Obama Spokesman: McCain Campaign Telling TV Stations To Start Re-Airing Ads On Saturday
So how long is the McCain campaign really yanking its ads for amid McCain's "suspension" of his campaign to deal with the financial crisis?
Well, until Saturday, it appears -- whether or not the financial crisis is resolved.
Obama spokesperson Bill Burton tells us that the McCain campaign is specifically instructing TV stations to start re-airing McCain's ads on Saturday.
The Obama camp would presumably be getting such info from its own media buyers, who are in touch regularly with the TV stations.
So it looks like the McCain camp's yanking of ads is a charade. Or maybe McCain knows in advance somehow that we'll all have fixed on a solution to the crisis by Saturday?
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And in other news, water is still wet.
September 25, 2008 9:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
And Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead...
September 25, 2008 10:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
According to the liberal media.
September 25, 2008 10:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Liberal as in, "Facts have a well-known liberal bias"
September 25, 2008 10:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
So other then canceling Letterman did McCain really do anything to suspend his campaign other then make a announcement that he is going to and then get spokespeople to go on TV and talk about how great of a idea it was?
September 25, 2008 9:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, that'd be pretty much it.
September 25, 2008 10:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
That expensive American Idol Makeup artist is doing wonders for John McCain's appearance. Take a look at her results. Amazing. I have never seen John McCain looking so young.
http://i1.treknature.com/photos/96/zoo7.jpg
September 25, 2008 10:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain/Palin 2008 -- the campaign that brings back network television of the 70's.
September 25, 2008 10:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
What do you folks think of this notion.
Please read, and post your thoughts. Thanks.
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/09/a-modest-proposal-how-to-put-m.php
September 25, 2008 10:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama will show up. McCain will show up, with some freaky statements that blames Obama for the economic collapse and that it was McCain who was always for debates, and Obama was the one who buckled and decided to show to up in Oxford (MS).
September 25, 2008 10:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ah, but Reagan said, "Facts are stupid things."
September 25, 2008 10:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
So the absense of trolls around here the past few days probably means not even they can take McMoron seriously.
September 25, 2008 10:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Anyone notice with Obama now comfortably up in the polls, our little troll friends have grown suspiciously quiet?
Where art thou, fogu and DemBillC?
I'm feeling a bit jingoistic so perhaps a GODDAMN AMERICA! will bring you back?
September 25, 2008 10:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Doncha know? They've been suspended.
September 25, 2008 11:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain channels the spirit of Ross Perot. Reaching a level of quirky behavior not seen since the Texans on again off again 1992 campaign. Perot also claimed spies were planning on crashing his daughters wedding ceremony.
I'll be listening for someone to say to McCain Friday night at Ole Miss: Glad you could make it.
September 25, 2008 10:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain channels the spirit of Ross Perot. Reaching a level of quirky behavior not seen since the Texans on again off again 1992 campaign. Perot also claimed spies were planning on crashing his daughters wedding ceremony.
I'll be listening for someone to say to McCain Friday night at Ole Miss: Glad you could make it.
September 25, 2008 10:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
MSNBC reports that House GOPers walked out of a late day emergency meeting. No deal. Barny Frank just came out to break it to the press.
September 25, 2008 10:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain put his lot with the right wing and they are throwing McCain to the curb in order to save their own ass with their red consituents.
September 25, 2008 10:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's a naked attempt to refuse to deal just long enough for McCain to be a no-show tomorrow night. He skips the debate, and first thing the next morning he announces - surprise! - that Republicans have a new compromise, and his ads begin simultaneously. If he actually gets away with this ham-handed douchebaggery, it'll be like a tiny little mini-September-Surprise happening before our very eyes.
September 25, 2008 10:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, I'm sorry, but if it's true that the Republicans want fewer regulations and more tax breaks for all of these jackasses that got us into this mess in the first place...then they can go screw themselves.
September 25, 2008 10:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Funny how we both thought the same thing at the same time. . .
September 25, 2008 10:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry, meant to reply to Tyler
September 25, 2008 10:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ha!
Well great minds and all that...
September 25, 2008 10:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
...Huh. Does this surprise me? Not really.
September 25, 2008 10:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
And now Mccain is faced with helping this lame duck Repub prez find a solution or just undermining the whole enchalida.
September 25, 2008 10:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Unrelated angry rant:
FUCK HOUSE REPUBLICANS! FUCK HOUSE REPUBLICANS!
FUCK HOUSE REPUBLICANS! FUCK HOUSE REPUBLICANS!
Excuse me for this. Good night, everyone!
September 25, 2008 10:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain is an a$$hole; plain and simple.
September 25, 2008 10:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
So McCain suspended his campaign for the economic crisis in the same way Bush gave up golf for the troops?
September 25, 2008 10:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Watch this drive!"
September 25, 2008 11:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
According to HuffPo, McCain has already started undermining everyone's efforts.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/25/at-white-house-mccain-pla_n_129438.html
September 25, 2008 10:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
'Twas supposed to be in reply to acamus. I've been having huge issues with the TPM servers and crap.
September 25, 2008 10:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
From Huffpo:
Towards the end, McCain finally spoke up, mentioning a counter-proposal that had been offered by some conservative House Republicans, which would suspend the capital gains tax for two years and provide tax incentives to encourage firms that buy up bad debt. McCain did not discuss specifics of the plan, though, and was non-committal about supporting it.
What a dick. I have sat in so many meetings with someone like this. Contribute nothing throughout the entire meeting, then just lob a grenade at the end to totally derail things.
September 25, 2008 11:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
I guess the Dow could tank in a big way tomorrow and if it does, no telling about the debate...?
September 25, 2008 10:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well Washington Mutual just failed and was seized by the government. Largest bank failure in history.
This is not a time to be playing games. This crisis is far from being over.
September 25, 2008 10:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
If I was your basic citizen and I was just getting my news from CNN, I would conclude that McCain was undermining the agreement, and that overall the Repubs don't like Bush and don't want to give the Dems an accomplishment in anything.
September 25, 2008 11:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
If I was just a basic citizen getting my news from CNN, I'd think John McCain has gone around the bend, lost his nut, fallen down and can't get up. Hm, maybe I am a basic citizen because that is what I think.
September 25, 2008 11:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ah, the "who is the basic citizen" debate.
September 25, 2008 11:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain/Palin TV spots are still running in the midwest currently.
September 25, 2008 10:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
we are all fucked. we are all fucked. take your money out of the bank and put it under your beds. thank the republicans for getting us here and thank them for not having the politcal balls to get us out
September 25, 2008 10:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah that's a great idea - start a bank panic.
*heavysigh*
September 25, 2008 11:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Unless you're a major shareholder in one these banks going under, you don't have much to worry about.
September 25, 2008 11:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
True.
People hear "failure" and start hyperventilating, which exactly what we don't need. The less hyper everyone is the better.
September 25, 2008 11:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well and that's exactly the way Bush and boys are playing this. We should all be scared shitless and do what they say, or very bad scary things will happen to us all. I say let the fuckers go bankrupt, and drop the assets at mark to market.
Not to be overly crass, but think of it as being similar to the natural consequence of eating bad food off a dirty taco truck - sure you blow your guts out of every bodily orifice you own for a while, but then get it all out and you feel a whole lot better. More importantly you don't eat at dirty taco trucks any more.
September 25, 2008 11:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
lol... Skymodem's "Taco Truck Theory of Economic Corrections".
September 25, 2008 11:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, at least it wasn't a football metaphor.
;P
September 25, 2008 11:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
hehe - yeah well, I don't care for football, but I love tacos.
September 25, 2008 11:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
There is theory that Mccain is the quarterback who would have won the game had he not stopped at that taco truck the day before and, well, he just wasn't feeling well the next day as he threw three interceptions, two of which were run back by Obama for touchdowns.
September 25, 2008 11:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes the ball was stolen by that black muslim man who in fact owned the damn taco truck.
September 25, 2008 11:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
If that didn't cut too close to bone of this country, that would be pretty gawddamn funny.
September 25, 2008 11:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually - it's pretty damn funny anyway.
LOL!
September 26, 2008 12:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, i was LOL myself. But it had the power of the subtext that made me pause and reflect. The best compliment of a witicism.
September 26, 2008 12:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
McCain/Palin TV spots are still running in the midwest currently.
September 25, 2008 10:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
you're having server problems, too?
The only people who believe that McCain is the knight on the white horse are those who thought he was a knight on a white horse to begin with.
September 25, 2008 10:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
In the "it figures" department:
This was meant was for ChronoSpark.
September 25, 2008 11:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
yeah, comments are wiggy here tonight.
September 25, 2008 11:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with Steve Soto at The Left Coaster: time for Dems to walk away and let McCain own this failure.
http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/013245.php
September 25, 2008 11:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
As long as it is clear (to the majority of undecidededs) that the Dems have a workable solution that Repubs walked away from for political reasons.
September 25, 2008 11:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
You know, acamus, I don't really believe it matters whether the Dems do or don't have such a plan. In fact, I don't believe that anyone reasonably read up on the subject of our current problems - which a lot of folks are by now - actually believes *any* such plan has a snow ball's chance in hell of changing the ultimate outcome of this. This thing is an immutable force - created by people who truly didn't give a shit what the long term cost was going to be as long their own outcomes were acceptable. Here is what I believe matters: Everybody - and I mean *everybody* knows who is responsible for getting us into this mess, and that it wasn't the Dems. That is the most important fact of all - politically.
September 25, 2008 11:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. I would argue that it would take a minimal amount of effort to push a break down of talks onto the Repub's lap because the majority of Americans are prediposed to believe this. This is one of the reason why Obama can come on live tv and be so calm. He, as should the rest of us, could care less AT THIS MOMENT what those 35% to 40% or so who will react negatively to no matter what he does.
Obama play the basic facet of the 50% plus 1 strategy which in place like the rust belt means more like +4 or +5.
September 25, 2008 11:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's a good point. In fact I really think responsibility for coming up with some kind of a plan is already in the GOP's lap. It isn't that the Dems aren't expected to try and fix this, but it's an axiom of modern life that if one breaks it - one owns it. So they own it - they just do, no matter what the outcome. And Obama? It's obvious he's feeling pretty good about his position right now, as well he should. It does look like it's going to come down to the 50+1 ending - but remember that the polls can't possibly reflect the changes in the electorate that his GOTV has wrought.
September 26, 2008 12:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
We're on the same page, I just might be a little more sensitive about the possibilty that the Dems are labeled as the sticks in the mud reharding a real solution to this crisis.
September 26, 2008 12:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
Really? Everything I've seen seems to indicate that the Dems are coming across as candidates for teacher's pet on this project. Hell, every time they trot Barney Frank out he looks like he's been sleeping in his clothes. Oh sure, the Droolers are going try and say that the reason for the failure of congressional efforts was because of the 'socialist' prerogatives the Dems tried to inject into the legislation, but I don't think that pig's gonna fly. We've been schooled in this kind of rhetoric now, and it just sounds old - out of date.
September 26, 2008 12:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
First off, I can't figure out what "reharding" was suppose to be.
Seond, the Dems are showing a cohesion that have never shown before, for better or for worse. Barney may or may not play well with Middle America, but for once he is saying the same points as Reid and Obama. This is a major accomplishment for the Dem Party.
September 26, 2008 12:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
The point with Frank is that he has credibility on the issue, and most average people know that. People are afraid in a way that transcends their bigotry, IMO. Gays, guns, and not even God scares people as badly as the possibility of winding up standing in line at a food bank. They're 'reharded' in that way I suppose. ; )
September 26, 2008 12:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
And although Obama is leadind this race, watching events unfold today in DC and the polls across the country, all I can say it is a Mad World.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N3N1MlvVc4
September 25, 2008 11:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mad as a mango.
September 26, 2008 12:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
There's something truly weird and distrubing about McCain in recent weeks. I'm more than a little reminded of watching Yeltsin back in 1996, when he had a heart attack during the campaign and didn't tell anybody about it.
September 26, 2008 12:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
SurveyUSA MO Poll
McCain 48 Obama 46
September 26, 2008 12:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
Damn, even the "Show Me State" ahs tightened up? Maybe they've *seen* enough?
September 26, 2008 12:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
I had totally given up on the Show Me State, but like NC, it is back in play. No wonder McCain threw the mother Hail Mary of Hail Marys.
September 26, 2008 12:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
Could MO actually go blue this election?
September 26, 2008 12:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
Could a jr. African American senator lead a white "maverick" Senator who is a POW?
September 26, 2008 12:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
Was a former POW.
September 26, 2008 12:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
We are working our asses off here to make it happen! :)
September 26, 2008 12:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
Mo. Hmm. I still get little head rush at the idea that we might move some of these deep red states into the blue column. I still can't wrap my mind around it. I mean Virginia? North Carolina? Hard to fathom, but there are moments that it really seems possible - at least when I read Nate Silver's work.
September 26, 2008 12:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
Don't forget Indiana. Obama was down -2 before the economy imploded.
September 26, 2008 12:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Unreal. Of course, Indiana's economy has been in implode mode for some time, hasn't it?
September 26, 2008 12:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
Slowly for the past DECADE and a half, but it has really gotten bad in the last few years. I'm in eastern Indiana which is part of the rust belt and there is still a mourning period for the loss of the high pay low skill labor jobs that fueled a lot of the economy. There is an concerted effort to diversify the economy, but it will take a "few" years to get through the transition.
September 26, 2008 12:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
Very sad, what's happened to so many throughout our old economy. But, I can only wonder why oh why in the hell people keep voting against their own economic interests.
September 26, 2008 1:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think what we're dealing with now is a "Suspension of disbelief", if my grad studies taught me anything.
September 26, 2008 12:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well Mr, Boston, my disbelief has been in a state of suspension ever since the Palin pick, and the hits just keep on coming. Just when I think I'm getting my political equilibrium back, McCain pulls another monkey out of his ass and damn if it doesn't dance an Irish jig to the tune of All Hail The Chief.
September 26, 2008 12:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
Does anybody know why TPM doesn't list Indiana as a competitive state with their cute little Map Outline menu?
September 26, 2008 12:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
I don't know but living in Indiana I know it is swing. Everyone I talk to is totally Obama, but I'm surrounded by the evangelicals who Love Palin. In Indiana it will be all about GOTV.
September 26, 2008 12:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
Faith does a funny thing to one's sense of reality, I guess. For evangelicals everything is framed in biblical and/or eschatological terms. In essence, it's the idea that Moses was an idiot and look what he accomplished - David was a horn dog and look what he accomplished, and so on.
September 26, 2008 1:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
And watching Palin at ground zero and talking so flippanttly about war with that tinge of us (christians) and them (non-christians) made me think of this song by John Prine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEa4qi6cYOQ&feature=related
September 26, 2008 1:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yup. Beautiful song. Nice emotional touchstone to reach for when one begins to feel hardened by all the shit these assholes have done to us. When I think about the road we've been dragged down by these people I can't help but try to harden myself to it. It's too heartbreaking to look at for too long - the lives - the loss.
September 26, 2008 1:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think for people like Cheney and Rumsfield they prey upon that hardening. That's why they won't let pictures of coffins coming home be made public. They want us to be comfotably numb. Our mission, should we accept it, is to feel.
September 26, 2008 1:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
You're sure we shouldn't just go shopping? ; )
Btw, if you're interested part II of that dead song is in the que at the right on that Youtube page
September 26, 2008 1:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for the link to the Dead. Funny how we can just drift from those things that can ground us in what is really important,
September 26, 2008 1:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
I often reach for this one by the Dead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLDw_gj5e3g
September 26, 2008 1:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Nice. The big question always return to why can't we just enjoy a Dead rift?
September 26, 2008 1:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Not sure I understand what you mean, Care to elaborate?
September 26, 2008 1:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
that capacity to let go and allow oneself to follow the improvisation of a Grateful Dead rift on whatever song they were playing off of, it was about following the flow, and not about the muscians playing "that song" as we "know it." So it is a question of whether we need to follow a pre-arranged "song" which never deviates from performance to performance, and our response as rigidly set, or utilizing a basic song in order to springboard into a unknown expression that can only be known at that very moment of performance.
(In short: The Grateful Dead brought jazz to the white hippies.)
September 26, 2008 1:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
I guess to fully answer the question, is to posit that I idea that if we are able to tap into that improvisational facet of ourself, in essence to tap that creative rhythm within, then we are not going to be seeking profit to detriment of our country, seeking war to the detriment of our country, seeking power to the detriment of our country, and when I say country I also mean all the countries we interact with.
September 26, 2008 1:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Which makes me wonder: how did the meeting between Palin and Bono go?
September 26, 2008 2:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
You mean that we would choose to do the right thing because the 'song' demands it. To do otherwise would destroy the 'song'. Yes, I wholeheartedly agree.
I've always thought the great thing about Jerry's style of improvisation was that he made his mistakes count - utilized them in the riff. He said he learned it from Ornette Coleman. It's a good way to look at that part of it. Mistakes happen more often when you aren't sure what you are going to do.
You know, in the early days the Dead believed that the Republicans need to be dosed to understand what the counter-culture was trying to say to them. I don't know if it would have worked, but one thing is for sure - I've met very few Republicans who've ever taken acid.
September 26, 2008 2:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
You mean that we would choose to do the right thing because the 'song' demands it. To do otherwise would destroy the 'song'. Yes, I wholeheartedly agree.
I've always thought the great thing about Jerry's style of improvisation was that he made his mistakes count - utilized them in the riff. He said he learned it from Ornette Coleman. It's a good way to look at that part of it. Mistakes happen more often when you aren't sure what you are going to do.
You know, in the early days the Dead believed that the Republicans need to be dosed to understand what the counter-culture was trying to say to them. I don't know if it would have worked, but one thing is for sure - I've met very few Republicans who've ever taken acid.
September 26, 2008 2:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
You mean that we would choose to do the right thing because the 'song' demands it. To do otherwise would destroy the 'song'. Yes, I wholeheartedly agree.
I've always thought the great thing about Jerry's style of improvisation was that he made his mistakes count - utilized them in the riff. He said he learned it from Ornette Coleman. It's a good way to look at that part of it. Mistakes happen more often when you aren't sure what you are going to do.
You know, in the early days the Dead believed that the Republicans need to be dosed to understand what the counter-culture was trying to say to them. I don't know if it would have worked, but one thing is for sure - I've met very few Republicans who've ever taken acid.
September 26, 2008 2:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ah. I see what you are getting at. Well, for better or worse - depending on which of my wives you talk to I suppose - I've lived my whole life that way - as an improvisation I mean. That isn't to say that I don't have structure and order in some areas, but mostly I've tried to live with the flow. Not that I haven't paid a price for that at times. ;)
The problem with living life spontaneously for most people is that structure and order provide relief from the anxiety of life's incongruities I suppose as well.
Of course, the problem with living life straight from the script is that you will never have that odd, delirious moment of joy that occurs when you stumble upon the realization that you can play the song without trying - that somehow your fingers know what do, even though your head doesn't. That moment when you can rest, and enjoy the song as if you were the ultimate spectator.
September 26, 2008 2:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
Up to now McCain's risky behavior has only impacted his own campaign. Now his dangerous self-interjection into the bailout crisis threatens to pull the house down on all of us.
September 26, 2008 12:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
OT Deep Thought-
I live in Texas. How come I don't get a nice fat oil/natural gas royalty check?
September 26, 2008 1:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Obviously the people in Alaska know how to play the system better than those in Texas.
September 26, 2008 1:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
Chuck, I grew up in NJ and nobody gave me protection racket dividends (OK, I'm Irish, but technically in NJ that means you're pretty much Italian).
September 26, 2008 9:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
LOL. I wasn't serious but one wonders about these things late at nite...
September 26, 2008 10:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think if we look for The Answer to that question, we'll always be frustrated. Working in the human service nonprofit sector, I am constantly confronted with the downturn in our industrial sector. Yet trying to get a majority of these people to vote for Obama is a uphill battle. Some of it is racism, some of it is a liberterian and anti-intellectual streak, or a combination of all these, and some of it is just good ole fundamental rightwing christianity.
September 26, 2008 1:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/09/peewee-mccains-big-misadventur.php
How McCain Photo Opt Himself in the foot.
September 26, 2008 8:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
From:
Head of State
http://headofstate.blogspot.com/2008/09/mccain-and-bushs-kabuki-theatre-mccain.html
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Credit Where Credit Isn't Due: McCain and Bush's Kabuki Theatre
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 trifecta: To try to lend some credence to McCain's desperate assertion that a suspension of his campaign is necessary, in effect either avoiding a debate in which he would face critical questions about his stance on the economy or marching in claiming "victory"; 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 perhaps 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, 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
September 26, 2008 9:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hi all, I'm new here but just had to comment. I live in PA and McCain's ads never stopped here, if indeed they stopped anywhere. Wondered if anyone here can verify the ads continuing in other states.
September 26, 2008 9:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Reading back I see liam says the ads stayed up in the Midwest. Could we maybe get a consensus going of in how many states the ads continued. Obama's campaign can use it in an ad, especiallly considering all the tidbits I've been reading where his campaign operatives around the country didn't seem to know they were supposed to "suspend". Could help prove what we all know: it was a grandstanding-dominate-the-newscycle stunt.
September 26, 2008 9:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
they never suspended the campaign in the first place!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/25/mccain-campaign-still-act_n_129327.html
September 26, 2008 9:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for the link James. I checked out Huffpo this morning but didn't see this post. I e-mailed CNN, the AP and Obama's official site regarding this sham. I tried calling Obama's site but got disconnected before talking to anyone. I'm MAD dammit!! Why won't the MSM call McCain out on this? Don't answer that. Maybe I should call Letterman?!?!
September 26, 2008 11:44 AM | Reply | Permalink