BREAKING NEWS: McCain SUSPENDS HIS CAMPAIGN (merged)

Except that this is a completely blatant publicity stunt. Obama got in touch with McCain at 8:00 this morning, asking that the two of them work out a joint unity policy. He didn't publicize it, hoping to work out a compromise policy, for the good of the country, without having everything politicized. McCain instead decided to pull this stunt instead to try to rescue his flailing campaign.

Pretty sad, I would say.

 

Leading and grandstanding are two different things. I don't think McCain is leading. I think he's making a strategic, image-conscious gamble.

 

I'll trust Warren Buffet's words on the severity of this situation. He calls it "an economic Pearl Harbor". Buffet is an Obama backer, BTW.

 

Obama did not talk to McCain this morning. He "called" McCain; McCain was unavailable. More exaggerating of the truth from Obama.

 

Oh brother...

 

Nice non sequitor. I wasn't talking about whether there really is an economic crisis or not. I was talking about whether McCain was really doing this out of a sincere desire to help the nation or as a strategic move to boost his candidacy.

 

what a horrible argument. "The press is against me, so I will refuse to give the American a people a chance to hear me speak on the issues. That will teach them!"

 

Re: McCain wants to postpone Friday's debate

what choice do they have? You run for president, lose, and you lose your job as a result? That's crazy. I prefer the English system, where you vote for a party, and then the party installs its leader as PM.

 

Personally, I understand how big this is. This isn't just about mortgages . . . this is about the financial sector, wall street and the global economy. The very thing that terrorist would love (and die for) to see collapse.

I just don't see why it is so vital for McCain (who is clueless and think currently the fundementals of the economy are strong) to skip a presidential debate to "work" on the situation. But I'm sure it will explained how much value he will bring to the process . . .

 

Ah, the truth comes out. McCain is trying to get the Foreign Policy debate pushed back, and have that instead of the vice president debate, having no VP debate.

 

According to Drudge, 4 Republican members of the House support the Paulson plan.

Is McCain going to try to bridge the gap between the House GOP and Bush?

 

McCain is going to do whatever his team thinks will help him get elected. Obama, same thing.

 

Reid to McCain: Don't Come Back to Capitol

September 24, 2008 5:14 PM

A Democrat tells ABC News that, in a phone call late this afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that it would NOT be helpful for him to come back to Washington, D.C., to work on the Wall Street bailout bill.

McCain this afternoon suspended his campaign and said he would skip the first presidential debate in order to return to Capitol Hill to work on the log-jammed Bush administration legislation, which, as of Wednesday afternoon, was in peril.

McCain had phoned Reid to ask about the prospects of him, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and others to sit down and work together on hammering out a bipartisan proposal.

"Sorry," Reid said to him, a Democrat close to Reid says.

Reid then read McCain the statement he had just put out: "This is a critical time for our country," says the Reid statement. "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 Sen. 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.”

A source close to Reid said McCain didn't have much to say after that. Reid, the source says, thinks McCain's maneuver is a gimmick born from bad poll numbers and the fact that "debate prep must not be going very well."

- jpt

UPDATE: McCain senior adviser Mark Salter emails: "Yesterday, Harry Reid said that consensus couldn't be achieved without John McCain's leadership. John stepped up and is providing that leadership. Now Senator Reid seems to have changed his mind for reasons we'll let him explain. But what he should understand is that this isn't about Harry Reid or John McCain or Barack Obama. It's about the American people and, in the words of Warren Buffet, the financial Pearl Harbor they're facing. John's committed to doing his part to help avert that calamity. We hope Senator Reid is too."

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/reid-to-mccain.html

 

"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"




I think this is a good point

 

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said McCain's move was "just weird."

"We haven't heard hide nor hair of Sen. McCain in these negotiations," said Schumer, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. "He has not been involved except for an occasional, unhelpful statement, sort of thrown from far away, and the last thing we need in these delicate negotiations is an injection of presidential politics."


http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/24/campaign.wrap/index.html

to me what is weird is McCain's insistence that the candidates halt campaign ads. How in the world would that possibly help solve the banking crisis?

 

I'm shocked--shocked--to read that Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer are saying that John McCain coming back to DC isn't helpful. Stunning.

 

^ They're scared that he'll fix the problem and that their candidate will lose points in return.