McCain Calls for Debate Delay, “Suspends” Campaign
Evidently, congress will be doing all kinds of work on Friday at 9pm that this would necessitate Senator McCain’s absence from Ole Miss, where he is scheduled to debate Barack Obama on foreign policy issues.
Given that McCain’s focus on the economy is welcome and timely, perhaps it would be important for the debate commission to switch out “the economy” for “foreign policy” this Friday.
Either way you slice it, McCain and Obama are running for the highest office in the land, and the people deserve to hear them answer tought questions about the very tough issues facing average Americans right now. While it’s nice for McCain to suspend his campaign to go back to Washington, cancellation of Friday’s debate is not good.
I want to see these men vying for the Presidency debate face-to-face, sooner rather than later. Sullivan calls it the McCain meltdown.
The economic crisis will neither worsen nor be solved during 90 minutes on Friday night.
The tricky bit here is that McCain is clamoring to get back some of the middle-of-the-road voters who have been gravitating Obama’s way. What better way to do that than to call for bipartisanship and a suspension of the campaign? So, if Obama says no, because it’s a stunt, he may look like a petty asshole who’ll do anything to win. If Obama says yes…
Anyhow, Ben Smith notes that the only thing that’s changed in the last 48 hours is the polling.
The Obama campaign released this:
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.
The University of Mississippi is going forward with the preparation for the debate. We are ready to host the debate, and we expect the debate to occur as planned.
At present, the University has received no notification of any change in the timing or venue of the debate.
We have been notified by the Commission on Presidential Debates that we are proceeding as scheduled.
We will keep you posted as information becomes available.
Jaquandor Says:September 24th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
This crisis erupted ten days ago, and NOW McCain’s suddenly champing at the bit to get back to Washington? And what’s he going to do when he gets there? Barge in and tell everybody to “stop all the bullshit”?
This guy is an absolute joke.
Brian Says:September 24th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Barack Obama has a big speech, John McCain names a religioius fanatic hockey-mom to be his running mate.
Barack Obama gets a large (but soft) lead in the campaign, and John McCain suspends his campaign to focus on the economy.
Their is a fine-line between being bold, and being dangerously risky. This type of reactionary leadership would be dangerous in the White House.
indabuff Says:September 24th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Though I think the debates will reveal nothing more than we already know about these fellows, you do have to wonder WTF his campaign is thinking…in a perfect political world it would be nice to think that both Obama and McCain are above and beyond poltical stunts, but they are not.
Byron Says:September 24th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
MCCAIN CANCELING DEBATE DUE TO CRISIS !!!
The Humanist Says:September 24th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Does McCain even remember his way back to the Senate? Of the 643 votes taken in the current Senate session, he’s missed 412 of them. He has not voted in the Senate since April 8th and, since March, he has missed 109 of the last 110 votes.
Friggin’ Ted Kennedy with a brain tumor has only missed 115 votes. Tim Johnson, the Democratic Senator from South Dakota, finishes second to McCain only because he suffered a massive brain hemorrhage at the end of 2006 and missed the better part of a year recovering.
McCain should stop being such a whiny pussy and show up to the debate like a real man. And stop treating his VP like some delicate flower and put her in front of reporters once in a while.
Tuco Says:September 24th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Delaying a debate is not exactly the way to woo undecided voters. What a horrible decision by his campaign.
Greg Says:September 24th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Considering the big push by the gov’t to spend a shit load of money this week I don’t think it’s unreasonable for both of them to go back to Washington and concentrate on the upcoming bills and votes that Jorge is pushing for.
Prepare to say good bye to a trillion dollars due to idiots pushing for adjustable rate loans for people that couldn’t afford them when the rate went up and the idiots that signed up for the loans without learning about what they were getting into
mike Says:September 24th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
hank’s right again, he is scared.
Jeff Says:September 24th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
The best part of this CRISIS?
The absolute neutralization of……
PALIN-MANIA!!!!!
It’s almost worth a trillion dollars to see people shut up about her dumb ass.
Jon Splett Says:September 24th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
You know, if they need to fill McCain’s spot, I know a guy…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5WiE6MnmCM
kris Says:September 24th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Now the word is the McCain camp wants to reschedule to the night of th VP debates…how convenient. This dude is asshatery at its finest.
hank Says:September 25th, 2008 at 10:58 am
Mc Cain requested TEN TOWN HALL MEETINGS WITH OBAMA BEFORE THE DEBATE SEASON
OBAMA REFUSED.
WHO’S SCARED MIKE?
OBAMA.
Byron Says:September 25th, 2008 at 11:55 am
McCain to the rescue! Except - he hasn’t read even the Paulsen proposal yet. It’s like 3 pages long - even I’ve read it.
McCain is counting on voters to be stupid. Don’t prove him right.
Jon Splett Says:September 25th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
I think theres plenty of fear of an actual debate in both camps.
Both sides are too big of pussies to let Nader or Barr on the stage because then they’d have to be accountable on issues they don’t want to be accountable on. Like the economy.
Byron Says:September 25th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Nice false equivalency. You should apply for a job with CNN.