Stop The World, I Want To Get Off (Final Update, Last Call)

How lovely.  Just when we need to hear from the candidates about the “financial crisis”, we learn that McSame’s canceling the Friday debate, urging Obama to do the same.  It’s a replay of the Hurricane Gustav “strategy”.  Things are, apparently, too important for politics.  Too important to thrash it out.  No.  What we need is to act presidential, and let somebody else figure out what to do.

The NY Times reports:

Senator John McCain said Wednesday that he would temporarily suspend his presidential campaign on Thursday to return to Washington to deal with the financial crisis and the $700 billion bailout package now before Congress.

Mr. McCain said he told Senator Barack Obama that he was asking the Commission on Presidential Debates to postpone the debate scheduled for Friday night.

“I am calling on the president to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself,” he said. “It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem.”

That’s what we need.  No debates about how we got into this mess and how we get out of it.  No debates about who’s paying the tab.  No debates about Congressional review, reports to Congress, and judicial review of the plan.  No debates about the price of securities and how they’re selected. Oh no.   Nothing about the details.  When it comes to important issues, and in this case, the singular most important issue facing the country, what does McSame propose?  We have a nice meeting with lame duck Bush and the leadership, all of whom are directly responsible on some level for the mess, to make yet another backroom deal.

Give me a break.  What we need is a vigorous, no holds barred, forthright, face to face debate on precisely how the present “financial crisis” is going to be resolved.  Anything else, I bet, is just another smoke filled room and a rescue to the people who least deserve it.

Obama should say no, the debate must go on.  But don’t hold your breath for that.

Update: Another thing. According to Reuters McSame is making the exact, same argument he made about Gustav and the convention:

“It’s time for both parties to come together to solve this problem,” the Arizona senator said. “We must meet as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans, and we must meet until this crisis is resolved.”

He doesn’t get that we’re all Americans and Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and/or third party supporters.  The parties are supposed to stand for something, they’re supposed to be involved in finding solutions to problems, in discussing alternatives, in pressing their viewpoints, in debating, in reasoning, in trying to convince others that theirs is the best course.  That’s what Americans do.  That’s what democracies do.  The idea that we drop those viewpoints to solve problems is ridiculous.  And it leads to backroom deals in which The People get thrown under oncoming transportation devices.

Update: (9/24, 4:38 pm ET):  This from Harry Reid:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid issued a statement saying the presidential debate should go on and that McCain’s negotions should not be a “photo op.”

“It would not be helpful at this time to have them come back during these negotiations and risk injecting presidential politics into this process or distract important talks about the future of our nation’s economy,” the statement said. “We need leadership, not a campaign photo op.”

“If there were ever a time for both candidates to hold a debate before the American people about this serious challenge, it is now,” he added.

Hmmm.  Maybe the Senator’s reading docuD.

Update: (9/24, 5:14 pm ET)  According to ABC Obama wants to go ahead with the debate:

Preparing for the debate in Florida, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama held a news conference, arguing the debate should go on.

“I believe that we should continue to have the debate,” Obama said. “It’s my belief that this is exact time when the American people need to hear from the person who in approximately 40 days will be responsibly for dealing with this mess and I think that it is going to be part of the president’s job to deal with more than one thing at once.

Obama said that unlike McCain, he will not suspend ads, or campaign events scheduled between now and Friday’s debate.

“I think it’s very important that the American people see the people who potentially could be in charge of this problem within the next couple of months and so my attitude is that we need to be focused on solving the problems, as I have been,” Obama said. “It’s also important that we communicate where we need to go in getting us out of the situation.”

Obama said he will stay in Florida for the time being and will not return to Washington unless asked by Congressional leadership.

Hmmm.  Maybe the Senator’s reading docuD.

Update: (9/25, 3:47 pm ET)  So, what now?  The New York Times says that there’s a deal in principle on the bailout.  But that’s apparently not good enough for McSame.  AP reports:

John McCain’s campaign expressed cautious optimism Thursday as congressional Republicans and Democrats agreed in principle on a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry hours before the two presidential candidates were to meet with President Bush on the crisis.

Even so, the action didn’t appear to be strong enough to convince McCain to attend Friday’s scheduled presidential debate. His campaign has said he wouldn’t participate unless there was consensus between Congress and the administration, and a spokesman said the afternoon developments had not changed his plans.

“There’s no deal until there’s a deal. We’re optimistic but we want to get this thing done,” McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said.

What nonsense.  There’s a deal in principle.  The details have to be worked out.  When is a deal not a deal?  When you have to debate and are gonna get whooped. What a wimp.

Update: (9/26, 9:35 am ET)  When is having a deal in principle not having a deal?  Apparently, right now.  The New York Times tells all:

The day began with an agreement that Washington hoped would end the financial crisis that has gripped the nation. It dissolved into a verbal brawl in the Cabinet Room of the White House, urgent warnings from the president and pleas from a Treasury secretary who knelt before the House speaker and appealed for her support.

“If money isn’t loosened up, this sucker could go down,” President Bush declared [in yet another attempt to sound presidential and learned, ed.] Thursday as he watched the $700 billion bailout package fall apart before his eyes, according to one person in the room.

It was an implosion that spilled out from behind closed doors into public view in a way rarely seen in Washington.

By 10:30 p.m., after another round of talks, Congressional negotiators gave up for the night and said they would try again on Friday. Left uncertain was the fate of the bailout, which the White House says is urgently needed to fix broken financial and credit markets, as well as whether the first presidential debate would go forward as planned Friday night in Mississippi.

When Congressional leaders and Senators John McCain and Barack Obama, the two major party presidential candidates, trooped to the White House on Thursday afternoon, most signs pointed toward a bipartisan agreement on a grand compromise that could be accepted by all sides and signed into law by the weekend. It was intended to pump billions of dollars into the financial system, restoring liquidity and keeping credit flowing to businesses and consumers.

“We’re in a serious economic crisis,” Mr. Bush told reporters as the meeting began shortly before 4 p.m. in the Cabinet Room, adding, “My hope is we can reach an agreement very shortly.”

But once the doors closed, the smooth-talking House Republican leader, John A. Boehner of Ohio, surprised many in the room by declaring that his caucus could not support the plan to allow the government to buy distressed mortgage assets from ailing financial companies.

So.  No deal, no debate.  This is how it went down, like an episode from a TV drama:

Friday morning, on CBS’s “The Early Show,” Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the lead Democratic negotiator, said the bailout had been derailed by internal Republican politics.

“I didn’t know I was going to be the referee for an internal G.O.P. ideological civil war,” Mr. Frank said, according to The A.P.Thursday, in the Roosevelt Room after the session, the Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., literally bent down on one knee as he pleaded with Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, not to “blow it up” by withdrawing her party’s support for the package over what Ms. Pelosi derided as a Republican betrayal.

“I didn’t know you were Catholic,” Ms. Pelosi said, a wry reference to Mr. Paulson’s kneeling, according to someone who observed the exchange. She went on: “It’s not me blowing this up, it’s the Republicans.”

Mr. Paulson sighed. “I know. I know.”

It was the very outcome the White House had said it intended to avoid, with partisan presidential politics appearing to trample what had been exceedingly delicate Congressional negotiations.

Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut and chairman of the Senate banking committee, denounced the session as “a rescue plan for John McCain,” and proclaimed it a waste of precious hours that could have been spent negotiating.

But a top aide to Mr. Boehner said it was Democrats who had done the political posturing. The aide, Kevin Smith, said Republicans revolted, in part, because they were chafing at what they saw as an attempt by Democrats to jam through an agreement on the bailout early Thursday and deny Mr. McCain an opportunity to participate in the agreement.

And now, irony of ironies, the Dems seem to be carrying forward the Bush plan trying to get Republican support for it, and the Republicans are off on some other track.  And McSame?  Standing in the wings, unwilling to go forward in Mississippi with the debate– the “crisis” isn’t resolved yet, is it?– hoping for an opportunity to vote “no” on whatever package ultimately reaches a Senate vote.  What a circus.  And what a magnificent leader Commander Codpiece McFlyboy is.  Is it any wonder that “this sucker could go down?”

38 comments

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    • davidseth on September 24, 2008 at 22:14
      Author

    I was away for 10 days and didn’t read any news.  Then yesterday I read the news on the airplane.  Everywhere I went, people, blue and red, told me that there needed to be an investigation, prison, and pay back.  It would cost (per the Portland Oregonian) about $5,000 per person for the current plan.  May I quote a newsdealer in the Eugene, Oregon airport?  “Send an email to your congressperson and senators.  Tell them if they vote for this plan we’ll find somebody else to send to Washington.”

    Thanks for reading.  

    • davidseth on September 24, 2008 at 22:19
      Author

    I see that npk put this up on the front page while i was writing this.  I’m happy to take this down if folks want me to.  

    • Edger on September 24, 2008 at 22:35

    on this planet, isn’t it David? If the debates are delayed, well then, maybe they’ll delay the elections too.

    Things are, apparently, too important for politics, and these “leaders” have “main street” on their minds.

    Can’t blame them either I suppose, I’d be very concerned about going anywhere near main street if I was one of them, too. :-/

    • RiaD on September 24, 2008 at 23:51

    huffpuff

    “With respect to the debates it is my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who in roughly 40 days will be responsible for this mess,” he said. “I think it is going to be part of the president’s job to deal with more than one thing at once. I don’t see why we can’t be constructive in helping with this problem.”

    ~snip~

    Earlier in the afternoon, Democrats in Congress, were already calling out McCain for engaging in what was described, at various times, as a “Hail Mary pass” and a “deeply cynical” ploy.

    “The debate should take place as scheduled,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in an interview with NPR to be broadcast this afternoon. “We have to be able to do a couple of things at once. That’s what leadership requires.”

  1. …of debating on the economy.  He’ll lose, and he knows it.  So, to get off the ropes, he again hides behind putting “Country First”…my ass. Er, a, his ass to face.

    What we need is a vigorous, no holds barred, forthright, face to face debate on precisely how the present “financial crisis” is going to be resolved.

    ScaredyCain

  2. had a great quote – someone posted this over at DKos.

    From MSNBC

    For what it’s worth, the man who is leading congressional Democrats in negotiating the bailout deal with the administration isn’t impressed with Sen. McCain’s announcement.

    Rep. Barney Frank told a group of reporters outside the House chamber:

    It’s the longest Hail Mary pass in the history of either football or Marys.”

    • RiaD on September 25, 2008 at 00:48

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200

    Obama rejects McCain’s call to delay debates

  3. …except for when he decides to use a crisis to gain political points–which is basically whenever any such opportunity presents itself.

    If you’re McHypocrite these are your campaign tactics:

    1.  Make up negative stuff about your opponent, then attack, attack, attack.

    2.  Refuse to answer questions, or answer with gibberish.

    3.  Change positions on any issue as often as necessary, based on what the voters want to hear on any given day.

    4.  Deny that you’ve done #3, even when there’s video proving you actually did say what you’re now denying–then if those biased libural reporters keep bugging you, get mad & remind them that you’re a patriot & former POW !!.  5.  Change the subject.  

    6.  When all else fails, remind everyone again & again & again that you’re a “patriot” & a former POW.  BTW, don’t forget to tell everyone you’re a “patriot” & a former POW… Oh, and of course a “maverick” (“…a lone dissenter, as an intellectual, an artist, or a politician, who takes an independent stand apart from his or her associates…”)–even if you voted with Bush 100% of the time this year–if you say it, it must be true, right?  

  4. Thank you for writing to share your concerns on the current state of the U.S. economy and the government’s response to the ongoing stress on our financial markets, homeowners, and families.

    From Wall Street to Main Street, the U.S. economy is in trouble. We have suffered 600,000 lost jobs since the beginning of this year, over a million families have lost their homes to foreclosure with millions more at risk, and many banks and other financial institutions are struggling to stay afloat. The bailout of investment bank Bear Stearns, the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Federal Reserve’s emergency intervention to save AIG, and the emergency Treasury action to shore up money market mutual funds demonstrate the seriousness of the situation we face.

    In response to these concerns, Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Paulson have met with congressional leaders to request legislation that would authorize direct intervention in the economy. The plan would grant the Treasury Secretary $700 billion to purchase bad assets from financial institutions. By doing so, the Treasury would inject much needed liquidity into the market and work to rescue the economy from a worsening downturn.

    While I agree that urgent and decisive action is necessary during this time of economic turmoil, I will not grant a blank check for billions of taxpayer dollars to the Treasury to bail out banks, with no oversight, accountability, guaranteed help for homeowners, or even assurances that the risky plan will work to the benefit of American workers and taxpayers.

    Instead, we must insist upon a plan that includes relief for burdened homeowners, ensures restraints on exorbitant executive salaries, and ensures that the American people share in the upside as Wall Street recovers. It is also critical that the power to spend $700 billion is not left to the discretion of any one person but is instead under the rigorous oversight of an independent and bipartisan board.

    Further, we need to move forward on a second emergency economic stimulus plan including tax rebates to help families cope with rising food and gas prices and investments in jobs and relief for state budgets.

    In closing, be assured that as this process moves forward I will continue to work for a fast, fair and viable response to our nation’s economic crisis. . . . .

  5. McCain’s campaign now wants to move the first debate to next week and also postpone the vice-presidential debate to a time to be named later.  Looks like Sarah may be a bit overwhelmed and needs some quiet time.

  6. he won’t attend the debate unless there’s a deal by Friday. I say we’ve got the potential for a twofer here…no deal gets us no McCain at the debate. Go for it!!!!!!!!!!

  7. Just what I want – another President who goes into hiding at the first sign of trouble.

    We already had eight years of My Pet Goat, Katrina Flyover, etc.  And even just last week when his buddies’ castle of financial cards finally collapsed, King George was so busy soiling his armor he wouldn’t come out from under his desk for five days.

    Now we got brave Sir Johnnie carrying on this ignominious Gooper tradition – first by canceling the first day of the RNC because of the mere threat of a Hurricane, then by walling himself and his Veep pick from reporters for the next month, and finally by running away from a critical debate on perhaps the most dangerous economic crisis facing America since FDR told us we have nothing to fear but fear itself.

    McSame indeed.





    When danger reared its ugly head,

    He bravely turned his tail and fled….

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