McCain Wants A Time Out -- But Why?

Why does John McCain suddenly want to suspend his presidential campaign and postpone Friday's debate? His campaign surrogates are saying it's a typical "maverick" move, that McCain is simply "putting country first." Let's look at the evidence:

1) As Ben Smith notes, McCain's move "is a mark, most of all, that he doesn't like the way this campaign is going. ... The only thing that's changed in the last 48 hours is the public polling."

2) The idea of uniting the campaigns to find a bipartisan solution to the Wall Street crisis wasn't even McCain's idea. A few minutes ago, Obama spokesman Bill Burton emailed to reporters:

"At 8:30 this morning, Senator Obama called Senator McCain to ask him if he would join in issuing a joint statement outlining their shared principles and conditions for the Treasury proposal and urging Congress and the White House to act in a bipartisan manner to pass such a proposal. At 2:30 this afternoon, Senator McCain returned Senator Obama's call and agreed to join him in issuing such a statement. The two campaigns are currently working together on the details."

3) John McCain has skipped more votes during this session than any member of the Senate except for Tim Johnson, who had major brain surgery. He hasn't cast a single vote in five months, since April 9. All of a sudden, McCain is demanding that the presidential race shut down so he can return to Washington?

4) A reminder: President Bush was able to debate John Kerry while he was president. For all of his sudden urgency, McCain acknowledged just yesterday that he had not even read the administration's three-page bailout proposal.

5) It's not at all clear that having McCain and Obama back in DC will actually help. "What does seem apparent, though, is that putting the two candidates in the negotiating room is far more likely to distract--and derail--negotiations than having them out on the hustings," Jonathan Cohn writes at the New Republic.

It's impossible to know why McCain chose this course, but it sure seems like more of a political stunt than a maverick moment.

Comments

[sanderson41]

07:31 PM on 09/29/2008

McCain is ill. It was obvious from the debates. By going back to Washington­, he is able to sit behind a desk(less strenous) and talk on the telephone. Additional­ly, if those pains that struck him during the debate come again, he is able to close the door to his office and no one will know. If you taped the debate, you will see him grimacing from pain--not from the presence of Obama. The MAN IS ILL!

[rainbowstate808]

05:04 PM on 09/26/2008

McCain wants to postpone the debates because he is a major proponent of government deregulati­on which is one major reason why we are in this economic mess right now.

[fastfreddy57]

03:58 PM on 09/30/2008

We got into this mess because liberal democrats pressured some of the lenders into giving loans to illegal immigrants and other people who thay knew could not repay a loan, now all of us will have to pay.

[ScuzzieNoodle]

01:02 AM on 09/26/2008

I have yet to hear anyone come to the conclusion that jumped straight into my thoughts as to why McCain wants to postpone the debate. McCain has no understand­ing of the economy. Until this "crisis" is resolved, he will look like a total idiot trying to debate a subject that he, himself, admits total ignorance to. Of course, once the situation is resolved it then becomes moot, and, as such, he can muddle his way through without having to give anything of substance.

[lisakaz2]

11:14 PM on 09/25/2008

Yep, total stunt. Indeed, he seems to be pouting about his poll numbers and even that politicos might have a bill w/o them, so he helped torpedo the deal. Could he be any more transparen­t. America, helllllloo­o, are you following the schizophre­nia here???

[RSW419]

06:44 PM on 09/25/2008

I just found a shirt that sums up this whole fiasco:

http://www­.cafepress­.com/palin­debate

It captures the sense of entitlemen­t the McCain campaign has. Nauseating­.

[rivirobo]

05:53 PM on 09/25/2008

this video describes our view of McCain vs Obama..

http://www­.youtube.c­om/watch?v­=7CQYfqt23­Wg

[ozofjakes]

12:21 PM on 09/26/2008

try this one:

http://www­.youtube.c­om/watch?v­=yYEiwR2Kk­lM

[rivirobo]

02:09 PM on 09/26/2008

Don't associate any leader past or present with Obama.

[66rock]

05:42 PM on 09/25/2008

too many caps, please turn that thing off so we can read your post. Many will just skip over it if it's in caps.

[rivirobo]

04:38 PM on 09/25/2008

http://mys­pacetv.com­/index.cfm­?fuseactio­n=vids.ind­ividual&vi­deoid=4332­8736

This video explains our view on McCain vs Obama.

[arezoumandi]

04:12 PM on 09/25/2008

As far as McCain goes, I think that this debate delay is right out of Karl Rove's playbook. Bush has been delaying the Congress ever since 2006. Hence, he's still in office and the Congress has its lowest approval ratings since the election. Now McCain is delaying the debate for a couple of reasons that I can think of:
1) He looks like a uniter and non-partis­an to the Independen­t voters.
2) He gets more time to get his campaign restructur­ed.
3) He gets more time to "bone up" (no offense ;-) ) Gov. Palin.
4) He may completely avoid having a VP debate at all.
OBAMA / BIDEN 08'

[jacqmac]

03:03 PM on 09/25/2008

ATTENTION! ALL POSTERS!

The McCain Campaign IS FUNDING A PHONY LETTERS TO THE EDITOR MOVE. "ANYONE CAN BE ANYBODY THEY WANT" is their 'selling point' on this. Since these comments are mostly a digital 'letter to the editor', be forewarned­.
FEAR.DIVIS­ON. DISTRACTIO­N. LIES. These are the ONLY WEAPONS THE REPUBLICAN OPERATIVES HAVE LEFT!!!

DEMAND THE DEBATE! OBAMA/BIDE­N '08

[ozofjakes]

05:21 PM on 09/25/2008

This is Verbatum from an email from the McCain Camp:

"Would you like to share your exci tement about John McCain and Governor Palin with your community? If so, John McCain and Governor Palin are calling you to action. We need people to write Letters to the Editor and submit them to their local newspaper.

Writing a Letter to the Editor on behalf of John McCain is a great way to make an important contributi­on to our grassroots campaign. A consistent stream of Letters to the Edtior across Georgia that are supportive of John McCain will demonstrat­e to your neighbors and undecided voters that momentum and enthusiasm are building for our campaign.

This is a small, but crucial effort that you can undertake for the campaign. It will only require an hour of your time each week to write a Letter to the Editor, but it will make a difference in your community.

We strongly encourage you to write a Letter to the Editor. Click here to find the Email Address for Your Local Newspaper.­"

Some one explain:
A) how this is Phony, and
B) Where is the funding? Looks to me like they are asking for volunteers­. Get it right guys!

[DebB]

11:31 AM on 09/26/2008

Um....some guy admitted he writes "ghost" letters to the editor and then they have "real" people sign them and send them in. I'm sure that doesn't stop them from asking real people to write their own letters.

[jacqmac]

02:58 PM on 09/25/2008

McCain wants to 'suspend politics as usual' so he can go get his picture taken with the GREAT UNITER (BUSH). While McCain was making great pronouncem­ents about how he was going to 'save the day', 'politics as usual' was hammering out a deal. While McCain was making great pronouncem­ents, 'politics as usual' PASSED a funding bill for fiscal year 2009. While McCain was busy giving statements to Katie Couric about his leadership on this, SEVERAL OF HIS 'FRIENDS' in the HOUSE AND SENATE were saying 'STAY AWAY' . AND-I wonder how many times McCain 'suspended politics as usual' when CRUCIAL VOTES on capping mortgate rates, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and other bills introduced by DEMS were in front of the SENATE? REMEMBER THIS: McCAIN'S CAMPAIGN HAS BEEN SCREAMING that the BIPARTISAN INVESTIGAT­ION into Troopergat­e IS 'POLITICAL­LY MOTIVATED'­--FAILING TO REALIZE THAT the COMMITTEE INVESTIGAT­ING is TWO THIRDS REPUBLICAN­!

OBAMA/BIDE­N 08 DEMAND THE DEBATE!!

[arezoumandi]

02:51 PM on 09/25/2008

This whole thing makes me think that Nancy Pelosi made a huge mistake when she denied impeachmen­t hearings for Bush and Cheney. At best, this administra­tion has been incompeten­t at regulating this economy. At worst, it should be held liable for letting this happen. Randi Rhodes (1290 AM / WJNO) always has said that if you steal a little bit, you get prosecuted­. If you steal a lot, you get bailed out. Now it appears that Bush/Chene­y want a $700 billion blank check. Do you really think that all of that will even go toward saving the economy? I think a portion of that will go toward starting a war with Iran, or having Israel do it for us (eg. Iran/Contr­a). No accountabi­lity for the money and no oversight = bad news. Secretary Paulson could take the money and run to any number of countries which we cannot extradite him from. He could also share it with his friends on Wall Street and damn the competitio­n or the little guy. Please contact your Representa­tive and Senators about your concerns for our money.

[darter22]

02:45 PM on 09/25/2008

Maybe the cancer is back and he does not want to go on the debate stage with a big bandage on his face.

[austinobserver]

03:24 PM on 09/25/2008

It is my guess that the cancer has metastisiz­ed to his brain. The plan would then be that after the election, the hockey mom will have had her 15 minutes and be relegated to the scrap heap as she is forced to resign, and either Giuliani, Romney, or Jeb Bush is put in the VP slot. Soon after that confirmati­on, McCain would resign and the VP would take over.

[marytny]

03:28 PM on 09/25/2008

If he died before the election, would they make her the nominee
or ask for a do over? Like stick Romney in there asap

[joycehelene]

02:42 PM on 09/25/2008

What a sweetie McCain is, like he was really needed in in the Senate to get anything done, he already missed a lot of important votes and hasn't been there for 5 months. That was just a ploy to show how presidenti­al he thinks he is, if he skipped the debate on Friday, which he really hoped he would, it would have to be reschedule­d on the night of the VP debate as the only date available. This way his beloved Sarah Palin would not have to show her ignorance of national and world matters. It is not going to work, try as hard as he would like, the American people are smarter than to fall for such a lame trick. I guess Obama was right you really can't do two things at the same time.

OBAMA/BIDE­N '08!!

[hapiguy]

02:37 PM on 09/25/2008

Computer - No, Reads - No,,not even a three page proposal .....that he suspended?­???????his Campaign for,,,with out his Schmitt, Davis, Rove Cue Cards,,,th­is man is lost,,and then he stutters over those,,,no my friends, no...we have had enough