I think it's hilarious that McCain, all of a sudden, is the one who's saying it's important they be there in Washington.

9/24/2008 6:02:35 PM

McCain is trying to eliminate this debate. Or are you just that stupid?

9/24/2008 6:02:48 PM

Quote :

"McCain is trying to eliminate this debate"

no he is not

9/24/2008 6:05:46 PM

Choosing a president, who will deal with many serious issues & not just one particular instance of one type of issue & more than one at once, is kind of important. McCain & Obama can both make all of their input on this issue very clear, they could use the debate (if it was refocused) to do much more to make their input loud and clear and to use it as a teaching moment for the American Public much more than they ever could by suspending campaigns and canceling debates in the home stretch.

http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReportUC.aspx?g=54d651a7-a62b-4420-bb32-9dd6b2df8c02

The vast majority of people seem to want the debate to go on as scheduled, or to go on with more of a focus on the economy. Only 10% want it postponed. Similarly many people either want campaigns to continue as is, or to re-focus on the economy (as if they haven't already), and again suspending campaigns is very much in the minority. More than anything else this poll says people think not having a debate Friday would be bad for America.

9/24/2008 6:06:09 PM

can someone find me one piece of evidence that suggests anyone wants to CANCEL any of the debates and not simply postpone them in order to do their jobs that they are currently elected for?

9/24/2008 6:07:59 PM

Can someone find me one piece of evidence that suggest McCain, a man who has missed roughly 2/3 of the votes from the current session, has any interest in actually showing up to work when it's anything short of a political stunt?

9/24/2008 6:12:52 PM

CNN is reporting that McCain will not take part in the debate if there is no consensus in congress over the bailout. He is proposing to move the debate to October 2nd, taking the place of the VP debate, forcing that to a later date (which would benefit Palin nicely). The debate organizers say they will continue going forward with the debate on Friday. So will he be a no-show? That would have to seal his fate right there.

9/24/2008 6:38:03 PM

Yeah, if I was Obama I would totally call McCain's bluff on this.

9/24/2008 6:54:06 PM

ok, make friday the VP debate

9/24/2008 7:18:06 PM

^haha

9/24/2008 7:25:26 PM

They could do the debate in congress, where it could be on CSPAN.

9/24/2008 7:31:24 PM

all I gotta say is........lolllll mccain campaign right about now. You gotta be kidding me

9/24/2008 8:28:54 PM

please tell me this is still happening...mccain better not dodge this shit

9/24/2008 8:43:33 PM

Quote :

"Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) tells CNN the McCain campaign is proposing "that if there's no bailout deal by Friday, the first presidential debate should take the place of the VP debate, currently scheduled for next Thursday, October 2 in St. Louis." Despite Obama's insistence that the debate go on, Graham also says McCain "will not go to the debate Friday if there's no deal on the bailout.""

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/09/24/mccain_now_wants_to_bump_vp_debate.html

Republicans crack me up

[Edited on September 24, 2008 at 8:48 PM. Reason : ]

9/24/2008 8:45:38 PM

i think mccain will end up going to the debate...if not he might lose Mississippi

9/24/2008 8:47:02 PM

^ I don't think McCain could lose mississippi.

It would look really bad though if he didn't go, and Obama showed up anyway to give the press some nice shots of him standing alone on a debate lectern with no McCain in sight.

I don't think this move will hurt McCain though, and if he shows up at the debate anyway, assuming his version of the events are right and not Obama's, it'd give him something to talk about.

9/24/2008 8:53:19 PM

Mississippi spent a lot of money to get the debate there...if he doesn't show up he could easily lose Mississippi

9/24/2008 8:54:42 PM

I guess it's possible, but I don't think it would happen.

But, that seems to represent the key differences between McCain's and Obama's strategy, I think. Maybe it's just me, but it seems that Obama is more tailoring his campaigning for battelground states while McCain is focusing more on that national stage.

9/24/2008 8:57:00 PM

Quote :

"they cant wait a few days? you're acting like they're trying to eliminate the debates...are you intentionally trying to mislead people or are you just that ignorant? when your best argument for delaying the debates a few days so that a couple senators can actually do their jobs is that you can't change the time and date of debates, you're really really reaching"

Ok, so you're clinging to the "they need to do their jobs argument". We can go with that. If that's the case, then how come the urgency to pass this measure is so great? You do realize that "doing their jobs" would be to hold hearings with some of the brightest financial minds in the country (here's a hint, they don't reside in Congress) to be informed of the real ramifications of this action. This will not be accomplished in 5 days without some serious marathon sessions of hearings from various experts in the field. Then...then, the legislation has to be crafted that all parties can agree to and vote on. Government is slow. Government is inefficient. And if anyone thinks anything meaningful can be proposed in such a short time frame without the advice of quite a few experts on the matter and quite a bit of understanding of the ramifications of potential solutions, well, I guess they would be foolish enough to not see the canceling/delaying of a debate is a pure political play and spend their time trolling a bunch of folks who actually care enough about the democratic process to vote.

Anyone with a brain (note, this is not you) can see that the only reason for urgently accepting the Paulson plan is so the markets will get a short term reprieve and a tanked economy will be delayed until after the election. The whole idea is so ludicrous, that even folks on the right are coming out in opposition to this plan.

What do you expect 2 congressman without a really deep knowledge of the system (one revealing that he is completely clueless) to add that the other ~500 there can't handle?

9/24/2008 8:58:22 PM

you seem to think you know a lot about me "Ron" considering you've only been on TWW a few days

hmmm, i wonder who you could be...

9/24/2008 8:59:54 PM

I'm Ron from Warwick RI!

9/24/2008 9:01:38 PM

is that near China Grove?

as far as the $700 billion buyout, do we the taxpayers get shares in the wall street companies by paying to bail them out?

9/24/2008 9:02:41 PM

Why are you asking me? There is plenty of information available out there on the details of the package.

The short answer, no.

9/24/2008 9:07:39 PM

of course the answer is no...thats the same answer to the question "would wall street pay to bail my company out of financial trouble"

9/24/2008 9:08:35 PM

...

9/24/2008 9:13:42 PM

I have no idea what the plan here is. I mean, even with the shadiest, most diabolical plots I can think of that explain this debate thing, I can't figure out how this is the best plan they could come up with. Maybe if a deal is reached he could claim that his ultimatum helped speed the process up, but that's flimsy even by the standards of what sheeple voters will accept. He could be trying to buy time for Palin, but...I mean, for fuck's sake, she's got more than a week to get her shit together even as things are.

This just completely flabbergasts me. Honestly, the only answer that makes any sense is that he sincerely thinks that by doing this he can improve the situation, but I think he's wrong. It's a little sad that I'm surprised that I think the most probable explanation involves honesty and sincere concern.

But, I dunno...I know plenty of people who thought he'd gone off the deep end when he picked Palin, and so far that seems to have worked out pretty well for him.

9/24/2008 9:20:18 PM

what a surprise, the Repubs want to "delay" the VP debate now. This is stunning to think that they can possibly get away with this nonsense.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMQxDprCVbE

9/24/2008 9:22:47 PM

Is it not obvious? I've said it multiple times now. His campaign knows they'll fail miserably getting econ questions during a debate. So, they're in a corner, and one of McCains puppet masters is trying to stall to give congress time to "save the economy". It's that simple. He want's to say that he was part of the debate in Congress, so that no matter what plan gets created, no matter how much regulation they put in place, he wants to claim he was part of it. If Obama doesn't show up, then that's a point in his favor with which to claim that he cared and Obama didn't.

But, I don't imagine the average voter is this sophisticated to understand the tactic. So why not pull it?

9/24/2008 9:26:53 PM

20 bucks says they dont debate on friday

9/24/2008 9:29:07 PM

I was under the impression that his strategy was:

Ask to move the debate so he looks like he cares more about the economy... if Obama agrees, McCain avoids debating something he's obviously not up to speed on for a while AND it looks like he cares about the economy

if Obama doesn't agree, which he was smart not to do, McCain ends up debating anyways but pulls the "Obama doesn't care as much as me" card


either way, I think it was a decent strategy as long as he actually goes through with the debate Friday

9/25/2008 7:47:35 AM

9/25/2008 7:49:41 AM

Quote :

"He could be trying to buy time for Palin, but..."

forget buying time, I think he's trying to get the VP debate eliminated entirely (eventually). lets be honest here, the less time palin stands on the debate stage the better for the mccain campaign. and if she HAS to stand on that stage, the closer it is to the election the better (since more people will have mde up their minds by then).

this is obviously a political ploy by mccain to try and make up for his self-admitted shortcomings on economical issues. i would love for his campaign to tell us how injecting presidential politics into the bailout negotiation process will actually speed things up. or how mccain, who doesn't know too much about the economy, and hasn't been involved with the process yet, will actually speed things up.

this is whats called a hail mary.

9/25/2008 8:51:48 AM

Quote :

"Because they agreed to it? Because the American public wants to see what the candidates have to say about current topics?"

Do you even remember the Town Hall meetings Obama promised earlier in the year? He went directly against his word...FOR NO REASON. Here McCain has a good reason and you act likes its the worst thing ever. You, my friend, are absolutely blinded by the democratic party.

Quote :

"His campaign knows they'll fail miserably getting econ questions during a debate. So, they're in a corner, and one of McCains puppet masters is trying to stall to give congress time to "save the economy"."

Dude, please....just stop....McCain has more than enough ammo for an economics debate. Remember, in 2005, John McCain said this was going to happen....ITS ON THE RECORD! Add to that fact that Obama's economics advisors were heads of Fannie, Freddy, and Le. Bros., and each of these companies have given Obama more money than you or I would make in years......Add to that the riduculous notion of Obama's economic policy, which practically every economist on EVERY NEWS CHANNEL says will be bad for us......

9/25/2008 9:19:11 AM

Quote :

"remember the Town Hall meetings Obama promised earlier in the year"

no, i don't. please refresh our memory with some proof of your claim.

Quote :

"Remember, in 2005, John McCain said this was going to happen....ITS ON THE RECORD"

no, he didn't. first off it was 2006, and he didn't predict anything. he repeated what regulators were saying. if he said this in 2002 or something, that would be one thing. 2006 is another. ntm is doesn't have a good track record on this issue. ask him why he voted Yea for the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999. Yes I'll give you time to google since you probably have no idea what that is.

9/25/2008 9:26:18 AM

Quote :

"Add to that the riduculous notion of Obama's economic policy, which practically every economist on EVERY NEWS CHANNEL says will be bad for us......"

links to back this up?

9/25/2008 9:27:08 AM

bigun is probably the most partisan person that tries to post on this board. simply ignore him and let him throw a vote away with McCain.

9/25/2008 10:08:36 AM

its not the partisian nature of that post that gets me

its the way he tries to pass off a bunch of [obvious] lies as being the truth

9/25/2008 10:22:15 AM

Just ignore him. What do you have to prove to a patent idiot?

9/25/2008 10:26:33 AM

eh sorry don't post in TSB much...i guess after a while it becomes easier to ignore the idiots.

9/25/2008 10:32:06 AM

i just read today that there are only 3 presidential debates, and only 1 VP debate. I figured there would be several more than that, on both sides (although I do see that we're already running short on time..... why didn't they start these earlier?)

I was hoping for more than just 1 chance to get Palin up there behind the mic. At the rate this is going, she could do a single debate, and McCain could effectively keep her hidden all the way until the election!

9/25/2008 11:37:20 AM

yeah theyve been keeping her hidden pretty well thus far...i'm sure they'll continue that, and hopefully nix the VP debate or at least delay it until she can be more prepared

http://www.dglobe.com/articles/index.cfm?id=14817§ion=opinion
http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/09/understanding-t-1.html

Quote :

"She is what she is. It's not fair to force her into the spotlight when she is not qualified to handle that situation. I don't mean this as the insult it sounds like. I get the sense that media really is just waiting for her to have a major goof-up caught on tape. Of course, this dynamic could have been avoided had McCain chosen someone qualified, but he didn't. He opted for image over substance, and that's what we're getting in a very tangible way: photos, but no answers to questions."

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/blog/brad_brevet/?p=403
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/us/politics/21debate.htm

Quote :

"It was announced on Saturday that the three Presidential debates between Barack Obama and John McCain will be free-flowing and loosey-goosey for lack of a better word/phrase. However, the October 2nd debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden will go by different rules at the insistence of the McCain camp. Apparently it will have shorter question-and-answer segments than those for the presidential nominees. There will also be much less opportunity for free-wheeling, direct exchanges between the running mates. What a joke. First we have three straight weeks of what has amounted to basically a media blackout of this woman and now she is going to be protected during the debate as well? What a farce. What simple-minded individuals are falling for this?"

9/25/2008 12:59:30 PM

Anyone else just get the feeling that the entire McCain campaign is melting down in an unprecedented (for the GOP) way?

9/25/2008 1:07:34 PM

It's pretty much a reflection of what they've done to the country.

9/25/2008 3:49:59 PM

^ yeah, fucking McCain has been such a shitty president in the past

9/25/2008 3:52:36 PM

I'm having the same problem as Grumpy as far as determining McCain's motives. And since this thread is more relevant, I hope no one minds me quoting myself from another thread.

Quote :

"If the debates are, in fact, cancelled, I think Friday night would be a good chance to arrange a debate amongst the third-party candidates."

Quote :

"Will they even get a chance to debate? If nothing else, we would be presented with some viewpoints that, otherwise, would not arise."

Oh, and not me from this thread:

Quote :

"Add to that the riduculous notion of Obama's economic policy, which practically every economist on EVERY NEWS CHANNEL says will be bad for us......"

Blatantly false.

[Edited on September 25, 2008 at 5:10 PM. Reason : ]

9/25/2008 5:09:18 PM

so is mccain still going against this shit? hes a pretty big pussy for trying to get out of this

9/26/2008 2:24:07 AM

I just want to go on record that I'm also baffled that a man who admitted he don't know shit about economics actually thought he could convince us that he's needed in Washington so much he has to suspend his campaign.

Did his dog die or something? They didn't want us to see the ole mav cry?

9/26/2008 2:44:16 AM

mccain is the leader on leadership because he suspended his campaign and didnt want to debate

9/26/2008 2:53:09 AM

My money says McCain doesn't want to be hit with any "no show" ads related to votes on the financial crisis.

9/26/2008 3:04:55 AM

my money says this debate tomorrow aint happening, and somehow, mccain will get a "free pass" on it

9/26/2008 3:08:44 AM