McCain asks that Friday debate be postponed to focus on financial crisis

[JMS]

Then why not suspend the campaign now? Why is Friday the Magic Day?

McCain has already suspended his campagn and is returning to Washington. He has also called to suspend the debate on friday. I read an article which said Obama is spending three days preparing for the debates. Figure if McCain were going to participate he would do something similar. which would mean they would be out of action until Friday if the debates go on.

I don't think McCain is scared of Obama. I think Obama has openned up a 9pt lead on McCain based on this bail out, fall out. I think this is a way to try to change the game, and get McCain back on top. Stop the campagne which he is loosing of late. Start the political activism which he might be able to win.

[Heisenberg]

I guess I see why you are NNT. Also, why do you add "lol" to your posts? Are those jokes you wrote in there? Are you Jimmy Fallon? Are looking at the camera and laughing at your own delivery? Does it feel lonely being the only one laughing?

Check out the "Obama racist fliers" thread.

[Hooper]

Since when does McCain care about showing up for anything?

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/

"Of all Senators, John McCain has been the most absent. There have been 643 votes taken in the current Senate session: McCain has missed 412 of them. McCain has not voted in the Senate since April 8th. Since March, he has missed 109 of the last 110 votes."

[JMS]

John McCain is one out of 100 Senators. He has areas of expertise, economics is not one of them.

Good point. Accurate point. McCain himself has said as much.

On the other hand McCain is the chairman of the commerse comitee and McCain and Obama could be instrumental in getting a deal done..

Either way your first point was right. If McCain wasn't playing politics on this he would have issued the statement together. He is getting hammered, as you say in the polls and he does want to shake up the race. It's a gamble but what does he have to loose?

[Cooked Crack]

Obama is speaking now.

[JMS]

Since when does McCain care about showing up for anything?

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/

"Of all Senators, John McCain has been the most absent. There have been 643 votes taken in the current Senate session: McCain has missed 412 of them. McCain has not voted in the Senate since April 8th. Since March, he has missed 109 of the last 110 votes."

Well , McCain has been a little busy for the last two years.. I'll bet Obama's numbers are about equally as bad.

[prophet]

I think this move is smart. He looks presidential in this move. I think this will end up helping him.

:2cents:

[DjTj]

Obviously coming from Bush it has a different impact (as your aside suggests.)

I agree that saying those things doesn't accomplish anything. That was kind of my point.

I don't know that we're not there yet, honestly. According to the people who know about these things, a bill needed to be passed yesterday. Perhaps this is one of those times when the slow methodical plodding of our legislative process needs a kick in the rear. And perhaps McCain has the boots for the job.

Well, according to Paulson, we needed to pass a bill yesterday. We also had to destroy Iraq's WMD's in the fall of 2002. As far as I can tell, Y2K has passed and we're still here.

I don't doubt that McCain had good intentions when proposing to suspend the debate, but I guess I wish that McCain would make it more clear what he is suspending his campaign to do exactly. McCain and Obama are supposed to issue some kind of joint statement outlining some policies, and that would be a lot more helpful than declaring that they're going to Washington.

It's unorthodox which I suppose is McCain's signature maverick move, but I would have loved to have seen some kind of concrete plan ... making abstract promises makes it look like a political calculation rather than a genuine decision.

[JMS]

I think this move is smart. He looks presidential in this move. I think this will end up helping him.

:2cents:

If they get a deal done, and If McCain was seen to be helpful in getting that deal done.

The house and senate are still majority Democrat, they could easily block a deal, and could just as easily deny McCain credit for a deal.

This was a risky move by McCain which done unilaterally has increased the partisan devide, and increased the politics of this deal. This could go either way, but McCain had to do something cause he was getting the crap kicked out of him over the econmy.

[Cooked Crack]

On the other hand McCain is the chairman of the commerse comitee and McCain and Obama could be instrumental in getting a deal done..

Hasn't been a chairman since 2005.

[Tulane Skins Fan]

Obama is speaking now.

and?

[karmacop]

On the other hand McCain is the chairman of the commerse comitee

Not quite accurate. He's on the Commerce Committee, but he's not the Chairman or even the ranking GOP member. And the Commerce Committee is not the one involved here -- it's the Banking Committee, of which McCain is not a member. (Obama isn't either).

[JMS]

Hasn't been a chairman since 2005.

Was chairman. Sorry.. The Chairmanships go to the party in the majority; so of coarse McCain isn't the current chairman. But he was charman for the majority of the 12 years the GOP had the majority in the senate.. about a decade?

As for this is a banking comitte issue. The entire reason to bail out the banks including the foreign banks is because of the impact on the economy; and commerse.... I'm not saying McCain is an economic genus here. I'm saying he's the leader of his party and could be important in striking a deal. McCain should have some gravatos with his party members and should understand what's at stake.

To bad he made this a political move by announcing it alone rather than a joint press conference with Obama.

[DarrellsMyHero28]

Was chairman? For almost a decade?

Doesn't matter, this isn't a Commerce Committee issue, its banking.

[karmacop]

Here's the latest McCain campaign lawn sign:

[Cooked Crack]

Was chairman. Sorry.. The Chairmanships go to the party in the majority; so of coarse McCain isn't the current chairman. But he was charman for the majority of the 12 years the GOP had the majority in the senate.. about a decade?

As for this is a banking comitte issue. The entire reason to bail out the banks including the foreign banks is because of the impact on the economy; and commerse.... I'm not saying McCain is an economic genus here. I'm saying he's the leader of his party and could be important in striking a deal. McCain should have some gravatos with his party members and should understand what's at stake.

To bad he made this a political move by announcing it alone rather than a joint press conference with Obama.

Here's what the committee he's on does.

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, to which committee shall be referred all proposed legislation, messages, petitions, memorials, and other matters relating to the following subjects:

1. Coast Guard.

2. Coastal zone management.

3. Communications.

4. Highway safety.

5. Inland waterways, except construction.

6. Interstate commerce.

7. Marine and ocean navigation, safety, and transportation, including navigational aspects of deepwater ports.

8. Marine fisheries.

9. Merchant marine and navigation.

10. Nonmilitary aeronautical and space sciences.

11. Oceans, weather, and atmospheric activities.

12. Panama Canal and interoceanic canals generally, except as provided in subparagraph ©.

13. Regulation of consumer products and services, including testing related to toxic substances, other than pesticides, and except for credit, financial services, and housing.

14. Regulation of interstate common carriers, including railroads, buses, trucks, vessels, pipelines, and civil aviation.

15. Science, engineering, and technology research and development and policy.

16. Sports.

17. Standards and measurement.

18. Transportation.

19. Transportation and commerce aspects of Outer Continental Shelf lands.

[DjTj]

Was chairman. Sorry.. The Chairmanships go to the party in the majority; so of coarse McCain isn't the current chairman. But he was charman for the majority of the 12 years the GOP had the majority in the senate.. about a decade?

As for this is a banking comitte issue. The entire reason to bail out the banks including the foreign banks is because of the impact on the economy; and commerse.... I'm not saying McCain is an economic genus here. I'm saying he's the leader of his party and could be important in striking a deal.

To bad he made this a political move by announcing it alone rather than a joint press conference with Obama.

The Commerce Committee (full name "Commerce, Science, and Transportation") is actually more about regulating the Coast Guard and highways and stuff rather than financial issues.

http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=About.Jurisdiction

It is a good point that if McCain really wanted to help broker a compromise, he would have at least waited to issue a joint statement with Obama.

[Midnight Judges]

Looks like the maverick decided to "cut and run".

No no no! It's a "time horizon."

[alexey]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/09/mccain_suspends_campaign.html?hpid=topnews

"There are times for politics and then there are times to rise above politics and do what's right for our country," said Obama. "This is one of those times."

He added, however, that he had no plans to re-schedule Friday night's presidential debate in Oxford, Mississippi as McCain had proposed in announcing the suspension of his campaign.

"It's my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who in approximately 40 days will be responsible for dealing with this mess," said Obama. "Part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once."

It would be interesting if the Obama campaign simply doesn't react to this, i.e. does not say "let's debate" or "let's not" but simply says "as far as we know the debate was not rescheduled"

[Burgold]

Okay, here's my take...

McCain has faced two crises in the campaign so far, or campalin as Truman so eloquently coined yesterday. The first was the hurricane and the second is this economic crisis. In both situations he decided to cancel. Now, on the one hand you say, "That's great! He's got his priorities straight," but on the other hand you say...

This is time of crisis and this is a time when we need our leaders to step forward and inspire and guide us... not shrink into the corners. We need our leaders to explain the situation, come up with a plan, and rally the people. McCain is doing what a great Senator needs to do. He is doing the opposite of what a great President needs to do.

A President needs to be out front and be the calm, iron hand steering the ship and not the man who retreats below decks at the first sign of storm.

[Going Commando]

There is no guarantee the election will happen. Bush has the authority to declare an emergency and postpone the election.

Pretty sure Bush can't stop the election from happening. That sounds like being a dictator and I thought we had some institutional checks against that sort of thing happening.

[JMS]

There is no guarantee the election will happen. Bush has the authority to declare an emergency and postpone the election.

Pretty sure Bush can't stop the election from happening. That sounds like being a dictator and I thought we had some institutional checks against that sort of thing happening.

I think you are both wrong. I think this is a total legacy move on Bush's part. Bush has decided that he can't be the greatest President in the time remaining. I think he's therefore decided to put his efforts in becoming the last President. .

Truthfully though, the country is leaderless. The void of the Presidency in the last weeks of a very unpopular presidency might make this economic bail out impossible for either party to get behind. If the President wasn't such an empty shirt which both parties have been trying to avoid associating with; He is likely the one officer which could instill some disipline on this process. Tell McCain to stay away, while giving him some political cover. Or Call Obama in also giving him political cover. Strong leadership and achieving bipartisan consensus is just not Bush's strong suit. He's addressing the nation tonight so I guess we should listen to what he has to say.

Here is wishing him luck, cause the country needs him.

[zoony]

Obama..."I have spent alot of money covering up my islamic muslim extremism ties to terrorism...From William Ayers,to Rev. Wright...I cannot afford to take time off as I have spent the last few days in florida going over my speech debate on Foreign affairs which I have little knowledge of due to my lack of experience"....Being the President is more important than anything in the world from our economy to Russia moving Battleships to the carribean....I have came along ways from my radical muslim left views and I just can't afford to risk any possible debate that will help me,even though I do get to delay any kind of debate with Mccain without a telepromter...So now I need to twist as many lies as I can to help my campaign so the idiot left wing nutbags will stay on my side..."

Now that is what Obama should say...

Maybe we can get Biden to say it?lol

Your post is the very definition of trolling. Something that we, as a staff, have repeatedly warned ES members on over the past few months, especially in the Tailgate. Now- for many ES members, this post might just be a warning. Or maybe asking for a bit of clarification. But in studying your user notes, it's very clear where that will end up. You're not getting it.

I think we've had enough from Michael 33 on extremeskins.com. If you'd like to discuss why you can no longer post on extremeskins, feel free to send me an email. Or not.

[Larry]

McCain has already suspended his campagn and is returning to Washington.

From the OP:

In a statement, McCain says he will stop campaigning after addressing former President Bill Clinton's Global Initiative session on Thursday and return to Washington to focus on the nation's financial problems.

[jbooma]

Why is everyone making a big deal about this???

It is funny some people have posted in the past screaming about how our politicians are not worrying about their dayjob just their next. The minute one of them says I would rather stop campaigning to do my job people freak.

Well which one do you want, do you want them to do their job, or worry about their next one.

Honestly if this is as big of a deal as everyone is saying then EVERYONE needs to be in DC to get something done. Who honestly cares if it is a political move, they are POLITICIANS, everything they do is political