Debate Delayed?: "Country First"

Wow...


"The Obama campaign said Obama had called McCain around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday to propose that they issue a joint statement in support of a package to help fix the economy as soon as possible. McCain called back six hours later and agreed to the idea of the statement, the Obama campaign said. McCain's statement was issued to the media a few minutes later."


Obama reaches out to McCain this morning about the economy, reaches out to McCain this afternoon, and now, he wants to suspend his campaign to go back to Washington to work on this bill.

I agree that they should be directly involved with this important legislation. I would applaud McCain here, but I just have a feeling that McCain's stepping through the ropes to get a respite.

Update: Jaysus...you can smell the desperation. Is this it? Are buying time for the Pitbull Palin? It makes sense: I wouldn't want this spare intellectual make weight going up against Biden, either.

I wish I knew we could do this, though. We could have asked the New York Giants to postpone the game, and that would have given the Bengals time to work on blocking.

Letterman says it best:

"David Letterman tells audience that McCain called him today to tell him he had to rush back to DC to deal with the economy...

Then in the middle of the taping Dave got word that McCain was, in fact just down the street being interviewed by Katie Couric. Dave even cut over to the live video of the interview, and said, 'Hey Senator, can I give you a ride home?'

'He can’t run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second string quarterback, Sara Palin. Where is she?'

'What are you going to do if you’re elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We’ve got a guy like that now!'”

Update to the Update: Jon Sheperd puts it all in perspective:

"What the fuck y'all?!!! Get his on a damn blog.

Senator John McCain suspends his presidential campaign until a more convenient time? The man who's been campaigning on toughness and being 'ready on day one' needs to suspend operations and return to Washington. I find it interesting that this decision comes on the same day Reuters releases a poll showing Obama up 9 points in a poll of likely voters. This seems an empty gesture, a 'drop back and punt' strategy aimed at distracting the public long enough for the inept McCain team to re-brand itself, yet again.

The last time we had a financial crisis like the current was the Savings and Loan scandal of late 1980's. How quickly the phrase, 'Keating Five' and McCain's involvement escapes our collective memories. Perhaps the Obama campaign deserves credit for not raising the issue, or perhaps they should raise it. People need to know McCain's missteps.

Voters should remember that the last financial crisis saw Mr. McCain amidst the players in the scandal. Now that things have gotten even tougher on this 'nation of whiners', he cowers on the Straight Talk Express with his team of lobbyists and Washington insiders until the clouds pass? You don't get to take a break. This isn't an Aaron Sorkin TV drama about the White House, Mr. McCain. It's the real thing. This is not leadership. It's just more of the same.

McCain recently bragged about his anti-regulation record. We now see what that deregulation brings. He says, 'change is coming'. If this is how he handles the financial markets, his election to the highest office in the land will see you and I with nothing more than that in our pockets."