John McCain

Can't help feeling somewhat amused at Mr McCain's call for a pause in the election campaign to "sort things out in Washington". "Not a time for politics" he said. "And let's cancel the debate. Much more important things to be done."

Don't suppose he's feeling a mite nervous about the debate and - under the guise of sincere patriotism and selflessness - making one of the biggest political gestures of the campaign.

A new LA Times/Bloomberg poll shows Obama ahead of McCain 49%-45% nationally among likely voters.

That advantage shrinks to 46-44 among registered voters, giving the same lead to the last poll in August.

The economy looms large, with voters preferring Obama on economic issues by a rate of 46% to 32%.

He also has a 15-point advantage for voters evaluating his ability to handle rising gas prices, and a 30-point lead on healthcare.

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MoveOn has a brand new TV ad hitting McCain on the economy: (one minute long)
(MoveOn is a non-party aligned organisation) 30% of Americans are against the $700b bailout.

Julia said:

Can't help feeling somewhat amused at Mr McCain's call for a pause in the election campaign to "sort things out in Washington". "Not a time for politics" he said. "And let's cancel the debate. Much more important things to be done."

Don't suppose he's feeling a mite nervous about the debate and - under the guise of sincere patriotism and selflessness - making one of the biggest political gestures of the campaign.

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Obama is joining McCain in Washington. JM could gain by this if he can appear to be Presidential and a prime mover in patching up this quickly cobbled together financial plan.
Obama could be seen to be a more reluctant participant as he is continuing his campaign and maybe appears not quite up to the job, when the dust clears.

How I love Letterman's Late Show. Tonight's was the best one ever! (Delta Goodrem sang well at the end).

Dave introduced the show by saying McCain was to have been the main guest tonight.
"You know John McCain - he's Sarah Palin's running mate.(lol)

"He called me at the last minute to say he was suspending his campaign and had to rush back to Washington to save the economy as it was about to crater so he had to cancel."

(Keep reading to see how HONEST McCain was when he 'bailed out' of Letterman's show.) Honest John?

"You don't suspend your campaign!" - This was interspersed all through the show.

"This doesn't smell right. This not how a seasoned hero behaves.
Down the road he might just suspend his presidency - we've got a guy like that now!"

Dave was furious with incredulity.
"He can't continue the campaign because he had to save the country!
Maybe there's a new crisis because his poll numbers are sliding."

"Sarah Palin's been at the UN meeting world leaders - learning who the world leaders are.
She also wondered if she'd get to meet Queen Latifah." (lol)

"You don't suspend your campaign! It should be shouldered by the VP nominee.
You don't quit. I don't have an ounce of quit in me!
If you believe in your VP candidate you say 'I have to go back to Washington' and she says 'Gotcha'!
I am more than a little disappointed about his behaviour."

Keith Olbermann stood in for McCain's absence - "I was just around the corner."
Actually, he was to be a guest on CBS:

"Good evening, I'm afraid I have some bad news; we had a guest who was scheduled to appear on our show but had to cancel," CBS late-night host Craig Ferguson told his audience last night in a cold open immediately after Letterman's show wrapped.

"Keith Olbermann . . . was meant to be here, then suddenly he got a better offer!
Curse you, Olbermann, and your -- availability to David Letterman!"

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Letterman had his producers throw up the CBS in-house video feed, showing McCain getting makeup applied to his face before an interview taping. "Now, he doesn't seem to be racing back to the airport, does he?" Letterman asked Olbermann. "This just gets uglier and uglier," he said.

"Let's punch up Katie Couric's interview and . . . let's see what he has to say here. I wonder if he'll mention me.
Hey, John! I've got a question -- you need a ride to the airport?" Letterman said.
"This stinks," he said, adding, "It's like we caught him getting a manicure."

Dave insisted they should let the campaign go on with the VP candidate.
Then froze as he said "Is that a smart thing to do? Where is she? Why isn't she doing that? Obama and Biden are both senators so if they had to both go to Washington the Democrats would be in a hole.

Olbermann was anxious about McCain's cancelling the debate.
He insisted the three debates were in the space of 19 days and one of them had to win 2 of 3. With only two debates, there could be a tie.

He asked what would be McCain's advantage in cancelling Friday's debate.
He suggested that the VP debate could be cancelled to make up for Friday's... was this the plan?

He stressed people needed to hear their policies and suggested they should flip the topic - it was on 'international'... make it on the 'economy'.
Quite a fun night.

The TopTen questions people are asking the McCain campaign:

10. I just contributed to your campaign. How do I get a refund?
9. Hi it's Sarah Palin. Does this mean I get to be parsident?
8. Can't you solve this by selling some of your homes?
7. Hi this is Clay Aiken. Is McCain single? (I had to google him - a gay singer)
6. Do you still think the fundamentals of the economy are strong, genius?
5. Are you doing this just to get out of going on Letterman?
4. What would Matlock do?
3. Hillary here. My schedule is free Friday night.
2. Is this just an excuse to catch up on napping?
1. This is President Bush. What's all this trouble with the economy?

So, to perorate:
- McCain cancelled Letterman's show on the pretext of having to rush back to Washington when he actually did a spot on CBS News with Katie Couric.
- Olbermann cancelled on a CBS show to help out Letterman.
- Is a cancellation of the first debate an excuse for Palin to save face and not face Biden in a VP debate?
- Is this the obvious ploy it seems to drum up 'patriotism' to impress the independents? SuperMac
- Is he so scared of facing Obama in a debate and being shown up?

thanks Doris, classic
Wow, McCain is the butt of a few hundred jokes here.

3m20s, Olbermann explains the duplicity of McCain pretending it was his initiative..
"Friday Night debate might be Obama vs Biden", lol. ( towards end of second youtube)

Olbermann will be a commentator at the debates (as against compere) - sounds good.

Keith Olbermann, David Letterman on Suspended Campaign Pt1
Olbermann, Letterman on Suspended Campaign Pt2

Looks like it is McCain that is having the last laugh. He just proved himself a leader, and Obama a follower.

The new Gallup tracking poll just out today gives McCain and Obama a tie at 46 to 46.

Yesterday, Obama was ahead by 3. With just one third polled after McCain took decisive action, that is an effective nine point swing.

America is looking for a leader, and McCain is the one that is taking the bull by the horns.

Laugh all you want, but we will have the last laugh.

Doris said:

30% of Americans are against the $700b bailout.

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Doris I heard in CNBC last night it was 55% of Americians were against the bailout. Do we have figures for the rest of the world?

55% a couple of days ago true. (24Sep US time)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-na-econpoll24-2008sep24,0,622218.story

Asked whether the government should use taxpayer dollars to rescue financial firms whose collapse could have adverse effects on the economy, 55% of the poll's respondents said they did not believe the government should be responsible for funding a bailout plan.

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However, opinions about the bailout plan appear to be malleable, perhaps because voters are still learning about the proposal. When some of those who opposed a bailout were interviewed, several said they would reluctantly accept a bailout plan if Congress decided one was necessary.

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It sticks in my craw," said Camille Woyak, 82, a retired office worker in Appleton, Wis., who said she opposed a bailout. "There should be some other solution. But I think the taxpayers are going to have to cover it. I don't know any other way out.

"I lived through the Depression as a little girl," she added. "I don't want to go through that again."

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Julia said:

Can't help feeling somewhat amused at Mr McCain's call for a pause in the election campaign to "sort things out in Washington". "Not a time for politics" he said. "And let's cancel the debate. Much more important things to be done."

Don't suppose he's feeling a mite nervous about the debate and - under the guise of sincere patriotism and selflessness - making one of the biggest political gestures of the campaign.

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Appears to be running scared, the debate could have been a great opportunity to push his case.

Letterman spitting the dummy over JMc not appearing on his show will be to McCain's advantage in the long run.

Letterman's viewers are committed Dems and this sort of attack against someone who actually fought for his country will backfire on Obama.

gg

Green08 said:

Doris I heard in CNBC last night it was 55% of Americians were against the bailout. Do we have figures for the rest of the world?

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Thanks Green08 and 2020. I was quoting the source of that info.

It would be interesting to see worldwide figures as this would show public attitudes and warn their governments. Oops... too late for Oz.

Julia said:

Can't help feeling somewhat amused at Mr McCain's call for a pause in the election campaign to "sort things out in Washington". "Not a time for politics" he said. "And let's cancel the debate. Much more important things to be done."

Don't suppose he's feeling a mite nervous about the debate and - under the guise of sincere patriotism and selflessness - making one of the biggest political gestures of the campaign.

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How politically facetious you are Julia! Well done!

From the WSJ today:
(So good to see they view McCain's action with their eyes open. Even if Murdoch votes Obama!)

Sen. McCain's decision to rush to Washington for bailout negotiations, to suspend his campaign, and to issue a bipartisan statement with Barack Obama, has been spun by his team as an example of putting "country first."

Out in the real world -- that is, everywhere other than in Washington -- the view may be different. The nation is in the middle of a financial meltdown. Voters want to know how, why and what the presidential candidates propose to fix it.

What they've instead seen from Mr. McCain is alternating anger and vagueness, capped this week by an impulsive call to delay the first presidential debate. He wants to portray all this as rising above politics. It could look instead as though he's trying to escape it.

What makes this move so risky is that it potentially undermines Mr. McCain's biggest strengths: his experience and judgment. On Iraq, on Georgia and other national security issues, the GOP candidate's merit was foresight and boldness. What aided him throughout was a conscious decision to put principles ahead of politics ("I'd rather lose an election than a war"). This financial mess was an opportunity for him to demonstrate similar leadership, and put to rest doubts about his economic sensibilities.

Instead, Mr. McCain's campaign appears to have deliberately chosen to view this crisis through a narrow lens of presidential vote-getting. How else to explain the past two weeks?

This crisis has thrust Mr. McCain back in the limelight, and reminded conservatives he's at the top of the ticket -- not Mrs. Palin. The base's longtime worry about Mr. McCain has been his economic instincts. That worry has been renewed.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122238645982877051.html

Had to laugh at Letterman tonight:

John McCain wants to put off his debate until after the bailout.

Sarah Palin wants to put off her debate until after the election. lol...


Some excerpts of past debates to compensate in case McCain's a no-show:

Are JFK's and Reagan's comments/questions topical today? Bush... well.

McCain will be trying out the seat in the oval office.

noirua said:

McCain will be trying out the seat in the oval office.

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It might be his only chance.

Looks like SuperMac's ride to the rescue didn't work!

From a guest blogger on LA Times...

"Clearly McCain's gambit is political, but I think it's bad politics. I actually think a foreign-policy debate was the only hope McCain had for taking back momentum after a week in which his lifelong devotion to corporate deregulation caught up with him, despite his lying about it.

"McCain campaign czar Steve Schmidt apparently thinks calling on Obama to cancel the debate is another big game-changing gambit, à la the Palin choice. But I think Americans will see it for what it is, a political stunt. It makes McCain look cowardly, like he's not ready to mix it up with Obama, and like he's hiding from the perilous economic developments of the last few weeks."

From some bloggers in reaction:

* McCain is playing the expectations game. Of course he's going to show up, and when he does, if he does well, his spinners will be all "Look at how well he did when he didn't even prepare. That’s leadership."

Meanwhile, if he does badly it'll be "Of course Obama was more polished he's spent the past week preparing."
It's all just a cheap ploy.

*Shame on John McCain for letting Steve Schmidt goad him into this Rovian "suspend my campaign" gambit. It's a classic case of double speak -- no aspect of the McCain campaign has been suspended, except for the debate, and that tells us a lot about Steve Schmidt's confidence in his candidate, and how far McCain has devolved from his "straight talk" days.

What I suspected:

*It emerged in the White House briefing today that McCain called Bush and asked him to initiate a meeting today at 4 pm at the White House, putatively for him to "deal with" the crisis.

That is, McCain asked Bush to help him create an trifecta: To try to lend some credence to McCain's desperate assertion that a suspension of his campaign is necessary, in effect either avoiding a debate in which he would face critical questions about his stance on the economy or marching in claiming "victory"; attempting to co opt the financial crisis thereby trying to put an end to his plummeting in the polls created by his flailing positions on the economy--perhaps best reflected by his statement days ago that the "fundamentals of the economy are strong"; and perhaps buying more time for Sarah Palin after her embarrassing photo op at the UN yesterday, by moving her debate forward as well.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/09/debate-mccain.html

Whathe! What a surprise!

John McCain will attend presidential debate

The Republican candidate says progress has been made on a measure to solve the financial crisis, allowing him to take part in the Mississippi face-off with Barack Obama.

I ask you... who in their right mind would believe this hyperbole!


The McCain campaign is resuming all activities. ... they never stopped them!


John McCain’s campaign announced that the Republican candidate will participate in tonight’s presidential debate with Democratic rival Barack Obama, and issued a statement on the negotiations over the financial rescue plan.


Statement By McCain Campaign On Negotiations:

John McCain’s decision to suspend his campaign was made in the hopes that politics could be set aside to address our economic crisis.

In response, Americans saw a familiar spectacle in Washington. At a moment of crisis that threatened the economic security of American families, Washington played the blame game rather than work together to find a solution that would avert a collapse of financial markets without squandering hundreds of billions of taxpayers’ money to bailout bankers and brokers who bet their fortunes on unsafe lending practices.

Both parties in both houses of Congress and the administration needed to come together to find a solution that would deserve the trust of the American people. And while there were attempts to do that, much of yesterday was spent fighting over who would get the credit for a deal and who would get the blame for failure. There was no deal or offer yesterday that had a majority of support in Congress. There was no deal yesterday that included adequate protections for the taxpayers. It is not enough to cut deals behind closed doors and then try to force it on the rest of Congress ”” especially when it amounts to thousands of dollars for every American family.

The difference between Barack Obama and John McCain was apparent during the White House meeting yesterday where Barack Obama’s priority was political posturing in his opening monologue defending the package as it stands. John McCain listened to all sides so he could help focus the debate on finding a bipartisan resolution that is in the interest of taxpayers and homeowners. The Democratic interests stood together in opposition to an agreement that would accommodate additional taxpayer protections.

Senator McCain has spent the morning talking to members of the Administration, members of the Senate, and members of the House. He is optimistic that there has been significant progress toward a bipartisan agreement now that there is a framework for all parties to be represented in negotiations, including Representative Blunt as a designated negotiator for House Republicans.

The McCain campaign is resuming all activities and the Senator will travel to the debate this afternoon. Following the debate, he will return to Washington to ensure that all voices and interests are represented in the final agreement, especially those of taxpayers and homeowners.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/09/26/mccain-campaigns-statement-on-bailout-negotiations/

Doris said:

Whathe! What a surprise!

John McCain will attend presidential debate

The Republican candidate says progress has been made on a measure to solve the financial crisis, allowing him to take part in the Mississippi face-off with Barack Obama.

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Well done John McCain, without you this could not have been achieved. Bit of help behind the scenes, no doubt, from Alaska.

Doris said:

Looks like SuperMac's ride to the rescue didn't work!

McCain asked Bush to help him create a trifecta: To try to lend some credence to McCain's desperate assertion that a suspension of his campaign is necessary, in effect either avoiding a debate in which he would face critical questions about his stance on the economy or marching in claiming "victory";

attempting to co opt the financial crisis thereby trying to put an end to his plummeting in the polls created by his flailing positions on the economy--perhaps best reflected by his statement days ago that the "fundamentals of the economy are strong";

and perhaps buying more time for Sarah Palin after her embarrassing photo op at the UN yesterday, by moving her debate forward as well.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/09/debate-mccain.html

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The trifecta:

1. marching in claiming "victory" ... didn't he just do a lot of yelling at that meeting?

2. attempting to co opt the financial crisis thereby trying to put an end to his plummeting in the polls created by his flailing positions on the economy.

3. Will a crisis arise so Palin's debate is postponed? Would they dare... now?