Wednesday, September 24, 2008

McCain's New Smoke Grenade (For Once It's Not "I Was A POW")

I'm watching cable news right now and it just came in as "breaking news" that McCain has announced he's suspending his campaign tomorrow morning to go to Washington to "deal with" the financial crisis.

He made some sort of mamby-pamby remark about how after 9/11 that politicians all came together with no politics to deal with the emergency. He says we should be doing that during this emergency. I'm pretty sure he used the word patriotism at least once.

That they did that 7 years ago is complete bullshit, the GOP made 9/11 political from the very first second, and this is just a political ploy by McCain as he knows he needs to look like he knows something about dealing with the economy, because nobody believes he does.

He's also calling for postponing the first debate on Friday.

The Republicans sure do love to suspend democracy in times of crises. As for suspending politics? Do you believe for a minute that the McCain surrogates stop slamming Obama during this "suspension?"

Does anyone else think that this is more about John McCain's debate prep not going very well?

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TBO's Update: Naturally, Obama's not taking the bait, and uses the opportunity to raise the stakes:

"Presidents are going to have to deal with more than one thing at a time," he said, "it is not necessary for us to think we can do only one thing and suspend everything else."

7 comments:

JJisafool said...

My first reaction was "Are you fucking KIDDING me?"

It's a bullshit excuse. The debates aren't for lawmakers. They are for citizens. And I think we can manage to move legislation forward with Obama and McCain being otherwise engaged.

Of COURSE this about debates. McCain has little to gain and the entire election to lose in that format. Not his strength, and he has no policy to fall back on.

Stef A. said...

My first thought was, McCain needs more time to prepare. More time to cram some canned answers into that ancient brain of his.

It's SUCH a lame excuse.

Anonymous said...

Is it a political move? Almost assuredly. But I don't think it is about the debates. McCain prefers the "townhall meeting" style when campaigning because he is generally better off the cuff than the stiff readings he gives with prepared speeches. As I recall, it was Obama that did not do as well in the debates against Clinton. He stammered a lot and did not project the confidence she did.

Obama has to be careful here. If they end up debating or voting Friday night and it is close, it will look like he is more interested in campaigning than trying to solve this crisis.

At the same time, if he waits to see if he will actually be needed, he could be seen as indecisive or again, seeming like he is just "playing politics".

Anonymous said...

bty

Did you all catch George Will ripping apart McCain this past weekend on ABC?

Nothing like a little Con eat Con to warm the cockles of my heart.

Verdant Earl said...

I wasn't surprised to hear that he wants to postpone the debates at all.

And do you really expect to ever see a VP debate?

the beige one said...

I have to say that all this "x has to be careful" stuff (which I see everywhere) is driving me up a wall, mostly because it's true.

And partially because I'm sick of playing by these stupid fucking rules.

Here we have McCain being both a coward and an opportunist, cravenly so...McCain ain't gonna do shit, but get his ass in front of a lot of cameras looking like he's actually doing something, when all he'll be doing is bloviating.

WE'RE 40 FUCKING DAYS AWAY FROM THE ELECTION! This crisis already has plenty of hands and eyes on it, and McCain's just using it as a photo op.

But, no, Obama has to be careful, he can't call this for the bullshit it is.

Fucking A.

I now depart to watch Letterman, where McCain was supposed to appear tonight. I understand Letterman was non-plussed and makes a few snarky remarks about it all. Maybe that will make me feel better.

Anonymous said...

"And partially because I'm sick of playing by these stupid fucking rules."
Ain't politics a bitch? :)

"Here we have McCain being both a coward and an opportunist, cravenly so"
I'm still having a hard time with the "this is about postponing the debate" thing. The debate on Friday is/was on foreign policy issues. This is McCain's strength (as he sees it and polls suggest) as it includes national security. It was originally proposed by the debate commission for it to be the third debate, but both the Obama and McCain camps wanted it to be first. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/us/politics/21debate.html

"...McCain ain't gonna do shit, but get his ass in front of a lot of cameras looking like he's actually doing something, when all he'll be doing is bloviating."
You mean, being a politician? :)

"WE'RE 40 FUCKING DAYS AWAY FROM THE ELECTION! This crisis already has plenty of hands and eyes on it, and McCain's just using it as a photo op."
If that's true, McCain has to be careful (heh-heh) lest he comes across as it just being a political ploy.

"But, no, Obama has to be careful, he can't call this for the bullshit it is."
I don't think I suggested he shouldn't call it for what it was. Good for him for doing that! In fact, I think sitting back and not commiting one way or the other until more facts are in is preferencial to acting just for the sake of acting (i.e. McCain's call to fire the head of the SEC). Unfortunately during campaign season it is not necessarily doing the right thing which gets you elected it is doing what is PERCEIVED to be the right thing (i.e. Palin).

"Fucking A."
Fucking J.M.

Cheers!