The Republican Convention is next week in Tampa, Florida. On Saturday and Sunday before the start of the convention, Tropical Storm (and perhaps by then, Hurricane) Isaac will be bearing down on the GOP’s convention hall. I want to discern the symbolism of this, somehow implying that God’s wrath is being evidenced by the coincendental events. Where is Pat Robertson when you really need him? I guess I will have to settle for Dana Milbank:
By their own logic, Republicans and their conservative allies should be concerned that [Tropical Storm] Isaac is a form of divine retribution. Last year, Rep. Michele Bachmann, then a Republican presidential candidate, said that the East Coast earthquake and Hurricane Irene — another “I” storm, but not an Old Testament one — were attempts by God “to get the attention of the politicians.” In remarks later termed a “joke,” she said: “It’s time for an act of God and we’re getting it.”
The influential conservative broadcaster Glenn Beck said last year that the Japanese earthquake and tsunami were God’s “message being sent” to that country. A year earlier, Christian broadcaster and former GOP presidential candidate Pat Robertson tied the Haitian earthquake to that country’s “pact to the devil.”
Previously, Robertson had argued that Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment for abortion, while the Rev. John Hagee said the storm was God’s way of punishing homosexuality. The late Jerry Falwell thought that God allowed the Sept. 11 attacks as retribution for feminists and the ACLU.
Meanwhile, the GOP plans to have a “You Built This” Night next week, in reference to the President’s out of context remark. Delaware’s very own Sher (or is it Cheryl) Valenzeula (or is it Bargine) speaking in early primetime, for she is a business owner who of course built her own business with no help whatsoever from any level of government at any time. Except that she has secured millions of dollars from the SBA over the years. Yeah, Sher is a perfect example of the GOP’s bullshit theme.
Indeed, the arena where the GOP convention is being held? Guess who built that?
[T]he stadium where the GOP will be announcing “We Built This!” was financed primarily by the government. The Tampa Bay Times Forum arena, which houses the Tampa Bay Lightning, was built in 1996 as the “Ice Palace” with 62% government funds. The total budget for the project was $139 million, of which public money accounted for $86 million and team money accounted for $53 million.
How… hypocritical.
Finally, Vice President Joe Biden “will lead the Democratic counterweight to the Republican National Convention by campaigning in the Tampa, Fla., area next week,” according to the National Journal. Over the last few election cycles, there has always been some kind of counter programming by the other side. Gone are the days where the one party was silent during the other party’s convention week.