McCain Suspending Campaign, Trying To Skirt Debate

[filkertom]

We interrupt this Muppet celebration to bring you the latest utter bullshit:

Republican John McCain says he's directing his staff to work with Barack Obama's campaign and the debate commission to delay Friday's debate because of the economic crisis.

In a statement, McCain says he will stop campaigning after addressing former President Bill Clinton's Global Initiative session on Thursday and return to Washington to focus on the nation's financial problems.

The Republican presidential hopeful called Obama before he made the statement and told him he was going to suspend his campaign, according to a McCain senior adviser.

The financial problems you've been going all different directions on for the past week and a half, after you suddenly realized that the average American didn't think "the fundamentals of our economy are strong"? The financial problems you and your buddy Phil Gramm and your campaign manager Rick Davis helped cause? The financial problems which came about from massive deregulation, which you just the other day said were "probably helpful to the overall growth of our economy"? The deregulation you say people don't want when the people say otherwise?

This shit's been building up for years. We've been warned about it. But here comes McCain -- out of touch, out of clue, out of everything except outrage, pissed off that reporters aren't sucking up as hard anymore, afraid to let anyone in the media talk to his VP choice, on TV he looks like Milton Berle auditioning -- now -- to play The Joker, gets ripped apart by the women of The View, repeatedly is called a liar by the mainstream media with lots and lots of documentation to back them up, tanking in the polls -- and now he doesn't want to debate or campaign. For the good of the country.

Man, for the good of the country -- for the good of yourself -- just drop the hell out. You don't know what to do, how to do it, when to do it, or why to do it. Whatever cred you had is long gone, and whatever faculties you have seem to be failing rapidly. We need a leader.

And you need a rest.

ETA: Wait, it gets better:

McCain advisors say they will do all the debates but the schedule is up in the air.

They also deny that there is a political calculation in this and say without action the country could slide into a Depression by Monday and added "we'll see 12 percent unemployment" if action is not completed. GOP sources say they believe the current deal is dead on the Hill and reject suggestions that without McCain's vote Democrats would not support a package.

Lawdy, Miz Hepsibah! We all gon' be in the soup line Monday, except they ain't no soup!

Jeeeeeeezus. The only line these fuckers know is Terror Terror Terror, Fear Fear Fear.

By the way, I echo what John Cole at Balloon Juice said last week: I never want to hear about The Glorious Free Market again. Not one fucking word.

Comments

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

An interesting thought. What if a presidential candidate were to, on live television, announce that he had given it a lot of thought and devided he agreed with his opponent's solutions and asked people to vote for his opponent. What would happen to his poll numbers? How would his party react?

[madrona.livejournal.com]

Well the opponent would probably react like Penny here.
http://www.pennyandaggie.com/index.php?p=192

As for the election? It'd be the equivalent of letting a kitten loose on the scrabble board...who knows?

As for me, I for one am tired of my friends and family being bitch-slapped by the invisible hand. Adam Smith can suck it.

[allandaros.livejournal.com]

Hey now. Don't blame Smith for articulating what he believed to be the general trend in free markets - blame those who took Smith's argument and said that the invisible hand was all that was needed.

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

Hear hear! Smith made some astute observations and came up with some thoughtful theories (and made a strong case for health care, social security and education as well). While his ideas weren't perfect, it's not his fault that greedy bastards took his idioms to the extreme.

[stevemb.livejournal.com]

The only proper response is to point out that a President has to be capable of handling more than one thing at a time. (But by all means take the high road, and refrain from any suggestion that McCain's evident inability to do so is somehow age-related.)

[capplor.livejournal.com]

This about that: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/09/mccain-not-comm.html

Then, though it doesn't impinge on the debates, there's this interesting side show re: Rove Vs Palin: http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/francis/archive/2008/09/24/karl-rove-on-sarah-palin.aspx

[sdelmonte]

Alas, as full of good old fashioned American fertilizer as this is, Obama is now placed in a bind. Which isn't to say that Obama might not be adept enough to handle this. But the media is going to play any effort to not postpone in a bad light, and and decision to say "me too" in a bad light.

This feels like yet another decision like the Palin pick, calculated to achieve wholly political goals while pretending to be something else.

[stevemb.livejournal.com]

As I said, the best response from Obama is a statement of confidence in his ability to walk and chew gum at the same time (implicitly pointing out that McCain has basically declared that he can't).

[underpope.livejournal.com]

And it appears that that is exactly the course that Obama's campaign is taking, by not canceling the debate and insisting that it is still on.

This is a desperation move by McCain, in my opinion. He's tanking in the polls now, and is desperately trying to appear Presidential in some way and hoping that this will improve his standing. In my opinion, it's going to have exactly the opposite effect. Neither FDR nor his opponents suspended their campaigns or the debates during the Great Depression or in World War II, times in our history much worse than we're experiencing now.

[lemmozine.livejournal.com]

I would like to hear Obama offer an alternate proposal: agree to delay the first debate, IF the topic is changed to "The Economy."

So, McCain wants to delay the debate that is (arguably) in his greatest area of strength. I'm happy to see he's working so hard to try to throw the election. Obama should hire him as a campaign manager. Yea!

[madamruppy.livejournal.com]

McCain has just pulled out his patriotic dick and declared it bigger than Obamas. Obama has little choice but to also pull back on the campaigning. Not that I think McCain can actually do much but it is a petty schoolyard sort of challenge. I hope Obama is able to find a way to show him to be the idiot he is without having to sink to his level.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Hey, look! McCain's going to be in Washington to work for the first time in two years! Think he'll stick around for the vote (unlike all the others he's missed)?

(Edited to fix link)

Time to break out the chicken suit!

[msgeek.livejournal.com]

Time to point out that he's balking at debating. As in Bawk bawk bawk.

Obama is winning, and McPain is whinging.



BAWK BAWK BAWK!!!!

[aylinn.livejournal.com]

of course, obama could say he'll suspend also and then debate mccain on the floor of the senate...

That's what filibusters are for!

Which would mean that in order to shut obama UP they'd have to break the filibuster...

*evil grin*

[caraig.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, I don't think this will exactly work in Obama's favor.

This is a Rovian tactic, to be sure, but it's subtle -- EVERYbody hates politics and the suspension of a campaign during a crisis would be seen as 'noble.' If Obama does not likewise suspend the campaign for even a few days, then McCain can come back and say that it is *Obama* who is putting politics ahead of the country... just like the same has been said about McCain.

Yes, McCain helped to cause our pain, but Keating Five was a symptom, not the cause. Well, it's was one of many causes, but it was symptomatic of 'Greed Is Good.' (Sheesh, to think I once agreed with that sentiment.) The press will not paint this in the light of a broken-down Washington Beltway Bandit who's been up to his neck in scandals for most of his life, as much as it should be.

I admit, I think it's a good gesture, and Obama saying 'The debate must go on' is a bit of a backfire on him... but at the same time *the elections must go on*, and I would rather that the debates continue preparatory to that, before someone decides that suspending elections is a good idea, too.

Uh... did anyone else just get a bit of a chill up their spine?

[awfulhorrid.livejournal.com]

before someone decides that suspending elections is a good idea, too.

Oh come now, that's not going to happen this far out. That won't happen until around 02-NOV-08 when some random act of terror(*) causes the security alert status to be raised to Red.

(* - We won't even have to make one up, there's always something that can be exaggerated.)

[netpositive.livejournal.com]

Uh... did anyone else just get a bit of a chill up their spine?

I keep hoping there will *not* be an "October surprise" this year... :/

That won't happen until around 02-NOV-08...

... but that wouldn't be any better, no.

[nimitzbrood.livejournal.com]

Wait! That's it! He's going back to Washington to be there when the rubber dog poop hits the fan!

It makes perfect sense to me!

He's in Washington "working hard" and is "prepared" when the terror "attack" comes!

I sincerely hope my tinfoil is wrong on this one... B-(

[hiddenriver.livejournal.com]

He's right about one thing - Americans aren't really interested in a foreign policy debate this week. The correct thing to do would be to shuffle the topics and make this debate about the economy instead, but of course that would basically be the end of his campaign.

This is nothing but damage control.

[joshuwain.livejournal.com]

Personally, I just <sarcasm>love</sarcasm> the "unbiased coverage" that Yahoo!/AP news (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080924/ap_on_el_pr/mccain) is giving it by calling McCain's statement "Bold":

Republican presidential nominee John McCain challenged rival Barack Obama on Wednesday to suspend their heated campaign, postpone Friday's debate and work together to deal with the nation's financial troubles. Obama did not immediately respond to his rival's bold political move, but Obama campaign officials say the senator is inclined to move ahead with the debate.

I was a reporter for a year ...a year!... and seeing these damn "purple prose" moments makes my stomach turn.

Yours,
Sylvan (Dave)

[capplor.livejournal.com]

Ooh, This just in. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/09/24/1442165.aspx Nobody has told the debate venue that the show is off.

[sar-anon.livejournal.com]

It's interesting. I was listening to NPR this morning and had the thought that it would be a good idea for Obama to put aside the campaining and head back to Washington. I'm just sorry that McCain's campain got there first.

I might be interesting for Obama to agree, but suggest that since they'll both be in Washington that they just take a few hours and hold the debate there instead.

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

That might work, but it'll really suck for the people who already bought tickets and hotel rooms so they could see the debate.

[ashnistrike.livejournal.com]

Y'know, I was actually thinking yesterday that Obama ought to propose something like this, and go back to Washington to help them fix things. And then I thought, nah, as good as it would be for the country short term, it would be ruinous for his campaign.

Man, I hope I was right.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Want to bet the Elections are next?

[yes I know this require at minimum some very fancy footwork around the Constitution, if not outright violation...and since when has that stopped them before?]

[solarbird]

Gods know he wouldn't want to answer any questions about this bailout package, would he...

He can't drop out now

[capplor.livejournal.com]

That would leave us with Palin.

Isn't this a Republican strategy to prevent impeachment? First there was Bush/Quail, then Bush/Cheney, then McCain/Palin. In each case, however bad you thought the president, his potential successor is worse.

David Letterman Chimes In

[stevemb.livejournal.com]

Letterman ripped McSame a new one (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/24/175147/729/1023/609195), concluding with the comment:

"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!"

[capplor.livejournal.com]

Breaking news on Pox Noise is that they also want to rearrange the VP debate now too.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Yeah, because Sarah's got important work to do, running the Senate, of course.

Gods help us all.

[nimitzbrood.livejournal.com]

Or watching the Russians from her house... *snicker*

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

I just imagined Palin in Russia.

"I can see my house from here!"

[emiofbrie.livejournal.com]

The thing for Obama to do would be to show up for the vote without suspending his campaign ;) Imagine how that would make McCain look then!

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I have the impression from the newsfeeds that that is exactly what his plan is.

[rmeidaking.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing that McCain's campaign can't find any more money to borrow....

[sepdet.livejournal.com]

You mean the banking lobbyists he hired to run his campaign, for whom he's fought fiercely for years to overturn banking regulations, can't get any more money from the banks until the government bails them out?

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

BTW, did you notice that McLame's not even on the relevant Senate committees? By the rules as I understand them, that means he can't even attend their sessions unless they invite him as a witness. Which, by the gods, he ought to be -- his fingerprints are all over the engineering of this debacle.

[sepdet.livejournal.com]

I vacillate between going LA LA LA I KNOW WHOM I'M VOTING FOR and trying to get on with life, and trying to figure out WTF IS GOING ON?

So I'm behind the times, and now I see you all already know -- as I didn't realize -- just how much McCain is an ACTIVE CONTRIBUTOR to the current banking meltdown.

So, here. Preaching to the choir, but here's my clumsy article On John McCain's Role in the 1980s Banking Meltdown, and How He Contributed to This One, Too (http://sepdet.livejournal.com/109051.html), courtesy of about 2 hours of Google research when I should've been working on dissertation research.

Feel free to respond with more links and information to fill in the blanks and raise my blood pressure.

Gods.