Posted by: Sister Toldjah on September 24, 2008 at 3:44 pm
He’s suspended his campaign as well. The rationale being that he thinks they both should be putting their energies towards resolving the economic issues that have blown up the last couple of weeks. Team Barry has said “no” … so far. Hot Air has all the details and updates.
Hmm. I’m not sure what to think of this tactic. I’m inclined to say “huh?” especially considering the Friday debate will play to his strengths. But in the minds of the McCain camp, they may be thinking that this week with everything going on that no one will care. What say you?
Update – 3:48 PM: Interesting:
Obama spokesman Bill Burton emails reporters:
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.
Stay tuned …
Update – 6:30 PM: Obama himself says no – the debates will go on. After listening to his lame response, I’m inclined to support McCain’s call, even though I’m not sure it will help him in the long run.
Some of Mc’s fellow Republicans in Congress made strong cases today why both candidates should play an active role in the bailout legislation, considering one of them is going to be dealing with this issue when they are sworn in.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D), on record as saying he “can’t stand” McCain, told Mc to stay out of the Senate today, and said that both him and Obama coming back to the Senate would not be helpful.
And to demonstrate Reid’s outright hypocrisy on this issue, we turn to Martin Kady II:
This afternoon, Reid dismissed McCain’s sudden move to parachute in on Washington and help solve the economic crisis.
Let’s compare today’s statement …
“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.”
… With Reid’s statement from July, when Obama showed up for a vote but not McCain (quoted in The Washington Post):
“I should mention how glad my fellow Democrats and I were to have our nominee for president here to vote on these important bills. Senator Obama has come to work and taken tough stands. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Senator McCain,” Reid said. “Perhaps taking tough stands on important issues is not part of Senator McCain’s campaign strategy. Perhaps he’s just too busy on the campaign trail to do his day job.”
Not only that, but the McCain campaign issued this response to Reid’s “don’t come back to Congress” whine:
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.”
John McCormack:
But yesterday, Reid demanded that the White House made sure the legislation had John McCain’s backing, and Reid floated this bogus piece of news clearly intended to force McCain’s hand: “I got some good news in the last hour or so … it appears that Sen. McCain is going to come out for this.” McCain flatly denied that he had endorsed the plan.
So Harry Reid says that it’s essential that John McCain backs legislation designed to avert the greatest economic meltdown since the Great Depression. And when McCain says the legislation, in its current form, is not good enough, Reid tells McCain to stay away from Capitol Hill. Who’s playing politics with economic crisis?
Politically, it’s a good move, because inviting Obama to do the same puts him in a bind. If he refuses, then the point can be made that he’s more interested in his personal future than the future of the nation’s economy. If he agrees, then the point is that McCain is the leader and Obama a follower – the same way events unfolded after the invasion of Georgia.
As for what comes out of this session…that’s a different story. If McCain yields to his get-along-with-the-Democrats urges and crafts something in conjunction with the likes of Ted Kennedy, then the mess will only be papered over and the long-term effects on the economy will not be good.
Hmm! Maybe I’m cynical, but I’m inclined to think this is a gimmick to make McCain look presidential in a time of crisis. If so, it might work, but for the time being the electorate is, quite wrongly, convinced that the Republicans are responsible for the financial mess. The McCain camp needs to convince them that the opposite is the case. This latest tactic is a gamble, like picking Sarah Palin as his running mate. That one paid off. We’ll see whether this one does, or sinks him. I pray the former is the case, but we’ll see.
I checked back in to see because I was curious how McCain supporters see this move. I also would be curious to see how people who are not politically-inclined see this move (but they don’t gather in one place, or make blogs about politics….)
I just think it sounds… counterproductive. I would think having a presidential candidate embroiled in a complicated bail-out scheme would only further complicate what was said, or what was accomplished, and who is responsible for those accomplishments (or failures)
Initially, I think it could be a plus, making him look like he’s (more) focused on the economy. Over the long term, getting involved could be bad for both candidates… tying them to a bailout that may or may not look successful in November.
Of course, Harry Reid has already asked McCain not to do this; so Maybe this will make McCain look like he’s vollunteering without having to get involved…. I dunno. Frankly, this seems like an unprecedented move, and I have no idea what comes next.
I don’t know whether I can be called a “McCain supporter,” since I’m only voting for him because he’s on Palin’s ticket, but I really don’t see this as a smart move. The financial “crisis” certainly isn’t going to be resolved between now and whenever the heck they decide to have the debate, so they might as well either have this one as scheduled, or cancel them all.
And with the current momentum, canceling debates would be bad for the McCain camp.
Sen. McCodger either got bad advice, or is ignoring good advice. IMO.
(Full disclosure: Any suggestions I would have made to McCain prior to this point have not borne out very well.)
If this were Obama suggesting this, I’d view it as a cynical piece of campaigning. Just a way to get attention for voting “present” again. With McCain, I’m not so sure. It is an interesting move viewed solely from the standpoint of political posturing, but with McCain, I have to think it is actually less political and more what he thinks needs to be done in a crisis. Remember that he supported the Surge when it was nearly suicidal to a politician to do so, saying rightly that he’d rather lose an election than lose a war. This is in character for McCain, when the chips are down he has traditionally been less interested in politics than in solving problems, and I think that’s the case here. And I think this is an important enough issue that it’s more important than campaigning.
The govt is asking for permission to spend a record amount of our money to bail out a mess of their own making, we damned well better be sure we don’t saddle ourselves with a crisis worse than this due to the “bailout.” I have little to no confidence in the bailout that’s been proposed and is currently on the table. Too much money, way too little oversight, and way too much institutionalized socialism from the Dems.
Sounds thoroughly nuts to me!
C’mon, this is a great move. I think Reid set McCain up with his invite yesterday, only to dis’ McCain today. What a tool Reid is.
More importantly, every foul up that the Obama campaign has made [like their first derogatory response to new os Palin's VP selection], B.O. blamed it is on his staff. He never takes accountability. So what? B.O. is gonna hang out in Mississippi and let his staff handle things in DC? What happens if they mess up? I know, he’s gonna blame his staff.
Never in my lifetime have we faced such an ominous and destructive economic event like what we’re facing now. I’m not wanting to believe in a candidate who is going to let their second string sit in pulling levers. Our country’s history of greatness is on the ropes, like never before. I want a leader who is in the mix. Not out on the campaign trail playing checkers with the press.
I was on the fence, but now I know McCain is the One, not B.O. McCain is willing to lose it all to save our country.
McCain’s move makes no sense to me. It’s what one would have expected a pol who had been forced into doing a debate he didn’t really want would do.
The Conventional Wisdom is that the debates play to McCain’s strength, especially the first one, which is about foreign affairs; and now he wants to cancel it in order to show up in the Senate . . . and do what?
I don’t get this at all.
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