Sounds good to head to DC as soon as possible. He could prove that a president should be able to multi task and do campaigning and help in DC then be available to show up on Friday for the debates. It makes McCain look like even more of an idiot especially if McCain doesn't show up. Even better they should have the debate in DC if its such a big deal to take a jet down to the Florida.
You know... this does not make sense. As much as I'm grooving on the breaking news, there has to something more to this. Either McCain has a big scandal about to break or a big health problem about to be announced or something. There has to be more to this... the instant analysis of the ways McCain might benefit don't cover the risks to his campaign and reputation of being the first presidential candidate to chicken out on a debate. There simply has to be more we don't know...
Has anyone seem this guy? I haven't seem him in like 2 years http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/02/17/mccain.bus/
[Pure based-on-nothing speculation]That (or something similar) seems like a possibility... would also be a good reason to go meet with party elders in DC to see if you can work out a stand-in candidate not named Palin.[/Pure based-on-nothing speculation] Regardless, there's something afoot. [edit] If Repubs stop passage on Friday for no apparent reason, that should be a big tell.
to judge by all the nutroots sputtering, Johnny Mac has hit a nerve. at least Chauncy Gardner could be there. apparently, even being, much less voting, present is above Obama's pay grade.
I think it is a smart move by McCain. At least politically. He's been getting buried. For him, it's a way to upstage Obama. In reality - it's hard to tell if this is something that he really believes is the correct course or not. Obama actually was the one who reached out to him about a joint statement, and it appears that McCain is trying to steal the initiative and be seen as a leader by taking bold steps. In reality, I don't see how post-poning the debate on a Friday night impacts things unless there is an actual vote on Friday. It's clear what the problems with the plans are - and the senate majority and minority leaders, as well as the committee chairs are all capable of orchestrating what needs to be done. What McCain or Obama can add to this as senators? Probably not much. So from that perspective, it appears this is more of a political plow to fight the idea that McCain is out-of-touch with the economy. It might backfire because people may not get why you would delay a debate - but it might work because people may not understand how the legislative process works and may think McCain and Obama can do more than they really have power to do. At the end of the day, I think McCain-Obama can work together to put pressure on all sides via the media by using the unique position they have as candidates in the national spotlight. Disappearing in washington isn't going to help that much. Still - no one is quite sure how serious or dangerous this crisis is...one could argue that it trumps the importance of the presidential debate. So at the end, I can't say Obama is right or McCain is wrong, nor can I say Obama is wrong nor McCain is right. It's a risky, bold move by McCain to be sure. But I don't think it has real substance behind it. It's political in nature. But at the same time, I don't think it's something i'd criticize - just smart politics. We'll see how it plays out. I'm under the impression that we don't have to get this pushed through as soon as possible. What we need to get pushed through is just something to stop the bleeding - and then get to the work of figuring out bailouts. We need to find a way to improve the worthiness of these mortgages - that is, stop defaults. We need to do that by helping people who are struggling. It might be a 180 day moritorium of foreclosures and penalties while we figure things out. And the option for those in default or significant delinquency to pay less taxes which can then go to getting caught up on payments. But that's what we need to do first. Because jsut fixing that will improve the valuation of these mortagage backed assets and keep banks from failing. Simply giving money to the banks to write off these mortgages isn't going to help the average Joe. So in the end, I say, the whole mccain-obama thing isn't relevant. I think people want to see them debate, but i think people are more concerned about solving this crisis and are very worried. This isn't about mccain-obama, it's about congress and the president.
basso, I teach leadership classes. If this is as advertised, it is not leadership. If he has a health issue, it very well could be.
Now the administration has invited both Obama and McCain to the White House to "talk about the situation?" are you ****ing kidding me?
McCain is trying to look like he can help get this done, Obama should also go to see if he can help, but the debates must go on. DD
I love how the liberals here are condemning McCain for caring enough about the bailout plan to head to Washington to attempt to fix it. Obama hasn't done schit in the Senate (present!), and apparently is content to just chill in Florida, selfishly attempting to drum up votes instead of addressing America's financial problems. As another poster put it, McCain is putting AMERICA first, Obama is selfishly putting his campaign first.
Jerry Springer nation. This is pathetic. Of course, as much as we'd all like to crowd around the person having the coronary, depriving them of oxygen, and getting in the way of paramedics, it would be best to speed legislation to NOT rush to DC and start new bills down the pipeline. Maybe, just MAYBE, McCain really did mean to make the economy bigger than politics, but the effect was to make this entire mess as political as possible. If he'd just stuck to it, with no melodramatic press conferences, returned Barack's phonecall, and gone about his campaign and senatorial business, we could focus on the bailout and the campaign somewhat separately. It was his choice to conflate them as much as he possibly could, and now Bush is going to lend a hand.
I'm sorry but this excuse is weak, this is a guy who's already stated he has no economic knowledge, what the hells he going to do? It's his team that will come up with the ideas.......has he not prepared for the debate already??
I don't think this is correct. McCain's handlers aren't hiding Palin because she's a woman. They are hiding her because she is woefully unprepared for what she has been thrust into. Sexism has nothing to do with it.
