Chris Matthews from Thursday on Hurricane Gustav:
MATTHEWS: And now for a little political palate cleaner. We‘re going to go right now to John Ferry, he has worked so many years. He‘s a great spokesman for the Republicans in the U.S. Congress.
You‘re a Republican strategist, the weather here, I mean, the gods, the weather gods and now your Republican convention is about to be visited by a fellow named Gustav, category four fellow named hurricane. You have a sense that there is a good karma here? How would you read it, in the mood?
JOHN FEEHERY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Oh, I tell you, this is a pretty been good convention. It started off a little slow, I thought, but I think Bill Clinton can turn them around for him. I think Barack Obama is going to have a terrific speech tonight and they‘re going to get a bounce from this, 10 to 12 points, no doubt about it.
Keith and Howard joined in, too, suggesting that President Bush was going to cancel his speech at the convention and use Gustav as the excuse:
OLBERMANN: . . .
Before we get to that, though, Howard, I want to read something that is on the “Washington Post” Web site about next week in Saint Paul, whether or not there will be a next week in Saint Paul. The head line is “GOP Considers Delaying Convention.” “Republican officials said yesterday,” meaning Thursday, “that they are considering delaying the start of GOP convention in Minneapolis, Saint Paul, because of Tropical Storm Gustav, which on track to hit the Gulf Coast and possibly New Orleans, as a full-force hurricane next week. The threat‘s serious enough that White House officials,” the “Post” writes, “are also debating about whether President Bush should cancel his scheduled convention appearance on Monday, the first day of the convention, according to administration officials and others familiar with the discussions.” That‘s some reaction to the Obama speech.
HOWARD FINEMAN, “NEWSWEEK”: Yeah, well, maybe they just decided after seeing this thing here tonight to just pack it in all together. Before I get to that, let me just say, having watched this event, here tonight, Keith, from a spot on the 50 yard line, right below the Obama suites, so I could really see the whole thing and see it clearly. It was an amazing spectacle and everybody made jokes about those Greek pillars, you know, the Greek temple on stage.
Thanks to NRO reader David.