McCain halts campaign in order to save US economy, Bush goes into fetal position

[Baal]

Big powerful savour John McCain stops campaigning to help with the "historic" economic crisis

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.

Immediately after the announcement, White House press secretary Dana Perino released this statement: "We welcome Sen. McCain's announcement. We are making progress in negotiations on the financial markets rescue legislation, but we have not finished it yet. Bipartisan support from Sens. McCain and Obama would be helpful in driving to a conclusion."

McCain's campaign also said that he had canceled his scheduled appearance on "The Late Show with David Letterman" for Wednesday night.

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.

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.

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/POLITICS/09/24/campaign.wrap/index.html

I don't understand his move here. This seems like a desperate move by a guy who's going to lose, not someone who's potentially projected to win.

 

[Ubik]

McCain can't do anything to help. There's no point in doing what he's doing. Besides, presidents are supposed to be able to multitask. Just because he should be helping out with the economic crisis, doesn't mean he should suspend his campaign and postpone the debate. If anything, the debate should be more important now. Maybe they should switch the debate topic from foreign policy to the economy and still hold it this friday. Or have the VP debates in place of the first presidential debates. Either way, Obama will benefit.

McCain really screwed up this time.

 

[Ennui]

This pisses me off, I was looking forward to the debate on Friday (since I predict Obama will stomp McCain's face in).

 

[TwwIX]

Obama has already rejected the delay of the debate.

 

[Escaep]

Obama and McCain should fight! Cage match style. :bounce:

 

[Saturos]

Fuuuuuuuuck. I predict rough seas ahead for USA.

 

[Kula Meenur]

Obama has already rejected the delay of the debate.

What a hero :cheers: I'd shout him a beer.

Fuuuuuuuuck. I predict rough seas ahead for USA.

Concur.

 

[Kamikazie]

I don't understand why he's doing this. Him going back to Congress will not change anything that they plan, it's not like he was a big part of it anyway. I would rather have two guys missing, debating who will become the next president to lead us out of this situation since they will be handed the reigns in a few months, then have one of them go back to sit around with his thumb up his ass shooting the shit in his leather chair.

I think there's a hidden reason that he's going back and canceling all of his campaign ads. If one wants to become president why would one come to a complete stop campaigning to go back to congress.

It doesn't make sense.

 

[Jintor]

I wonder what Colbert, Stewert and the rest of the crew will make of this.

It's odd that I now think of politics in terms of comedy fodder.

 

[TwwIX]

Now they want to delay the VP debate as well. I wish they could disqualify these two dimwits.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

I wish they would disqualify the republicans.

 

[Kamikazie]

I wish they could disqualify all political parties.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

I wish they would disqualify sluts.

 

[Kamikazie]

I wish they would disqualify MILF's.

Actually... No. I don't.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

well, just from political parties.

 

[Kamikazie]

Right you are.

Oh yeah, McCain is most likely going to pull out of this campaign like I pulled out of Palin.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

with your axe?

 

[Kamikazie]

... Yes.

 

[K e r b e r o s]

I don't understand his move here. This seems like a desperate move by a guy who's going to lose, not someone who's potentially projected to win.

Not projected to win?

You misunderstand the American voter. Democrats thought they had an early battle won with Senator John Kerry in 2004; seldom did they realize their power is shared, and they consequently lost. Also, McCain's move is probably wiser then most people anticipate; he's simultaneously appearing like the better candidate to fix the economic situation while simultaneously bashing Obama with the, "Quit it noob, GTFO and stop trying to debate me when I requested we debate in the first place" trucheon.

 

[Raziaar]

This pisses me off, I was looking forward to the debate on Friday (since I predict Obama will stomp McCain's face in).

Me too brother, me too.

<sobs> You suck McCain! You knew you were going to suck too, and so you suspended this to delay the debates.

Actually, you know what I think this is? I think they believe Sarah Palin isn't ready for her debates, so they're suspending these debates, and are going to use it as an excuse to attempt to suspend the vice presidential candidate debates as well by a few days.

Let's watch and see if I am proven wrong.

 

[The_E]

bush never evlolved from fetal position.

 

[Ennui]

Me too brother, me too.

<sobs> You suck McCain! You knew you were going to suck too, and so you suspended this to delay the debates.

Actually, you know what I think this is? I think they believe Sarah Palin isn't ready for her debates, so they're suspending these debates, and are going to use it as an excuse to attempt to suspend the vice presidential candidate debates as well by a few days.

Let's watch and see if I am proven wrong.

Well turns out Obama said F that, so the debate will go ahead AFAIK.

 

[Raziaar]

Well turns out Obama said F that, so the debate will go ahead AFAIK.

I'll bet you that McCain says something along the lines of, "I don't know why we're having this debate, the economy is in trouble!"

As if one day really mattered. As if McCain and Obama are the two most important senators in the senate and their presence can save the economy lickety split.

Haha... lickety split. What a weird phrase.

 

[Mr Stabby]

McCain is an economic illiterate.

 

[nurizeko]

McCain is Republican, economic illiteracy is but one of his many many glaring failings and reasons why he shouldn't even be put in charge of walking a dog.

 

[Tyguy]

McCain is Republican, economic illiteracy is but one of his many many glaring failings and reasons why he shouldn't even be put in charge of walking a dog.

he's 72, he needs cats

 

[Raziaar]

So who's thinking McCain is going to show to tonight's debate?

I'm betting he doesn't. Even though he won't have anything else to do.

 

[Eejit]

Hasn't he fixed the economy yet?

 

[Raziaar]

Hasn't he fixed the economy yet?

Not only that, his sheer presence in the proceedings has ensured there will be no more economic collapse for the next 1,000 years.

 

[nurizeko]

Also McCain shits $1,000,000 dollar bills.