GOP Gets Saved by the Hurricane Forecasting System It Wants to Defund

Today is officially the first day of the GOP’s mighty national convention, except that it’s not because a massive tropical storm ruined the party. Instead of gathering in Tampa to weather insipid speechifying and a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert, angry Isaac sent the horde of Florida-bound Republicans delaying their flights or scurrying indoors. That way, they can safely wait out the chaos in lavish hotel rooms with their families, campaign advisers, and prostitutes. And how, pray tell, did these Republicans get word that trouble was brewing? How were they able to avoid the wrath of the storm, and keep their loved ones out of harm way?

Why, good weather satellites and hurricane forecasting of course. Guess the GOP is thanking the heavens that it wasn’t able to gut the budget for the program that just saved its ass, like it tried to do in its 2011 budget. That, you might recall, was when Republicans wanted to remove $1.2 billion in funding from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) budget; $700 million of which was to be spent keeping our environmental and weather satellites in working order. Those things are pretty important, as the GOP is learning this rain-soaked week in Florida: they provide accurate information about incoming storms and allow meteorologists to determine whether it’s worth evacuating areas or warning folks to stay indoors. As a result, not a single well-coiffed Romney kid has been swept into the Gulf of Mexico.

And gosh, the GOP is also probably simply delighted that the bill it proposed to slash funds for hurricane monitoring wasn’t signed into law. The hurricane tracking systems left in place helped prevent a whole crowd of Young Republicans from getting crushed by a wind-tossed amplifier during ‘Freebird.’ Or at least kept them from nervously eyeing the exits as the guitar solo entered its 26th minute.

Republicans are also probably thanking their lucky stars that the convention isn’t taking place in 2013, when the across-the-board “sequestration” cuts they demanded during the debt ceiling standoff in 2011 will strip a further $182 million from the NOAA’s weather satellite program—the program that provides warnings for hurricanes and severe storms like Isaac. These satellites are estimated to help save billions of dollars by allowing officials to more effectively manage evacuations and issue travel warnings. Now, if this were 2013, a whole planeload of California-based Reaganites, Ryan Planners, birthers, and Tea Partiers might have been tragically been grounded at the last minute in San Francisco.

Tropical storm-struck Republican National Convention, thy name is irony.

Now, the show will most certainly go on. Even though the convention has officially been cancelled for today, and there may be further delays tomorrow, the worst of the storm looks like it may largely bypass Tampa. But the point is, advanced hurricane forecasting and work carried out by crucial government agencies has allowed the GOP to micromanage around an unforeseen disaster, to plan contingencies for any potential danger. To still carry out the most effective convention possible, under the circumstances.

And yet, tomorrow, when the speeches get underway, we’ll hear a lot more about the need to shrink government across the board. To cut programs like those that allowed the convention to carry on as well as it did. We’ll hear more blunt disregard for the science that has profoundly improved our lives, more about cutting taxes for the rich and tightening the proverbial belts—and not a syllable uttered about the myriad, tangible benefits that will be lost when we do.

A while back, a congressman asked a government official, "Why are we building meteorological satellites when we have the Weather Channel?" Our politicians now apparently suffer a major disconnect—they can’t fathom that stripping funding for weather satellites and government agencies like NOAA might hamper the vital services they provide, like hurricane forecasting and storm monitoring. The very services they are enjoying right this minute; dry, indoors, and safe from the storm.

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