"It wouldn't be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster." 

So said John McCain this morning (8/31/08) on "Fox News Sunday" in explaining that he might call for the Republican convention to be suspended because of Hurricane Gustav.  Hard to argue with him on this point.  A festive occasion during a natural disaster would be wildly inappropriate.  Which makes you wonder what John McCain was doing three years ago on the day that Hurricane Katrina was pummeling the gulf coast and the levees were breaking in New Orleans.  Well, as it turns out, McCain was having a birthday party in Arizona with President Bush to celebrate his 69th birthday.  (White House file photo below.)

So is McCain's new "no parties while Americans are dying in large numbers" policy just another one of his convenient election-year flip-flops like offshore drilling or the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy?   Or maybe McCain doesn't consider one of his birthday parties to be a "festive occasion" anymore in light of his advancing age.  But boy I don't know -- he and Bush sure seem to be having a pretty good time posing with that birthday cake.  Heck, when you look at those big old goofy grins on their faces, you would think that Bush and McCain didn't have a care in the world.  To look at those two, you wouldn't even know that at that very moment, just three states away, thousands of Americans were dying, hundreds of thousands more were being left homeless, and the City of New Orleans was degenerating rapidly into "Lord of the Flies" on the bayou.

Oh well, the important thing is that it didn't rain on their party.  Let them eat cake.