[Updated] McCain suspends campaign to work on economy

Kodiak · Post by **Kodiak** » 2008-09-24 03:44pm

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain announced Wednesday that he is suspending his campaign to return to Washington and focus on the "historic" crisis facing the U.S. economy.

The Arizona senator called on his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, to do the same. He also urged organizers of Friday's presidential debate at the University of Mississippi to postpone the event.

"I am calling on the president to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself," McCain told reporters in New York. "It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem."

There was no immediate response from the Obama campaign.

McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, were in New York to meet with world leaders at the United Nations. They had met with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.

"Senator, governor, I'm really honored to be here with you. I know you have a very important campaign to run," Saakashvili said. "Overall, I have to say I greatly appreciate the solidarity we felt from the American people."

Earlier, Palin met with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

Obama on Wednesday lashed out at the Bush administration and his opponent on the handling of the crisis on Wall Street as well as the $700 billion bailout plan by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson.

Congress and the White House are trying to negotiate the details of what would be the most sweeping economic intervention by the government since the Great Depression. Bush has asked Congress to act quickly on the bailout proposal following news of failing financial institutions and frozen credit markets.

"The clock is ticking on this crisis. We have to act swiftly, but we also have to get it right," Obama said in Dunedin, Florida. "And that means everyone -- Republicans and Democrats, and the White House and Congress -- must work together to come up with a solution that protects American taxpayers and our economy without rewarding those whose greed helped get us into this problem in the first place."

Obama said it's unacceptable to expect the American people to "hand this administration or any administration a $700 billion check with no conditions and no oversight when a lack of oversight in Washington and on Wall Street is exactly what got us into this mess."

He said struggling homeowners must be taken care of in any economic recovery plan -- and that taxpayers should "not be spending one dime to reward the same Wall Street CEOs whose greed and irresponsibility got us into this mess."

He also hit McCain for switching from his stance as an advocate for market deregulation to a strong supporter of regulation since the Wall Street crisis became front-page news.

"He's suddenly a hard-charging populist," Obama said. "And that's all well and good, but I sure wish he was talking the same way over a year ago, when I introduced a bill that would've helped stop the multimillion-dollar bonus packages that CEOs grab on their way out the door."

McCain's bombshell comes as a new CNN "poll of polls" out of Virginia on Wednesday shows McCain with the slimmest of leads in a state that traditionally has been a safe bet for Republicans.

The latest polls could be a warning sign for McCain that he still has work to do to lock down certain states where previous GOP nominees had to spend little time or effort doing so.

In the new poll of polls, McCain holds a 1 percentage point lead over Obama (47 percent to 46 percent) in Virginia, while 7 percent remain undecided.

The poll of polls is an average of three recent surveys of the state -- MSNBC/Mason-Dixon (September 17-22), ARG (September 17-20) and ABC/The Washington Post (September 18-21). The poll of polls does not have a sampling error.

In all honesty, what can McCain really do to help other than get his name in the papers for this? Will Obama follow suit as well?

DesertFly · Post by **DesertFly** » 2008-09-24 03:48pm

Blatant publicity stunt: "Oh look I'm so worried about America that I'm going to stop doing something that actually has a chance to put me in a position to actually make some real changes, and pretend that I can actually do something meaningful in the short amount of time leading up to the election."

Natorgator · Post by **Natorgator** » 2008-09-24 03:48pm

I was just about to post this. It's such bullshit. McCain misses 65% of his votes in the Senate and now he's suspending his campaign to work on it?

He's only doing it to save face in light of all the bloodletting that his campaign has gone through this week, not to mention keep Palin away from the media a little longer (who, by the way, has given TWO interviews so far.)

I'm wondering how Obama will respond; I'm kinda hoping he calls McCain on his BS.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2008-09-24 03:54pm

Okay. He missed 65% of all votes, he stays on the trail, he constantly flimflams on what should be done or whether it's deregulation's fault, then suddenly, it's two days before the big debate, he's down in the polls, and now. Now, not any point earlier, not any point based on logic or facts, he wants to stop.

Whiny old man.

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2008-09-24 03:55pm

What a bunch of complete bullshit pandering. Ugh, what a practiced political tactic. Of course the next line after "I'm 'suspending' my campaign" is "heh heh Barack better do it too!." Besides, what "work" will McSame offer, but voting yes on more corporate socialism like he's done for his whole career in Congress. Work is a photo op for McCain.

Natorgator · Post by **Natorgator** » 2008-09-24 03:56pm

Obama camp responds that the debate is still on.

Good for him.

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2008-09-24 03:58pm

Yeah, lets "postpone" the debate. We can hold it on November 5!

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2008-09-24 03:58pm

Natorgator wrote:Obama camp responds that the debate is still on.

Good for him.

Maybe McCain shouldn't have insisted all this time that only one-on-one debates could have stopped the AWFUL HORRIBLE smears from his camp.

Bellator · Post by **Bellator** » 2008-09-24 04:28pm

- If the debate goes on, and McCain stays away, he'd look like a coward.
- If the debate is cancelled (instead of posponed), McCain will lose the chance to beat Obama on his (McCain's) strongest topic.
- Every day McCain doesn't campaign or doesn't put out ads, it's another day won for Obama in key battleground states.

McCain is putting all his money on a single number in roulette. All he can hope for is that Obama will follow his lead, or that Joe Sixpack is actually watching the news and knows what's going on regarding the bailout and understand why it's important for a senator to be involved. Both cases are highly unlikely.

Maverick my ass, McCain really must be crazy. First the last minute pick with Palin, now this. Whenever he's down in the polls, he pulls a crazy look-at-me-being-a-maverick stunt and hopes it will distract the people for long enough for him to win.

Un-bloody-likely!

Elfdart · Post by **Elfdart** » 2008-09-24 04:33pm

John McCain wrote:

What a punk!

Tanasinn · Post by **Tanasinn** » 2008-09-24 04:43pm

Translation from politi-speak: "I'm getting my ass chewed off in polls when it comes to perceptions of economic issues, so I better pretend I give a fuck and know what I'm doing."

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2008-09-24 04:47pm

Tanasinn wrote:Translation from politi-speak: "I'm getting my ass chewed off in polls when it comes to perceptions of economic issues, so I better pretend I give a fuck and know what I'm doing."

A different thing occoured to me.

McCain's campaign is almost all lobbyists. Everyone knows that now.

Lobbyists are being deployed by the cartload to try and ram through Paulson's version.

McCain's lobbyists/campaign may want 'their share' of the 700 billion and thus need to be there.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2008-09-24 05:06pm

Yeah, sure. "My campaign manager cashed a $15,000 check from Fannie May last month (and incidentally, I lied about it), my veep's favorable rating is cratering, and we're in a huge crisis manufactured by my own party and my party's biggest supporters, and I'm getting my ass kicked, so I'm going to suspend my campaign because I'm a statesman." It's a transparent political gimmick designed to get Obama to take his foot off McCain's neck; tomorrow the McSame campaign will be whining that Obama is putting politics above country, which is almost certainly the point of the whole exercise.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2008-09-24 05:23pm

Ironically, I've not seen anything saying McCain won't go to the Clinton Global Initiative tomorrow, or cancel his meetings today.

Meetings which include Bono.

I love U2 as much as the next guy... But, what is that phrase the new kids use?

You're doing it wrong!

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2008-09-24 05:28pm

And, irony striking once again, the banner at the bottom clearly states 'Help elect Republicans in 2008. Contribute to the RNC.' Whoops, somebody's context-sensitive ads are a bit poorly-targetted...

Chris OFarrell · Post by **Chris OFarrell** » 2008-09-24 05:44pm

Watching Sky news, there is word coming through that Obama went to McCain to try and look at a join statement about the two of them dealing with the crisis. At which point McCain jumped off the plane and announced he was going to suspend the campaign and having 'talked to' Obama, encourages him to do the same.

Shouldn't surprise me, but it does.

Obama has come out smoothly though, unfortunately he appears to agree about suspending his campaign, but demands the debates go ahead AND laid down the points for any rescue package that it should pay back the US taxpayer in the long term, not a CENT for any wall street executives if they take the money, help for hard pressed people in danger of loosing their houses e.t.c.

Quite interesting so far, though if Obama made the first move he really needs someone -perhaps Biden- to get out there and say exactly what was being proposed and how McCain, despite all his talk of wanting to be bipartisan about everything, jumped in front of the cameras as fast as he could to claim credit.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2008-09-24 05:46pm

I just realized who McCain increasingly reminds me of: Eric Cartman. This is exactly the sort of thing Eric Cartman would do.

Aratech · Post by **Aratech** » 2008-09-24 06:23pm

Darth Wong wrote:I just realized who McCain increasingly reminds me of: Eric Cartman. This is exactly the sort of thing Eric Cartman would do.

Forgive me if I'm missing something obvious, but who the hell is Eric Cartman?

Invictus ChiKen · Post by **Invictus ChiKen** » 2008-09-24 06:33pm

Aratech wrote:Forgive me if I'm missing something obvious, but who the hell is Eric Cartman?

South Park character, glad I'm not the only one under this rock ^.^

So can any amount of spin help McCain here?

Or at this rate will Friday's debate become another Obama speech? (YAY!)

apocolypse · Post by **apocolypse** » 2008-09-24 06:46pm

Chris OFarrell wrote:Quite interesting so far, though if Obama made the first move he really needs someone -perhaps Biden- to get out there and say exactly what was being proposed and how McCain, despite all his talk of wanting to be bipartisan about everything, jumped in front of the cameras as fast as he could to claim credit.

Well, it's not quite what you asked for, but some other Democrats have been going after McCain for this. The NYT had the following bit...

“What, does McCain think the Senate will still be working at 9 p.m. Friday?” Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania said in an interview, referring to the scheduled start time of the debate. “I think this is all political — I wish McCain had shown the same concern when he didn’t show up in the Senate to vote on the extension of the renewable energy tax credit.”

Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, who is leading House Democrats in negotiating the bailout deal with the administration, was dismissive of Senator McCain’s announcement. “It’s the longest Hail Mary pass in the history of either football or Marys,” Mr. Frank told a group of reporters outside the House chamber.

Aratech · Post by **Aratech** » 2008-09-24 06:46pm

Invictus ChiKen wrote: South Park character, glad I'm not the only one under this rock ^.^

Ahh, I see. I grew up without cable, and have never had a desire to get it to watch anything other than various science and history channels.

So can any amount of spin help McCain here?

I believe Wizard's First Rule applies: people are stupid. They will believe anything you want them to with enough repetition, either because they want to believe its true, or because they're afraid its true.

In short: do not underestimate the ignorance and stupidity of Joe Sixpack.

Ariphaos · Post by **Ariphaos** » 2008-09-24 07:20pm

There was a blog on 538 about how Palin was basically "A 50% shot at winning the presidency by .1% versus a 100% shot at losing it by 2%"

This strikes me as a similar move... it's really reaching. Like Palin, I suspect it will backfire.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2008-09-24 07:29pm

Changed the top post so everyone knows a new development has come.

Link

(CNN) — McCain supporter Sen. Lindsey Graham tells CNN the McCain campaign is proposing to the Presidential Debate Commission and the Obama camp that if there's no bailout deal by Friday, the first presidential debate should take the place of the VP debate, currently scheduled for next Thursday, October 2 in St. Louis.

In this scenario, the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin would be rescheduled for a date yet to be determined, and take place in Oxford, Mississippi, currently slated to be the site of the first presidential faceoff this Friday.

Graham says the McCain camp is well aware of the position of the Obama campaign and the debate commission that the debate should go on as planned — but both he and another senior McCain adviser insist the Republican nominee will not go to the debate Friday if there's no deal on the bailout.

Dark Hellion · Post by **Dark Hellion** » 2008-09-24 07:33pm

So now he is trying to weasel Palin out of her debate to save face as well. I hate this sort of mindless political bullshittery. Just admit you picked a moron for your VP and now you have to protect her.

apocolypse · Post by **apocolypse** » 2008-09-24 08:26pm

So wait. If there's no bailout deal by Friday, McCain's just not showing up? It sounds like some serious grandstanding. "Either you pass this bill or I'm not playing", something like that?