Day: September 24, 2008

Borowitz: McCain Supports Bailing Out of Debates

Trish

I knew there was a great joke in all this McCain stuff somewhere.

“As of today, I am officially bailing out of the debate,” Sen. McCain told reporters in Washington today. “And I invite Sen. Obama to join me in this bailout effort.”

Sen. McCain said he would be putting together what he called “a comprehensive debate bailout package,” which could include bailing out of the other two scheduled debates as well…

GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin said that she would join in her running mate’s bailout effort by bailing out of her debate with Delaware senator Joseph Biden.

In a campaign stop in Michigan, Gov. Palin detailed a series of bold initiatives, including building a twenty-foot-high fence between her and the press.

Panicked over Economic Crisis, McCain Suspends Campaign, Wants to Weasel out of Debate

Jon Ponder

Cancels ‘Letterman’ Appearance Tonight – Things Must Be Bad!

Failure of leadership: Telegraphing panic over the economic crisis to his fear-addicted followers, John McCain has announced he is suspending his campaign and that he wants to delay the debate Friday night:
If John McCain can’t juggle a debate with Barack Obama while simultaneously working on these economic issues, how can he possibly handle the multiple world crises that inevitably come with the presidency?

Republican presidential nominee John McCain this afternoon said he would suspend his presidential campaign tomorrow to return to Washington and help reach agreement on a plan to solve the financial crisis on Wall Street, and called for a delay of Friday night’s presidential debate.

“It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the Administration’s proposal,” McCain said in a brief statement to reporters. “I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time.”

It’s not as if John McCain has announced any sort of definitive measure to resolve the crisis that he needs to be in Washington to push — or that he has a record of providing leadership on the economy in the past. (Quite the opposite, in fact. He was an advocate of the deregulation that underlies the failures.)

More importantly, if John McCain can’t juggle a debate with Barack Obama while simultaneously working on these economic issues, how can he possibly handle the multiple world crises that inevitably come with the presidency?

It’s likely that what’s really going on here is that the campaign has seen some dire polling numbers and they want to push the debate forward, with the hope that the issues that are dragging him down have turned around.

Let’s hope the Obama campaign pushes back hard on this one.

With Job Approval at 19%, Bush to Address Nation on Economy

Jon Ponder

With his approval rating as low as 19 percent, and with the exception of Dick Cheney, George Bush is the person least likely to reassure the nation about the current economic crisis.He will nonetheless address the nation tonight about the crisis, but it is questionable how yet another stumbling, incoherent poorly read lecture from him is useful just now:

White House officials said Bush’s speech would dwell on the financial crisis. Press secretary Dana Perino said the president wants to tell the American people how the crisis affects them and help them understand the depth of the problem.

Those of us on the West Coast are lucky that his address will be live at 6 p.m. here, so that it won’t preempt anything really important — like “America’s Got Talent” on NBC, “90210” on Fox or, especially, and aptly, “David Blaine Dive of Death” on ABC.

Besides, the content of the address is so predictable that there’s no need to tune in. In a nutshell, here is what he’ll say: “It’s not my fault. In fact, it’s everyone’s fault but mine, especially including you ‘borrowers.'” No doubt, he’ll even throw his base — fatcat CEOs overboard — since he’s not running again and no longer needs them.

What a farce.

Poll: The Early Line for 9/24

Buck Banks

Diageo/Hotline Tracking Poll

Obama/Biden 48%
McCain/Palin 42%
Undec 8%

– Obama/Biden’s 6% lead is their largest in the Diageo/Hotline tracking poll yet.

– Obama/Biden are moving ahead among white women. The Dems now hold a 1% edge, 46-45%; in the poll completed one week earlier (on 9/16), McCain/Palin led 53-37%.

– Among the 56% of RVs who say the economy is their #1 issue, Obama/Biden are up 51-39%. Last week they led the group, which at the time only represented two-fifths of RVs, 49-40%. Among all RVs, 45% say Obama can best handle the economy, while 39% say McCain; Obama held just a 1% lead the previous two surveys.