WASHINGTON - Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain jolted the 2008 race Wednesday by saying he’d suspend his campaign and come to the Capitol to help pass a bill to rescue the nation’s financial sector.
He also called for a postponement of the debate with his Democratic opponent Sen. Barack Obama, set for Friday night.
You know how that's going to be spun against him? It's going to be painted as giving up.
We just witnessed Barack Obama winning the Presidency, folks. You don't suspend a campaign a scant month before the election. Not when you're the Republican candidate. Not when the media is completely and unabashedly in the hip pocket of your opponent. McCain just had his "tank" moment, I fear.
Get ready for Jimmy Carter, Part II.
That is all.
15 comments:
Or he just won by showing he can act when there is a problem and does not sit around waiting for folks to tell him what to do. He put the country first while Obama sat around waiting.
Depending on how this plays he either won or lost with this move
JD,
I think that's honestly what McCain was doing - he really feels that this is what's best to do for the country right now.
HOWEVER... It's going to be used as a political cudgel with which to beat him right out of the race.
The slings and arrows are already falling - Letterman (who a lot of people get their political information from, studies have shown) was cracking that McCain wouldn't have to rush back to DC if he hadn't taken two years off to run for President.
(No idea, of course, how he could say this with a straight face considering that: a. Obamessiah has done the exact same thing; and b. McCain had decades of experience in the Senate before he ran whereas Barry had, what, a year?)
This will be used against McCain in a big way. Look for the words "Keating Five" to resurface.
President Obama.
Get used to it.
Better get those Evil Black Rifles now, folks...
Nope.
I'm more in the "jd" camp on this one.
Instead of sitting around blathering about the problem, he's taking some action.
They can spin it like a top, but the man took the proverbial bull by the horns, & there's no getting around that.
I'll bet Oboy's handlers are all "why didn't WE think of that". In the magical world of "O" land, multi-tasking is TALKING about a bunch of things all at once. Mc's political folks are wicked smaht.
Frankly, I find your willing submissiveness a bit disturbing.
'Course, black rifles are always good anyways...
It would have been a Obama plus, *if* Big Dog hadn't helped McCain out and called O to the Whitehouse this morning. If a deal is hammered out in the next day or so, it looks VERY much like McCain was the one that forced it to happen. Whether you believe the bailout is necessary or not is not the issue (and I certainly appreciate the concerns of many of my fellows on the right, but I am just not seeing another way that doesn't result in a depression).
"Country First", the commercials write themselves.
You give up too easy, Jay.
Just read this....I like it.
thelibertysphere.blogspot.com
Barack Obama refuses to delay Friday night's debate with John McCain because 'a President needs to be able to do more than one thing at a time.'
Oh come off it, you imbecile. Stop with the B.S., Barack.
This isn't about being able to do more than one thing at a time, and you know it.
This is about dealing with a very real crisis for the average American citizen. You are a U.S. Senator as is John McCain. Your ass needs to be in the Senate helping to hammer out a plan to address the crisis on Wall Street so that we can restore consumer confidence.
You can debate any time between now and the election. Hell, you can even debate Saturday, Sunday, Monday, or any time, anywhere. But McCain wants a solution hammered out before a debate, and if you were half the American you claim to be, you would too.
Thus, my question to you, Barack, is that since you refused to resign your Senate seat when you ran for President, why are you so unwilling to do the work of a Senator even as you run for President? Can't you do 2 things at a time?
Here's the thing, folks.
I'm looking at this from a "winning the election" standpoint.
Right now, McCain should be HAMMERING Obama on Obama's lack of experience.
He should be DOUBLING his as campaign to get the word out about the donations Fannie Mae made to Obama and Biden.
McCain should be PLASTERING Jim Johnson's name and his affiliation with Obama all over the news.
Instead, he suspends all campaigning.
Now, I hadn't heard that Big Dog (I'm guessing Bill Clinton) had brokered a deal. If that's the case, McCain may be a world-class poker player.
My fear, though, is that he's another run-of-the-mill GOP'er who doesn't *get* the political process.
Bob Dole should have CRUSHED Bill Clinton in 1996. But he took the high road and ran a particularly awful campaign.
I'm afraid that's what we're seeing now - McCain taking the high road and losing the election.
Once again, don't get me wrong. I applaud McCain for actually DOING HIS JOB. I'm just pissed that it's going to give Obama that much more of an edge.
Let's also not pretend here that the media isn't doing it's damnedest to pin this entire debaucle on the GOP... It's "Bush's Recession" and McCain is "Bush's Third Term". Never mind that the biggest recipients of Fannie Mae/Freddy Mac campaign contributions were Democrats - including Chris "FUCKING HYPOCRITE" Dodd, who is now getting tons of air time blaming the Republicans for this mess.
And the media is a willing accomplice.
I wish I could have faith. But I remember all too well the Clinton years, where style trumped substance and the media made kings...
I think he will use this against Obama after it is done, say next week. . .
He can then hit him with not acting, or reacting too slow, or not taking things seriously or maybe not seeing how serious it was or not doing his job as Senator so how can he be POTUS. . . Lots to work with here now. . . McCain needs to make himself into the guy that led the charge to fix it and saved the USA. . .
Too bad Bush had to invite both of them to the White House on it, that helps Obama but they would have been all over Bush if he just asked McCain.
I will stand with my first comment, this will either make or brake McCain, it is all in how he plays it going forward. . . if done right, he can CRUSH Obama with it. . . .
including Chris "FUCKING HYPOCRITE" Dodd, who is now getting tons of air time blaming the Republicans for this mess.
And the media is a willing accomplice.
Any media person who interviews Chris Dodd about this crisis but doesn't bring up Countrywide is DEAD to me.
JD hit the nail right on the head.
Of course the media and pundits are going to try to downplay this and try to spin it in Obama's favor.
And they may actually succeed for a few days.
But in a couple of weeks, after the jokes get stale, McCain is going to be able to say "we had a crisis and I did something...where was Obama? On the campaign trail debating with himself." It does nothing more than reinforce Obama's image as an power-hungry elitist.
McCain's playing it exactly right.
That's assuming that McCain has the political sense to USE this material.
So far, I haven't seen a lot of swinging from the McCain campaign.
Time will tell. Believe me, I hope you guys are right. I've just seen too many campaigns where the Republican candidate rolled over and died to have a lot of hope...
"That's assuming that McCain has the political sense to USE this material."
McCain stirred things up,got the base charged up, and threw the Obama campaign off balance by picking Palin. He's a better politician than you give him credit for. Frankly, I don't think this is about McCain putting his country first, although it sure will look like that when all is said and done. I think this is a gamble, but in retrospect it will be a stunningly brilliant campaign move.
Don't be too sure...
Obama doesn't concede. And McCain gets to tout that my opponent puts elections before the People.
Just a couple of days ago the fundamentals of the economy were sound.
Now we must drop everything and save the country!
Anybody know when the last time McCain voted on anything or did anything at all in Washington was?
The guy is brain dead. He didn't suspend anything. He doesn't know what he is doing or when he is supposed to do it.
If it weren't so damn funny it would be sad.
In some of my more anti-government moments I wish he and pretty Ms. Palin would win.
It would be four years of comedy gold.
Keating Five shouldn't have to resurface. It is what you should think about everytime you see McCain discuss a financial crisis.
Think about the TV ad that will start running in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Minnesota in about 3 weeks:
- Pic of Dem Sen Dodd with a listing of how much $$ he accepted from Fannie Mae
- Pic of Dem Sen Obama with a listing of how much $$ he accepted from Fannie Mae
- Graphic of how bad the financial meltdown is.
- Clip of McCain suspending his campaign to roll up his sleeves and fix the problem
- Clip of Sen Obama saying whatever stupid "Nah, we don't need to" sort of thing
- End tag line along lines of "Who's going to make change, and who just wants to talk about change?"
I think that Obama's running a really, really stupid campaign, and gives more ammunition to the McCain camp every day.
Joe Biden gives 'em more ammunition every hour, it seems.
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