UPDATE: It looks like Obama is NOT taking the bait! Good. We the people need to see for ourselves how these candidates plan to solve this crisis. Obama seems ready to talk to us… So why won’t McCain? What’s he scared of?
OK, so McCain is “suspending his campaign to focus on the financial crisis”? Why can’t I believe this, especially when news broke that his campaign manager was being paid as a Freddie Mac lobbyist UNTIL LAST MONTH, when the media are finally asking tough questions about Sarah Palin’s (non) ability to handle the VP job, when McCain acts like a “populist” one day and a “laissez-faire, Herbert Hoover style deregulator” the next, and when McCain is falling in national and battleground state polls? Sorry, but I smell a rat here.
Ben Smith of Politico has a good point. The only thing that’s changed in the last 48 hours has been the poll numbers! So why does McCain really want to delay the debate and stop campaigning? What, he can’t multitask?!
I hope Obama doesn’t take the bait. Go ahead, agree to a joint statement on the bailout bill, meet with Bush, and negotiate in Washington over the final legislative package. Then on Friday evening, how about a debate on the economy? I hope Obama makes this suggestion.
If anything, we need to know MORE about where the candidates stand on the economy… Not less! So why is McCain afraid to debate on the economy? What’s he hiding? In these tough times, we need a leader with real solutions… Not a politician with cheap stunts.
Stickey wicket – when your Senior Economic Advisor & close personal friend – crafted the legislation you supported (Gramm/Leach/Bliley Act) that created this $Trillion dollar+ fiasco … & worse … untold suffering for millions of INNOCENT Americans.
btw – remember this one?
http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/jul/09/mccain-adviser-addresses-mental-recession
Say this on Total Buzz, couldn’t agree more:
Being president is about multitasking.
Do we suspend our hunt for the terrorists who committed 9-11 just because the markets tank?
No – if there’s a vote, take it before or after the debate.
If McCain can’t handle being a senator AND a presidential candidate, he obviously can’t be president.
“Unfit for Presidency�
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/23/george-will-goes-off-mcca_n_128482.html
John McCain serves on the following Senate committees (as of January 2008):
Armed Services (where he is the ranking member)
Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Indian Affairs
Hmmm, I don’t see banking anywhere. Harry Reid needs to put this guy in his place; I know Schummer can. So can Chris Dodd.
RHackett-
Good point.
Dan-
It looks like you got your wish.
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/reid_to_mccain_stay_away_from.php
I love how McCain’s cheap stunt to look “Commander-in-Chief-like” is totally blowing up in his face! Thank gawd Obama & the Democratic Leadership didn’t blink! 😉
Reid did put McCain in his place!
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in a statement that would be unlikely to go out without the Obama campaign’s approval, dismisses McCain’s suspension:
This is a critical time for our country. While I appreciate that both candidates have signaled their willingness to help, Congress and the Administration have a process in place to reach a solution to this unprecedented financial crisis.
I understand that the candidates are putting together a joint statement at Senator Obama’s suggestion. But it would not be helpful at this time to have them come back during these negotiations and risk injecting presidential politics into this process or distract important talks about the future of our nation’s economy. If that changes, we will call upon them. We need leadership; not a campaign photo op.
If there were ever a time for both candidates to hold a debate before the American people about this serious challenge, it is now.
Via Ben Smith
CNN has a front page poll, 70% of those who have voted think this is a political stunt (That’s almost 700,000 votes so far).
No one is buying this stunt, thankfully.
Obama Rejects McCain’s Call to Delay Debate
Senator Barack Obama said that Friday’s presidential debate should go ahead after Senator John McCain issued a call to delay the event to return to Washington and deal with the financial bailout package.
Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com/?emc=na
There were no collateralized debt obligations or credit swap insurance instruments in the Hanoi POW cell, so McCain can call “Time-out” anytime he wants, move the VP debate back indefinitely so people can’t be mean to Sarah McCain, and hope that the Democrats will pass something that he can then run against as a maverick.
His campaign is in ruins, poll numbers tanking as fast as the financial system, and his lobbyists are in a cold sweat about reform of the financial system.
David Letterman tells audience that McCain called him today to tell him he had to rush back to DC to deal with the economy.
Then in the middle of the taping Dave got word that McCain was, in fact just down the street being interviewed by Katie Couric. Dave even cut over to the live video of the interview, and said, “Hey Senator, can I give you a ride home?”
Earlier in the show, Dave kept saying, “You don’t suspend your campaign. This doesn’t smell right. This isn’t the way a tested hero behaves.” And he joked: “I think someone’s putting something in his Metamucil.”
“He can’t run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second-string quarterback, Sarah Palin. Where is she?”
“What are you going to do if you’re elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We’ve got a guy like that now!”
UPDATE: Chris Matthews just reported that the Debate Commission and Ole Miss have announced that the debate will continue as scheduled. SuveryUSA conducted a lightning-quick poll and found that 90% of Americans believe the debate should go on as scheduled.
WASHINGTON (CNN) – President Bush has asked both Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama to join him for a meeting at the White House Thursday afternoon to discuss the economic bailout plan, a White House officials said.
“The President called Sen. Obama tonight around 7:30 pm,†said Dana Perino, White House press secretary. “The president has invited the bicameral and bipartisan leadership, and the two senators running for president, to the White House tomorrow to work on driving to a bipartisan and timely solution.â€
Obama’s campaign said in a statement that he has accepted the invitation.