You can’t make this stuff up. McCain said today that he was suspending his campaign. He says he’s going to Washington to make sure that there’s a resolution on the Wall Street bailout bill. Nice of him to notice that hearings have been going on all week. I guess it wasn’t that important to go to those. Oh yeah, and he’ll still give a speech at Clinton’s Global Initiative meeting Thursday morning before he flies to DC. Priorities, naturally.
It’s laughable that McCain thinks he is so important that his appearance will suddenly lead to a resolution. All he’s going for is strategic timing, because he knows Congress is supposed to recess on Friday and needs to pass something at the latest by this weekend. He’s hoping he can take credit in case something passes, although no one knows how he will vote or what the bill will look like.
Anyway, since he’s trying to look like a leader who can work across party lines, he’s suspending his campaign, and he wants the first Presidential debate, which is this Friday, postponed if there’s no bailout deal by Friday. Obama said “thanks but no thanks” to postponing the debate, and he said that he was still planning to debate on Friday, because it was more important than ever for the public to know what the next president’s plans are. The Presidential Debate Commission agrees with him.
Well, McCain decided to up the ante tonight. He suggested that if there’s no bailout deal, then he wouldn’t show on Friday, and he suggested that they move the first presidential debate to Oct. 2nd, which would mean that the VP debate on Oct. 2nd would be postponed. He doesn’t seem to have offered up an alternative date for the VP debate, but presumably, never would be good, since his camp clearly doesn’t want anyone to ask Palin any questions about anything.
So, not only does McCain not want to debate Obama on the ridiculous pretense that he is needed in Washington, where he hasn’t attended a single hearing this week on the financial crisis, but he doesn’t want Palin to debate Biden either. Unreal. I think McCain has officially jumped the shark now. McCain can manage to be in DC tomorrow and then in Mississippi on Friday night, unless he’s telling us he can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. Anyway, if McCain doesn’t show, then Obama can take the stage alone and do a town-hall style meeting, where the focus is on him, and who knows, maybe it’ll put Mississippi in play for him.
If McCain is willing to sit out a debate in order to look important, that’s his prerogative. It’s idiotic, but whatever. I’ve gotten used to the McCain campaign doing ridiculous stupid things at this point, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t show on Friday.
Oh yeah, McCain also canceled his appearance on Letterman tonight. Letterman was not too pleased.
In case you’re curious about the McCain camp’s talking points on this, they accidentally sent them to reporters (hat tip: Thinkprogress):
TAGS: Campaign, Colorado, Congress, debate, idiot, mccain, obama, political, Politics, Rap
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