Don’t tell me they didn’t see opportunity in it. Led by their nominee, John McCain, Republicans canceled much of the first day of their national convention earlier this week. They ran as fast as they could (with the cameras on, of course) to the wardrobe to “take off their republican hats and put on their American hats,” as many Republicans put it. Their goal was to demonstrate their nonpartisan heroism in the face of an American crisis. How heroic. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way.

Hurricane Gustav spared New Orleans from major damage. But what was to be good news for New Orleans turned out to be bad news for Republicans. What the Republicans needed was for the nation to either be focused entirely on a massive hurricane and relief effort in New Orleans, or on a well-orchestrated, well-planned convention. With neither scenario in the cards, the attention was split and the Republicans couldn’t effectively sell the message emanating from either.

It was the Republicans’ week, so when the storm turned out to be weaker than expected, the media had plenty of time to cover the GOP. Unfortunately, the republican story at the time was Sarah Palin; her experience (or lack thereof), her extreme-right views and the pregnancy of her 17-year-old daughter. There was no convention to offer controlled talking points, which left even more time to discuss and for the most part criticize McCain’s VP pick and vetting process.

On the other hand, if Hurricane Gustav really had turned out to be the “mother of all storms,” as New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin had predicted, McCain would have had the perfect occasion to stand in that city and have his personal and professional image bolstered by the well-planned response to the hurricane. (After all, any response was going to look better than the debacle that was Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina.)

He would have shown the country his heroism and ability to stand up in the face of a national disaster. And while there was a general consensus that FEMA and the state of Louisiana did a very good job preparing this time around, it just wasn’t enough to be a statement for McCain’s valor.

Instead, the split news coverage not only cost coverage of the convention, it allowed the media to have a field day over Palin. What’s more, McCain has lost several news cycles of coverage and has to play catch-up in getting his presidential campaign message out to the public.

Indeed, the only good thing to come out of the storm for the GOP ticket — if there was a good thing — was that it necessitated that Bush speak via satellite, thereby upsetting a Bush-McCain photo op. The two haven’t been pictured together in months.

I’m actually surprised the Republicans didn’t use the occasion to wipe him from the roster all together. But then again, he is their president; and they had to put their republican hats back on eventually.