POLITICO: McCain: I may postpone convention.
Instead of doing that, how about having delegates on the floor putting together relief packages, and sending a group of volunteers down afterward, with Sarah Palin in charge?
UPDATE: Reader Brian Gates emails:
Make it a telethon. Show up on Tuesday and say, “The normal festive atmosphere certainly isn’t appropriate right now, but we wanted to take this opportunity to demonstrate how people can work together to solve problems without government. We think there’s too much money in politics anyway, so for convention week we’re not accepting donations. If you find yourself agreeing with the kinds of things we talk about on this stage, call in and make a donation to one of these fine, nonpartisan charitable organizations.”
Intersperse the political speeches with little how-tos on disaster preparedness. Have live feeds from civic groups throughout the South who are hosting people fleeing the storm, saying what they need. By the end of the week, the storm should be past, and McCain’s speech can be a celebration not of his candidacy, but of what people accomplished to help each other without a single dime being shuffled through Washington (and getting transmuted into a nickel en route).
If the Democrats are smart, they’ll take the same approach, and immediately distance themselves from Michael Moore’s comments.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Apparently, McCain’s way ahead on this: “John McCain and the GOP are considering scrapping political speeches and turning their St. Paul/Minneapolis convention into a ‘service’ program to help victims of Storm Gustav, The Post has learned. . . . The contingency plan – a worst case scenario if the storm devastates coastal areas – would turn Republicans into Red Cross-type volunteers who would help collect donations, food and goods to help storm victims.”