McCain Suspends Campaign Because of Economic Crisis

Is John McCain's stated desire to suspend the campaign and postpone the first debate a cynical move made of desperation or a genuine response to the economic crisis? Yes.

McCain's appeal is a cynical move based on a genuine economic crisis. Not the economic crisis in Washington. The financial crisis is in McCain's campaign. McCain has only $85 million to play with. Even though the RNC is skirting the fringes of election law and subsidizing McCain's ad campaign, McCain is still at a disastrous financial disadvantage. Obama plans to spend $40 million in Florida alone.

Every day McCain can shave from the remaining forty odd days left in the campaign via "suspending" his campaign makes his financial disadvantage less significant. Con the media into giving him free airtime to cover his "surprising announcement?" Good. Bully Obama into pulling ads? Even better.

Here's an idea: instead of suspending the campaign, why not have the number twos on the ticket go to Washington where they can observe first hand and keep the candidates and the American people informed? I am sure Joe Biden and Sarah Palin, as potential Vice-Presidents and potential Presidents, are more than up to the task.

I'll admit, I made that last suggestion out of cynical motivations. See, even though it sounds really thoughtful and genuine, it's just an effort to score cheap points on the incompetence of the Republican vice presidential nominee.

Wonder where I learned that from.

The pure cynicism of McCain's ploy is that he is making the ultimate political move in the name of being above politics. Karl Rove must be proud of his pupil. McCain is embracing the power of the Dark Side.

The onetime maverick is now more machine than man.

Follow Bart Motes on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bmotes

Comments

[Willow712]

From the looks of it, the McCain campaign is imploding. I heard that in their morning phone call, everything was thrown out on the table and it didn't look good. From the polls, to the economy, to Palin, etc. it all looked bad. So I'm wondering if McCain is ready to give it up, hand it over to Romney (the used car salesman from h*ll). It ought to be good.

[cynicism101]

...your little trial balloon there ... that one aint gonna get off the ground. Nice try though.

[NoMoFearNoMoHate]

McCain chooses his words and his actions carefully and has clearly sent up the white flag. It's over.

[keithfisher]

The U.S. is not experiencing a "genuine" economic crisis. True, things are not all well with the financial sector. However this "crisis" has been manufactured by the Bush administration in a vain attempt to benefit the McCain campaign. Have we forgotten who is still running our great country? Clearly, this tactic has backfired and has the McCain camp in a tailspin. His recent behavior is completely understandable in this context.

[cynicism101]

Keith - while I have stated that this is really a market correction - compensating for financial malfeasance and a huge over-reliance on extending consumer credit ... to say this is not a genuine crisis would be a bit of a stretch. Your own candidate compared this issue to the great depression - yes, I understand he has a knack for hyperbole, still.

I think any 6th grader could tell you that an election year economic crisis never favors the incumbent party. To suggest this is a ploy by the Rs would be disingenuous, at best.

I would agree that the campaign suspension idea is tactically strategic. To the point of the cause of the financial mess - well, the president has a record of trying to warn congress of this going back to 2003 - warnings about the mortgage lending practices were detailed in the 2004 budget. John McCain co-sponsored legislation in 2005 to reform oversight of Fannie/Freddie - and their mortgage policies/practices. All these efforts were blocked/ignored. It was not until 2007 when Barney Frank finally did something in the house - but Reid never brought that to the Senate Floor - Dodd never did anything with in the finance committee. In reality, by 2007 it was probably too little, too late.

Thus, I also agree with you - John McCain's behavior is understandable, and I'll add "responsible," in this context.

[jadeba]

GWB got everything he wanted from a compliant majority in congress for 6 years - if what you claim is true, and he had the foresight to see impending disaster, then why didn't he do anything about it? He could have. Sorry, your claims do not hold water. You can't erase Mc's penchant for deregulation or his bad history beginning with the Keating 5.

[koromuso]

I'd say the NeoCons see the writing on the wall and are trying to raid the treasury for whatever they can get before we kick their can all the way down the street.

This is a massive redistribution of wealth from the middle class to the rich.

You're correct that a crisis doesn't benefit the incumbant party, but I'm not sure the NeoCons care about the party anymore. It's every greed bastard for himself.

[styleturn]

Revisionist history.

Bush and the Republican party controlled all three branches of government from 2000 to the end of 2005. Saying that in 2003 Bush made a statement but didn't care enough to do anything about is no different than his announcement that he wanted to go to Mars. The guy has said a bunch of stuff that no one, including himself, took seriously.

Implying that McCain is acting responsible by fleeing debates because he is need in Congress suggests that he probably should have voted on something since his last vote on April 9th. There will always be some sort of problem. Democracy cannot take a rest until the whole world is living like the Cleavers. The current problems are not the last.

The reason that McCain's behavior is understandable might well be based upon the possibility that in the practice debates he and Palin were overmatched. Or perhaps the problem is actually his deteriorating health. What it is not about is his negotiating skills nor his deep understand of the economy. Nor is it about his deep and abiding understanding of the current economic crisis which he clearly knows less about than your average Huffingtonpost reader.

[XME]

Yes, it is a real crisis, but McCain AND Bush are milking it for all they can and being SEVERELY overly damatic. When they should be trying to calm people, they're both trying to scare the crap out of folks in an attempt to make it look like McCain set aside he "political ambitions" for the sake of his country and all of us. Repugs will hold out until McCain gets there, and they'll then act like McCain came in and convinced them to agree to the bill. They'll play it up the McCain saved the economy and us single-handedly!

[ThePeacemakers]

They could let homeowners renegotiate their loans at discounted prices and the mortgages would retain more value (because the homeowners don't want it to be valued TOO low).

These homeowners, especially ones facing foreclosure would be coming up with some amount, any amount, that would fund this.

These fascists wouldn't take anything but the most outrageous payments for the most outrageous interest rates - they could have been getting some kind of money all along until people got back on their feet.

[cynicism101]

Somehow it's cynical when an active senator tells us it's more important to do his DAY JOB. A competitor willing to give up a debate that highlights his greatest STRENGTH is not cynical, it's pragmatic.

Once again, the joebama campaign is caught off-guard. Once again, you're forced hem and haw about how to make a decision. Do I go back for a few long hard days and perform the tasks 1/2 of an entire state elected me to perform - knowing that working on this problem would A, represent my first major bipartisan event of my entire political career and B, work on a task that would actually provide financial benefit for the American people I pretend to care about? Rr, do I demonstrate just how much I've learned in my 3.5 years and devolve into DC as usual, work on nothing, status quo?

If a joint press release is to convince their legislative colleagues to work this important issue, just imagine - we know he wants us imagining things - the statement made when the faces of each party temporarily put aside their political aspirations and walk into the chamber together to get this done.

That_would­_be_leader­ship. That_would­_be_"chang­e_we_need"­. Seems one guy is willing to effect that change - the other, not_so_much. The ball's in your court 'rak - put up or shut up.

[blueinthebigred]

we've had ENOUGH of this

[kawika]

If the same senator would have shown up rather than be AWOL for 5 months i would agree.

[Bart Motes - Huffpost Blogger]

Yeah, except that he's missed plenty of votes and he didn't rush back to Washington immediately when this thing broke. Why is it suddenly so important? Oh that's why, because Obama is breaking 50% in most major polls.

[cynicism101]

I'm confused, when you say "he's missed plenty of votes", which "he" are you referring to?

Why is it suddenly so important? well, didn't your guy say this was tantamount to the great depression? I wasn't alive then, neither was he - but I've read that was a pretty bad thing.

Further, John McCain saw this coming in 2005 (S190) and saw how partisan special interests prevented that from going forward. He's seen how similar legislation pushed through the house by Barney Frank (HR 1427) was outright ignored by the senate in 2007.

I think he gave Reid and Pelosi a week to demonstrate their intentions and capabilities. So far they've demonstrated an incapability to perform -which is consistent with their leadership tenure.

We all know that if this situation gets worse - its a near lock for Obama to win the election. Just as we know that if this gets resolved - and especially after a bold move like halting extra curricular activities and focusing on his day job to help solve a pending crisis ... we'll - that would be another game changer.

It would destroy the "McCain is bad for the economy" mantra you so desperately need. It would be another counter to the bogus "just like President Bush" tag line - and it would make 50% look small.

[DarthVector]

The dear active Senator has not voted since April. He has, in fact, been AWOL.

He is not a member of Congress, who are deciding this issue. He is running for POTUS.

There are many on the Hill who can work this out, so he is not indispensible. Or necessary.

After all, the graveyard is full of indispensible men.

Obama put the ball in his court early in the morning.

This was his response: to abdicate that critical responsibility he owes the voters in advance of November 4th.

[cynicism101]

Hasn't voted since April? I'd say that could apply to both McCain and Obama ... but then I remembered Obama has voted since then - most notably when he caved in on all his supposed convictions and principles when he voted *with* President Bush on the FISA bill.

Further, looking at the voting history of Senator Obama - the number of his missed votes in the US Senate, the number of committee meetings he's never called, and the historic number of indecisive present votes in Illinois - not so sure I'd be looking to enter that point into the record... That's a lot of risk exposure to a cross examination.

Yes, Obama asked for a "press release" But, to paraphrase the good senator: ~"Press release? Well, that's just Washington speak for ' yeah, I'll pretend to acknowledge the problem, but don't expect me to actually WORK on the problem!' "~

Sure - a case can be made that neither men need to actually work to draft this legislation. But a leader understands that his presence can be a motivating factor. He knows that his position and rank can help get past hurdles that may stall progress. Someone obviously told Senator Obama about this aspect of leadership - thus his press release idea. Only, Senator McCain has the leadership experience to know that not all problems can be solved by simply writing a memo...

[solanus]

like the graveyard remark....­..what would happen if Mccain passed away does that mean America wouldn't survive without him?

Like Letterman said; isn't that what a VP is for to step in and go on with campaign?

[Anastasia]

McCain is not on any banking or finance committees, has no expertise to offer and would just be in the way. In fact, his presence would probably hamper rather than help. If he takes one side or another, it will throw the whole bi-partisan process into a tail spin.

This is pure gimmickry and the American people won't buy it.

[cdg1908]

I don't think my earlier post showed up correctly, so I'm posting again.

So does this mean Palin is completely off limits? Not that she was available to the press to begin with, but does anyone know the protocol in such a situation?

[koromuso]

There is no protocol.

Maybe we, the voters, can suggest one.

[demfriend]

First McCain says "Fire him"! meaning to jump up and down and knee jerk kick butt and for sure don't think and make any reasonable reactions/­assumtions­/interacti­ons with advisors whose jobs are to be just that. Then we get the 180 followed by a 360 and it is suddenly Stop! We cannot do anything!. Funny thing is that even though we would love for both of the candidates to get up and say their say about what is going on with the economy and have one of them say the magic words to fix it like a miracle. At best they will give their opinions and we will like them or not But when it comes down to it the Congress will vote and decide. The decider wil decide and we will hardly even be able to comment and have anyone care.

[kawika]

No more drama, vote Obama.

[Patomur]

Can you say "Marshall Law".
Looks like the only way pubs and Mcain can stay in office is for Mcain to stop his campaign because of the obvious crisis. Great excuse not to have to be humiliated.
And with this crisis Bush now has the perfect reason to suspend elections and declare marshall law in order to punish the American people for not giving them the 800 bills.
We dream of the appropriate punishment for wall street ceos if they were to held accountable. If this were China we know it would be swift and final. But anything short of a "French Revolution" may not render anything meaningful.
But what I think would be more meaningfull than even capital punishment would be to sentence them to a life of minimum wage. Lets see how they manage their assets then.

Sincerely
Ex-righty

[gretchenart]

I think you mean martial law, not something to do with the Marshall plan!

[dosaybe]

McCain's relief campaigner/debater is Romney!

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080924/NEWS15/80924041/1215
ELECTION 2008: Romney to discuss economy Thursday in Detroit -- 9/24/08
..."Romney continues to act as a surrogate for McCain. He is also a former venture capitalist who has made millions through business successes.­He will take part in the Michigan Economic Roundtable at 9 a.m. in Detroit and expects to meet with reporters after the meeting."
The 60-year-old former investment banker touted his management credentials throughout the campaign, citing his experience in Massachusetts" See below CNN article.
Back in February, remember, Romney only suspends campaign,
http://edition.cnn.com/...

[RTIII]

The campaign which Romney suspended is now, legally, over.
.

[luvangelHussein330]

This is definantly a synical move but it is at the peril of the Univeristy who spent 5.5 MM in preparatio­n...how is this putting country first?! he put no though behind the ramifications this would cause to anyone else. How is cutting and running being a maverick? This "crisis" has been going on now for over a week if he was so concerned he would have done this last week. He is not looking real presidential right now.

[judi4obama]

After all the outrageous stunts he's pulled during this campaign, did McCain really think anyone would buy this one? It kinda reminds me of how he grandstanded and tried to look all presidential during the Georgia/Russia conflict. It didn't help his cause that many around the world, including Russia, suspected his lobbyist campaign advisor of sparking the conflict to create a stage for McCain.

I'm thinking the effort and energy required for this campaign has exhausted McCain. He's tired and can't think straight any more. I suspect he's longing for a long time-out at his AZ ranch, some serious nap time and recuperation.

[RTIII]

It's called the "Dirt Nap." And you're right, I'm sure.
.

[DoTheMath]

The way McCain came out with this big announcement proves how insincere it is. If he really cared about solving the problem, why not release a joint statement with Obama as they had discussed on the phone? And why the drama about suspending the campaign and postponing the debate? Running ads on TV wouldn't prevent either candidate from working on the bail-out. Neither would participating in a debate for a couple of hours on Friday night.

[cdg1908]

So does this mean Palin is completely off limits? Not that she was available to the press to begin with, but does anyone know the protocol in such a situation?