September 24, 2008

"I am calling on the president to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress," says McCain.

This is, I think, a smart demonstration of leadership. McCain is suspending his campaign and seeking a postponement of the debate that is scheduled for this Friday.

Meanwhile, speaking of leadership, where's our incredible shrinking president, Mr. Bush?

UPDATE: Obama says that "there are times for politics and there are times to rise above politics and do what’s right," but now is not the time to cancel the debate. "This is exactly the time when people need to hear from the candidates." And: "Part of the president’s job is to deal with more than one thing at once. In my mind it’s more important than ever."

I suppose Obama couldn't very well follow McCain's lead. In fact, if McCain had really been serious about this, he should have worked it out with Obama in private, so that the two men could make a joint announcement. McCain went for political theatrics, and I guess he can use it against Obama now, which was probably the point, but Obama's reaction was so predictable that McCain's show of statesmanship was entirely bogus, so I will be impervious to that rhetoric.

411 comments:

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former law student said...

You left out the part that Davis left his former firm in 2006 and hasn't received a dime from it since then.

Really? He should tell the State of Virginia, then. Because last October, Davis told them he was an officer/director of Davis Manafort, Inc.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/majikthise/2885520247/


http://www.flickr.com/photos/majikthise/2885520247/

former law student said...

When I first heard that McCain was seizing the excuse of the economic crisis to postpone the debate, I immediately thought that he needed more time to prepare. It was too much like a procrastinating student thanking God for the gift of a traffic-paralyzing snowfall on the day the term projects are due.

No shame in that, really -- he's not as flexible as he used to be, and needs to focus on one thing at a time.

Someone more conversant with modern technology would have suggested being conferenced in Friday from the debate site, to participate in the Senate discussion.

On a sidenote, "Concerned Citizen" seems to have copied Victoria's exact posting style.

Revenant said...

When I first heard that McCain was seizing the excuse of the economic crisis to postpone the debate, I immediately thought that he needed more time to prepare.

That's because you're not very bright.

Fletch said...

Mad Man(3:44 PM)

Listen to what Senators Dodd and Shelby have said in the past week.

Sen. Christopher Dodd?

Is that the same Sen. Dodd who is the number one recipient of the most Fannie/Freddie money of any member in either House of Congress during the last ten years- and who also received a favorable deal on his "insider" mortgage from Andrew Mozillo at Countrywide Mortgage?

That Sen. Dodd?

Run with it! Please!

Peter Hoh said...

Well, I slogged through the first 250 comments. Predictable, but bold statements from many regular commenters. Frankly, the thread got a little boring.

Once the dust settles, hoo boy! This thread has the potential to be pretty amusing.

Please please please don't let anyone delete their comments from this thread.

markg8 said...

McCain wasn't too busy to go on CBS News with Katie Couric last night. He wants to push tomorrow night's debate to next week and cancel the VP debate entirely because he knows if the public finds out just how ill prepared and downright weird Sarah Palin is he'll lose by 20%.

What does he want to rush back to DC for? To save the economy? Who is he kidding? That's a topic he's admitted and has amply shown he knows little about. His economic policy is the same kind of radical deregulatory nonsense that got us into this mess in the first place. Just ask Phil Gramm, he wrote it. The bailout deal is 98% done anyway and if Bush didn't invite him to the White House he'd be cooling his heels at one of his many houses with nothing to do. You can be sure there won't be any hugs for the cameras with Dubya this time.

Mavericky McCain isn't going to sway any votes in the House or Senate. He's built that image of his by telling off both Republican and Democratic politicians, vowing to make them famous for daring to bring the same kind of federal spending back to their states that has made crooks like Stevens, Young and yes, Sarah Palin so popular in Alaska. On top of that he's shown up less in the senate over the last two years than anyone but Tim Johnson, the guy who had the stroke.

This stunt has more to do with his 180 degree flip flop from being "the great deregulator" to acting like he's Huey Long over the last week. It seems to be a pattern: make a giant grandstanding gesture hoping voters will ignore the scandals swirling around his advisers and running mate, his disgusting dishonest smears and his devastating gaffes. Hurricane Ike is coming? Cancel the first day of the convention! Conveniently that was the day Bush and Cheney were supposed to speak. Russia attacks Georgia? We're all Georgians now! Palin even suggested it may be necessary to start a shooting war with Russia over it. Wall St. is imploding and his "fundamentally strong economy" is ready to collapse? The New York Times isn't fair!

If McCain wants to be president in 4 months he'd better start making his case to the American people instead of flailing around with one excuse after another for not answering questions or allowing his running mate to answer them either. The debate tomorrow night should go on. If McCain isn't up to it he can send Palin.

Roger J. said...

I cant believe that anyone actually thinks debates are important. They are poltical theater and serve only to judge how deftly the candidates can take the question and morph it into a platform for their memorized stump speech. If that is your idea of political discourse, I would rethink it. We are most definitely not talking Lincoln-Douglas stuff here.

former law student said...

That's because you're not very bright.

McCain has a pattern of blowing off his homework. McCain's Academy classmates report that McCain routinely blew off homework for his challenging classes, like math and engineering, preferring his fluff classes, like English.

Plus McCain lied about cancelling his Letterman appearance to fly to Washington. From eonline.com:

Sen. McCain was at that very moment not racing to the airport.

He was being interviewed by Letterman's CBS colleague Katie Couric. Letterman then proceeds to broadcast the live feed of the interview on his show.


Why did McCain dis Letterman in such a manner? Letterman has had him on eight times, and even let McCain announce he was running for President on his show.

Once again, the Straight Talk Express has become the BS Bus.

former law student said...

I cant believe that anyone actually thinks debates are important.

Did you forget that McCain guy? He wanted to have a debate a week, and indicated that his opponent was Little Master Pissy Pants for declining his kind offer.

Roberto said...

Sunday: McCain Endorses Bailout...

Tuesday: McCain Says He Hasn't Actually Read Bailout Plan...

Wednesday: Obama Leads In Polls, McCain "Suspends" Campaign To Focus Exclusively On Bailout...

Then Tapes Interview With Katie Couric...

Wednesday Night: Dems Say They've Already Reached Deal On Bailout

Revenant said...

McCain has a pattern of blowing off his homework. McCain's Academy classmates report that [blah blah blah]

McCain's a foreign policy expert, shit for brains. He doesn't need to do "homework" on this subject. That's why, like I pointed out, only a less than intelligent individual would think McCain was reluctant to debate Obama on foreign policy.

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