Inside the Beltway: Priebus prowess

NEWS AND OPINION:

“I don’t really care. If more than 10 people actually watched his show, I would actually care, but they don’t, so, whatever.”

- (Republican National Committee Reince Priebus reflecting on Chris Matthews after the agitated MSNBC host accused Republicans of playing the “race card” on the campaign trail.)

REPUBLICAN HURRICANE

They just can’t resist: Though Isaac missed the Grand Old Party, the gleeful mainstream press is already dancing about in the rain, and chanting “George Bush.” Select journalists are using Tropical Storm Isaac to sully Republicans simply by revisiting Hurricane Katrina, comparing weather events and the 2012 Republican National Convention, complete with brooding headlines and dire suggestions.

“There is nothing Republicans would rather the American people forget more than George W. Bush, who doesn’t even have a bit-part at the GOP convention. But W’s ghost may be there, anyway. Isaac is very likely to revive memories of the Bush administration’s monumental incompetence in dealing with the needs of Americans caught in Hurricane Katrina,” says Robert Reich, secretary of labor in the Clinton administration and now a Huffington Post contributor.

During an appearance on CNN, New Yorker scribe Ryan Lizza first acknowledged he intended to “politicize the storm,” then he connected the dots: “When anyone talks about Katrina, the first thing they remember is the crisis management of the Bush administration, which I think was widely judged to be a failure. Does the Republican Party worry about that right now, that when you think of hurricane and Republicans, that it’s not necessarily two things that have gone together in the past?”

NBC News analyst Chuck Todd also pointed out that the “shadow of Bush and Katrina does hang over this convention,” while the Los Angeles Times stated, “Bush’s popularity never recovered. This time, the Obama administration has taken care to keep local officials and media fully briefed on preparations, and to show the president as fully engaged.”

Such coverage displays NewsBusters analyst Noel Sheppard, who says an old media playbook has been “dusted off to use as an attack on Romney/Ryan.”

He adds, “If the media are going to play this game, let’s take it one step further. Let’s assume Isaac as it moves across the Gulf increases in strength and packs a wallop as it mirrors Katrina’s path. Let’s also assume — God forbid — a New Orleans levee fails and 2005 is really replayed in some version. Will that be the White House resident’s fault as it was in 2005, or will the governor — who just so happens now to be a Republican — be blamed this time?”

WHITE HOUSE CHECK LIST

Proactive and prepositioned: Nothing is left to chance in a carefully worded memo issued to the press by the White House on Monday after a briefing presented to President Obama by Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator William Craig Fugate and National Hurricane Center Director Rick Knabb on preparations for Tropical Storm Isaac. Mr. Fugate detailed resources “prepositioned along the Gulf Coast to support state and local officials” and Defense Department support bases in Florida and Alabama “to proactively stage supplies” and “to work to make sure there are no unmet needs.” Mr. Obama also directed Mr. Fugate “to ensure that FEMA was prepared regardless of the ultimate strength and impact of the storm.”

Following the briefing, Mr. Obama phoned Governors Robert Bentley of Alabama, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Phil Bryant of Mississippi, plus New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu.

“The president made clear that he has directed administrator Fugate to make sure the governors have the resources they need as the storm approaches, and asked each governor to identify additional needs if they arise,” the White House noted.

THE HISTORIC CONVENTION

“Mr. Mayor, I believe the best place for the ’68 convention is Chicago! You are the only one who can handle it!”

- (Lyndon B. Johnson, to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley on Oct. 7, 1967)

CONVENTION FATIGUE

“Most voters won’t be watching much of the upcoming national political conventions, and over one-third of independent voters plan to tune them out completely,” says pollster Scott Rasmussen, who Monday revealed results from a new poll of 1,000 likely voters. “Just 11 percent plan to watch all of the GOP convention and another 16 percent who will watch most. A plurality (44 percent) expects to watch some of it, and 24 percent more won’t watch any.”

UNWIELDY CONVENTIONS

Big, fat, bodacious, four-day political convention may be “dinosaurs,” say those who cite the troubled economy, ballooning costs, dwindling federal funds and public disinterest in the traditional campaign events, which date back to 1830.

“The Republican convention’s rules committee voted last week to form a commission to look at the future of conventions and find better ways to finance and operate them. In addition to cutting their length, Republicans will explore options like hosting the convention at multiple sites,” says Reuters political analyst John Whitesides, who points out that despite being shortened to three days because of bad weather, the GOP still managed to shoehorn most speakers into the remaining program.

“We’ve been doing conventions the same way a long time. The world has changed. It’s time to look at this whole process and make a determination if this is the way we want to do it,” sighs Mike Duncan, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee.

SCREEN GEMS

While “2016: Obama’s America” continues its healthy box office showing at more than 1,000 theaters nationwide, another film debuts Tuesday in Tampa, Fla., screened at the appropriately named Liberty Plaza, not far from the Republican National Convention. “The Hope & the Change,” a new documentary film by Citizens United founder David Bossie and writer-director Stephen K. Bannon, features 40 interviews with disillusioned Democrats and independents.

“We are excited to show ’The Hope & the Change’ for the first time during the Republican Convention in order to begin a conversation with Democrats and independents across America who have suffered through the last four years of President Obama,” Mr. Bossie tells Inside the Beltway, advising that the trailer can be viewed here: thehopeandthechange.com.

“2016,” meanwhile, has brought in $9.1 million domestic total, “with prospects for strong business as the Republican National Convention unfolds over the next few days,” says Associated Press film writer David Germain, who adds that the film will likely remain in theaters until October, with a public DVD release “in the homestretch leading up to the Nov. 6 election.”

POLL DU JOUR

• 85 percent of registered voters are “enthusiastic” about their choice for president.

• 83 percent say they have “definitely” picked their candidate.

• 62 percent say they are “anxious” about how Mitt Romney would perform as president, 57 percent are anxious about President Obama.

• 50 percent trust Mr. Romney to handle the economy, 43 percent trust Mr. Obama.

• 47 percent trust Mr. Obama to handle health care policy; 45 percent trust Mr. Romney.

• 47 percent would vote for the Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan ticket, 46 percent would vote for President Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden.

Source: An ABC News/Washington Post poll of 857 registered U.S. voters conducted Aug. 22 to 25.

• Gripes, catcalls, accolades to jharper@washingontimes.com.