Is it official yet? Can we now say that McCain has officially gone off the deep end?

Good thing he's going back. Apparently you can only see the consensus if you're in Washington.

There has been a clear consensus on the Administration's proposal. Everyone is against it.

It's Dodd's plan that people are getting behind.

I think this is cover for an urgent trip to Walter Reed.

Isn't McCain pretty blatantly seeking to mislead people by suggesting that the Bush/Cheney/Paulson administration's plan is the only plan on the table?

Obviously, there is a strong Democratic counterproposal on the table, and according to the excellent reporting over at TPM-M (maybe you guys at TPM-EC can cross-post), the plan has been on the table in the same basic form all week.

You can even read the outline of the plan at TPM-M! That sounds like it's on the table to me!

These seem to be the EXACT same words he was saying a day or 2 agao - maybe he was reading the wrong cue card???

This has nothing to do with the national economy; it is his campaign's economy. McCain can't afford to campaign for the next 40 days. He is going to be outspent on every level, so he wants to take his ball and go home for a while.

Anyone else think McCain's campaign suspension will end before his campaign manages to pull all of his ads off the air?

What is this "dangerous situation" that has occurred? (according to mcShame) We've all been living with this for over a year now! And knowing about it for far long.

Where was this guy for the past 8 years?

Apparently McCain is holding a rally at the Philadelphia airport today. At least according to Ambinder.

Unbelievably cynical use of the economic situation for political ends.

From:

Head of State

http://headofstate.blogspot.com/2008/09/mccain-trailing-in-polls-continues.html

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

McCain, Trailing in Polls, Continues Campaign By "Suspending" It

John McCain, trailing by 9 points in national polls, has announced that he is "suspending" his campaign.

Having lost significant ground to Obama on the issue of the economy, and facing a potentially defining and withering debate on Friday where he would be confronted on his statements on the economy that have led to this sharp decline, McCain has attempted to change the rules of the game, to erase many past errors through a putatively "unpolitical" move--something we have seen before.

A simple question: Under the same economic conditions, if McCain had been leading, does anyone believe that McCain would have "suspended" his campaign?

This is the ultimate in cynicism--using the current conditions in order to attempt to blunt a sharp decline and try to control the media dialogue, through a political act designed to avoid a potential political debacle. He is continuing his campaign--which was leading to loss in all directions--by "suspending" it. It is an attempt to silence media criticism and questions--and to prevent a debate on these issues that for him is sharply unfavorable.

This is impulsivity masked as statesmanship, as well as an attempt to control the media dialogue, as we saw yesterday at the U.N. He wants to attempt to force media to avoid covering openly his flailing campaign--the cynically political masked as the unpolitical, as we saw in the VP pick.

McCain, in attempting to avoid the debate in the face of his decline in the polls, until he can try to control the issue that has caused his decline, shows an extraordinary willingness to use difficult conditions to erase and avoid political errors, and serve political needs.

The Chicago Tribune provides us with indication of what "suspending the campaign" actually means:

"John McCain's sudden "suspension'' of his campaign and his call for a postponement of the premier campaign debate Friday night has sparked a round of criticism from people asking why the presidential candidate cannot manage a financial crisis and a debate at the same time.

Among them: "Late Night's'' David Letterman, who told his own audience in taping at CBS today that he was hoping to see the Republican nominee for president but McCain called him to say that he had to rush back to Washington to deal with the nation's financial crisis. Then, as Letterman told it, he got word that in fact McCain was down the hall sitting for an interview with his colleague at CBS, Evening News anchor Katie Couric, which aired this evening."

Cite:

Head of State

http://headofstate.blogspot.com/2008/09/mccain-trailing-in-polls-continues.html

McCain is setting himself up as a white knight.

McCain is trying to orchestrate a game with the congressional Republicans, saying to them oppose for now and let me come in and "save it" in the 11th hour. Will they play along? Probably.

If things start to look that way, Dems need to come out HARD and say that the Republicans are treating this crisis like a political game. They are not serious about solving this issue, only about trying to score political points.

From the movie Gladiator:
"Father, have I missed it? Have I missed the battle?
Son, you've missed the war."

So, I am struggling to come to terms with this question: when—exactly—did the McCain campaign 'jump the shark?'

I mean, seriously: there are so many potential moments to nominate! Is there any consensus? Would this transparent, feeble attempt to salvage civilization be the one, did it happen much earlier, or is there some crazed event lurking on the horizon—so vile that we cannot yet imagine it clearly—that tops this nonsense?

Interesting what Bill Clinton had to say. He indicated he believed McCain was trying to help forge Bi Partisan compromise and that Oilbama, who voted for the Buch Cheney Energy Bill, turned down McCain"s challenge to have 12 different debates already this summer. Now Oilbama wants to debate in the middle of the biggest economic crisis since the great depression, instead of trying to doing anything to help fix the problem.
Oilbama believes he more oratory is the solution, as he just loves to hear himself speak.

I'm really glad that in a time of crisis, McCain's campaign staff is busily calling local tv and radio networks to cancel ad buys. It's a great help to the nation. We are all lucky to have these men on the job. As a Dem, i'm so glad they're too distracted with canceling campaign actions to be working on the bailout.

And yet... will the media and the teevee bloviators fall for it? "McCain seizes control of the narrative with this bold move..." blah blah.

Meanwhile, what about Rick Davis? What about Palin's pathetic performance w/ Couric?

agggggg my head is going to explode!

The many faces of Sybil McCain.

Please contribute your favorite examples.

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/09/sybil-mccain-last-week-the-fun.php

So I am returning to Washington to seek five fundamental improvements to this critical legislation.

Wait just a goddamn minute - What 5 fundamental improvements? The ones Obama appended to your joint statment? You fucking thief!

Greg, your headline is misleading. I think the key wording is what you highlighted, "I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands," with "the plan on the table" referring to the Paulson plan as proposed. I think everyone knows that plan is dead in the water, and Barney Frank and Chris Dodd are authoring a Democratic alternative, 98% of whose provisions have already been accepted by the White House. THAT is the plan that could be passed later today. So I agree that McCain is irrelevant to this debate, but what he said is technically correct.

SO he won;t say what the improvement are?

Why does he use the word "I" instead of "we" if this is not about him?

So is he going to Washington because all the Congresspeople in his own party don't/won't/can't put "Country First", only he does/will/can. That's is what he told us at the Convention, right?

McCain is running against Congress and his own party, but now he is going to lead them? Don't think this is going to work out so great for him.

Guys. It's happened. Some pigs just went flying by my work window.

"I'm Dumb BillC and I can't see the world because my head is buried deep in my colon."

The more desperate your posts, the more obvious McCain is slipping slipping slipping!!!!!

Every post you produce is like Christmas, my birthday, Easter, and Halloween allllll wrapped up into one! YAYYYYYY

Keep Posting!

"Oilbama" hahahaha you STILL kill me with that!

When is McCain due back in D.C., and can lawmakers reach a compromise before he gets there?

From:

Head of State

http://headofstate.blogspot.com/2008/09/mccain-and-bushs-kabuki-theatre-mccain.html

Thursday, September 25, 2008

McCain and Bush's Kabuki Theatre: McCain Contacts Bush To Set Up Meeting To Prop Up His "Suspension"

Now we know why McCain hired the Bush contingent.

It emerged in the White House briefing today that McCain called Bush and asked him to initiate a meeting today at 4 pm at the White House, putatively for him to "deal with" the crisis.

That is, McCain asked Bush to help him create an avoidant trifecta: To try ti\o lend some credence to McCain's desperate assertion that a suspension of his campaign is necessary, in effect avoiding a debate in which he would face critical questions about his stance on the economy; attempting to co opt the financial crisis thereby trying to put an end to his plummeting in the polls created by his flailing positions on the economy--perhaps best reflected by his statement days ago that the "fundamentals of the economy are strong"; and, while avoiding his own debate, also buying more time for Sarah Palin after her embarrassing photo op at the UN yesterday, by moving her debate forward as well.

Here's how it happened, according to Q and A at the WHB:

McCain emailed Bush asking for the 4 P.M. meeting. Now, one reasonably might ask, why is today such a necessity for McCain, if his interest is solely the national good?

Because it is before the debate. McCain hopes to stage a meeting at the White House, thereby, with Bush's cooperation, lending plausibility to his claim to need to suspend his campaign. Then, if Republicans, in their own electoral interest, can be persuaded to come to agreement after the meeting, and before the debate, he would claim--in an act of utter stage management--to have "resolved" the crisis. Thereby hoping to take the heat off on his past careening stances and sliding polls and staunch the bleeding on the polls--before the debate.

This is Kabuki Theatre masquerading as substance--no different than what we saw at the U.N. yesterday.

It is utterly stage managed, utterly cynical, and utterly unrelated to the substantive deliberation necessary to actually resolve these matters on the merits and for our nation's future, rather than for short-term and desperate political advantage.

These occurrences are equally important for what they indicate about McCain's governing style as they are for their impact upon democratic process: impulsive acts that rely on drama and theatrical posture rather than substantive reasoning and long-term deliberation; a strong willingness to sacrifice substantive reasoning, deliberative process, and even prior structures and agreements to immediate political need; an attempt to reach outcomes through last minute stage management rather than substantive argument.

These should create deep concern for anyone who wishes for a change in governmental process from the past eight years.

We have an economy, rather than a campaign, to rescue. Putting nation before politics means putting all attempts to resolve it before political attempts to co opt it--and to move towards one's commitments, rather than towards a more immediate and short-term salvation.

Cite:

Head of State

http://headofstate.blogspot.com/2008/09/mccain-and-bushs-kabuki-theatre-mccain.html