Maybe I'm grossly misreading this, but I don't think McCain's decision to "suspend" his campaign today self-evidently looks Presidential. It could look Presidential, or it could look like a stunt. Meaning, the way the decision is narrated by the media matters. And when you've lost Kathryn Lopez and David Letterman on the same day, things haven't gone quite to plan.
But really, McCain's problems have nothing to do with returning to Washington for a couple of days and calling on Barack Obama to do the same. That could have been a smart little ploy. Rather, the problem was quite specifically his call to postpone Friday's debate.
Let me digress for a moment. One of the reasons I probably turned out to be a Democrat is because of Ronald Reagan and Bugs Bunny. When I was a kid, once every now and then, they had Bugs Bunny specials scheduled for prime time ... I looked forward to these for weeks. But invariably, invariably! -- or so it seemed when I was six years old -- they'd be preempted by Ronald Reagan giving a speech. I was sure what Mr. Reagan was saying was very important ... but I absolutely hated him as a result.
Americans feel about the debates they way I felt about Bugs Bunny. The cumulative audience between the three Presidential debates will likely significantly exceed that of the Super Bowl. They like watching them, and look forward to them. If McCain denies them that pleasure, they are likely to be angry with him, perhaps in ways they have difficulty expressing.
*-*
Imagine instead if McCain had called on Obama to return to Washington, and also called on him to meet him at Georgetown University on Friday night for a "civil discussion" (a.k.a. a High Noon showdown) on leading America's economy forward. That could have been brilliant. Obama would probably have had to agree to the change of venue and subject matter. McCain would have needed to follow-through by actually winning the debate, but if he had, that would almost certainly have been a game-changer. But that's not what McCain did.
9.25.2008
Remains Of The Day
@ 1:48 AM
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269 comments
No way, no how, no bailout.
Make your own & post it on the web.
I had the same experience with Jimmy Carter canceling Charlie Brown Christmas Specials, Thanksgiving Specials, Halloween Specials.... I was 5, and I hated him for it! And have talked about it since! It didn't keep me from being a democrat eventually, but it may have (along with republican parents) delayed it.
I've been wondering something for a few hours. I wonder if McCain wants people to think the debate might be cancelled so that fewer Americans watch. It's already on a Friday. If chucks of people think it's cancelled, they'll probably be out doing other things and won't stumble across it by accident.
Just thinking...
.....You know what? This is all about the VP debate
The McCain "plan" was to delay the VP debate next friday.......I'm sure of it.......They figured they'd say what they said today (McCain due to crisis suspends campaign.blah, blah) BUT the real reason was to then re-schedule the 1st POTUS debate on the day of the VP debate in order to push that debate further out.....
,.......Because this morning they got a whiff of the awesome foreign policy guy that is Biden....
The Bluff BACK-FIRED...Team McCain was sure that Obama would agree, as he would not wish to appear political during this crisis.
BUT OBAMA DIDN'T BLINK!!!
hahaha
now they are screwed
SvK
I remember Reagan preempting a Disney thing -- Cinerella, I think. Waiting in front of the TV popcorn in hand . . . and he just kept talking and talking. Asshole.
McCain 'suspends' his campaign. And yet, I've seen more new McCain ads in Central Florida tonight that I've seen all week. One in particular playing scary music with images of a mean-looking Obama (who appears to have been digitally shaded darker than the real-life version of the man), immediately followed by a sleeping white baby. Finally ended by three words: "Change Is Coming"
'Suspension of Campaign', indeed.
Hanging with the late night crowd, I see.
I know I canceled my plans for a debate party. If it does go on, I can definitely see it being less watched; if it doesn't go on, we'll be treated to more pictures of Gov. Palin shaking hands with world leaders.
Joy. Just put Ralph Nader on the stage; that'd be fun.
Just Ralph Nader.
Maybe the McCain camp thinks they have the debater who needs less preparation and by making "What are the candidates doing to solve the crisis?" the storyline over the next few days they will seriously cut into Obama's preparation time. When the debate occurs on Friday (as it most likely will) the McCain camp can spin Obama's performance as either "Of course he did this well! He's had the last three days to prepare while McCain has been solving problems in Washington" or "He had three days to prepare and this is all he came up with! McCain is the one who is deft on both foreign policy and the economy--Obama is still learning on the job!"
willhoughteling.blogspot.com
John is running scared...
He handled it all wrong. He is calling to postpone the debates because the situation in DC is so dire...yet he had time to do interviews in CBS news and others.
He is starting to realize that he will be bringing a pocket knife to a gun battle.
The debates are going to be the modern equivalent of the Kennedy-Nixon ugliness. When the American public sees the two of them on stage, they will see McCain as a dinosaur with a nasty disposition.
Obama/Bugs! 08
What would "Make My Day"....is if Obama comes out tomorrow and says...."Ok John let's hold that 1st debate next friday.....but just so Ole Miss Universitry isn't out 5 million bucks (the school where 1st debate is taking place)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/24/ole-miss-officials-debate_n_129057.html
...let's compromise and have the VPs debate this Friday"
Of course Camp McCain will come up with some excuse to avoid this scenario....And everyone will know that they don't believe her to be ready for anything.......
......Thereby reflecting very poorly on McCain's judgement....
REMEMBER...it's not about running against Palin (mistake) ....it's about McCain's reckless judgement of choosing her.
SvK
It's already backfired on McCain. Let's recap, shall we?
McCain: "Sh*tf*ck! The economy is going down the tubes! (Also, I'm losing!) I have to help! Can we do this later?"
Obama: "Uh. I can do both. Why can't you?"
Also, I think just Obama answering people's questions for an hour and a half is something people would watch. How do I know? As part of standard polling, FOX(!) asked people which of they 4 candidates they'd like to go see speak the most. 42% said Obama, McCain was a distant second at 24%.
Palin is considering suspending her campaign too.
I kid you not.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13883.html
That's a great idea. Just offer to flip the VP and Presidential debates. Especially since Palin isn't a member of Congress.
Love to see how they'd react to that one.
What would be the political ramifications of McCain actually sticking to his pledge not to show up Friday? I mean, Obama has already said he will be there so something would go on. It would be completely unprecedented as far as I know. Obama would be standing up there by himself answering questions.
I would think there is no chance of McCain actually pulling a no show because I would think that that image would be an utter catastrophe for him but who the hell knows at this point?
I want a chief executive who can do more than one thing at once - walk and chew gum; go to the Senate if he wants and appear later at the debate on Friday. His proposal to cancel the debate is ludicrous and unnecessary. How about multi tasking? McCain is clearly going to Washington for a photo op in hopes of saving his campaign and clearly not to save the economy. He isn't even a member of any of the Senate subcommittees that have been meeting for the last 5 days on this issue so his arrival will more likely cause turmoil adding the political element that needs to be avoided. With the worst attendance record in the 110th Congress, with his failure to vote on both the Stimulus Package for average Americans and the GI Bill for our veterans, why is he suddenly filled with zeal to return to the Senate at this time? During one of our last, worst crises, Katrina, he was busy celebrating his 69th birthday in Arizona with Bush without a sign of distress or cause for concern over that crises? How could I have ever voted, donated and volunteered for this man in 2000? He is a shadow of what he once was. His "handlers" are calling all the shots now, and he moves submissively toward these disingenuous gambits. On television tonight he looked weary, and I actually felt sorry for him, but then I reconsidered reflecting on his limited world view and where he would take this great country. Comments in both The New York Times and Washington Post are amazingly uniform in strong opposition to this gimmick by McCain.
As a caveat to my previous post, Palin was a 3rd at 15%.
So much for the game changer. I bet the McCain campaign is praying she suspends hers so they don't have to make up excuses about why they're hiding her next to Jimmy Hoffa's body.
Zelbinian said...
As a caveat to my previous post, Palin was a 3rd at 15%.
So much for the game changer. I bet the McCain campaign is praying she suspends hers so they don't have to make up excuses about why they're hiding her next to Jimmy Hoffa's body.
-----------
See my post above. Politico is reporting that they are considering suspending her campaign too.
Yup, yup.
What one political scientist says about McCain's request to delay the debate: "McCain's call for debate delay termed brilliant political move
-Jim Brown - OneNewsNow - 9/24/2008 3:20:00 PM
A prominent political scientist and pollster says Republican presidential nominee John McCain's decision to suspend his campaign and return to Washington to deal with the country's economic woes is a brilliant and unprecedented political move.
McCain has suspended his campaign and requested that Friday night's presidential debate in Oxford, Mississippi be postponed so he and Senator Obama can work on legislation to address what he calls "the historic crisis in our financial system."
Clemson University political science professor Dave Woodard says after McCain's "one-upmanship," there is little Barack Obama can do now except agree to the Arizona senator's request.
"It showed the kind of initiative and leadership that people are looking for in times of crisis. And by him making this decision, he's ended politics as normal and tried to step up and show himself to be a president."
Woodard says in deciding to suspend his campaign, McCain looked "calm and confident" and gives positive momentum to his White House bid, while Obama looks like he's "late to the party" because he lost the initiative.
Obama's campaign said late Wednesday they are inclined to go ahead with Friday's scheduled debate." This is at least as likely a view dispassionate observers are likely to make as the 'McCain is scared to debate Obama' idea some people here are suggesting. - Don't you think?
I agree with you on this one Nate. Several good points.
I wonder if President Obama will ever have to deal with a leader as impetuous as John McCain? Obama was rock solid yesterday - smart man.
You know, FDR managed to be able to simultaneously deal with a major financial crisis while running for president in 1936. He even managed to guide the U.S. into the final stages of WWII in 1944 while simultaneously running for president.
I have the distinct feeling that even if the bailout discussion wasn't going on, he still would have found a reason to turn tail and run a week before the first debate.
I think this is just transparently political. McCain's internals must be horrible right now. He's dropping like a stone in all the polls during the last week. He must have even worse internal polling.
So, he tries another desperate "change the debate" tactic. Suspend the campaign!
What he's trying to do is take credit for "bringing the Congress together to take action."
If the bill passes, the next thing McCain will do is claim credit for "He stopped his campaign and flew to Washington when the nation was in crisis. Bringing the nation together to solve the economic crisis. John McCain. Leadership for a change!
I'm John McCain and I approved this message. In fact I think it's awesome in how it portrays me as heroically self-sacrificing!"
I can see the TV commercial already! It's a blatant move to try and pole-vault his campaign over Obama, by grabbing credit for the bail-out.
SF Mike,
Look at his CV and tell me if you think this guy is impartial and whether his take on this is anything more than spin.
http://business.clemson.edu/polisci/woodardCV.pdf
At the bottom check out who he consults for (Lindsey Graham is one).
Don't come in here with that weak ass shit and try to act "objective"
hate to break it to ya. it will be seen as presidential. obama doesn't have the messaging strength or apparatus to drive the framing of the issue. i frankly don't believe any poll that says he has a 10 point lead because of the economy. he's been way too timid, and all you hear is mccain pulling some stunt everyday. he gets away with anything. you mean to tell me that he's been taking so many risks (going negative during olympics, sarah palin, reversal on regulation, and this latest antics) and he's had suffered no casualties? none whatsoever? not even a one-point drop in the polls? not even a changing narrative about mccain being needlessly impulsive when reacting to events? say what u will, i got burned with your predictions during the conventions and the only thing that really changed is the seriousness of your posts. no offense, im a big fan. but i'd prefer something that borders less on the traditional mainstream clueless punditocracy which i've come to really hate because of it's so empty of actual truth. so yeah. sorry for being so hard on you.
Johnny Boy may actually end up looking back at his years at the Hanoi Hilton as more pleasant than these last few months have been.
Clearly, a President has to be able to handle more than one challenge at the same time. Imagine, the guy that said he doesn't understand the economy, stopping his campaign and heading back to Washington to SOLVE this CRISIS. Like the Senators that do understand this situation are waiting for Saint POW to save them. What a deluded looser!
McCain - by his own admission - is saying he's not qualified for the job of President. A conclusion most of America has already come to.
Agree that McCain was just a little off with this ploy. The problem was the "suspending the campaign" bit, because the campaign went on as usual for most of us - his surrogates were still on the teevee telling us how wonderful he was for doing this. So ironically this made it seem more political than if he had just said he was going to Washington to help move things along.
He also lurched from uncertainty yesterday about whether he'd support the bill (which he hadn't read), as well as denying that he had any particular role to play, to announcing today that he must ride in on a white horse to rescue a situation that was progressing nicely without him.
I was really po'd about this at first, but he planned this in haste. This is sort of like cancelling the convention because there's a hurricane coming, and then "oops, it wasn't really all that bad, so we can continue now."
Folks are beginning to notice that McCain is less a candidate for President, and more an attention-deprived mental-adolescent who NEEDS the focus to always be on him. If he can't gain that attention in traditional ways, he gradually resorts to 'anything' that keeps him squarely in the center. My brother is quite similar. For nearly 40 years, no matter the occasion, no matter the holiday...he always finds a way to make it 'about him'. Including showing up late, not showing at all, throwing tantrums. Sound familiar? Ironically, he once went by the CB callsign 'Maverick'... until finally settling on 'Vandal'.
I think they've been doing mock debates with Palin, and hating the results. So the Rovians are trying to game the schedule to get to cancel the VP date and replace it with the top bill or anything but letting her get carved up.
I've been speaking to people all day and they all universally have agreed that it was a horrible idea. Very, very bad idea and makes him seem afraid to debate Obama.
So McCain suspends his campaign, blows off Letterman, then sits down with an interview for Couric and is staying in NYC overnight to speak at he Clinton forum? No sale, especially since people thought suspending the campaign was a bad idea 86-10, postponing the debate 79-14.
Prediction: tomorrow Obama and McCain both meet at the White House, bill is finished by Friday at the latest, Obama jets down to MS, McCain claims "success" and joins him. Good luck making a point out of it at the debate. I don't think this is gonna help.
I have to think the McCain campaign is also concerned about the full length Palin-Couric interview.
I'm worried that Obama has allowed the McCain campaign to pull a fast one.
1. McCain's sudden enthusiasm for bi-partisanship allows him to re-brand himself. He wants to be seen as a man who can fix the market, when it's the economic theory that he espouses that's broken it.
He's been a political cross-dresser ever since he had the gall to re-brand himself as an anti-Bush agent of change.
2. By jumping the gun on the announcement, he has stolen Obama's thunder. That's certainly the impression I got watching CNN here in Europe.
3. By placing a moratorium on the debates he takes the wind out of Obama's sails, just when Barack was beginning to get traction in the polls.
I think that Obama has been incredibly naive to trust McCain, and I fear it may cost him in the medium term.
er, Lupercal, what are you talking about? McCain has dropped 4 points off his convention bounce, and we're back to one of the biggest leads (in terms of odds of winning on this site) that Obama has had in months. Call me crazy, but those college-educated whites are going to be very very hard to get back now. McCain gave back about 2 points before the crisis (Palin) and 2 points after the crisis (economy).
More on SF Mike's erudite and impartial political scientist, Dr. Woodard.
http://www.whywewhisper.com/about
He and Jim Demint (R SC), an extremely conservative senator, work closely together. Woodard holds the Strom Thurmond Chair of Government at Clemson.
'nuff said.
Why don't you post what Karl Rove thinks of this wackadoodle move by the McCain campaign too? We can have even more objective analysis.
This is truly bizarre...other than the stuttering anderson cooper and kermit the frog on CNN (gergen), all non-Fox media seem incredulous at this. It is such a transparent ploy to change the subject from Rick Davis' 15,000 dollar/month bribes from freddie mac two days after their false ads about Obama/Raines. Perhaps there is a Palin element in there as well, but most likely, their own internal polls are looking scary and, like with palin, they need to do another hail mary and hope it distracts like the first one. The problem with this one is that, unlike the initial positive surprise with Palin, this just looks like a lame attempt to duck a debate as they are heading the wrong direction in the polls...a lot depends on if the media drink the mccain koolaid spin, something that does not seem to be happening yet.
Funny SF Mike. That the author of the upcoming "The Rise of the Values Voters" would say something like that is surprisingly not surprising at all.
There was a recent study showing those who think they are acting for a 'higher purpose' are more prone to make moral compensations - 'the end justify the means' it seems.
If there was any question WHY McCain is stopping his campaigning, here's why:
Rasmussen: Obama +2 (up 2% since yesterday)
Research 2000: Obama +4 (unchanged)
Gallup: Obama +3% (unchanged)
FOX News, Opinion Dynamics: Obama 45%-39% (+6%)
NBC/WSJ Poll 9/23: Obama +2%
Quinnipiac: Obama +4%
CBS News/NYT poll: Obama +5%
You have to go back to 9/15 to find a major poll showing a McCain lead. He's clearly in a nose-dive and has no obvious way out of it.
He can either go to the debate and hope he blows Obama out of the water (wildly unlikely) or else try to completely change the discussion and take away all Obama's momentum.
Low information voters might see this as "Presidential."
I think Obama should go to the debate and debate McCain's empty chair. He needs to be cool and emphasize that he can do more than one thing at a time -- just like a President has to be able to do.
I think the American people can understand the concept of BOTH foreign and domestic policy.
Did you get the time line...?
I all started when OBAMA rang McCain to suggest a joint statement.
Next thing McCain is on the news suspending his campaign and trying to grab the credit and the attendant publicity. Don't be fooled by the bipartisan malarky, John McCain could not bear to share the spotlight on this one.
Palin was a campaign stunt, and this is just another one. We now knoe know that a McCain presidiency would be full of artificially-created drama.
I am not sure if this ploy will work. The news media have reacted cynically. Bush's speech has stolen the McCain thunder. All he will get is a brief meeting with Bush and Obama, at which Bush (naturally, as the sitting President) must take precedent. It also reminds people whose party McCain belongs to.
Here's the real question for me. Does anyone actually buy the storyline of John McCain going back to Washington to save us all? Congress is completely screwed unless John McCain stops campaigning and comes in to save the day? You can't be serious, right?
McCain's decision to postpone the debate is highly disturbing. He's manipulating Americans in the name of a campaign ploy.
There's something fishy going on and it ain't McCain's concern for the economy.
Richard wolf had the best analogy for this move. It is like knocking all of the pieces off the chess board and starting the game over.
People have said that the McCain campaing is trying to play checkers while Obama is forcing them to play 3-dimensional chess a la Star Trek. McCain's strategy is everytime Obama starts to out maneuver them they just knock all the pieces off the board and try to start a new game.
This is like hitting the reset button on a video game when you start losing... for the younger generation if they don't like my chess analogy.
a lot depends on if the media drink the mccain koolaid spin, something that does not seem to be happening yet.
Which is another reason that McCain's strategy of "destroy the media" is so dumb. It's not that people like the mainstream media; it's that they see the narrative which the MSM establishes, and when it feels it's being played for a fool (like now, for instance) it'll present the narrative least favorable to the candidate in question. Now when McCain throws up this incredibly obvious gadget play, the MSM sees it (and calls it) from a mile off.
Also, it helps that Obama, who I am more impressed by every day, blew up the play for a fifteen yard loss. :)
Toby, you are spot on about McCain. Why do you think he started calling Obama "The One", the stupidest negative tag line I've ever heard. He couldn't take it that Obama was more popular than him so he had to try and drag him down by this pseudo-mocking of him.
That late late show guy I never watched before tonight did a good job of articulating why I had such a viscerally bad reaction to McCain's announcement.
Suspending the campaign because of a crisis sounds waaaaaay too close to suspending the election because of a crisis, and that is something you never Never NEVER want to hear a prospective American president remotely imply would be a good idea.
moondancer said...
I think they've been doing mock debates with Palin, and hating the results. So the Rovians are trying to game the schedule to get to cancel the VP date and replace it with the top bill or anything but letting her get carved up.
But, Moondancer! Don't you realize that our Sarah can field dress a moose! Isn't that enough for any President in the 21st century?! You want more? Just like the liberal elite that will never understand these things that hockey moms know! Like. . . I'm not sure what, but I AM sure it's very impressive!
(Actually, your theory is unlikely. No VP can sink a campaign: see Dan Quayle). Palin has such low expectations right now that if she doesn't drool onstage and admit "I'm out of ammo like Admiral Stockdale" she'll be fine.
The VP debates are all about how great your Presidential candidate is, and how awful your opponent is.
It isn't really about Biden or Palin.
She'll do fine. All the wing-nuts will howl with glee "See! We told you our Sarah would trounce the liberal media!" She'll get to spout all those talking points McCain's team has crammed her with.
Of course, her head might explode from trying to force feed too much knowledge into her thimble sized brain. That would be interesting to watch.
The suspension of the debate could be planned to have two effects:
1)Push back the Palin/Biden debate. Then there could be a lack of agreement resulting in a VP who not only never takes questions from reporters, but never has to show her ignorance in debate.
2) Run out of time for the 3rd debate on the Economy. That is the debate McCain could be expected to loose.
Planned right the only debates Mccain would have to atend would be the religious one in which he had the advantage (and yet still needed to cheat), and foreign policy (his strong point, just as long as he can remember Spain is in Europe).
But that is not all. McCain is suspending his campaign. How does this help him?
Quite a lot because he does not have money to run a campaign to November. Saving his cash for a few days can't do any harm at all.
But this doesn't mean the atack add's will stop coming. They will just come from the RNC & 527's that have all the money. As they are legaly required NOT to coordinate with McCain he is in the clear.
Meanwhile if Obama suspended his campaign it would be more or less total, because he went for full control.
All told if it works McCain's ploy has to be described as inspired.
There is just one fly in the ointment. McCain has already pissed off the Media. If they go for the "McCain is a statsmen" angle then Bush could just hand McCain the keys to the White house now & save time. If they go for a detailed explanation of the statergy McCain is toast.
This is one ploy that depends totaly on how it is reported.
Another point I'd like to make is how foolish Obama supporters were to doubt this guy's political skills. His instincts are really first rate. He seems to just know what to let slide off his back and when the time to stand firm is. He never over reacts to McCain silly ploys and games. Could you imagine how McCain would blow up if it were the Obama camp playing those games?
The problem with the idea of postponing the debate on Friday, or moving it to a different venue, is that this has been in the works for almost a year. The venues, dates and subjects were announced last November. The University of Missisippi has spent upward of $5 million to put on the debate, in everything from overtime for the campus cops to the creation of a special set for the debate. To postpone the debate, or even try to reschedule it when everything has been created with Friday in mind, would be a major diss to the University and the state. There's even speculation it could cost him the state -- a proposition I find doubtful, but not impossible, depending on the depth of feeling.
If this is the way McCain handles a crisis he probably isn't ready to be President. If, for instance, Hugo Chavez decided to start a shootin' war against Colombia, he wouldn't postpone it just because President McCain had to go supervise disaster recovery efforts after a magnitude 7 earthquake in Missouri.
You're not going to believe this one!
Here's how Sarah Palin is spending her time, according to the NYT:
"Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska completed Day 2 of her foreign policy tutorials on Wednesday, meeting with the leaders of Georgia, Ukraine, Iraq, Pakistan and India and engaging in small talk about her looks and New York City."
So, Palin is being "tutored" by foreign leaders, by engaging in "small talk about her looks."
Just shoot me now! NO WONDER the media were banned from actually filming her!
Can you imagine her giving them tips on how she keeps her skin looking so fresh?
I cannot for the life of me see this being reported positively anywhere. Unless I heard wrong, which is entirely possible, he's still planning on attending the Clinton summit on global warming. Put out a campaign statement that you agree with the basic premise that it's a problem, and go work on a problem that has to be dealt with this week. Don't claim you're rushing to the airport to get back to Washington and cancel on Letterman, then show up on another show a few minutes later.
At least as importantly, the McCain/Palin campaign has been almost unavailable to the press, while simultaneously ripping them for inaccuracy. Saying the New York Times isn't a news organization isn't going to score you points with media, and as part of a continued pattern, it makes them very skeptical of your motives.
It might have been possible to spin this right. Or spin it to the point where at least people willing to give McCain the benefit of the doubt could continue doing so. But I don't think it's going to happen.
It's like the McCain campaign decided to make their last stand this week. Shake up the race to get the attention off of Obama and try to position himself as a bipartisan leader of economic issues. If a deal passes by Friday, he hopes to cut into Obama's strength with the economy then seal it with a debate on foreign policy (his strong suit).
Of course, now he looks desperate by this obvious political ploy and now he's got to make sure he doesn't get owned at the debate on Friday, which will take place. A presidential looking, and prepared, Obama on Friday could really seal the election.
Plus, I don't know how Palin got blindsided by such an obvious question Couric would bring up (Rick Davis' firm taking money from Frannie and Freddie until a month ago). They should have had a rehearsed line that didn't sound so hollow.
It's all summed up by this comment from cugel:
"Low information voters might see this as "Presidential."
That is exactly why McFeign did it. And that is the reason why this election is even close in the first place: low information voters.
And the GOP has done a great job over the last decade or so of fully discrediting the media (albeit corporate owned MSM has crushed the quality of media and turned it into infotainment). Nevertheless the continued "liberal media bias" rhetoric has low information voters giving more trust to the party than reporters and facts.
Just have to keep up with sites and like this and mobilize to get the facts out.
If all voters had the same unbiased facts - the race would not be close: McCain would not have a chance.
The standard Republican line has been that Obama is an empty suit.
Today's been disastrous for McCain. Why? Because on his party's own terms, he's effectively said he's too much of a coward to be willing to fight an empty suit.
And that's even before we get into the whole Letterman thing.
I agree with Nate's take for now. But it is impossible to assess this scenario as strategy until Friday evening when we know how this game of chicken has played out.
I suspect that McCain will end up going to the Friday debate in a dramatic flourish.
Note: SUSA; Maine poll showing O+5 confirms Maine's moose-filled northern district EV is in play and could prevent a 269-269 tie if Palin can pick it up for McCain.
If all voters had the true facts of Barack's backgound in Indonesia, New York, Chicago, and Springfield, Obama would probably have no chance so don't assume full knowledge of everything by all voters would assure a McCain loss.
That's funny. I remember Regan when I was about 5 and I thought: "What a dumb-ass". I still think that. When Bush Jr came, I thought "What an airheaded idiot -- bet he takes the whole show down". Now I'm thinking about McCain "What an airheaded idiot -- bet he takes the whole show down".
Yeah, he's a farce. First time was tragedy, now we're in for an old farce.
Gary
All of you worrying about this favoring McCain are hilarious. Seriously, take off the tin foil.
Look on the bright side.
Maybe come friday you get to watch cartoons.
Lol
I think the public intuitively knows that McCain has turned from maverick to huckster.
The recent NY Times poll showed
75%(!)believe the Palin pick was more political than prudent for the nation. Translation "we ain't buying the bull John."
In this case, with an agreement near according to Barney Frank (the House Finance Committee Chair)as of late tonight, McCain again could look like he's the last one to get the reality of the situation. (as in "our economy is fundamentally strong")
Let him drop in to D.C. to give credibility and cover to the Repubs so they can vote for the bail out but he certainly won't be seen as the key person on the deal because it has passed him by.
(can you imagine the howls if they tried to engineer it so that McCain looked like the savior of the deal! Laughable... and anyway most Americans will hate the whole idea of the bail out so whomever gets out in front of it will be reviled anyway! And I'd love to see him try to take credit if the market goes up afterward... that will look like too much conceit)
I just wish that Obama would dig his nails into McCain's flesh a bit more... like today when he responded to the campaign suspension announcement would it have killed him to have politely or humorously chimed in "I only wish Senator McCain would also suspend his faith in Bush's economic philosophy which got us into this mess." Or "I'll suspend my campaign too on one condition - that he agrees to suspend his call for 100's of billions in tax breaks for the the wealthiest Americans".
Lastly, in 2000 Rove came up with what I call the "big, overarching narrative" about Gore... that he was an "exaggerator" who was not to be believed because he made some mis-statements. (or as Palin would say "they attacked his verbiage")
Where is the overarching "McCain is a showman who uses stunts to distract from real issues for which he has no answers. A 'confused man' who changed his position on the economic crisis no fewer than 4 times over the last week"
McCain is confused. I like that one. CONFUSED. Say it 1000 times and it will reinforce what Americans suspect anyway.
Go ahead... say it.
And say it about Palin too (it shows even more with her)
CONFUSED!!
(Americans worry about his age anyway)
Paul
"MrInsight22 said...
If all voters had the true facts of Barack's backgound in Indonesia, New York, Chicago, and Springfield, Obama would probably have no chance so don't assume full knowledge of everything by all voters would assure a McCain loss."
What in the world are you talking about here...sounds like a pretty big and empty statement?
MrInsight22 said:
Note: SUSA; Maine poll showing O+5 confirms Maine's moose-filled northern district EV is in play and could prevent a 269-269 tie if Palin can pick it up for McCain.
The poll shows an identical 5 point margin in Obama's favor in both the north and the south of the state.
From the SurveyUSA writeup:
"Obama carries by 5 points both Southern Maine -- which corresponds to Maine's 1st congressional district -- and Northern Maine -- which corresponds to Maine's 2nd congressional district. This means that in an election today, Obama would pick-up all 4 of the state's Electoral College votes."
Also it shows that Obama is down by 12 points among the 18-34 year old age group and leads all others including a slim lead in the 65+ crowd. Not likely. Were you hoping nobody would go look at the internals and just take your word for it? Try again hack.
Suppose Obama was to say:
"I have thought over McCain's plans, and there is merit in both of us concentrating on this Financial crisis. For the time being I will personaly cease campaigning.
However I have full faith in my campaign team and VP. They will continue to campaign for me."
This rubs in the fact that Bided is ready for prime time & Palin isn't.
CRLIndoland says:
What in the world are you talking about here...sounds like a pretty big and empty statement?
MrInsight22 says:
But don't you know he's a (last word drowned out by ringing sounds, sirens, clanging sounds, whoops, and other assorted irritating noises)
Jeremy says:
Sorry, guys. Was just carrying my bull$#!+ detector past.
BWAAAHAHAHAHA!
McCain is denying the electorate Bugs Bunny?!?! Are these the high information voters you guys are so fond of?
Let's see... Global financial meltdown vs the political equivalent of Bugs Bunny cartoons. Yeah, the answer is obvious.
The problem with all you lefties is that you describe what you want to see, not what the people are likely to see.
And that's why you will stand there flabbergasted when Obama is beat on Nov 4.
John McCain believes that the crisis is so urgent that the candidates should suspend the debate to discuss the Wall Street bailout. But if matters are so urgent, why had he still not read the details of Friday’s proposal as late as Tuesday?
http://www.wkyc.com/news/local/news_article.aspx?storyid=97180&catid=45
After all, as the Wall street Journal points out, all he really needs to do to investigate the background to the crisis is to chat to his own friends and cronies – they were behind the frenzied deregulation that caused the mess in the first place.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122221440058969313.html
The real spark to his urgency has nothing to do with the proposal: it was prompted by ABC and Fox News polls Wednesday that showed his support collapsing.
riverrun;
Ahhhh.... politics as usual. Dude, you got to put your Country First and rise above the partisan snarl.
Here's the plan. Suspend campaign... Postpone debate... Agree on package tomorrow... Debate back on... Change topic back to economy... What happened to Obama's prep? And no teleprompter. Oh no!
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Oz.
McCain chickens out. I suggest he suspends his circus immediately.
Does McCain Know What He Did?
Youth Vote: The Draft in Your Future?
Obama 269, McCain 269
Sept 24 Polling Update
You know you have had a bad day in the campaign when George W Bush looked more Presidential than you. Worst day yet in Johnymac's campaign, and it didn't have to happen. He could have waited for the Presisdents statement, made a joint statement with Obama then suspended his campaign, not even mentioned the debate yet, but he let impetuosity get the better of him.
I think McCain should stop trying to act like the maverick, the Palin pick, this campaign suspension, even to an extent the way he reacted to Gustav, haven't helped him. (The problem with Gustav wasn't in my view suspending the first day of the convention, it was being down in the area, kind of assuming the office of President months before even the election, whilst President Bush also went down and dealt with the crisis).
The maverick calls bad plays, so when he is playing maverick, yes it reinforces his brand, but it makes people question the brand.
Ole Miss says it spent $5.5m on preparing the campus for the debate. If it doesn't happen, I honestly think you could see MS polling get interesting.
I can't see any way this will end up as a positive for McCain, unless there really wasn't going to be a deal without his participation.
I don't think the media - or Chris Todd - or Barney Frank - are going to let him get away with that.
Has anyone considered there is something else going on that might also need McCain's attention? Apart from the bailout, isn't the annual Federal budget due for a vote? And the ban on offshore drilling, which he can't stop talking about on the stump, is up for renewal, but doesn't sound like it will get renewed... But the budget. All those earmarks might look pretty bad if McCain just kept campaigning and didn't at least make a token objection to them as a sitting Senator, no?
oops. "get away with that" should have said "get away with claiming that"
My bro and sis and I used to call him "Wrinkles Reagan" whenever he came on screen. And wasn't he on the TV soooo much? I, too, remember getting psyched up for some kid-friendly TV Special, only to have to watch ol' Wrinkles for 90 minutes and once back to regular programming, the credits were rolling. aaack! I hated him for that same reason!
I believe that McCain has committed political suicide with this move. Another example of his lurching from crisis to crisis.
I've posted a lengthy analysis of how he got here with videos here:
http://www.politicalbase.com/profile/jnail/blog/&blogId=4245
Nate is essentially arguing that denying the people the pleasure of the debate so that McCain can attend to the nation's business is going to make them mad at him.
Nate -- we are not six year olds and this isn't Bugs Bunny!
It is idiotic of him to suggest a change of venue and format. There have been enormous technical and logistical preparations for the evven in MS. It would be folly to move it, just so Nate can watch cartoons or whatever.
Speaking of bad predictions . . .
Hasn't Nate gone on record that the White Sox would win heir division? Go Twins!
McCain is a coward...it's an easy way for him to not have to debate Obama.
He could phone in his vote and 'leadership' What a stunt....
In truth, McCain and Obama are not the leaders of their parties and their leadership here is required.
Deciding how to deploy a trillion dollars is not something that can be worked out in your spare time or in between campaign appearances. The whole "multi-task" lecture from Obama is misplaced.
Obama really has no sense of how things get done in DC and the need to be there on the ground, doing the arm twisting and making sure the package is one that will achieve bi-partisan support.
Reagan was such a cockmole. As is Pete Kent.
I think we're underestimating how much of the reason McCain did this is wanting to distract us from the Couric interview, which would otherwise have been the topic of all the evening cable shows. It's largely gone under the radar, and the McCain show will push if off again today.
Am also waiting for the MSM to take note of the Muthee video, which actually shows him praying over Sarah Palin to protect her from witchcraft. This is "unusual" even for most evangelicals.
http://mudflats.wordpress.com/
I wonder if this puts Missiszippi in play for Obama.
Bear in mind also that McCain leapt into a vacuum of leadersip caused by Obama's own unwillingness to be forthright about his position on this crisis. It' s alot like how Obama got outpositioned by McCain on the Veep pick.
Obama has shown himself to be a poor strategist.
And as usual he looks pedantic and whiny, whole Mccain looks like a man of action, the warrior riding in to the rescue.
Obama is being dragged along and loolks weak. He is being lead, not leading.
This goes to the heart of Obama's problem in closing the deal with the people: He is not seen a leader.
No, I think this is ALL about the internal Republican civil war that's going on in Washington right now.
The Republicans cannot agree on the bailout. It explicitly contravenes their own party platform.
So, they engineered this little ploy so that McCain could come to DC and bash some heads to get party unity.
They also thought they might fool Obama into playing along.
It didn't work.
SurveyUSA Maine Poll
Probably posted elsewhere already.
Obama: 49
McCain: 44
NORTHERN MAINE [2nd Congressional District]
Obama: 49
McCain: 44
[Note the 2nd Congressional district extends further southward, so this isn't exactly the best representation of this 2nd congressional district]
Let's be clear, McCain knows full well that the media and the political world will see through this as a stunt. However his gamble is that low information voters will see 5 minutes on the news and conclude that he is a man of action and bipartisan. He may pull it off but if he fails and there is a wide perception that this was a political stunt, it could send his campaign into freefall.
The only way McCain wins is if there is a deal and he tries to claim credit for it. The problem is that no Democrat is going to allow him to make that claim and the GOP hate the bail out so much that they are going to be reluctant to talk up the deal as a success. Obama has wisely accepted Bush's invitation (what else could he do) and my guess is that Obama's presence on the floor of the House will be far more energising than McCain's. Obama's best shot is to be seen brokering a deal that includes oversight protections and to be seen visibly as the man who led the effort. I think to cede the floor to McCain would be foolish.
As for the debate, Obama has done well to call McCain on his cowardice. Obama's line that presidents should be able to do more than one thing at once was very powerful.
Even the Fox News pundits called the McCain gambit political and praised Obama's presidential response.
This may well be a game changer but not in the way McCain hoped.
Remember also that it the Republicans that are in revolt over this bailout bill. McCain is needed to bring his own party to heel and get their votes on this issue.
One more example of McCain bucking his party and doing the right thing.
This plays right into the McCain maverick narrative and his theme of country first and shows how it will work in practice when he is President.
Obama, on the other hand, wants to debate.
I can't help thinking that McCain is like the old veteran sports star desperately trying to pretend he can still play at the highest level. Like an old time boxing champ making a comeback, he has done ok against the fighters he is against in the preliminary bouts (in this analogy the GOP primary candidates), but is now up against the up and coming champ. He tries the old game that he had, but this isn't good enough any more. Throwing haymakers against the new guy isn't working out for him, and he needs to play a safer game. But then again a safer game may not win him enough rounds, so does he go on throwing haymakers looking for the knockout, but risking an embarrassing defeat, or go back to safety first in the hopes of it being a points decision? Its difficult for McCain I think because he is such a proud man, but hubris may be what loses him the 2008 Presidential election.
I also think that never mind whether you can do one thing at a time, this bailout crisis has been building for a while, why couldn't McCain suspend his campaign on Monday and try to sort it out then, and have plenty of time for a debate? Thats the political part of this.
Speaking of Couric interviews . . . why isn't anyone remarking on how Joe Biden put FDR and the White House 3 years before he was elected, forgetting that Herbert hoover was President when the crash of 29 occured and that he alked about him going on TV about 20 years before they were common?
Imagine if palin ha commited such a gaffe?
Double standard?
McCain's quixotic behavior frightens me. He seems to veer one away or another like a drunk driver. Last week the "fundamentals of the economy are sound"; this week the economy is so bad that it apparently cannot afford a Presidential campaign.
He bases his campaign on gimmicks and tricks. His summer attacks ads were callow and silly. He threw the dice with Sarah Palin, and appears to have lost. Now he tries the gimmick of "suspending his campaign".
On a related note, his left eye was drooping badly yesterday and his makeup looked odd. He might be pulling this stunt for legitimate health reasons. That would leave Caribou Barbie as the de facto GOP nominee for President.
If McCain cannot handle the wear and tear of the race as it nears the finish, what is going to happen to him over the course of 4 years in the White House?
"They also thought they might fool Obama into playing along.
It didn't work."
Seems like it did. Obama is being dragged to the White House like a boy the Principal's Office.
This is absolutely insane. This country has never "postponed a Presidential campaign." The idea is nonsensical. During crises far worse than this one--the Civil War, the Great Depression, World War II--Presidential campaigns and debates continued unfazed. The proposed leader of the free world can't call a time out. Is he a child?
This attempt to derail the democratic process for political gain is the most sickening thing I've ever seen. McCain's presence is not urgently needed in DC. By his actions he's proven that it's not needed there at all. A person fit for the Presidency can deal with crises and meet his obligations to the American people.
The debate can wait. many of you hear do not appreciate the immediacy of this crisis, but the financial markets are shut down and new credit is not available. Businesses will begin to fail soon and real jobs will be lost in vast numbwers, the downward spiral will be hard to stop.
Obama, like many of you, does not seem to appreciate this or care.
I suspect he has long wanted the economy to really go down the tubes so he can feather his electoral nest.
Daily Kos R2K has Obama gaining 2 points from yesterday's tracking - Obama 49 McCain 43
Obama and his campaign are being pretty tone deaf on this debate thing.
The last thing the nation needs is hese two candidates taking swipes at each other in front of national TV audience and furtehr polticizing the bailout.
Let's get the thing worked out, rescue the nation and then we can debate.
If the markets don't function on Monday we may be done.
If the debate does not happen on Friday, we can hold it on Saturday or the next day.
Obama: Talk over action.
McCain: Country first.
He appears to be paying a price in the polls per daily Kos tacker.
New 538 ad just out: talking about McCain and his cancer and what a problem it would be. We have reached a new low!
Nate:
Thanks for teh Bugs reference. McCain is starting to remind me of Daffy Duck.
Here's another sort-of "poll" I thought might interest you. Sales of the Sarah Palin Action Figure are through the roof. Who knew they were assembled so close to me!!
http://www.connpost.com/localnews/ci_10550050
The financial markets are not shut down and there's plenty of credit available.
The panic is manufactured. The problem is serious, but it's not OMFG THE SKY IS FALLING!!!! There's no need for the Republicans to turn socialist and nationalize the banks. After preaching free markets for decades they now cry that we need to protect the market from capitalism? WTF?
We definitely need to clean up the Republican economic policies that brought about this debacle before we do anything. This is the result of McCain's good buddy and chief economic advisor, Phil Gramm, tearing down the regulations that protected our financial system from meltdown. Unregulated markets don't work out so good in the real world, do they McCain?
Nate,
You are completely wrong. Who wants to watch two politicians yapping on Friday night? Most normal people will be going out, or watching high school football, or major league baseball. I think very few people want to watch a debate on a Friday night. Earlier in the week maybe, but not Friday.
Two points.
Alienating the media is never a good idea. It's one thing to claim they are biased against you, it's quite another to actually piss them off.
Secondly, pulling one rabbit out of the hat looks bold, but go to the well too often and the law of diminishing returns sets in. Worse, you start to look desparate, and frankly, not the guy who should be driving the bus. Of course, it depends who is framing the narrative (see "Alienating the Media"), but if McCain's temperament is called into question, his goose is cooked.
It'll be like old times as an A4 jockey, running out of energy and altitude with nowhere to go.
Rasmussen North Carolina:
49-47 Obama :-o
Now is NC really a toss up.
The tracking polls are more important tomorrow then today for me. Then we could what the people think about the "suspension".
haha Nate finds the true source of all partisanship - who was in charge when we wanted to watch cartoons as kids.
To me it just sounds like McCain is tired. Obama took a vacation in August, McCain didn't, really. Going to rallies day after day, moving around non-stop, it's incredibly draining even if you aren't a 72 year old man. They're working 14-days, 7 days a week + travel. He'd probably too tired to debate effectively.
That, and it's a cash-rationing thing.
Perhaps McCain could be expelled from the campaign, instead of suspended?
By the way, I realize my comment is immature, but I can't help snickering at this guy's cowardice. He was brave enough to spend years as a POW, but a big, bad economic crisis has him running for the covers?
The last 4 polls in North Carolina:
Rasmussen: Obama +2.
Civitas: Tie.
PPP: Tie.
CNN/Time: McCain +1.
If McCain skips out on the debate, they should get Barr and Nader to fill in. A nice three man debate with Obama in the middle.
Good to see PeteKent back with his one eyed retarded comments.
The crisis was SOOOOO severe that McCain was compelled to stop his campaign and rush back to Washington, right?
Well, not before he and Palin sat down to talk with Bono and no before McCain sat down for a hastily arranged interview with Couric to spin his decision.
It was one of the most shamelessly political moves I have seen from a man whose voting record in the senate is abysmal and whose love for deregulation has contributed to the destruction of this country.
This is just another piece in the dangerous inconsistent meme to go along with "the fundamentals of the economy are strong", "I am going to fire some guy because it makes me sound tough", "I'm going to set up a 9/11 commission because it sounds tough then quietly forget I ever said it", "I was the king of deregulation for 26 years before I had an epiphany this week", "Obama is responsible because he has taken advice from a Fannie Mae exec even though he didn't and even though my campaign chief is still taking money from Fannie Mae as a lobbyist". The list goes on.
PeteKent. Your candidate, like you, is a joke. A disgrace to himself, his family, his party and his country. A once honorable man who now tells lies with such frequency and aplomb that he is unaware that he is doing it.
Oh and by the way, Obama is up 10 in Michigan
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008809250409
And up 2 in North Carolina per Rasmussen.
Do you like apples?
hello folks
how many new fake polls coming out today ?
@petekent
What's the point of arguing if you only stick to talking points? Everything you are saying is framed by your silly belief that all D's are weak and all R's are strong. Look and McCain and Obama individually. Just try it for once.
You might as well just cut and paste from Hugh Hewitt's blog. It would save you some time.
This is absurd. The old boys club in full effect.
I don't think "self-evidently" is the right word... maybe "presumptively"?
Petekent making 6 posts on the same subject within a few minutes all mindlessly defending McCain -- tells me all I need to know about just how much trouble his candidate is in for pulling this stunt.
Letterman catching him getting makeup with Katie Couric looked REALLY bad.
"Maybe I'm grossly misreading this, but I don't think McCain's decision to "suspend" his campaign today self-evidently looks Presidential. It could look Presidential, or it could look like a stunt."
In fact I think it self-evidently looks UNpresidential! But maybe I've just been reading too much Andrew Sullivan.
Nate, I also disagree with the part about how McCain could have shifted the venue to Georgetown. Did you miss the story about how pissed off the Ole Miss Chancellor is about McCain's action? Ole Miss has spent *millions* preparing for this debate. You can't just screw them arbitrarily like that.
Something tells me he wouldn't have done this if the debate was in a swing state.
Election 2008: North Carolina Presidential Election
Obama Takes Lead in North Carolina
According to Rasmussen poll just released O49 M47
why isn't anyone remarking on how Joe Biden put FDR and the White House 3 years before he was elected...Imagine if palin ha commited such a gaffe?
She'd first have to be told what the letters F, D, and R 'stood' for.
BREAKING!!!
*MCBUSH and MCPAIN will need some hemorrhoids soon!
** MCPAIN running to daddy MCBUSH, Daddy, Daddy help me please, help me, please!
**MCBUSH says OK, time out. I'll call the school leader in and we'll have a talk. You are after all a King's child. They can't treat you like this
** MCBUSH asks the teachers to postpone the test for all because McPain is not ready for the test!!
McPain is now McToast!!!
RCP keeps posting the highly suspicious battleground tracking a poll with no internals
>>>>“They’re not even close to having enough votes,” said Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.), a freshman facing a tough reelection. “This has to be bipartisan.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) pleaded for Republicans to support the package, which conservatives have roundly criticized as too expensive and an overreach of federal power.
Reid said Tuesday that only one Republican on the Banking panel could be counted on to support the proposal first floated by Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. <<<<<<<
Frank, Pelosi, may have a proposal, but they do not have the votes for anything. About 20% of the democrats are voting against, and 95% of Republicans. All these "politicians" are scrambling. They want someone else to take the heat if this turns out bad, The House wants the Senate to vote first, The senators want McCain and Obama to take any heat.
It would be amazing if we have an approved Bill before Friday night.
Those of you trying to spin McCain's lame excuse for trying to back out of the debate as a positive for him are hilariously deluded. This is going to backfire big time. All it does is make him look like a childish chicken shit afraid he is going to get his clock cleaned in the debate. Neither McCain nor Obama are members of the Senate Banking Committee--they have nothing to do with writing this bill, and their help is not needed or wanted. By trying to insert himself into the negotiations, McCain is doing exactly what he claims he is trying to avoid. He is injecting presidential politics into the negotiations on this bill. Not helpful. He can vote on the final package. But canceling the debate is a dick move. This won't end well for him. Stephen Colbert last night: "John McCain has decided that he would rather lose an election than win an election."
Cugel:
Palin has such low expectations right now that if she doesn't drool onstage and admit "I'm out of ammo like Admiral Stockdale" she'll be fine. ... All the wing-nuts will howl with glee "See! We told you our Sarah would trounce the liberal media!" She'll get to spout all those talking points McCain's team has crammed her with.
I think you're right, but then again, why the ploy to postpone or perhaps cancel the VP debate? So little is required of her, are they afraid she can't even do that much?
PeteKent:
I suspect [Obama] has long wanted the economy to really go down the tubes so he can feather his electoral nest.
Pete, I'm glad you're here sharing your point of view. I like hearing the perspective of people who don't agree with me. And I think I'd like you in person. That was beneath you.
"It would be amazing if we have an approved Bill before Friday night."
I hope we do not. Because if we do, it will look like McCain was forcing the process, and that would be wrong.
McCain's stunt used the word "bipartisan" but has had the opposite effect of completely politicizing this process.
I'm not buying the "low-information voter" meme.
40+ million tuned in to watch Obama, McCain and Palin's speeches at their respective conventions. I'm sure those groups had overlap, but it wasn't the same people.
Only about 120 million people vote for president in the US. If 50% are watching the partisan conventions, I'd be willing to bet more than 50% watch the actual presidential debates. Throw in those that read about it the next day in the paper and you've got a fairly educated populace this time around.
Wow, Rasmussen has Obama up two?! Never thought I'd see the day.
FloridaGOP, I'd much rather have no bill than a bad bill. And I still don't understand why anyone is rushing to borrow tremendous sums of additional credit from abroad, instead of simply guaranteeing the mortgage-traded instruments at particular prices and backing them with the full faith and credit of the U.S. Treasury, as former Secretary O'Neill suggested yesterday morning on WNYC. His proposal seems so logical and self-evident - and affordable for the country.
Jay, more people get their so-called "news" from network and local TV than from newspapers.
Hi All,
Long time lurker, first time poster. For starters let me give you my background. I am a legal alien here in the US with no voting rights and have been observing this election rather diligently. I tend towards Obama, not so much for his supposed messiah image, but rather because he seems to be the better suited in what sadly seem to be a bunch of bad options. My ideal candidate would be someone with Ron Paul views and policy with Obama's ability to sell them. I think Ron Paul could have been a great president, but then you need to become the president to make the kind of difference he seeks to make.
As for this "stunt", I see this as another place where McCain will get a 'bump' or a 'reset' as this plays out through the weekend because what will likely happen is that the debates will go through, but McCain will have claimed credit for the bill passing. The perspective is important here. The liberals will surely see through this as a political move (which I believe it is) and the low information voters see this as a presidential thing to do.
The bigger story in my opinion is that you can have one hail mary pass, maybe just maybe two. Overdone, it seems gimmicky. We have about 40 days to the election and its already looking gimmicky. It looked gimmicky to the libs the first time he did it. But by the end of the campaign, my sense is that most independents will get a sense of unease too. This is too jerky and you dont want a president who comes across as so impulsive.
I dont see McCain's camp having any choice but to do this. He too needs to play to win and this seems the only way. However in my opinion. he has overplayed some of his cards too soon. This is a very long presidential season with each episode magnified because of the attention it gets. 40 days is an eternity.
Last night's Sarah Palin interview is GREAT NEWS!!! For John McCain!!!
If John McCain's campaign is really suspended, I wish the media would respect his move and STOP interviewing all of his campaign surrogates!
Nate Silver said...
Let me digress for a moment. One of the reasons I probably turned out to be a Democrat is because of Ronald Reagan and Bugs Bunny. When I was a kid, once every now and then, they had Bugs Bunny specials scheduled for prime time ... I looked forward to these for weeks. But invariably, invariably! -- or so it seemed when I was six years old -- they'd be preempted by Ronald Reagan giving a speech. I was sure what Mr. Reagan was saying was very important ... but I absolutely hated him as a result.
That's funny. One of the reasons I came to hate conservatives was because of... MILK.
I'm a child of the 80s, and my introduction to Margeret Thatcher and conservatism was my older brother telling me that one of Maggie's first acts as Prime Minister was to remove milk from school dinners. It was a heartless act that definately had consequences years later for the health of the nation. Along with the Poll Tax, the Tories becacame the embodiment of greed and cynicism for my generation. As far as I was concerned, it was very easy to loathe these people. Even at a young age I knew I didn't want to be on their side. Not to mention I slso shared the same birthday as Maggie.
@floridaGop
I know Republicans really want to believe that this is "old McCain" peaking out from behind Karl Roves goon squad, but it just isn't the case. McCain went from "the fundamentals are strong" to "the Great Depression" in less than a week.
He's gumming up the works and he knows it. But it's all about changing the game, or winning the news cycle, or whatever the latest thing his campaign has convinced themselves is true. They are getting into a bunker mentality in his camp. Their actions only make sense to themselves.
I was going to mock Baghdad Bob -- er, I mean PeteKent -- for this gem: "Obama and his campaign are being pretty tone deaf on this debate thing." Hilarious stuff, given the reaction to McCain's stunt. Though to be fair, that SUSA poll yesterday probably had a +/- 35% margin of error, so maybe people really like the idea of postponing the debate.
Instead, though, let me go ahead and pick up my jaw from the floor, since it totally dropped when I read that Rasmussen result from NC. I mean, I know that Obama has been seriously closing the gap in polls there, but for RASMUSSEN to actually show an Obama LEAD there...I'm simply stunned. No wonder McCain is moving resources there. Is this the result of independents swinging heavily to Obama, of southern Democrats backing Obama in larger numbers, of Obama's voter registration efforts paying off, or of random noise in polling a fairly close race? Whatever the explanation, it's terrible news for McCain. I mean, as of now, Obama has led in more NC polls than McCain has led in PA polls (not counting ZI, of course, though it is still true even if you do count ZI).
NEW POLLS!!!
DELEWARE
Obama 57%
McCain 37%
Oregon
Obama 52%
McCain 41%
The McCain campaign is what Golda Meir used to say of the Palestinians:
"They never miss an opprtunity to miss an opportunity"
As someone who lives in the Northern Congressional District in Maine, I can tell you that barring a major game changing event between now and the election, that our EV will be going to Obama. The two largest population centers in the district are the Bangor and Auburn/Lewiston areas, which will both trend towards Obama. The far northern and "Downeast" sections of the state, along with the other more rural areas are generally older and more conservative and will trend towards McCain. However, those areas are also the ones that struggle the most economically speaking, so I would expect that fact to hurt McCain to a certain extent.
Also, don't forget that there are a couple large student populations in the district (namely the UM campus in Orono, but also Bates in Lewiston) that will trend heavily towards Obama. Lastly, there is the "tourist coast" which I would say runs from Bar Harbor/Ellsworth down through Camden, Belfast, and Rockland. That area is made up of an interesting mix of rural conservatives and "liberal artistic" types, that I would expect to lean slightly towards Obama. The district voted solidly for both Gore and Kerry in the last two presidential elections; while I can see the Palin effect making some small inroads in certain portions of the district, I find it highly unlikely to make enough difference to swing the vote from Obama.
Congress Must Not Reward McCain's Debate "Hostage Taking".
EmonOkari said...
McCain 'suspends' his campaign. And yet, I've seen more new McCain ads in Central Florida tonight that I've seen all week. One in particular playing scary music with images of a mean-looking Obama (who appears to have been digitally shaded darker than the real-life version of the man), immediately followed by a sleeping white baby. Finally ended by three words: "Change Is Coming"
'Suspension of Campaign', indeed.
Fuck's sake, if that's what it reads like, I'd hate to see what it looks and sounds like. McCain is a world class scum-sucking weasal.
So-called "conservatives" should be hanging their heads in shame after what this old prick has pulled these last 3 weeks. Seriously.
Nate, your experience sounds like Weird Al's in the song Why Does This Always Happen to Me.
Just a thought, McCain may just be playing gamesmanship in regards to the debate. By suspending his campaign he s figuring Obama won`t study up and practice for the debate which he knows he will have to attend.
He then figures he can get the upper hand on an unprepared Obama.
The only problem with this is i`m assuming that McCain has stopped any preparing. It`s possible he is just so arrogant about his ability he thinks he can out debate Obama without preparation.
I may have it all wrong and his people may realize because of his age or some illness we are unaware of McCain cannot stand on a stage without notes and speak coherently on any subject.
Either way if he doesn`t show up for the debate Obama wins, election over and he can just sit with Jim Lehrer and discuss his policies unfettered by another point of view.
FL GOP,
I was under the impression that political opposition to the bill from coming from the political extremes on both the right and the left. Are there really that many GOP Congressmen opposed to the bailout bill? Boehner seemed to be pushing it pretty hard last Sunday, so I assumed that he knew that he had a fair amount of GOP support. I'm surprised that he would have pushed so hard for the deal if he didn't have a decent number of house Republicans on board.
I agree with Michael that I would much rather have no bill right now than a bad bill. This is a whole lot of money, and I worry when the government makes quick decisions on big issues because of a crisis. The PATRIOT Act, in particular, comes to mind.
Poll: Rasmussen gives Obama +2 in NC.
This is the first poll ever (excluding Zogby Interactive)showing an Obama lead in NC. It's extraordinary, as SurveyUSA recently gave McCain a +20 lead, and both are pretty reliable pollsters (and Rasmussen tends to have a Republican lean). It goes with the trend though, as Virginia has been turning about 4-5 points bluer and NC has always been about a 2-3 McCain lead.
McCain was never preparing in the first place. There were articles about it.
I think he planned this from the start.
Obama is not going to fall for it. He'll continue his prep and show up on time. McCain looks bad if he appears and even worse if he doesn't.
Or he could debate Barr and Nader. If Barr looks good in a national debate, he could erode some of McCain's support.
I wonder if the result of all of this in the end will be people questioning McCain's judgement- 'fundamentals of the economy are strong' to 'we need to stop everything to sort this out' is a big big step, and doesn't show good immediate judgement. Its almost like McCain's response to the 3 am phone call was to go straight back to sleep, and wakes up to a national disaster.
My opinion was always that this election was going to be won by the person who was least like George W Bush, and in all of this McCain has become more like George Bush. Obama- cool, calm,thoughtful, presidential, McCain- panicky, impetuous.
If old Confederacy states like North Carolina and Virginia vote for a President who's the product of "miscegenation," we'll truly know just how much this country has changed from a few decades ago. The old crackers will continue to call Obama and Michelle "uppity" (and the Secret Service will have to be on the lookout for racist assassins), and say things like "that _BOY_ shouldn't have his fingers near the button," but he'll outrank them. I'd love for old devils like Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond to have that added to their tribulations in Hell.
The only thing I see having been suspended is McCain's brain waves.
Charles, there have been articles saying that McCain hasn't been preparing for the debate? I'd be truly astonished if he hasn't been. Is he an idiot?
Wait, *Rasmussen* gave Obama a +2 in NC? For real?
That's like a +253 in real life numbers.
Poridge Gun
Your brother got it wrong.
"Maggi Thatcher Milk Snatcher" stopped free school milk before she became PM.
I remember that milk. 1/4 pint a day, I think. No flavourings, and drink it all with a straw. It tasted foul. For that I could almost have voted for her.
I didn't though. Not that voting Liberal did any good. Eventualy she did away with grants for university education & they never came back.
They were about to go toe-to-toe on Friday, and McCain blinked. In fact, he got the shakes and rocked and cried. It was Liston vs. Muhammed Ali with the manager throwing in the towel. It was No Mas, with McCain sitting on his bench and not coming out for the first round.
So much as gone badly for McCain. The Palin choice is backfiring badly. All the racist crap thrown at Obama -- not sticking. The "outsider reformist" tactic, not working -- his own campaign manager, Ric Davis, probably had deceived him about his continuing connection with Fannie.
And the fans in the stands and the polls are seeing these stumbles and deceptions and not liking it very much.
Of course McCain hasn't completely thrown in the towel. But he didn't like the contest they were about to play, because he couldn't win it. So out of desperation another Hail Mary pass. Barney Frank said it best: "It's the longest Hail Mary pass in the history of either football or Marys."
And it's only 3rd down, the McCain down by 4 points, and with 15 minutes remaining in the game!
@Michael said...
FloridaGOP, I'd much rather have no bill than a bad bill.
Michael, I think that is the point. You and a good chunk of Americans, and a good chunk of politicians (especially Repubs , but some dems) want no Bill-
So, no matter how the negotiations go, or how many draft bills they come up with, they do not have the VOTES for anything -- This will drag out and Obama, McCain, and GWB all said in the last couple of days that this is deadly serious for the American Economy, jobs, unemployment, value of the dollar, etc -- Are they JUST WORDS ?
All the politicians are ducking for cover. GWB as a lame duck, has little or no pull. If Obama and McCain do not start twisting arms, there will be no resolution, and we can see if those words were right or wrong.
I EXPECT Obama to be elected. This will be his mess to deal with ---
"PeteKent: McCain is needed to bring his own party to heel and get their votes on this issue."
Oh, yes, yes. The senator who missed 99.2% of his votes since April 2007 is now urgently needed in the Senate.
Anybody else remember 1980, when Jimmy Carter pulled out of one debate because third-party candidate John Anderson was invited? We got a Reagan-Anderson debate with no Carter. I don't think it drew much of an audience, but Carter sure didn't come out of it looking good.
McCain: A man who crashed several airplanes and walked away, now wants to pilot the economy? I wonder if George Bush was his flight instructor? Oh, right, W didn't show up either.
McCain has no role in getting a bill drafted and is only bringing politics into what needs to be a rational decision about how to meet the needs of the American people, not how to guarantee the bonuses of the flim flammers who created these flaky mortgage packages that they're afraid to take back. Welcome to the "free" market economy. Take the profits and pass along the risk.
I don't really want the bailout either, but when you start reading what some economists say about what happens if there is no bailout, it's really, really scary. But of course, there are other economists who say it will be fine. That's what I hate about economists.
There are only a few things I feel strongly about on the bailout, and I wrote my Congressmen to express them:
1) They should not give in to any executive power grabs (like the no oversight clause in the original draft).
2) Don't think for a minute that they will profit off this. You can't expect a government entity with a mandate to buy to find bargains the free market has overlooked.
3) Realize this is the proverbial "final bullet." There is nothing left to try if this fails.
PeteKent:
why isn't anyone remarking on how Joe Biden put FDR and the White House 3 years before he was elected, forgetting that Herbert hoover was President when the crash of 29 occured and that he alked about him going on TV about 20 years before they were common? Imagine if palin ha commited such a gaffe?
It's all about the narrative. Biden's narrative is "lovable gaffe-meister" so when he comes out with something like that, everyone chuckles and says "Oh that Joe." If he could survive calling Obama "articulate and clean" nothing he's said so far is going to damage him.
By the same token, McCain has been forgiven many worse mistakes: Sunni vs. Shia, the Iraq/Pakistan border, bottled hot water for dehydrated babies, Spain is in Latin America, to name a few. Whatever double standard there is, McCain seems to get at least as much from it as Biden does.
darcypennell - don't be a crazy leftist. Knowing the difference between 1929 and 1932 history is *way* more important to a modern presidency than knowing the difference between Shiite and Sunni, or where Iraq ends and Pakistan begins.
The debate is at 9PM and runs for 90 minutes. How difficult would it be to participate in Congressional activities during the day and fly into Oxford, MS for the debate, then back to DC? Is McCain too old and feeble to handle that? Shouldn't the President be capable of something so simple?
@Sedi said..." I was under the impression that political opposition to the bill from coming from the political extremes on both the right and the left. Are there really that many GOP Congressmen opposed to the bailout bill? Boehner seemed to be pushing it pretty hard last Sunday, so I assumed that he knew that he had a fair amount of GOP support. I'm surprised that he would have pushed so hard for the deal if he didn't have a decent number of house Republicans on board.<<<<
Good Morning @Sedi,
I am just reading the newspapers this morning. Repub Politicians will not take the heat -- Many are in tight races, That is why GWB was on TV last night -- to convince the American People and WE know he can not do that ---
Also the House wants the Senate to take the lead. So, IF democrats can hold every vote, they could pass it, but evidently a few of them are saying HELL NO.
If everything was going well, Why would GWB invite Obama and McCain to a meeting to take credit form him for resolving the problem?
When I was a kid, Pres. Carter interrupted the premiere of ABC's much touted new series Battlestar Galactica in order to give a Press Conference about the Camp David Peace Accords. I was livid! I could not believe that Carter pre-empted this show I had been waiting weeks to see! And I hated him for it. I am a Democrat now, but it took me a couple decades to recover from that!
Last night's Palin interview with Katie Couric was a GAME CHANGER!!! For John McCain!!!
Yes, FloridaGOP, if Obama is elected, he will be faced with this tremendous crisis. It will be a true test of leadership, and he will get to show if he's a latter-day FDR or someone who lacks sufficient boldness and inspiration to run the country with truly big ideas and get it working again. I'd give him a much higher chance on that score than McCain, though. I just don't see any evidence that McCain has any big ideas on domestic policy. God help us if NEITHER are up to the job!
Michael: I cover it here. In a nutshell, he didn't clear his schedule to prepare the way Obama did because of his "confidence". Yeah, right.
Michael:
there have been articles saying that McCain hasn't been preparing for the debate? I'd be truly astonished if he hasn't been. Is he an idiot?
No, he's not an idiot. I read in a news article that he's been practice debating with Michael Steele. I will look for a link to the article.
John Mccain LOSES badly and resigns from the Senate!
THEN goes back to a LIFE of booze and chasing women!!
This is one of those rare times that idealogue economic conservatives are wrong in positioning against the Paulson program, and McCain has an opportunity to help move the ball.
Economic illiterates and idealogues are positioning the plan as a bailout, but this is so much different than, say, recapitalizing NYC, the airlines, or the auto companies.
This action would help unseize the financial markets and enable trasactions that are threatened by counterparty risk to proceed. It would benefit the innocent bystanders far more than abetting the guilty.
What's important to understand is that the trickle-down effect upon the financial system of all the bad guys, who've already mostly gone bankrupt, has reduced the ability for the markets to adequately function becasue of fear that further counterparty risk might be incurred by doing business with those affected.
That trickle-down effect eventually falls on everybody, shrinking the economy, the tax base, inducing unemployment, and thus further mortgage defaults.
If managed properly, supplying this liquidity to distressed assets will produce a profit for taxpayers, not a bottomless pit.
The oversight focus should be on helping provide transparency to the real value of these distressed assets that are presently illiquid at any price, which is what is freezing up the system.
No one really knows how deep this hole is, and if it is really deep, it can best be solved by getitng the cards on the table early. Most importantly, doing this minimizes the risk of the hole becoming so deep from feeding on itself that the financial system implodes. That's what's spooky, and makes the partisan bloviating look so ridiculous.
North Carolina O+2 is interesting.
We Have watched as Clorado & Mexico slowly went Blue. The result of a long prepared ground war. Could it be that NC, VA & NV are to follow?
The asumption has always been that a good ground war drives the result by maybe 2 points but it's looking like a lot more.
An advertising or news bounce can be large but decays fast. A ground war is not just acumilative but accelerating.
@ InkStain said...
I don't really want the bailout either, but when you start reading what some economists say about what happens if there is no bailout, it's really, really scary. But of course, there are other economists who say it will be fine. That's what I hate about economists.<<<<<
Good Summary. What is a Senator from either side, who is worried about reelection do? Dem Senator from NJ says Hell No.
We can bet on the economists who say everything will be fine, OR
Steele denies helping McCain.
Hi Folks,
PBS has an online poll posted asking if Sarah Palin is qualified. Current results of poll:
Yes 51%
No 48%
Here's the link:
http://www.pbs.org/now/polls/poll-435.html
Given the Mccain campaign suggestion that the VP debate be postponed to some as-yet-unknown date, it seems more than possible that this was partially if not largely an attempt to keep Palin away from voters.
The "surprise" in this election will come down to the 10-20 percent of undecided voters that will decisively shift to one candidate or the other in the last week of this election. This board seems supremely confident(almost giddy) this election is moving away from McCain. I doubt that is the case. 5 weeks is an eternity in election politics. The 700 Billion bailout plan will pale in comparison to the therapy bills Dems are going to be paying come November.
does anyone really believe that some banks won't make a killing out of this if it goes ahead? They have to feel some of the pain. I would suggest that the government gets large stakes in the banks that they do this with.
"The "surprise" in this election will come down to the 10-20 percent of undecided voters that will decisively shift to one candidate or the other in the last week of this election. This board seems supremely confident(almost giddy) this election is moving away from McCain."
Not really. First, it's a lot closer to 10 than 20.
Second, they probably will break towards McCain. The ones that show up. A lot won't. If you are undecided at this point, the odds of you not voting are pretty high.
So McCain will probably see a good 55-65% of the half of the 10% that decide to vote. That'll help him, but it's not game-changing or election-deciding.
Nate's finally hit on the only REAL evidence for the liberal media bias/conspiracy theory: they used to schedule kids' programming in prime time when they KNEW it would get pre-empted, as a way to poison kids' minds against the GOP. It was a long -term plan (but you have to say it --"long term plan"-- the way Brad Pitt says it in "12 Monkeys").
PeteKent thinks the media treatment of Biden's latest gaffe is evidence? Ha. That sort of silliness is EXPECTED of Biden. If Palin had done it, it would have disappeared into the background noise among her big LIES. Oh, and wasn't there some big story to focus on... some "bailout"? What's that all about?
And Rasmussen has NC Obama+2? The land of Liddy Dole and Jesse Helms? Something's fishy...
McSame had a chance to --and was probably trying to-- look Presidential and "country first" and like a bit of a "mavrick" but it's all in the execution and he blew that.
He looks like a confused old man... worried about Palin... worried that we won't remember where his DC office is... worried that he won't make it back in time for that debate... worried that he's losing ...
I got McCain in the membrane!
He's right that Palin will get a lot less slack for a gaffe than Biden, McCain or even Obama would.
That's what you get when you pick such an unknown.
You called it Nate:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/25/mccain-camp-to-propose-postponing-vp-debate-2/
Inkstain:
darcypennell - don't be a crazy leftist.
I think it may be too late for that. With my own Tarheel state polling +2 for Obama, I think the whole world is a crazy leftist today.
Charles:
Steele denies helping McCain.
Whoa. Was not expecting that -- considering McCain's honesty problem of late, maybe I should have.
Rudy posted:
"The oversight focus should be on helping provide transparency to the real value of these distressed assets that are presently illiquid at any price, which is what is freezing up the system."
And the whole point Paul O'Neill made on the air yesterday (or was it two days ago?) is that, if the "real value" of these assets is known, all the Treasury has to do is GUARANTEE their real value with the full faith and credit of the U.S. Treasury. Why is there any useful purpose for a bailout, in that case?
Obama and McCain are not going to be twisting any arms in Washington. McCain is not that highly regarded by the conservatives in his party. Lots of republicans can't stand him. They know he knows next to nothing about the issue. Plus they know he isn't going to be prez. Obama knows that any arm twisting that needs to be done can be done very well by Pelosi.
What a waste of time for them to meet with Bush who has NO clout with congress.
If McCain has any real ideas to help with this all he needed to do was pick up a phone. This bailout issue has been going on for over a week. What kind of loon does he look like just now deciding it's a crisis and that he is superman?
I think one of the most damning images from yesterday was the video shown on Letterman. After McCain declaring a state of emergency, there he sat with Couric getting makeup applied for another interview.
Mr, are you aware that Liddy Dole is gravely threatened in her reelection campaign and could lose by 5 points?
Obama takes first lead in North Carolina.
Rasmussen
Obama 49
McCain 47
BOMB!!
I'm just now tuning in to the Clinton Global Initiatives meeting -- being addressed by John McCain with Cindy and Sarah looking on.
Why does Bill Clinton's Global Initiative suddenly look like a McCain campaign event?
Overrated posted:
"This board seems supremely confident(almost giddy) this election is moving away from McCain."
Speaking for myself, "giddy" is not at all how I'm feeling. It's really more like a snickering contempt for a pathetic senator I used to respect. This man is behaving like a loser. I'm not at ALL happy about that, or the spectacle he's made of himself by being a habitual liar on the campaign trail. It's really a sickening self-inflicted wound on the reputation of a great hero.
That NC +2 result is very interesting. It deserves a closer look.
"[Of McCain supporters] twenty-seven percent (27%) are voting primarily against Obama, down from 34%."
This supports my suspicions; I think a lot of conservatives are getting fed up with McCain's nonsense. I was talking to my father last night (a hard-core conservative) after hearing about the "time out" he's now voting Barr.
Obama also draws 81% of Democrats. This may not seem like a lot but remember a lot of these are "yellow dog Democrats." If he could draw that kind of support in similar states like West Virginia and maybe even Arkansas they're going to start narrowing.
I'm still wrapping my head around the news of the last two days.
Which is more surreal: Obama +2 in NC by *rasmussen*, or the campaign suspension?
On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had dared Mr. McCain to take control of the debate, telling reporters: "We need, now, the Republicans to start producing some votes for us. We need the Republican nominee for president to let us know where he stands and what we should do."
By Wednesday, though, Mr. Reid had apparently changed his mind. He said the debate should go on and said: "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."
Good FlipFlop--
Does anyone have an idea of how today's polls will be affected by yesterday's shenanigans?
What times to pollsters generally call people? Morning? Evening? Will we see our first hints at the fallout from all this today or do we have to wait for tomorrow's poll?
Ras O 49% M 46%
Obama 49-46 in Rasmussen...
Today's Ras tracking poll...
O: 49
M: 46
That was pretty weak of Reid. It's possible that the situation changed in 24 hours, but it seems more likely that he shouldn't have made the stupid challenge to begin with.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
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The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows Barack Obama attracting 49% of the vote while John McCain earns 46%. Other than the bounces related to his convention and speech in Berlin, this is the first time Obama has had 49% support on back-to-back days since early July. It’s also McCain’s lowest level of support in nearly three weeks (see trends).
@ hi ho - I'm just now tuning in to the Clinton Global Initiatives meeting -- being addressed by John McCain with Cindy and Sarah looking on.
Why does Bill Clinton's Global Initiative suddenly look like a McCain campaign event? <<<<<
Because it is! McCain, in his announcement yesterday said he would suspend his campaign AFTER Bill Clinton's Global Initiative.
This move sets the expectations for Obama so high in the debate there's no way he can win it. The viewers will think, "McCain really didn't want this because Obama is so smart" and then Obama will stammer around, seem professorial, while McCain will have a million pre-programmed, glib one liners that the public will love. Is the latest move an attempt to adjust debate expectations? No, but it will.
49 - 46 in the dumb Rasmussen tracking poll. Wondering about the raw data: 52 - 44 ?
First order of business for President Obama - shitcan Harry Reid.
John McCain has certainly misfired on his campaign. However, the left needs to avoid going into an all-out meltdown mode like Letterman did last night in attacking McCain.
Americans don't want to hear hate and negativity. They will punish McCain at the polls enough if Obama and Company simply keep the positive vibes flowing.
Spewing hate and accusations will only backfire, though.
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