It's time someone called "nuts!" on this McCain campaign suspension, fake attempt to save the economy, and the sabotaging of that fake attempt once it appeared Obama had the upper hand on the issue again...
Here's what we've heard. It's possible, of course, that Politico, Politics1, RCP, and all the other sources are wrong, but let's assume otherwise for the moment:
1) McCain told David Letterman he couldn't do anymore interviews because he was rushing back to DC to work on legislation. This was proven, on air, to be a lie, as McCain ran over to do an interview with Katie Couric instead. Fine, whatever. But why then did McCain wait until the morning to fly to DC? Didn't he know that would be a big red flag for people?
2) McCain said he was going to suspend campaigning. But we've heard from several sources that his ads are still running, his workers are still working, and McCain is still "campaigning" in every sense of the term except for actual stump speeches. See more about what his campaign has been up to since the suspension here.
3) Politico and Politics1 report on how the deal fell apart, thanks to McCain and Bush and their political maneuvering. You have to read this whole thing to appreciate it:
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson['s] $700 billion bailout... fell apart in bitter arguing during the meeting at the
White House called by President Bush... [which was held] at the urging of John McCain. [The Dems] jointly deferred to Barack Obama, who set
forth the[ir] concerns. One Republican at the meeting told
Politico that Obama's leading role -- versus McCain's nearly silent
role at the meeting -- was "an ambush" and the Democrats "did a very
good job" of surprising Bush and McCain.
Obama immediately raised
concerns that House Republicans had spent the day secretly plotting
with McCain to sabotage the Bush/Paulson plan. Obama said the Democrats
would not be party to advancing any bailout plan if McCain and the
Congressional Republicans were not solidly behind the plan. Congressman
Paul Ryan (R-WI) -- one of the fiscal hawks who had been crafting the
conservative alternative plan -- confirmed that the House Republicans
had met with McCain during the day as they worked on the rival plan. ..."This is such a crisis I'm not going to draw some line in
the sand. We can't leave without doing something, but we don't think
the votes are here for Paulson," said Ryan. As the White House meeting
degenerated into bickering, the Democrats walked out to caucus...
Here's the short version of the rest: Paulson apparently (literally!) got down on his hands and knees in front of Pelosi and begged them not to quit the talks. According to Politico, his worst fears about what Bush and McCain would try to do-- that is, play politics with the legislation and try to give most of the gargantuan payoff to those who didn't need it, like CEOs-- were confirmed and the talks stalled. The Democrats and Republicans sectioned themselves off and continued into the evening with the discussions, leaving some to wonder...
4)... is John McCain going to show up for the debate? As we've said before, if he doesn't, he could get trashed like no Republican has been since Bob Dole's bumbling 1996 campaign. Obama would be able to mop the floor with him in a town hall-style discussion and emerge the almost unbeatable frontrunner. John McCain: are you getting any of this?!
More via Politics1.
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