(NEW YORK)(September 1, 2008) The leader of the national anti-Obama movement, legendary Chicago Internet columnist and Obama author Andy Martin, will hold a New York news conference Monday, September 1st to suggest that Hurricane Gustav may offer the Republican Party an unexpected opportunity to redeem itself from the shame of Hurricane Katrina.

"One of the indignities of being an opinion columnist is that you have to watch and read what the 'opposition' is doing," Martin says. "And so I was engaged in mortification of the flesh by watching idiot Keith Olbermann 'interview' moron Michael Moore. I was stunned by Moore's claim that Hurricane Gustav might be some sort of divine retribution against Republicans. But what can you expect from someone such as Moore with the brainpower of a mosquito? http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/08/michael_moore_gustav_proof_of.html

"I have now been watching Hurricane Gustav develop over the past several days. And, not surprisingly, ContrarianCommentary.com has come to a contrarian opinion: Gustav may unexpectedly benefit Senator John McCain and offer the Republican Party an opportunity to redeem itself.

"Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times has it all wrong. http://www.suntimes.com/news/sweet/1137496,CST-NWS-conv31.article

"For the past three years we have been forced to endure the finger-pointing and scapegoating over Hurricane Katrina. Obviously, errors were made. Equally obviously, local leadership was totally incompetent. If the Mayor of New Orleans and then-Governor of Louisiana had been competent and prepared, there would have not been the catastrophe we witnessed. Notwithstanding the Democrats' protestations, the President of the United States is not the nation's chief hurricane officer.

"But this is 2008, not 2005. President Bush is preparing for the potential disaster of Gustav. Luckily for Republicans, Bush will be on the Gulf Coast and not in Minneapolis. Convention-goers in Minneapolis are preparing to aid in the rescue and recovery. McCain is prepared. http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/08/mccain_changes_convention_for.html

"There may be a horrible storm, but there will not be a leadership disaster and management collapse. Even the hapless Mayor Ray Nagin is prepared.

"And so, Gustav may offer Republicans an unplanned opportunity to show they learned, and they made corrections and improvements. McCain gets to show he is a leader that puts the people first, not the party and politics. All in all, Republicans get to redeem the reputation for competency in public administration that they lost in 2005.

"Far from being a disturbance for the Republicans and McCain, Gustav may offer a golden, if tragic, opportunity to show they are again capable crisis managers. Since the public will forget 2005 as memories of 2008 are implanted, Republicans have an opportunity to erase 2005 with a competent response to Gustav. The Democrats may have an unexpected political problem on their hands: a competent Republican response to a major weather tragedy focuses attention on McCain and eclipses Senator Barack Obama."