McCain to "Suspend" Campaign and Wants to Delay Debate
This afternoon, Sen. McCain said that he is going to "suspend" his campaign and return to Washington (where he has not cast a vote in the Senate since April 8, 2008), to address the financial crisis. In addition, he has asked Sen. Obama to agree to postpone the first presidential debate scheduled for this Friday, September 26, 2008. By contrast, earlier today, Sen. Obama called Sen. McCain to suggest that they issue a joint statement outlining their shared principles and urging Congress and the Bush administration to address the crisis in a bipartisan manner.
Maybe I'm just a cynic, but Sen. McCain's decision to suspend and delay looks to me like a cheap political move. Sen. McCain didn't suspend his campaign when Lehman Brothers went bankrupt or when Merrill Lynch was sold for pennies or when AIG was bailed out or when Treasury Secretary Paulson said that a bailout of Wall Street was an immediate concern. Nope. He kept campaigning and kept right on lying. But when a new ABC/Washington Post poll came out showing Sen. Obama with a 52-43 lead (a change from 47-49 two weeks ago), suddenly Sen. McCain wants to suspend and delay. Maybe that's a coincidence. Maybe not. Suddenly, Sen. Obama has momentum and that momentum may be, at least in part, due to the financial crisis. So, how best to blunt that momentum? Call time out. Hey, it works in sports, why not politics?
Let's not forget that there are 98 other Senators who are working diligently on this issue (not to mention 435 members of the House of Representatives, the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, and President Bush, too). Without stopping to really think through all of the ramifications, my initial reaction is that Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama will be serving the country much better by debating issues -- including, say, the financial crisis? -- this Friday, rather than just returning to Washington to add their voices to the already crowded chorus.
Maybe I'm just a cynic, but Sen. McCain's decision to suspend and delay looks to me like a cheap political move. Sen. McCain didn't suspend his campaign when Lehman Brothers went bankrupt or when Merrill Lynch was sold for pennies or when AIG was bailed out or when Treasury Secretary Paulson said that a bailout of Wall Street was an immediate concern. Nope. He kept campaigning and kept right on lying. But when a new ABC/Washington Post poll came out showing Sen. Obama with a 52-43 lead (a change from 47-49 two weeks ago), suddenly Sen. McCain wants to suspend and delay. Maybe that's a coincidence. Maybe not. Suddenly, Sen. Obama has momentum and that momentum may be, at least in part, due to the financial crisis. So, how best to blunt that momentum? Call time out. Hey, it works in sports, why not politics?
Let's not forget that there are 98 other Senators who are working diligently on this issue (not to mention 435 members of the House of Representatives, the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, and President Bush, too). Without stopping to really think through all of the ramifications, my initial reaction is that Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama will be serving the country much better by debating issues -- including, say, the financial crisis? -- this Friday, rather than just returning to Washington to add their voices to the already crowded chorus.
Update:
Almost immediately after posting the above, I came across the following:
I couldn't resist.
Labels: Election
posted by MSWallack @ 4:35 PM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
McCain hasn't cast a vote in the Senate since April, and suddenly he's absolutely crucial to getting this done?
They've also said that the debate would be rescheduled to replace the VP debate, which would once again isolate Sarah Palin from the media and the public.
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