Late Summer's GOP Strategy - Bypass Katrina anniv. as "a regional concern"

[Crankie Avalon]

Grim Anniversaries Sway Election Strategy

Both Parties Enlist Remembrances of Katrina,
Sept. 11 in Campaigns for Congressional Seats
By JOHN D. MCKINNON
August 23, 2006; Page A4

SNIP

Mr. Bush will go to the Gulf Coast on Monday, and spend the day in Mississippi and the night in Louisiana. The president will spend the next day in New Orleans, although the exact venues are under discussion.

The administration's broad aim will be to keep the focus on the future. "Clearly these are times to reflect and remember, but they are also times to consider the future and a path forward to deal with disasters that hit our shores, whether they be natural or man-made," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. Republican campaign strategists also say they hope that national outrage over the disaster has faded and that -- terrible as it was -- the reconstruction is now basically a regional concern.

Then Republicans can pivot to the Sept. 11 anniversary. The Republican National Committee recently posted a Web video that charts Democratic opposition to a series of post-Sept. 11 security policies: electronic-surveillance programs, interrogation practices, Patriot Act provisions and the Iraq war. In the House and the Senate, Republican leaders are planning to schedule a roster of terror-related votes. "The calendar for the entire month of September will be heavy on national-security issues," a House leadership aide said.

SNIP

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB115629879525342952-iBvl1W0w1JUYU_dH_W5Q_xSak2o_20070823.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top

[silverojo]

1. What I'm hoping for

Is that the Dems can make the Katrina anniversary big enough to overshadow the 9/11 anniversary Bush has been riding on for all these years. :mad:

[MrModerate]

4. We don't need to run and hide from the 9/11 anniversary . . .

Any way you look at it, the Republicker response has been at best inadequate and at worse a total dereliction of their duty. Even if there's a tiny bump as people look at the "good old days" between the fall of the Towers and the invasion of Iraq, we can harden anti-'Lican voters' positions by pointing out the subsequent failures.

[bryant69]

6. I think you need a combined strategy

Bush's failure in regards to New Orleans and Katrina is so viscreal that the Democrats need to put it front and center - but at the same time we need to answer them on 9/11 and on national security.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Demeter]

2. That Will Be A Neat Trick

The MSM would rather regurgitate old news than actually have to find something currently important, like war and peace and the economy.

[Jacobin]

3. All they have to dodge is 6 years of disasters

beginning with 9/11.

[BOSSHOG]

5. There's another "regional concern" brewing in the Atlantic right now

TS Debby

http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200604_5day.html

She is tracking northwesterly and most likely won't enter the gulf but I wonder if bush is ready for a "regional concern" on the east coast next week? And there's mccains birthday to tend to.

Currently 14 miles per hour northwesterly direction winds at 40. 15 N, 30 W.