party has strayed from what it espoused as it's core values even 10 years ago. Overspending, lying, scandal ridden, sexually tormented Republican politicians and religious figures ooze from a party that might best simply die than reinvent itself.

While John McCain is not your typical Republican, he has leapt headlong into the very tactics and misrepresentations that have become the standard for the party since mid-way through the Clinton presidency.

What stuns me is how gleefully the religious right seems to devour each new lie and misrepresentation. Shame on them, shame shame.

[Monica]

Interesting comment:

"Amazing, people will spend $25000.00 to have dinner with a war criminal." "This country is pretty sad."

~ being as though that was the only thing you could say, you proved your second sentence true.

Interesting how that works, some folks just stumble over themselves.

[ely]

I live in Canada, I have no money to donate, but I'm young (28) and very healthy and have papers to go to Texas ASAP... If there is someone that knows how I can volunteer I have no money to go but I'm willing to work day and night to help USA... I have this week out of work. I'm from Colombia and live in Toronto, Canada... My languages and disposition to help can be good for the situation...
Please get back to me to tell me… what can I do?
email me at: ike_icanhelp@yahoo.ca