Thursday, August 23, 2012
What hurricane? Bob Buckhorn is all smiles on MSNBC
Per the mayor: "A Category 1 storm 100 miles off the coast of Tampa is really not a cause for a lot of concern."
Posted by Mitch Perry on Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 2:57 PM
But don't tell that to Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, who looked positively giddy during a short interview with MSNBC's Tamron Hall on Thursday afternoon.
"We couldn't be more excited," said the Mayor, going into his now familiar recitation of how this is "Tampa's time to shine."
But Hall quickly brought Buckhorn back to his now infamous comment that he wouldn't hesitate to call off the convention — not that it's his call alone.
"That was a hypothetical question involving a much more serious storm than what we're looking at right now," Buckhorn told Hall. "I mean if you had a Cat 3 or Cat 5 storm, I think everyone would come to the same conclusion. But that's not the situation we find ourselves in right now. This storm looks as though it is going to be heading off to the Gulf of Mexico. We may have one day of some rain and some wind, but a Category 1 storm 100 miles off the coast of Tampa is really not a cause for a lot of concern."
Hall then asked Buckhorn who would make the call to cancel one particular day of the convention. The mayor said he would make that call in concert with Republican National Committee officials. Gov. Rick Scott would undoubtedly also have a say.
Mayor Buckhorn's optimism is certainly one of his better qualities. Any curtailment of the four scheduled convention days would be a disappointment to many who have worked on the event this past week, especially the mayor. But he sounded more confident than any weatherman we've listened to when he said, "This storm does not look like it's going to be a factor in those proceedings. You may have one day of rain on Monday. The storm will blow through. It will probably be nice on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday."
MSNBC's Hall said she hoped Buckhorn's optimism and "bright smile brings out the sun in Tampa," though she sounded a bit more skeptical. Or is it realistic? Guess we'll find out soon enough.
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