This morning, President Bush discussed Hurricane Gustav, using the occasion to push for more offshore drilling:

BUSH: One thing that’s for certain, when Congress comes back they got to understand that we need more domestic energy, not less. And one place to find it is offshore America, lands that have been, have been, uh, taken off the book, so to speak, by congressional law. And now they need to give us a chance to find more oil and natural gas here at home.

Reacting to Bush’s statement on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman (D) called Bush’s statement “the worst pivot ever,” questioning “how you go from hurricane to offshore drilling.” Scarborough agreed. “Just stop!” he said. Watch it:

This morning on Fox News, former House Speaker Tom DeLay tried telling host Megyn Kelly how Republicans are focused on Hurricane Gustav, rather than their convention. He said that for President Bush, “politics is the least part of what he’s thinking about right now.” Regarding Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), DeLay said that he has “shifted his mindset away from the politics.”

Yet just a few seconds later, when Kelly again asked him about the convention, DeLay couldn’t help but let his true feelings show:

KELLY: As somebody who’s a party faithful, who’s a deep conservative, do you worry about how this will affect . . . the RNC this week, how it will affect people perceptions of the Republicans if it doesn’t go well. Help give us an idea of how you’re looking at it.

DELAY: Well, what we’re looking at is, it’s unfortunate that we’re not going to be able to have the convention that they planned, but that’s not what’s important right now.

Watch it:

Hurricane Katrina killed more than 1,600 people along the Gulf Coast. Gustav has now made landfall southwest of New Orleans as a category 2 storm, but approximately 10,000 people remain in the city.

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MSNBC is reporting that waters from Hurricane Gustav, now a Category 2 storm, have overtopped the Industrial Canal barrier in New Orleans, and FEMA Deputy Director Harvey E. Johnson has warned that New Orleans will be “at least partially flood[ed].” Officials have evacuated 2 million people from Louisiana, but an estimated 10,000 remain in New Orleans. Hurricane-force winds also “slammed into oil terminals around Port Fourchon,” which is southwest of New Orleans and where “56 percent of the imported and Gulf of Mexico oil entering the United States passes.”

Today, GOP officials “announced they would hold only essential party business required under its rules on Monday” at their convention in Minnesota. Party officials “have decided that Monday’s session will open at 3 p.m. Central time and probably end at 5 to 5:30 p.m. and will be limited to official business like adopting the platform and electing convention officers.” The New York Times reports on what the media will be doing:

The major television networks are pulling some of their top talent out of Minneapolis, promising to diminish, if not upend, coverage of the convention. Katie Couric will head to the Gulf Coast to open the “CBS Evening News” from there Monday night, instead of from the convention hall as planned. Charles Gibson of ABC News and Brian Williams of NBC News are expected to do the same.

“Nightline” on ABC will also broadcast from the storm area, as will CBS News, a sign that all of the major news programs will be focused on the hurricane zone rather than the convention floor adorned with Mr. McCain’s “country first message.” That will deprive him of the crucial perk of wide television coverage of his message that usually comes with a political convention.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) has also decided not to attend, although it is unrelated to the hurricane; he needs “to deal with a continuing stalemate in Sacramento over the state budget.”

This morning, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said that it is “unlikely the president will travel to Minnesota on Monday” because of concerns about Hurricane Gustav. “We are currently preparing alternate plans.” Gustav is expected to make landfall along the Gulf Coast as early as Monday, the same day that President Bush, Laura Bush, and Dick Cheney are scheduled to speak at the Republican National Convention. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Cindy McCain, and Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) are planning to travel to Jackson, MS, today, to receive a Gustav briefing at the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

Politico reports that the impending landfall of Hurricane Gustav has forced Republicans to scramble their convention plans. President Bush may not attend at all, and John McCain may deliver his acceptance speech from the hurricane-stricken areas:

McCain was scheduled to deliver his acceptance speech Thursday but now may do so from the devastation zone if the storm hits the U.S. coast with the ferocity feared by forecasters.

“It just 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,” McCain said in a taped interview for Fox News Sunday.

Hurricane Gustav is growing into “a monster Category 5 storm” as it heads towards the Gulf Coast. The storm is moving into the Loop Current, a deep bed of hot water in the Gulf of Mexico that is helping to intensify the storm. In May, climatologists reported that the Gulf has been experiencing warmer waters than usual:

Off St. Petersburg, water temperatures have been 2 to 4 degrees above the 80-degree average for this time of year. In Fort Myers, temperatures have been similar. If that warm water continues to deepen and spread, it could be disastrous if a hurricane enters the gulf. … The gulf, with its loop current of deep, warm-water pools, is a hurricane minefield. If the water heats up enough, it can send storms spinning headlong into the coast.

ABC News writes, “Many scientists predict over the next decade we’ll see stronger hurricanes — Category 4 and 5 hurricanes even more violent than Katrina. The cause, some argue, is rising sea surface temperatures caused by global warming.”