Bush Failure > Obama Leadership > McCain Stunt
Let me just clarify what seem to be the underlying issues behind McCain’s latest gimmick.
First, the bailout is in deep trouble. There are several reasons why the bailout is in trouble. It’s a crappy plan that, experts believe, does not really fix the crisis. So for those assessing the plan rationally, there is great skepticism about it.
In addition, Democrats are rightly suspecting this is another case of the boy-Bush who cried wolf. At the very least, the Bush Administration is springing this bailout in a irresponsibly political manner. Add in Paulson’s dishonesty about the bailout, and the Administration simply can’t be trusted as honest partners in trying to solve this problem.
Meanwhile, Republicans are unwilling to accept what this crisis clearly proves: their ideology is dead. Rather than deal with the crisis the country is in, they are instead trying to turn the crisis into a campaign gimmick–an opportunity to distance themselves from Bush.
All of these things: the problems with the plan, Bush’s lack of credibility with Democrats, and Bush’s inability to get his own party to put country over campaign gimmicks, demonstrate the depth of Bush’s leadership failure.
At the same time, Republican promises to politicize this issue–along with Paulson’s promises–made McCain the key political stumbling block to crafting a deal.
So Obama did the right thing–showed leadership. At 8:30 AM, Obama reached out to his rival to propose they come up with a bipartisan statement. By making this effort, Obama gave up the opportunity to show just how much better he and his team are responding to this issue and instead prioritized finding a solution that would work.
McCain received that offer.
And he sat on it.
For six hours.
Finally, at 2:30 PM, McCain accepted the offer to put country ahead of politicking.
Only McCain couldn’t afford to do that. It seems that, during those six long hours when McCain was mulling Obama’s proposal, McCain was inventing a way to turn this into yet another political gimmick. Twenty minutes after accepting Obama’s proposal, McCain pulled this stunt of calling for a suspension of the campaign and postponement of the debate.
Bush’s failure of leadership, Obama’s assumption of that leadership, followed by McCain’s empty stunt. That’s the state of our country right now.
And as for the guy whose failures got us into this mess? Bush is willing to accept Obama’s and McCain’s "bipartisan support," but not an actual bipartisan discussion of how to solve this problem.
Sky falling, reports Henny “McCain” Penny
it ain’t playin in Helena (according to the gov on chicken noodle network)
the bailout is dead on arrival, folks
now they’re gonna try an call it a “Rescue”
see if your congresscritter adopts the repuglitard-speak on this
The way to sell a crisis is through scare tactics. But the arguments have not been convincing enough.
I think the American people would “get it” if Fed and Treasury said, point blank –
Think of a scenario where we told you that, after tomorrow, your credit cards won’t work. Not because you missed your payment or because you’re over the limit. But because there’s no credit left. It’s cash only.
In my book, that’s a manifestation of a credit crisis. Wouldn’t it be logical that the big banks would shut off revolving credit accounts, particularly since that lending is so easy?
But, yet Fed and Treasury they’re not making this argument for the bailout. Why not? Is it too extreme? Is it not potentially true?
I’d hazard that more than 1/2 of Americans “depend” on credit cards to settle their debts.
I think that during his debate preparations, McCain started breaking out in cold sweats and started to panic.
And of course he wants to suspend the campaign. Its going badly for him right now, so he wants to stop the bleeding.
But wait, there’s some silver lining here. Remember how we used to complain about the Republican’s tenacity to hold discipline and govern their ranks? Maybe this is the breaking point, and Republicans are starting to run scared in all directions. Now might be the perfect time to put that impeachment thingy back on the table.
Bob in HI
This could be Karl Rove’s moment. He’s only ever been lukewarm on McCain, and clearly cold on Palin.
I’m still ready for the 11th hour switcheroo. McCain bows out because of “health reasons.” Palin out becuase of Troopergate.
Then who’s to take over the RNC’s nomination? Do we delay the election out of “fairness”? Does Mitt step up? Or is the “crisis” so bad that martial law is declared?
I had that nightmare last night, it wasn’t pretty.
Oh if only Impeachment were on the table…
I think this plan is DOA because it stinks to high heaven from every direction.
I can’t wait to hear the fear mongering from Shrub tonight.
Popcorn anyone?
Wouldn’t you know I got EPU’d last post on this very frame:
Agreed, the bailout is in deep trouble, politically on the Hill, and substantively in that it won’t accomplish anything other than recapitalizing the banks for free with public funds, and allow the party to keep going on with new money to leverage. Aside from McCain trying to chump Obama, the real give away is that they are desperate enough to put Booosh on TV to sell this – a “Fire Sale Chat”, for lack of better options.
TPM headlines that the bill is 98 percent done – now – and a draft is currently circulating. The Treasury, it seems, has caved on everything (or close to it) and McSame can and will add nothing to it.
Other than trying to swoop in and claim the credit for it.
Funny, how this also happens the same day CNN has Pennsylvania going Obama 53, McCain 44.
Thanks, and good to hear! I agree that McCain may be trying not to appear irrelevant if the deal is for all intents done, and has been told by the Republican Party that he cannot punk them and vote against it.
And Kos has posted a snap poll by SUSA, which shows the people polled want the campaign to continue, the debates to go as scheduled and, it would seem, have seen through McSame’s stunt.
Has anyone heard any leaks about the outcome of Cheney’s behind closed doors torture treatment of Republicans on the Hill yesterday?
On BBC last night the announcer introduced that subject as “VP Cheney, Merchant of Doom,..” showing picture of him entering his black hearse.
The Senate Republicans were strong yesterday, how about today?
“Has anyone heard any leaks about the outcome of Cheney’s behind closed doors torture treatment of Republicans on the Hill yesterday?”
I heard (NPR?) that the Republiks were in open revolt, and that basically he left with his tail between his legs. (Or words to that effect.)
Bob in HI
Oh to have been there to see that! Shot him in the face, did they? About time they became men and women instead of toads.
Thanks, Bob
How can they say credit is drying up when my boss just got 5 credit card offers in the mail. That is just today. There are about 3 to 5 per day!
….adding, “suspension” of McCain’s campaign would actually mean that he gets to stay home and take some much-needed naps and avoid sparsely attended rallies, press questions, and debates where he might have to explain why its a good idea to go to war with Russia and Spain, and Palin gets to avoid the press and cram for her debate with Biden, while the TV commercials and 527s and Swift Boaters continue to lie with impunity.
Let’s not underestimate McShame. We all thought that the Palin pick would sink him and look at all the mileage he got out of it. I wouldn’t be surprized if this stunt buys him some favor, at least until (and if) it’s shown that Obama proposed first and McShame tried to steal the show.
Another thing that this helps McShame with is that it gives a few days of cover for Rick Davis so things quiet down.
EW, remember that while Bushco’s economic and tax policies exacerbated this problem, Bill Clinton, Phil Gramm, John McSame, Joe Biden et al, got us here because laissez-faire uber alles was the best way to go. None of these bozzos will acknowledge that 1999 bill lead the dead end we’re in.
Agree that Clintonimics laid the groundwork, absolutely.
But on a number of key factors, things got better under Clinton, then worse again–significantly–under Bush.
Shorter Obama: “Political Statesmanship.”
Shorter McSame: “Political Stuntsmanship.”
Well said. And sorry if I missed your EPUed comment. I’m having a very difficult day wandering from cafe to cafe in SFCA.
It’s a hard life, but someone has to do it.
you’re in San Francisco ???
don’t drink the water …
There’s water here?
All they’ve served me is lattes and beer. Didn’t know you could get water.
San Fran is one of my favorite places in the world. As long as you’re holding up that end of the continent, all is well!
And it seems like you’ve brought good weather to San Fran too!
Is there anything that EW can’t do?
Now that you mention it, they HAVE been thanking me for the weather.
But I tell you, bringing good weather to SF (well, so long as it’s not July) is nothing compared to bringing sunny weather to Ireland and Scotland, which I’ve got a pretty good track record of doing, too.
It’s also worth noting, as the dollar loses its status as the preferred global reserve currency, that the GOP is suffering not only a collapsed ideology, but also collapsing finances.
The McCain-Palin campaign, and the rest of the GOP, is having funding problems, and this may be one blustering effort by McCain to hide that fact.
This year, the GOP doesn’t have Abramoff, Scanlan, Reed, Safavian, et. al. funneling money-laundered casino ‘campaign contributions’ and it appears to make a difference. In addition, some of the traditional GOP heavy-hitters: home builders, commercial developers, mortgage lenders, and realtors are not able to help bankroll McCain and the GOP this year.
As for leadership… that may now be passing to other nations… Paging Manmohan Singh**…
——————————————————-
** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manmohan_Singh
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh — an economist credited with initiating the 1991 economic reforms that later blossomed into India’s IT sector — is blessed with the kind of genius the US could desperately use right now. I’ll bet that he and Barak Obama, plus Joe Biden, could have many engaging, productive conversations.
(God forbid we commit the stupidity of inflicting the insolent Mrs. Palin on someone of PM Singh’s experience!)
Could it be that the GOP was planning on a quid pro quo of campaign contributions from Wall Street in return for the shitpile purchase?
Wow, MNChuck. I hadn’t taken it that far, because I was primarily thinking about the FBI investigations of ‘unnamed companies’, and the fact that the FBI needs to get copies of the coding used in derivitives (and probably also uncountable numbers of international transactions).
Your point strikes me as astute, but I got no inside info.
FYI – what McCain is telling his supporters…
“and asked him to join me”.
Asked “HIM” to join “ME”.
After Obama initiates the 8:30 a.m. call.
Add this to
“he agreed to public financing for the general”
and
“he rejected my proposal for a series of joint bipartisan townhall sessions”,
and what you’ve got is a candidate who’s not only sold off his image, and any claim to “honor”, but sold off his family name.
Before this is over, his Senator John Blutarsky suit will have worn thin and lies in tatters around him, as he stands for election in his Senator Jack Ambramoff skivvies.
He must say this in his sleep.
9-11!
9-11!!
9-11!!!
Sad.
The NYT has a story about it; should be easy to find from the front page at nytimes.com
Evidently, the R’s were p*ssed and rebellious, and the NYT seemed to suggest it wasn’t simply one or two loners.
FWIW, I phoned my (excellent) Congressman’s office yesterday basically to say that I had faith his sound judgment would refuse to be cowed by this boondoggle, but that I felt obligated as a voter to let him know that I was ‘keeping his back’ so that he could rightly claim he was getting fuming messages from constituents. The staffer and I had a funny, short chat and I gather they’ve yet to receive a single, favorable call or email supporting the bailout (!).
Important to let your electeds know you appreciate their ’standing firm’, if you’ve not already done so.
Apologies, my #21 was a response to bobs @ 16.
The ‘reply’ doesn’t seem to be functioning…?
mcsame magoo just took the dog food off the shelves, folks
satire doesn’t work on these guys
they’re immune
you don’t wanna know where they put cheney’s pitchfork …
…am I the only one who figures that whole ‘CEO pay’ is a bait-and-switch; something the Republicans put in so they’d be able to toss the Dems a bone…?
Apologies if I missed this point in scanning comments on recent threads, but here’s a nugget that may be of interest to a number of EW regulars. From a Harper’s interview with Peter Galbraith:
http://www.harpers.org/archive…..c-90003600
Wow, what an outstanding point.
Since those ‘derivatives’ were written in code… and since it wouldn’t take much code tweaking to alter the currency calculations from, say ‘dollars to euros’, or ‘dollars to yuan’, making sure that Congress gets that code — or, more to the point, that the FBI gets all relevant code! — is an excellent point for inclusion in ANY deal that’s cut.
you’re talking about computer codes for derivatives, right ???
if so, do we get the Nobel prize back from that nutjob ???
(just kidding)
Yeah, I was referring to the computer code used for ‘derivitives’. (IIRC, George Soros makes a point in his latest book that suggests they are designed based on a flawed assumption that at some point the markets have a point of ‘perfect equilibrium’. What hogwash! That’s kind of like saying that hurricane modeling should be based on the assumption that somewhere in that mass of swirling energy is one, magically ‘perfect’ temperature point. Might be true, but even so it is so completely dwarfed by other complex factors as to be virtually misleading.)
McCain wouldn’t take Obama’s call:
Here’s a copy of the draft plan currently circulating. Treasury caved across the board.
Nice, making Republicans’ shock doctrine tactics blow back on themselves.
Thanks for the provision. I’m not knowledgeable enough to parse the details, except to note the removal of the exemption from judicial review (the former sec 8). Yet, at the risk of appearing to be the party pooper, this still is a bailout bill, which the country as a whole is overwhemingly against (see the comment by rOTL @ 21). What McCain has said is that he expressed this morning to Obama that he (McC) was dismayed at the departure from the “clean” bill Paulson wanted (my words, not his). Thus McCain is now in the position of strutting up to vote no on the hated “Democratic” status quo bailout bill that he and the American people oppose. You got to hand it to them statygists for turning this around to make it look good for the poser (while he forsakes politics as usual and takes the mavrik stand “for country first”).
Bottled water isn’t allowed in SF any more.
Hetch Hetchy water is on tap.
And obtw, McSame “claimed” to have suspended his campaign including his commercials.
Not true, not true at all.
I just saw a McSame campaign commercial on one of my local news channels. In it, McSame claimed to be the one supplying bold ideas for the economic crisis, and that Obama isn’t.
It closed of course with McSame saying he approved of this
liemessage.Same ol’ McSame.
McCain also apparently claimed that Harry Reid had called him to tell him not to come to DC.
But in fact, McCain called him and begged to be asked to come to DC.
Reid said, “Sorry John.”
Marcy,
Long ago, when I lived in the city, Caffe Sport was a fun place to eat. I just checked and it looks like the place still exists. Italian with attitude.
letterman nailed it (stealin from DKOS front page)
it ain’t hard to bring good weather to San Francisco
just show up in mid September and early October
didn’t obama say in his presser that tom coburn was the one who suggested to him the idea of a bipartisan statement, which prompted his call to mccain this a.m.?
did coburn set obama up?
McSame was just interviewed on CBS with Katie “But I’m a Cheerleader” Couric (free campaign commercial? – how could one be so unpatriotic to think that) where McSame said (my summation):
Which of course comports so nicely with McSame’s recent statement that “the economy is fundamentally sound”.
I wonder just who the voting public could identify as “foolish, crazy, insane, dumb as a Pet Rock” regarding the economy?
Same ol’ McSame.
More McShame on McSame. Please go hide with Carly and Davis. I think Obama should use the time as free political ad. If McCain is afraid to show up that is his problem.
cubbies at the mets on espn
thank goddess I don’t have to listen to presnit bunny pants
any reason bunny pants chose to pre-empt Rachel maddow ???
I think the new voice on the block has them shakin in their boots
America needs to send mcShame a “Dear John” letter.
Thanks ew.
digg
McCain says that what he wants to do is postpone this debate and, instead, have it replace the Palin/Biden debate. In other words, he wants to CANCEL THE PALIN/BIDEN DEBATE!
It’s so lame, I can’t even believe that he’s suggesting all of this. Of all forty days leading up to the election, the date of the Palin/Biden debate is the one that he wants. And that’s not even mentioning how lame it is that he’s backing out of this debate!
(Also, he looks really pale and awful. I’m not sure he’s up to the debate, health-wise.)
McSame is boxed in.
Once the nation realizes the sheer god-awfulness and incoherence of Caribou Barbie, they are going to turn to him and say, “you are out of your mind for putting on the ticket.”
On the other hand, he can’t replace her without upsetting the Flat Earth vote.
Well, that’s how you and me see it. The real reason people love Palin is that she pisses people like you and me off. I don’t think they really care how much she sucks.
I found the same message at TPM – comment by bvd
http://tpmelectioncentral.talk…..;looki.php
Also, over at Huffington Post: “Ole Miss officials say the debate has cost them millions and they may not be able to schedule for a later date”
(blogger, PistonMoaned
I also read that lots of people from far and wide are already in Oxford for debate.
[heh, heh. . way to gain votes, McCollaborater!]
In course of hiding from reality was at Wash. U. yesterday. They have extensive programming centered around the VP debate including a panel on the office of VP the night before. The university in Oxford should be justly aggravated if there is no debate because it is a nonpartisan opportunity to emphasize civic engagement, and all, and they are the ones who have to deal with the issues of security and so on.
George said, “(Also, he looks really pale and awful. I’m not sure he’s up to the debate, health-wise.)
A dermatologist has opined that McCain (statistically) has perhaps two years left, due to his melanoma. The patient knows this too doncha think. If indeed that is a credible life expectancy estimate – I can’t show a source; I just read it/heard it somewhere. But as you said, he doesn’t look so healthy in any case, but McSame also knows that he will lose badly in any debate with Obama.
I think that from here on out we’ll be seeing a freeforall in which laws, rules and traditions will be skirted or ignored. Make no assumptions.
The only reason Bush would want to be on TV is to make the crisis worse.
Turns out McCain was having what passes for tea and crumpets, with a blondie. Enquiring minds want to know if this was an interview for the vacated Fiorina spot. Took him longer than it would have taken to debate Obama. Ah. Priorities. Blondie, politics, nation.
I saw it on CNN. It’s part of their proposal to the election committee to postpone the vote!
I like how they think it’s going to make him look Presidential, as if Republicans had any respect for anything Congress did anyway.
I can hardly wait to see what George Will has to say about this stunt.
we got video of princess pandora and the witch doctor
Bye Bye sarah palin, it was nice to know you, you fucking nutjob whacko
I love that McCain, who doesn’t even know how many houses he has, is going to fix our economy.
McCain also owns 13 cars. hmmm think he is worried about the price of gas?
Oh, and he can’t use a computer because of his POW injuries (so they say). Haven’t noticed any trouble with his fingers jabbing the air and pounding the podium with his index finger. It’s his brain that he has let atrophy. And besides, that’s women’s work.
Is McCain too Distraught and Overwhelmed by economic crisis to debate and explain to the American people what clear ideas and solutions he has to handle this crisis. May be McCain is unable to handle the stress and is having a senior moment, because when you are President of the United States, there is no rest for the weary, and you are always on Call!
Or, is McCain really being dirty and underhanded, trying to pull the wool out from under Barack’s feet, when he reached out to him early Wedensday morning in a bi-partisan moment, so together they could show solidarity and release a Joint Statement, however, McCain did not like that idea and decidied to bring politics into an already unsteady situation in an attempt to aid his political career, pretending that it was he who reached out to Barack and not the otherway around! However, that was not good enough, he must one-up him and cancel the campaign all together, the crisis is so great, a sudden change of heart that makes McCain look phony and untrustworthy. That is not putting Country first, but we already know that by his Pallin pick!
And, of course, the debates should not be cancelled. A President has to be able to multi-task, big time! McCain’s cancelling looks more like a senior moment or that he is too overwhelmed and distraught to be albe to explain to the country just what he would do to address this problem. Maybe McCain will not be able to answer that 3:00 a.m. phone call as a President is always on call.
McCain the Wizard of Oz now pretends he has a heart, brain and courage! If so, its not working very well. His wall of lies and deceipt are closing in on him and soon there will be no place to hide, not even in the Senate. McCain you can run, you can lie, but you cannot hide and Humpty Dumpty couldnot be put together again!