McCain suspending his campaign!

[rsc4life]

A brilliant political strategy. However obnoxious. John McCain announced today that he is suspending his campaign to help solve the credit crisis in Washington. He asks Barack to do the same, and wants Friday's debate postponed! What do you think of this shocking news?

[Zephyr]

A smart move on McCain's part, showing that he's putting current problems before his campaign. And especially with the advising Obama to do so as well. So it will only help his campgain since he's showing that he takes action rather than putting himself first.

[rsc4life]

Do you honestly think he is doing this because he cares? He has two reasons, I think.

1. Republicans are getting blamed for this

2. He wants to look good.

[Atonement]

Sounds good to me. Its one t hing to use all your money towards promoting yourself as opposed to just spending like crazy. I like it also because instead of just talk, its action.

[The Batman]

I think it's dumb maybe a good strategy but dumb. I think that they should go on with the election and let the next president fix it.

[rsc4life]

Barack wants the debate to be on schedule. Oh what a tangled web we weave. I have to agree, that we really need to get a move on with the campaign. Maybe skip a day of campaigning to vote, but with Schumer lobbying against the 700 billion dollars of relief, and senators completely addled on the issue, it may not be resolved soon.

[Mzor203]

I think this is another way of getting at Obama. Now if Obama doesn't want to postpone the debate, McCain is going to look better, as he's "putting the country first" blah blah.

[Maverick]

I think it stupid. And makes McCain look stupid too. If the debate is canceled I'll be pissed.

[Oblivion]

I think this is another way of getting at Obama. Now if Obama doesn't want to postpone the debate, McCain is going to look better, as he's "putting the country first" blah blah.

And if he does do it, it'll look like hes a lousy leader, and a follower.

Lose lose for Obama
Good idea for McCain
Hopefully people will see through his tricks.

[Mzor203]

And if he does do it, it'll look like hes a lousy leader, and a follower.

Lose lose for Obama
Good idea for McCain
Hopefully people will see through his tricks.

If they don't that'll mean a bunch of teens are smarter than adults, which wouldn't be a very good sign of our society...

[Whisper]

Do you honestly think he is doing this because he cares? He has two reasons, I think.

1. Republicans are getting blamed for this

2. He wants to look good.

The democrats are no better
that's how politics works, period.

It was a brilliant political move
And Obama was left between a rock and a hard place
Accept and show the world he's doing as McCain orders
Or refuse and be the asshole that doesn't care about the millions of Americans facing financial suicide

He chose the latter
Because he's stubborn
and it caught him off guard
He should have agreed
Flew to Washington immediately
and out stage McCain
Beat him at his own game

But he refused because it caught him off guard
and he acted rashly
OR he believes he can't win a one on one with McCain in Washington and fears its him who will be up staged


If he can manipulate his opponent and come back from slipping poles this easily
then he'd probly do rather well with international relations

[thesphinx]

The democrats are no better
that's how politics works, period.

It was a brilliant political move
And Obama was left between a rock and a hard place
Accept and show the world he's doing as McCain orders
Or refuse and be the asshole that doesn't care about the millions of Americans facing financial suicide

He chose the latter
Because he's stubborn
and it caught him off guard
He should have agreed
Flew to Washington immediately
and out stage McCain
Beat him at his own game

But he refused because it caught him off guard
and he acted rashly
OR he believes he can't win a one on one with McCain in Washington and fears its him who will be up staged


If he can manipulate his opponent and come back from slipping poles this easily
then he'd probly do rather well with international relations

I completely agree.

[CaptainObvious]

Risky thing to do. While in theory it works because Obama loses if he agrees (Mccain looks like the leader) or refuses (Obama looks like a petty political animal), it's already backfiring, for a few reasons:

1) It is an obvious political maneuver.
2) Americans realize (polling numbers reflect this) that it is dishonest to make it a dichotomy between debating and helping the nation.
3) Many people are beginning to get tired of McCain's strategy of rigidly controlling discourse; his campaign tries to suppress information as much as possible, and it seems many voters are tiring of that.
4) Americans overwhelmingly want to see the debate go on as planned (10% want it cancelled/moved).

It's blatantly obvious that McCain is doing this for political gain. In case you aren't all aware, the bulk of the work on this bill will be done on the banking/finance committees of the Senate/House, neither of which McCain sits on. The only possible role he could play would be to try to help broker a compromise on the bailout, but that is a less involved job, and certainly doesn't require suspending his campaign or moving the debates.

In fact, if you read into this a lot (I'm not sure I do), it could almost be seen as McCain trying to get Palin out of her debate with Biden (fits in with how Palin has been kepted away from the media, and basically muzzled), since his suggestion now is to move both debates back. If he were really honest, he'd suggest switching the VP debate to Friday, and he and Obama taking the later date.

Lastly, the debate can't actually be switched on a whim - MSU has already spent 5.5 million preparing for the debate... they can't just hold off. If the debate is cancelled, that's money down the drain, and the debate will have to be held somewhere else (MSU can't just wait on the debate, as their President stated in response to McCain's proposal).

Really, McCain could both debate and do his part in Washington. That's what Obama proposes doing. Instead, McCain is continuing his recent pattern of erratic and politically dangerous behavior. Unfortunately for him, as polling shows (large majority of Americans want the debate to be held as planned), people are starting to catch on.

At the end of the day though, this was probably the best route for McCain to take. It's risky, and signs show it already may not be working, but he was getting hammered on the economy throughout the week, and polling numbers have started slipping fast as the financial crisis highlights McCain's weakness on economic policy. he's trying to change the momentum of the campaign again, as he did by nominating Palin. This time though, it won't work (Palin didn't either, as the increasing pushback from both voters and the media over her record in Alaska, experience, and avoidance of the press shows).

[rsc4life]

The debate won't be switched on a whim. He is actually refusing to go. It is political blackmail. He says if we do not have a bipartisan solution to this crisis, than he will not attend the debate. That is egregious! I want my debate. It has been a week of scandal for McCain, he got caught lying through his teeth about his top adviser's connections to Freddie Mac, and it is time he answered to it!

[The Batman]

There are 100 senators I'm pretty sure they can go without 2. Also in this day and age you don't have to be there at all they have cell phones and video conferences.

[redcar]

This was a brilliant move. Seriously he has an amazing marketing team.
He was able to pull off two effects from one action.
First he was able to say "Listen I really care about this country more than I do about winning this election" and put Obama in a really bad position, he had to follow suit.

Amazing move.

[CaptainObvious]

...I seriously cannot believe you people actually think this was a good move by McCain.

Snap polling done about McCain's move show massive margins disagreeing with each suggestion he made (postpone debate, suspend the campaigns). The poll is at http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReportUC.aspx?g=54d651a7-a62b-4420-bb32-9dd6b2df8c02.

Big gamble... not working. At all. I am involved with a number of other political forums, and only the most pro-McCain people (who wouldn't change anyways) think this is a good idea. The massive preponderance of independents, undecided voters and people not yet fully certain of their choice tends to think that this is a terrible idea. Which it is.

[Mannequin]

biden is going to rain shit on palin. she's soooooooo fucking stupid. mccain just chose her to have a minority on his side. if (when lol) mccain dies of Alzheimers while in office, sarah palin as president is really scary.

[Maverick]

Well the debate is on and no bill is passed as of right now. This whole stunt was a waste of time and I don't think anyone really cared about it. Most Americans I believe don't want the bailout.

[Requin]

It's McCain being clever again. He's trying to show that he cares for the american people. As that is his goal. Because he knows that Obama is better at shows than he is. A clever campaign. Why do you think he brought in Palin?

[Whisper]

To try and get the middle aged female voters to pay attention
and so he can show hes going to take a tough stance on the oil companies which palin is famous for

[The Batman]

I think it's funny how he has now decided to go on with the debate. He should have stuck behind his original plan cause now he just looks bad.

[thesphinx]

Yes but I bet you would have bitched about him being scared or something if he didn't do the debate right?
I still think this was a great move on his part and it could hurt his campaign which really shows that he cares about the country doesn't it.

[Maverick]

No it doesn't show he cares about the country. It just shows that he thinks the country is so gullible and stupid that we would actually fall for this political stunt.

[Antares]

Idk what to think about this. I think it was somewhat good intended, whether it be to keep him from having a freakin heart attack or to actually sincerly go and research somethings for this crisis.

[rsc4life]

Well, I've got good news on this count! He has agreed to debate! See you at 9:00 EST John!

[Maverick]

Well, I've got good news on this count! He has agreed to debate! See you at 9:00 EST John!
Watched it and Obama creamed him.