Political Suicide?

At the moment he, and Obama as well, is a Senator first and a Presidential candidate second.  He was elected to be one of the Senators for Arizona and he owes it to the people of Arizona to do whatever he can to solve this financial crisis.  Yes canceling a debate at the last minute is going to be costly but this is a financial crisis the likes of which few have ever witnessed before and it needs to be dealt with.

As a little caveat here I am of the opinion that no active sitting elected official should be permitted to campaign for another elected position except during recesses so as to not interfere with the job they were elected, and are being paid, to do.

I'll admit it sounded kooky at first, but I'll give McCain the benefit of the doubt. This election was supposed to be a cakewalk for Democrats... Hussein was so self assured and confident that he was giving speeches at Mile High Stadium and campaigning in Berlin. Mac has thrown Hussein quite a few screwballs along the way and has turned what was considered an unwinnable election into a dead heat.  Lets just let McCain 'be McCain.'

I hope you guys are right. 

The word "dumbass" is often over used. And yet here we are, McCain brings new meaning to the term.

I hope it is the right decision... I think of it this way, if I was actively pursuing a new job, I would hope that my potential future employer would not think unkindly of me if all heck was breaking loose at my old job and I had to put my personal betterment aside for a time. I would also expect them to look at me with a jaundiced eye if I allowed my previous employment to go down in flames while I was only looking out for myself...

are you kidding, this move is pure genious.

Obama is a good speaker and the cameras love him, instead of slugging it in the debate he puts obama in a huge bind... points out obama's lackluster track record as a senator. And shows the people he "cares" and has his priorities straight. This is one of the best moves I have ever seen a politician makes. It just knocked obama down and the KO count started, it remains to be seen if obama has an ACE up his sleeve to allow him to get up from that punch.

Wow, someone is a bit overconfident.

 

It looks like Obama has turned down McCain's offer, saying that they are capable of "doing both."  It seems reasonable to me, considering Congress won't be in session at 9PM on Friday night.  Furthermore, I think the bailout is terrible for our national debt, so I would rather see McCain and Obama not get involved too much on Capitol Hill.

This move is not genius, I'm sorry.  While it is noble, again, to say that you would rather lose the election than leave the American people in trouble, it is a stupid move.  How long have these candidates been campaigning away from their jobs in Washington?  The presence of John McCain in Washington isn't going to move anything along faster, sorry to burst your bubble.

I think it depends on where an individual's priorities lie.

Is the first of three scheduled political debates more important?

Or finding a solution as quickly as possible (assuming one exists) to "one of the most serious financial crises in this nation’s history"?

 

For some, this first debate is "... exactly the time that the American people need to hear from the person who in approximately 40 days will be responsible for dealing with this mess.."

For others, I would imagine dealing with a perceived/predicted financial collapse in the US would be more important.

 

How about a compromise? Biden and Palin debate while McCain and Obama deal with the financial issue.

 

* Quoted portions from Barack Obama statements.

the point wasn't weather or not mccain can single handedly solve or even help with the economic crysis... the point was that he is doing a politically saavy thing.

And I predicted that doing both would be obama's response. Considering it is the only sensible counter attack and someone on his team was bound to think about it.

If, by predict, you mean not paying attention while Obama was talking about it himself even before McCain decided not to appear at the debate, then yes, I suppose you did do that...  Listen, I didn't say that he would be the one to have to solve the "crisis" (this isn't a computer game ;)) by going back.  I was merely pointing out that, in my opinion, it isn't worth it to gamble with his campaign since he isn't going to be able to do that much in any case.

ok, you are thinking it is a dangerous gambling of his entire campaign. I think it is a very shrewed political stunt that can only turn out well for him. time will tell.

El-D

You took the words right out of my keyboard!  Right on.  I agree totally. 

Yes, we're all disappointed because we were looking forward to this debate but afterall his job as a Senator should be first and foremost. I don't think we should let our feelings get in the way of the business of running our country.   We are in a situation that needs attention by the men and women we have put in office.  They need to do the jobs we're paying them to do even if it means rescheduling a debate. 

 

 

 

We dont need another Carter

I don't know that any election will be a cakewalk anymore. The parties have extremely good demographics info so they can target voters locally with specific propaganda campaigns.

Yet THIS election WAS going to be cakewalk to the democrats, they shot them selves in the foot again, and again, and again. And then they set their foot on fire.

Maybe in your opinion or the opinion of some spin doctors. There are a lot of voters, in particular independents, who don't want either party controlling everything so many believe it goes much further than shooting oneself in the foot. Seems to me there are shots fired on both sides on a daily basis.

 

This has been a very dark day for the republicans indeed. They're already giving several examples of other candidates whom went ahead with the debate during a major crisis. It's being seen as a diversion from the fact that the economic fundamentals were hunky dory according to him just last week now he's got to run off to save the country from an economic disaster. The presidents address was of course lousy and the way they're trying to push this bill through is being compared you know what. Obama's in so many words is saying you got to be able to do more than thing at a time to be president, it's called multitasking. And on top of all that he lied to David Letterman  

Poor Dave.

Remains to be seen whether it is a fumble or smooth move.  The only way it will be a smooth move (for me) is if McCain can cure Paulson's insanity by Monday.

Are you suggesting I might be a democrat?

I am for McCain so I'll let my prejudices be clear.  I think this illustrates that he has actually done his job as a Senator when Obama never really did. Obama basically got elected to Senate, didn't show up for votes, didn't distinguish himself at all and then started running for President. 

I think it's fine for McCain to make this financial crisis his number one priority but I do think he should still participate in the scheduled debate. 

That's where I stand on it.  Like Obama said, they can get you from D.C. to Mississippi pretty quickly.  The part that I thought was the biggest "dumbass" suggestion was to reschedule the presidential debate to take place the time slot now designated for the VP debate.  This looks like they are trying to guard Palin from debating which is incredibly stupid on so many levels.

I'm hoping he gets his act together and gets his ass to the debate on Friday.  I truly hate the thought of Obama and Biden in the White House.

I think, in a way, this is a brilliant move. As some suggested, it puts Obama in a bind and while Obama may have an answer to it, I think Mccain showing he cares about the fact that he is Senator first candidate second shows he will do his job if elected as well while Obama is simply taking advantage of this as well for his own political agenda. In the end, it makes McCain look better as the "I will do my job right" kinda person rather than the "I can do both" kinda person Obama is portraying.  But while saying he would rather lose was a poor choice of words, at the same time I don't really think that was meant as what he will actually do but more like a "I am willing to risk it all" kinda speechto show he will do what it takes to get the job done, which currently is as a Senator but show he as a President he will also focus on being just that if elected.

I just don't think McCain will actually give up so easily, to me it's more of a political move, a strategy. But the idea of changing the debate is what really makes all this look weird, especially the part that Jill mentioned about making it seem as if trying to protect Palin by putting the Preesidential debate over theirs. That right there does sound plausable and bad for the Republicans.

The only way for this to be a good move for McCain is if he can do something about the crisis. If all he does is show up to vote, this is a suicide mission. He has to be a dramatic part of this 'solution' and this 'solution' has to be acceptable to the average American. One or the other is just not going to cut it if he bails on the debate.

This is a risky roll of the dice no matter which way you look at it. There are so many ways to spin a response from the other side, I don't doubt they will come up with some clever response. If McCain can pull off the double whammy though, any response from the other side will be too little too late.