McCain wants to suspend campaign, reschedule debate

Shock Doctrine, anyone?

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain announced Wednesday that he is suspending his campaign to return to Washington and focus on the "historic" crisis facing the U.S. economy.


McCain said it was time for both parties to come together to solve economic crisis.

The Arizona senator called on his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, to do the same.

The Obama campaign announced that Obama would make a statement shortly.

He also urged organizers of Friday's presidential debate at the University of Mississippi to postpone the event.

"I am calling on the president to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself," McCain told reporters in New York. "It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem."

It was not immediately clear how extensive the suspension he announced would be -- whether it would include dropping television advertising or just canceling scheduled appearances. McCain took no questions after reading his statement.

McCain's announcement came just hours before President Bush was scheduled to address the nation on the troubled state of the U.S. financial system -- a problem for which his administration has proposed a $700 billion bailout.

In response, the Obama campaign said Obama called McCain at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday to ask if the Republican nominee would join him in a joint statement of "shared principles and conditions" for the proposal. It said McCain called back at 2:30 p.m. -- shortly before his New York announcement -- to agree, and "The two campaigns are currently working together on the details."

The bailout plan has met with a cool reception in two days of hearings on Capitol Hill, where both Democrats and Republicans have expressed skepticism about the proposal drafted by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

"It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the administration's proposal," McCain said. "I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time."

But he added that he believes Congress could forge a consensus on legislation "before the markets open on Monday."

McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, were in New York to meet with world leaders at the United Nations. They had met with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.

"Senator, governor, I'm really honored to be here with you. I know you have a very important campaign to run," Saakashvili said. "Overall, I have to say I greatly appreciate the solidarity we felt from the American people."

Earlier, Palin met with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

Obama on Wednesday lashed out at the Bush administration and his opponent on the handling of the crisis on Wall Street as well as the $700 billion bailout plan by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson.

Congress and the White House are trying to negotiate the details of what would be the most sweeping economic intervention by the government since the Great Depression. Bush has asked Congress to act quickly on the bailout proposal following news of failing financial institutions and frozen credit markets.

"The clock is ticking on this crisis. We have to act swiftly, but we also have to get it right," Obama said in Dunedin, Florida. "And that means everyone -- Republicans and Democrats, and the White House and Congress -- must work together to come up with a solution that protects American taxpayers and our economy without rewarding those whose greed helped get us into this problem in the first place."

Obama said it's unacceptable to expect the American people to "hand this administration or any administration a $700 billion check with no conditions and no oversight when a lack of oversight in Washington and on Wall Street is exactly what got us into this mess."

He said struggling homeowners must be taken care of in any economic recovery plan -- and that taxpayers should "not be spending one dime to reward the same Wall Street CEOs whose greed and irresponsibility got us into this mess." Read more on both candidates' recovery plans

He also hit McCain for switching from his stance as an advocate for market deregulation to a strong supporter of regulation since the Wall Street crisis became front-page news.

"He's suddenly a hard-charging populist," Obama said. "And that's all well and good, but I sure wish he was talking the same way over a year ago, when I introduced a bill that would've helped stop the multimillion-dollar bonus packages that CEOs grab on their way out the door."

McCain's bombshell comes as a new CNN "poll of polls" out of Virginia on Wednesday shows McCain with the slimmest of leads in a state that traditionally has been a safe bet for Republicans.

The latest polls could be a warning sign for McCain that he still has work to do to lock down certain states where previous GOP nominees had to spend little time or effort doing so. Watch more on where the candidates stand in the latest polls »


In the new poll of polls, McCain holds a 1 percentage point lead over Obama (47 percent to 46 percent) in Virginia, while 7 percent remain undecided.

The poll of polls is an average of three recent surveys of the state -- MSNBC/Mason-Dixon (September 17-22), ARG (September 17-20) and ABC/The Washington Post (September 18-21). The poll of polls does not have a sampling error


http://www.cnn.com/2008/P...index.html

Why is he always telling Obama what to do? Who is he, Grandpa fucking Tumbleweed?

i don't even think this is a bad idea. but the right way to do this would have been for the two campaigns to work it out and announce it together.

this way, it looks like yet another stunt.

IrresistibleB1tch said:

Brilliant move on McCain's part.

2the9s said:

IrresistibleB1tch said:

i don't even think this is a bad idea. but the right way to do this would have been for the two campaigns to work it out and announce it together.

this way, it looks like yet another stunt.

It IS a stunt...



McCain = Racetrack Spiderman.

lazycrockett said:

It's totally a headline-grabbing, poor-me, I'm-down-in-the-polls stunt. I hope the public sees through this crass ploy.

lazycrockett said:

Efan said:

McCain is growing more and more desperate.
What do you mean "put off the campaign"?
Like nothing regarding the bailout debate is going to be partisan.
Like McCain is going to demonstrate that he can get something done
in Washington if he can only focus instead of minding his V.P selection.

We all know the campaign won't stop.
He wants to be able to create a flag pin out of Obama campaigning.
He really wants to stop Obama's fundraising.
Although McCain has spent decades doing next to nothing in the Senate, I guess this week will be the most important in the history of the Republic.
McCain doesn't have to ask Obama to stop campaigning.
He can do so unilaterally.

If I were Obama I would lay out a plan and promise to be there to vote but I would not stop campaigning. And when McCain's slurs started I would remind him how much time he's had in the Senate to fix issues that he's ignored until he wanted votes.

IrresistibleB1tch said:

2the9s said:

It IS a stunt...



McCain = Racetrack Spiderman.

apparently, they underestimated the number of his cars by 2 BMWs...

“Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.”
-Calvin & Hobbes

HiinEnkelte said:

lazycrockett said:

Brilliant move on McCain's part.

John McCain = the Serious Candidate.

Country First.

HiinEnkelte said:

lazycrockett said:

Brilliant move on McCain's part.

John McCain = the Serious Candidate.

Country First.

HiinEnkelte said:

lazycrockett said:

Brilliant move on McCain's part.

John McCain = the Serious Candidate.

Country First.

Efan said:

HiinEnkelte said:

John McCain = the Serious Candidate.

Country First.

Actually, his motto should be "ME first!"

He's been a crybaby all week because the press has been focusing on the economy instead of him. So he found a way to inject himself into the headlines.

Genesia said:

HiinEnkelte said:

John McCain = the Serious Candidate.

Country First.

Agreed.

It also makes no sense for them to debate foreign policy (which is the topic of the first debate) when all anyone's thinking about is the economy.

SUPRMAN said:

HiinEnkelte said:

lazycrockett said:

Brilliant move on McCain's part.

John McCain = the Serious Candidate.

Country First.

apparently, Obama suggested a joint announcement this morning, McCain agreed, but then went out on his own with this.

Obama's campaign said that the Democratic nominee had called McCain at 8:30 Wednesday morning to ask him if he would "join in issuing a joint statement outlining their shared principles and conditions for the Treasury proposal and urging Congress and the White House to act in a bipartisan manner to pass such a proposal." They also said that McCain returned the call at 2:30 Wednesday afternoon and agreed to join him in issuing such a statement, and that the two campaigns are currently "working together on the details."



http://politicalticker.bl...e-delayed/
[Edited 9/24/08 13:02pm]

edit
[Edited 9/24/08 13:07pm]

I agreed Obama was the one who suggested this idea and even Msnbc and CNN confirmed this.

Brilliant move on Obama. He have show again and again of willing to work together with party lines and have much ballsy and logically fresher ideas. Americans just don't deserved him to have president if he looses because of racism.
[Edited 9/24/08 13:07pm]

maybe they could switch the VP debates to this friday then...

I feel the debate should go on and they can just easily switch the topic on economy. Damn it American wants to know which one of the guys have better offer and ideas of being president. If McCain cannot handle multitask he should resign as R nominee.
[Edited 9/24/08 13:15pm]

Genesia said:

HiinEnkelte said:

John McCain = the Serious Candidate.

Country First.

Agreed.

It also makes no sense for them to debate foreign policy (which is the topic of the first debate) when all anyone's thinking about is the economy.

Imago said:

HiinEnkelte said:

John McCain = the Serious Candidate.

Country First.

OMG, that's the second most hilarious thing I've heard you say lately apart from the "gay people have the same rights as straight people when it comes to marriage" nonsense.

lawd.

HiinEnkelte said:

Imago said:

OMG, that's the second most hilarious thing I've heard you say lately apart from the "gay people have the same rights as straight people when it comes to marriage" nonsense.

lawd.

what i said was true and accurate. we cannot begin to debate an issue seriously, if right off the bat it is framed in orwellian perversions of language, "gays aren't allowed to marry, blah blah.."

a person has always been able to enter into the marriage contract/covenant regardless of sexual proclivities/attraction/orientation/identification.

It is about redefining marriage, and why the/our traditional system of kinship invidiously discriminates and is so arbitrarily arranged that it is the responsibility of the government or judges to impose a new definition and a restructuring of marriage.

but no one is or has been excluded based on his or her sexual identity.
just because i am straight, they do not allow me to marry my best male friend.

okay, back to the topic.

Country First!

HiinEnkelte said:

Imago said:

OMG, that's the second most hilarious thing I've heard you say lately apart from the "gay people have the same rights as straight people when it comes to marriage" nonsense.

lawd.

what i said was true and accurate. we cannot begin to debate an issue seriously, if right off the bat it is framed in orwellian perversions of language, "gays aren't allowed to marry, blah blah.."

a person has always been able to enter into the marriage contract/covenant regardless of sexual proclivities/attraction/orientation/identification.

It is about redefining marriage, and why the/our traditional system of kinship invidiously discriminates and is so arbitrarily arranged that it is the responsibility of the government or judges to impose a new definition and a restructuring of marriage.

but no one is or has been excluded based on his or her sexual identity.
just because i am straight, they do not allow me to marry my best male friend.

okay, back to the topic.

Country First!

SUPRMAN said:

HiinEnkelte said:

what i said was true and accurate. we cannot begin to debate an issue seriously, if right off the bat it is framed in orwellian perversions of language, "gays aren't allowed to marry, blah blah.."

a person has always been able to enter into the marriage contract/covenant regardless of sexual proclivities/attraction/orientation/identification.

It is about redefining marriage, and why the/our traditional system of kinship invidiously discriminates and is so arbitrarily arranged that it is the responsibility of the government or judges to impose a new definition and a restructuring of marriage.

but no one is or has been excluded based on his or her sexual identity.
just because i am straight, they do not allow me to marry my best male friend.

okay, back to the topic.

Country First!

So in other words you would rather enshrine discrimination.
It would not be a new definition of marriage.
As has been discussed here previously marriage has undergone a lot of changes.
And sex same sex couples are excluded not based on any rational basis but fear that heterosexuals will lose a target of discrimination.

I guess you prefer people ignore their vows and any supposed sanctity attached to the ceremony to marry someone of the opposite sex and simply cheat to be with whom they really love but obtain all the privileges and status of marriage.
You are too kind.
But let's not pretend it isn't discrimination based on whom you love.
I can ONLY love and marry someone of the opposite sex? Screw you.

2the9s said:

IrresistibleB1tch said:

i don't even think this is a bad idea. but the right way to do this would have been for the two campaigns to work it out and announce it together.

this way, it looks like yet another stunt.

It IS a stunt...



McCain = Racetrack Spiderman.