Laura Bush and Cindy McCain comfort Louisiana delegates in Minneapolis

First Lady Laura Bush and her would-be successor, Cindy McCain, visited the Louisiana delegation for breakfast this morning, bringing a message of comfort to some who are anxiously waiting to see what happens after Hurricane Gustav hits their state.

Most of the state’s delegates -- 39 of 47 -- had stayed for the convention, though a plane provided by John McCain had flown a dozen or so home Sunday. One couple went home, picked up their children, and flew back to the convention.

Many journalists in the crowd had hoped to glimpse McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who arrived in Minneapolis last night. But Palin stayed away, and the campaign said she had no public events scheduled for today.

"I know that you are hoping against hope that the damage won’t be that much," said Bush, whose scheduled speech to Republican National Convention was canceled along with the rest of the program before the hurricane’s impending landfall. "I know all of you have a lump in your throat and fear in your hearts. We’re all praying."

Bush said she was delighted to be able to vote for a Republican woman on the presidential ticket this year. While praising Palin's experience, she struck a slightly defensive note about her husband’s performance in office.

"She was a mayor, and when you’re a mayor, you don’t get out of touch like they always act like the president does, though I have to say I don’t think President Bush is out of touch."

She extolled the charity work of Cindy McCain and mentioned that in the last four or five months, McCain had visited Vietnam, Rwanda and Georgia. "So you can imagine what she’ll do in four years as first lady," said Bush.

McCain, still sporting a soft cast on her arm, brought along her four children, whom she called "my Arizona pack" -- Meghan (a blogger), Jack (a senior at the Naval Academy), Jimmy (a Marine who is about to redeploy to Iraq), and Bridget, who is in high school.

"America stands with you at this trying time," she told the delegation, before adding that she had heard the hurricane had been downgraded. "I know it’s in large part because of all our prayers," she said.

Kim Carver, a 40-year-old delegate from New Orleans, said he was relieved that the GOP had decided to scale back the convention’s program and festivities.

"The worst thing in the world would have been watching a split screen on TV, with human suffering on the Gulf Coast contrasted with a party atmosphere here. They had the decency and compassion to to postpone the politics."

-- Robin Abcarian

Photo credit: Associated Press

Comments

[dave]

more likely, they had the audacity to spot a little storm, and summon up a hurricane, in the media-shaped imagination of the people, to divert attention from the (unequal) twin convention in minneapolis/st. paul. to prevent the people from noticing the besiegement of the neocon-hijacked gop convention in st. paul, by the legitimate candidate RON PAUL's 'rally for the republic' in minneapolis, the parallel republican convention that represents the traditional, constitutional and core republican majority of the party, the liberties and rights of the people, and the sovereignty of the nation; and the way mccain casually and carelessly presented his wishes to the people in the south allegedly in harm's way, clearly shows that he knows this is fake, and no real concern; the punch-and-judy-show attraction of his vp choice points to the same.

[Minnesota]

The convention is in St. Paul, not Minneapolis. Get it right!

[dave]

minnesota,
the real republican convention, that is RON PAUL's, is at the target center, minneapolis (receiving little coverage in the corporate media, some on c-span, also covered by reallibertymedia.org, breakthematrix.com etc). the exclusive neocon convention is at the excel energy center in st. paul.
since the beginning of the ongoing events, locations have not changed.