Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Pander much? McCain suspends campaign to focus on Economy

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John McCain will suspend his campaign to focus on the financial crisis. His campaign is calling for postponing Friday's debate.

"It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the administration's proposal. I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time," the Arizona senator said in statement issued by the campaign. "Tomorrow morning, I will suspend my campaign and return to Washington."

The Obama campaign just issued this statement:
At 8:30 this morning, Senator Obama called Senator McCain to ask him if he would join in issuing a joint statement outlining their shared principles and conditions for the Treasury proposal and urging Congress and the White House to act in a bipartisan manner to pass such a proposal. At 2:30 this afternoon, Senator McCain returned Senator Obama’s call and agreed to join him in issuing such a statement. The two campaigns are currently working together on the details.

Fundamentally sound huh?

Texas Representative Joe Barton just called the bailout "Dead on Arrival" on CNN

Update: Obama campaign saying they're still inclined to do the debate on Friday. Said it should not be postponed. Even slimy Neil Boortz thinks Obama will come out ahead in this.

Obama supporter and chief debate negotiator Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., told MSNBC that "we can handle both," when asked about his reaction to McCain's call to postpone the first debate because of the administration's bailout plan.

He believes they are making good progress on Capitol Hill on the bailout and his initial reaction is that the work on the Hill should not preclude the debate from taking place.

Update: Ben Smith has it that McCain has also asked Obama to suspend advertising.

Update: From the Chicago Sun-Times
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nv.) said Wednesday there is no need for Barack Obama and John McCain to rush back to Congress to work on the stalled bailout package and certainly no need to delay the first presidential debate, as McCain is urging. Obama is expected to call for the debate to go on as planned.

Reid said both men returning to their Senate jobs will "risk injecting presidential politics into this process. ....We need leadership, not a campaign photo op," Reid said. McCain is suspending his campaign--as of Thursday afternoon--until Congress works out a plan. Congress is resisting approving the $700 billion package sent by the White House.

And this from DailyKos:

Some fun facts about John McCain: Of all Senators, John McCain has been the most absent. There have been 643 votes taken in the current Senate session: McCain has missed 412 of them.

McCain has not voted in the Senate since April 8th. Since March, he has missed 109 of the last 110 votes.

Comments (13)

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UNCLE!
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Karen Anne's avatar

Karen Anne · 859 weeks ago

wtf?

And which candidate does this benefit?
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DenverDem's avatar

DenverDem · 859 weeks ago

Looks like McCain has realized he hasn't studied enough for the Test on Friday & wants an extension. no wonder he finished at the bottom of his graduating class.
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uplandpoet's avatar

uplandpoet · 859 weeks ago

maybe he is ready to suspend his campaign until after the election:)
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A moose ate his homework!
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DenverDem's avatar

DenverDem · 859 weeks ago

I really hope the Obama campaign takes a stand and say they want the debate to proceed. It will highlight the inability of McCain to multitask; maybe they can move the debate to Washington DC to allow them both to be there, but there is no reason the debate should not proceed. McCain just wants to run & hide just like they Palin is.
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mccaine is just trying to grandstand to get an edge on obama its bull----!
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uplandpoet's avatar

uplandpoet · 859 weeks ago

suspend a campaign, delay a debate, hmmm, postpone an election, anyone?
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Karen Anne's avatar

Karen Anne · 859 weeks ago

Denver is right - a President has to be able to do more than one thing at a time. Obama should emphasize that and make McShame look like a wimp.
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DenverDem's avatar

DenverDem · 859 weeks ago

Update: Obama campaign saying they're still inclined to do the debate on Friday.

Thanks for reading my comments Barack :)
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Politics of fear again. Say it loud, Obama! You can solve this without scaring American public!
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Fine. Suspend the ads, delay the debate, go back to Washington and participate in hearings.

What's left? Free media covering every press conference and hearing question from the candidates. Anyone care to guess who will come out ahead on that? Oh, and don't forget--Biden will be active, but Palin can't possibly participate meaningfully in this discussion; she doesn't have the expertise, and she's not a Senator. Hmm, and advertising would be suspended, but of course the ground game would continue, with people knocking on doors and making phone calls. And who wins that contest?

Politically, McCain's an idiot on this. He's curling up in a ball in the hopes that he won't get pummeled. That's not a good way to win a fight...
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Karen Anne's avatar

Karen Anne · 859 weeks ago

"suspend advertising"? McCain must have had a cerebral hemorrhage. Is there any logic to this anywhere? Except that he's incapable of dealing with a crisis. Or terrified that Obama will make progress campaigning in the battleground states, and so he's panicked.
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