McCain to Suspend Campaign

[Bando]

I was gonna wait for Boz's approval to start a new thread, but news is moving fast, so what the hell?

After talking with the Obama campaign this morning, John McCain has announced he's suspending his campaign Thursday after speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative in order to work on passing a Wall Street bailout measure by Monday. He's also pushed for postponing Friday's debate. So far, the Obama campaign is still debating and not suspending.

The WaPo has a good writeup of the background to this decision, and Jonathan Martin's blog at the Politico has the latest. I'll leave my thoughts a little later in the thread.

[Boz]

CLUTTER!!!!!

;D ;D

Just kidding Bando.

I think this is worthy of its own thread. Just don't expect me to snipe in it too much.

My personal opinion is that this is that it's not that big a deal. We're only talking about suspending for a few days or so. I'm pretty sure ads will still be running during that time and that surrogates will still be out there speaking on behalf of their candidate. As for the debate, I don't think it would be the worst idea in the world to postpone it to next week, but if they have it Friday, I'm sure John McCain will be there and be ready.

The gamesmanship sniffers aside (and I will admit that there is definitely a fair bit of that in this announcement - but I wouldn't say it's 100% gamesmanship), I think this will score McCain a few short-term political points, but nothing that will seriously impact anyone's decision.

Of course, he could always come out against the bail-out during this "suspension", which would be a pretty bold move politically, and it does fit the Republican Party platform to oppose this (pretty much to the word).

[TC]

The bailout is so universally reviled that I think he's already shown his hand - he is against it, and he'll have some other proposal.

[Jack]

Cross-posting:

Smells a lot like gamesmanship to me. And silly, too. Why would we be unable to have a debate while discussions about the bailout are ongoing? Would the participants in the bailout planning be unable to tear themselves away from the compelling political theater? Would the missing economic wisdom of McCain and Obama, heretofore shielded from us all by platitudes and vagary, be fatal to the bailout strategies success? Is it an inappropriate time for Americans to be thinking about the future of their country and engaging in a serious discussion about it?

I say we also postpone the World Series. And the election. And possibly, possibly Christmas.

[DrumsGoBang]

If you can't handle more then one thing at a time, then maybe you shouldn't be president

[strummer8526]

Sept 24, 2008 15:53:43 GMT -5 DrumsGoBang said:

If you can't handle more then one thing at a time, then maybe you shouldn't be president

After 9/11, I thought we should have just suspended domestic politics.

[HoyaSC]

Sept 24, 2008 16:02:36 GMT -5 strummer8526 said:

Sept 24, 2008 15:53:43 GMT -5 DrumsGoBang said:

If you can't handle more then one thing at a time, then maybe you shouldn't be president

After 9/11, I thought we should have just suspended domestic politics.

We did, didn't we?

[williambraskyiii]

what's the point of suspending ads and fundraising? I can see at least some credible grounds for suspending the debate (although I think it is unnecessary and posturing), but suspending ads? This isn't like the 9/11 anniversary...it is just so bizarre.

[kchoya]

"This is exactly the time the American people need to hear from the person who in about 40 days will be responsible for with dealing with this mess," Obama said. "In my mind, [the debate] is more important then ever."

Typical Obama. Let's talk about it instead of actually trying to solve the problem. Who knows if having McCain (or Obama) involved in the process in Washington will help or not. At the very least Obama might get some material for yet another book to write.

[TC]

Hah, now they want to suspend the VP debate too - the plan there is obvious now.

[strummer8526]

Sept 24, 2008 17:41:47 GMT -5 kchoya said:

"This is exactly the time the American people need to hear from the person who in about 40 days will be responsible for with dealing with this mess," Obama said. "In my mind, [the debate] is more important then ever."

Typical Obama. Let's talk about it instead of actually trying to solve the problem. Who knows if having McCain (or Obama) involved in the process in Washington will help or not. At the very least Obama might get some material for yet another book to write.

Overall, I think we can objective say that the President has more influence on this issue than does the senior Senator from Arizona or the junior Senator from Illinois. So isn't it more important that we figure out who will be President in 2 months rather than give up the chance to hear the candidates debate, especially when NEITHER of the candidates can likely contribute much to the financial discussion at this point?

[kchoya]

Sept 24, 2008 18:05:07 GMT -5 strummer8526 said:

Sept 24, 2008 17:41:47 GMT -5 kchoya said:

"This is exactly the time the American people need to hear from the person who in about 40 days will be responsible for with dealing with this mess," Obama said. "In my mind, [the debate] is more important then ever."

Typical Obama. Let's talk about it instead of actually trying to solve the problem. Who knows if having McCain (or Obama) involved in the process in Washington will help or not. At the very least Obama might get some material for yet another book to write.

Overall, I think we can objective say that the President has more influence on this issue than does the senior Senator from Arizona or the junior Senator from Illinois. So isn't it more important that we figure out who will be President in 2 months rather than give up the chance to hear the candidates debate, especially when NEITHER of the candidates can likely contribute much to the financial discussion at this point?

1. Who said we're giving up the chance to hear the candidates debate. The debate is being postponed, not canceled.

2. You think the world is waiting around to see what great wisdom comes from McCain and Obama in the debates? I think we can survive a few more days without a debate. Heck, Carter & Reagan had just one debate and it was only days before the election. I think we can survive this delay.

3. If you think the President is the be-all end-all, then why hasn't his proposed package already passed? Why are there questions about whether it should/will pass? If this thing breaks down, then they may need help to reach a bipartisan resolution.

[SoCalHoya]

Sept 24, 2008 16:13:45 GMT -5 HoyaSC said:

Sept 24, 2008 16:02:36 GMT -5 strummer8526 said:

After 9/11, I thought we should have just suspended domestic politics.

We did, didn't we?

We didn't suspend domestic politics, just civil rights.

[Bando]

Early polling suggests this was a bad move for McCain (Survey USA)

[strummer8526]

Sept 24, 2008 18:20:49 GMT -5 kchoya said:

Sept 24, 2008 18:05:07 GMT -5 strummer8526 said:

Overall, I think we can objective say that the President has more influence on this issue than does the senior Senator from Arizona or the junior Senator from Illinois. So isn't it more important that we figure out who will be President in 2 months rather than give up the chance to hear the candidates debate, especially when NEITHER of the candidates can likely contribute much to the financial discussion at this point?

1. Who said we're giving up the chance to hear the candidates debate. The debate is being postponed, not canceled.

2. You think the world is waiting around to see what great wisdom comes from McCain and Obama in the debates? I think we can survive a few more days without a debate. Heck, Carter & Reagan had just one debate and it was only days before the election. I think we can survive this delay.

3. If you think the President is the be-all end-all, then why hasn't his proposed package already passed? Why are there questions about whether it should/will pass? If this thing breaks down, then they may need help to reach a bipartisan resolution.

1. The debate IS NOT automatically being postponed, at least as of now. Last I saw, McCain WANTS it postponed. And he seems pretty eager to make that happen. Maybe he's worried about having to stand in a room and argue for deregulation when all this is going on? Just a thought.

2. I do think a lot of people are looking forward to hearing these debates, yes.

3. I don't think the President is the end-all and be-all. But it's not like dropping 2 more Senators into this pot is going to increase the chances of success, especially when both have obvious reasons to posture and politicize.

[SirSaxa]

Looking at this in Basketball terms, when one team is on a big run and has the other team on their heels, in disarray and panic, the coach generally calls a Time Out to halt the action and try to regroup his team, calm them down and change the momentum.

It certainly looks like that is what McCain is doing - or trying to do.

[Bando]

Sept 24, 2008 18:20:49 GMT -5 kchoya said:

Sept 24, 2008 18:05:07 GMT -5 strummer8526 said:

Overall, I think we can objective say that the President has more influence on this issue than does the senior Senator from Arizona or the junior Senator from Illinois. So isn't it more important that we figure out who will be President in 2 months rather than give up the chance to hear the candidates debate, especially when NEITHER of the candidates can likely contribute much to the financial discussion at this point?

1. Who said we're giving up the chance to hear the candidates debate. The debate is being postponed, not canceled.

2. You think the world is waiting around to see what great wisdom comes from McCain and Obama in the debates? I think we can survive a few more days without a debate. Heck, Carter & Reagan had just one debate and it was only days before the election. I think we can survive this delay.

3. If you think the President is the be-all end-all, then why hasn't his proposed package already passed? Why are there questions about whether it should/will pass? If this thing breaks down, then they may need help to reach a bipartisan resolution.

If you seriously believe that bringing in the presidential campaign (with all of the staffs, Secret Service, and press that would entail) would do anything other than severely hamper these negotiations, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you.

[kchoya]

Sept 24, 2008 19:12:13 GMT -5 Bando said:

Sept 24, 2008 18:20:49 GMT -5 kchoya said:

1. Who said we're giving up the chance to hear the candidates debate. The debate is being postponed, not canceled.

2. You think the world is waiting around to see what great wisdom comes from McCain and Obama in the debates? I think we can survive a few more days without a debate. Heck, Carter & Reagan had just one debate and it was only days before the election. I think we can survive this delay.

3. If you think the President is the be-all end-all, then why hasn't his proposed package already passed? Why are there questions about whether it should/will pass? If this thing breaks down, then they may need help to reach a bipartisan resolution.

If you seriously believe that bringing in the presidential campaign (with all of the staffs, Secret Service, and press that would entail) would do anything other than severely hamper these negotiations, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you.

That's such BS and you know. I'm going to call you on it - give me one concrete example how the negotiations would be hampered, I'd love to hear it.

You think secret service, the campaign manager and press are going to be in some closed-door meeting that McCain or Obama is in you're an idiot. You're manufacturing an issue where there is none.

staff - there some shortage of chiefs of staff, policy director, press people, interns, etc. in Washington that I'm unaware of? They've all left the beltway to work on the campaigns?

Secret Service - I think the White House, Capitol, Treasury, etc. have lots of security as is. You think they're going to have to beef up security because another senator is in town?

Press - you're right, the media hasn't really been covering the financial stories. But with Barry in town, maybe they'll give the issue some play.

[HoyaSinceBirth]

I could understand if either of them were on the Finance committee or something like that, but there is no need for this. I think the time out analogy is perfect.

[SirSaxa]

KC, I think the reality is if either or both candidates try to get involved in the active negotiation of this bail out proposal, it will become even MORE political and less Bi-partisan. It will be quite apparent they will each try to take advantage to help themselves in the election. That is not in the best interest of getting this thing done quickly and in a bi-partisan manner.

And McCain has publicly stated that Economics and Finance are NOT his strong suit.