so, what's the problem? these are hot. we're shipping 'em everywhere. but we can't predict our shipping costs. dallas. detroit. different rates. well with us, it's the same flat rate. same flat rate. boston. boise? same flat rate. alabama. alaska? with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. dude's good.

dude's real good. dudes. priority mail flat rate boxes. starting at just $5.15. only from the postal service.

football game, right. >> that's it thank goodness and then we get real. >> no more fake football games. >> monday night. >> not a bad way to start, ravens. >> i predict lady gaga will make a skype tape and send it to daniel. he deserves it. see you tomorrow.

tonight on "nightline," isaac's wrath. whole neighbors are under water, as this monster storm wreaks havoc on the gulf coast, exactly seven years after katrina. people are being rescued from their roofs once again. and as the rains continue to come, we're on the ground with the latest. tea time. hotly anticipated night at the republican national convention as paul ryan ignites the crowd and takes the tea party message national. and, conspirator in chief? it's been called unsubstantiated, dangerous, even crazy. and it is a giant box office

success. meet the director that claims he has proof that president obama has a secret, un-american agenda. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with cynthia mcfadden in new york city, bill weir in new orleans, louisiana, and terry moran in tampa, florida, this is "nightline," august 29th, 2012. >> good evening, i am bill weir. and much to the relief of everybody here, isaac is finally leaving tomorrwn. but not without leaving new orleans very wet, battered and dark. hundreds of thousands of people will head into the holiday weekend without power. and here is the satellite map tonight, as isaac slowly churns north, after more than 24 hours of just driving rains. still some powerful squalls on the tail end of this departure. and here's some fresh pictures from one of the most desperate places in isaac's wake. la plasse, louisiana, where

hundreds of families had to be evacuated. this follows, also, a day of rooftop rescues in the southern reaches of this area. much smaller than katrina, but still, an eerie example of history repeating itself. in this part of louisiana, a lot of folks keep axes in their attics. exactly seven years after katrina, fred leslie is another reminder why. fred didn't have an axe and had to be cut off, plucked off his roof in plaquemines parish today. a harrowing experience for the 71-year-old and his beloved dogs. it would have been a lot easier for fred to just leave when the evacuation order came down earlier in the week. but for storm hardened lifers down here and older folks fond of home, it's hard to get too motivated about a category 1 like isaac. even when the president of the nation -- >> now is not the time to tempt fate. >> reporter: and the parish is urging you to go. >> we need you to go quickly.

>> reporter: and there are 14 billion reasons to ride it out. that's how much tax money was spent shoring up the levees that so fay lousily failed, leaving the rooftop rescue a sad hallmark of this proud city. here's a little example of what they got for $14 billion. bran new mighty fortresses against the surging storm waters. and you can see, these federal levees are doing their jobs. but just down the mississippi, are earthen, levees, only eight feet high, which were no match. sometime in the night, the surging water either topped or breeched the old levees. and the rural suburb of braithwaite woke up with the realization that their homes were drowning, and fast. >> they took us out of the attic, into the boat. it's very bad down there. very bad. >> i live here for 53 years and

this is my first time seeing something like this. this ain't never, ever happened to us. this is a shame. >> reporter: some wereless kuehled by game wardens. others relying on the kindness of strangers, like jesse schafer, the third and the fourth. after watching 12 feet of water swol low their home in less than an hour, they jump into their fishing boat and went hunting for the helpless. each says he saved around 60 people and dozens of pets. but is the ct is the cries of t children they'll remember the most. >> three kids we saw screaming on top of that roof, screaming their lungs out. so we wouldn't mess them, you know? >> reporter: when they came across ten people on one roof, the younger schafer gave up his seat on his own boat to make room for the old and sick. and had to wait to be rescued himself. >> when i was sitting on the roof for an hour today to give

someone my spot on the boat, i was like, i'll sit here in a hurricane, on a roof in hurricane winds, risking my life for someone else. >> we rescued a lot of people, saw a lot of things that you never thought you'd see. >> reporter: and it will be awhile before plaquemines is dry again. the whole gulf coast, for that matter. isaac may not have brought the block buster winds, but he brought way too much water to a region already saturated by a wet month. >> look at this. >> reporter: and extreme weather team member ginger zee is getting a first-happened glimpse across the border in mississippi. >> reporter: the rain here is absolutely relentless. the mailbox almost covered already. this is still the beginning of the rain. this will go on for days. that's why up to 20 inches can be found across the gulf of mexico. >> not sure we're going to be

able to get through. >> reporter: and abc's ryan o n owens didn't need to step on the gas to follow the soggy of eye isaac, through louisiana to america's heartland. >> the storm is moving so slow that just by driving at normal speeds, we've actually breached the eye wall. now we're into more of the difficult weather. it is pouring outside. the car is blowing around a little bit, as we come closer to some of the hurricane-force winds. >> reporter: boy, some of thele toings in the brought-stricken midwest would give for this water. president obama did declare louisiana, mississippi, disaster areas tonight. that will open up some federal money down here. and 95% of the oil wells out in the gulf of mexico still shut down. gas has gone up nine cents in the past week, so, isaac may find its way into your wallet eventually that way. when we come back, my colleague terry moran will join us from tampa with the latest on paul ryan's big night at the republican convention there. and a reminder that in the morning, sam champion and his

extreme weather team will have the latest on isaac's path on "good morning america." stay with us, everybody. [ female announcer ] they can be enlightening. hey, bro. or engaging. conversations help us learn and grow. at wells fargo, we believe you can never underestimate the power of a conversation. it's this exchange of ideas that helps you move ahead with confidence. so when the conversation turns to your financial goals...

turn to us. if you need anything else, let me know. wells fargo. together we'll go far. nothing complicated about a pair of 10 inch hose clamp pliers. you know what's complicated? shipping. shipping's complicated. not really. with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service shipping's easy. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. that's not complicated. no. come on.

how about... a handshake. alright. priority mail flat rate boxes. starting at just $5.15. only from the postal service. syou know, i've helped a lot off people save a lot of money. but today...( sfx: loud noise of large metal object hitting the ground) things have been a little strange. (sfx: sound of piano smashing) roadrunner: meep meep. meep mp? (sfx: loud thud sound) what a strange place. geico®. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

>> announcer: "nightline" continues from tampa, florida, with terry moran. >> good evening from tampa, florida, i'm terry moran. dale three of the republican national convention, where this hall was just buzzing tonight, because many, probably most of saw and heard the future of y eir party and they hope the country, paul ryan, 42-year-old congressman from wisconsin. darling of the tea party conservatives. and mitt romney's choice for vice president. well, he gave a speech here that just simply wowed the place. it may be mitt romney's convention, but tonight, it felt a lot like paul ryan's party.

he came out onto the big stage here tonight, a young man in a hurry. a gen-xor with a fierce, conservative passion. >> i accept the calling of my generation to give our children the america that was given to us with opportunity for the young and security for the old. and i know that we are ready >> reporter: his young family watches in the hall, rn delighted the crowd with a sharp and specific appeal to the young, to a lost economic genetion. >> college garage waraduates sh have to live out their 20s in their childhood bedrooms, staring up at faded obama posters and wondering when they can move out and get going with life. >> reporter: he rolled on, blasting president obama. >> these past four years, we have suffered no shortage of words in the white house. what is missing is leadership in the white house.

>> reporter: and plunging into the debate over the future of medicare. >> the greatest threat to medicare is obama care, and we are going to stop it. >> reporter: ryan's big moment up at that podium is, in many ways, a tea party triumph. since that movement spontaneously erupted in 2010, it has grown to an irresistible force in the republican party, sending establishment leaders scurrying for cover or scrambling to keep up. they drive the party's direction now, and in a lot of ways, they're having their own convention. a couple of blocks from the official proceedings, hundreds of true blue or true red conservatives streamed into a revival style tent for an even more conservative republican future. and inside that tent, inside the revival, these grassroots activists are grooming a whole new crop of leaders to follow in paul ryan's way. >> the stakes have never been

higher. americans are uniting to turn our country around. >> reporter: ted cruise shocked the political world last month when he won the republican nomination for u.s. senate in texas, crushing the pick of the gop establishment. >> we are seeing a great awa awakeni awakening. >> reporter: you listen to him, and you know this is where the real energy, the future of the party is. people, i mean, what we have out in 2010 and 2012 has been the grassroots voters. it has been that the elections are decided by the people on the ground, not by those in power clinging to power. ♪ >> reporter: this is how political movements happen. and whatever you might think about tea party conservatives, they are remaking the republican party, the old fashioned way.

do you think this is a movement that fizzles or is it the future? >> look, i think it is absolutely the future. you look at the beginning of 2012, a lot of media outlets wrote the story that the tea party is dead and i think they missed what had happened. in 2010, the tea party had a lot of protests, blazing hot sun. in 2011 and 2012, the tea party to work. they rolled up their sleeves, they got involved in the party, in campaigns, phone banking. >> reporter: so, tonight, in the big haul, the future was happening. bull for a moment, it was a voice from the recent past that held the crowd spellbound. >> i can remember, as if it were yesterday, when my young assistant came into my office at the white house to say that a plane had hit the world trade center. >> reporter: condoleezza rice stirred the delegates of her tale of american exceptionalism. >> a little girl grows up in

birmingham, the segregated city of the south, where her parents can't take her to a movie theater or to a restaurant. but they have her absolutely convinced that even if she can't have a hamburger at the lunch counter, she can be president of the united states that she wanted to be and she becomes the secretary of state. >> reporter: the crowd was primed for ryan and the fute he represents. >> so, here is our pledge. we will not duck the tough issues. we will lead. we will not spend the next four years blaming others. we will take responsibility. we will not try to replace our founding principles, we will reapply our founding principles. we can do this. together, we can do this. >> reporter: so, still buzzing here, a little bit, even long after the big night for paul ryan.

now, coming up just ahead, just in time for the buzz from the republican national convention, a big movie bashing president obama becomes a box office hit. you'll meet the man behind that movie, next.ela ] endless shrimp at red lobster. there's so many choices. the guests come in and they're like yeah i want to try this shrimp and i want to try this kind. they wait for this all year long. [ male announcer ] red lobster's endless shrimp is back, but only for a limited time, for just $14.99. try as much as you like any way you like, like new teriyaki grilled shrimp or new parmesan crusted shrimp, for just $14.99. [ angela ] creating an experience instead of just a meal that's endless shrimp. my name is angela trapp. i'm a server at red lobster and i sea food differently. follow the wings. i'm a server at red lobster but don't just listen to me. listen to these happy progressive customers.

i plugged in snapshot, and 30 days later, i was saving big on car insurance. with snapshot, i knew what i could save before i switched to progressive. the better i drive, the more i save. i wish our company had something this cool. you're not filming this, are you? aw! camera shy. snapshot from progressive. test-drive snapshot before you switch. visit progressive.com today.