2008 USP(G)ET pt. II: counting the days to 2012 primary thread 1

of course if the Friday debate is postponed, then we may have to push back Palin's debate next Thursday. to, say, Friday? when fewer people will watch? counter-argument: McCain wants to push his debate back to get a bigger audience? real story: McCain knows that he's dead in the water with the economic situation and desperately needs to do something - anything - to gain some credibility on the issue?

of course, John McCain, who called his wife a 'cunt' when she joked affectionately about his thinning hair, could not possible be afraid of this

oh I think Carter lost to Reagan for a lot of other reasons besides the debate

x-post

if im obama i release a statement that says "hey, i can campaign and fix the economy at the same time, but maybe thats because im only 47 and im a genius"

big thing here is congress will not pass the bailout w/o bipartisan (and both pres candidates) support for fear of having their votes used against them in the election

max ftw

First Lady Laura Bush told CNN Wednesday Sarah Palin lacks experience in foreign policy, but quickly added the Alaska governor is "a very quick study."

Asked by CNN's Zain Verjee if she thought Palin's resume included sufficient foreign policy experience, Bush said, "Of course she doesn't have that."

"You know, that's not been her role," she continued, "But I think she is a very quick study, and fortunately John McCain does have that sort of experience."

btw

of course, John McCain, who called his wife a 'cunt' when she joked affectionately about his thinning hair, could not possible be afraid of this

― gabbneb, Wednesday, September 24, 2008 2:13 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yah sure helped kerry

"oh I think Carter lost to Reagan for a lot of other reasons besides the debate"

The debate was big swing IIRC.

"yah sure helped kerry"

It did.

bush is not short. kerry was perhaps too tall and has a 'weird' face

hes not even on the joint economic committee, wtf is he pretending he's going to do about the economy, which btw he doesn't actually think is broken anyway

holy fucking shit

The Obama campaign said Obama had called McCain around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday to propose that they issue a joint statement in support of a package to help fix the economy as soon as possible. McCain called back six hours later and agreed to the idea of the statement, the Obama campaign said. McCain's statement was issued to the media a few minutes later.

he's going to stand atop wall street wearing a flightsuit and give a speech through a bullhorn

Deeply slimy slimy shit.

lol is this the funniest thing mccain has done yet

haha, xxp

seriously

I can't believe I've now seen the words "Campaign Suspended" in the headline about a major party presidential candidate in September.

Funny how Lincoln managed to run for election during the Civil War, FDR during WWII, Bush in 2004, etc...

wow I was not expecting this McCain flameout to be quite so ... abrupt?

major major lols

is this a flameout? Or is this the sort of thing that will convince people that he's Serious about the economy? I have no fucking idea.

will it look like a flameout to Americans? Won't it be, "See? McCain puts politics before America," etc?

haha xpost

this looks pathetic, I don't see anybody giving McCain points for this. What, old man can't run a campaign and cast a vote at the same time? Its not like he's got a committee he should be chairing.

I think dodging the debates is going to look cheap, esp. when he's down.

i dunno maybe to the 30% of hardcore republican voters shoring up bush's approval ratings this is another awesome play from the original maverick but i feel like undecideds will see this as desperate flailing like everything else jsm has done in the last 3 months

i think everyones going to see it as really transparent--when youre on top in the campaign its a good move to "suspend" it id think, but when youre losing it seems like youre calling a time out to nurse your wounds

― Mohammed Butt (max), Wednesday, September 24, 2008 3:11 PM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Love the Washington Post photo:

http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/homepage/hp9-24-08g.jpg

of course this gives an excuse to hide palin for another week so it's win-win there

ethan OTM

this is like ben roethlisburger on sunday

yeah but will be the media be like they were about Favre on Monday? "the original gunslinger" etc.?

"John McCain is having fun"

nah cause theyre all so pissed at him and this is coming out of nowhere

SYKES: Well, you know, I watched the convention. you know, watching the Democratic Convention, it felt like America. You know, it looked like America. It was hopeful and it was positive and, you know, everybody holding hands. And then I watched the Republican Convention. It was like watching a meeting in Dr. Evil's lair.

LENO: Wow.

SYKES: It was like all of the evil people got together, and they were having an evil board meeting.

LENO: Really?

SYKES: And each of them, you know, at the board meeting all got up, and each one would tell their plan of how they're gonna, what they're going to do with the evil. and it was just so tense and scary. 'Cause you know those Dr. Evil board meetings, somebody gets it. You know, they usually --

LENO: Oh, they press the button and --

LENO: Go through the floor.

SYKES: You go into a pile of alligators or something.

LENO: Right, right.

SYKES: And I was tense. and it's usually the weakest one. And I figured that's why Bush didn't show up. he was -- Bush is, like, "I'm doing this via satellite," 'cause, you know, he was scared. He was like, next thing you know, Giuliani runs up behind him with a baseball bat.

LENO: Wow, wow.

SYKES: He walks out on the -- you know, walks out on that stage, and he's like, "Why is this plastic on the floor? what's going on?" Like the scene from Goodfellas.

im not a political strategist but theres a few things i would have done difftly--i wouldnt have called a press conference, id have leaked it to someone major so the headline is "mccain campaign quietly slows down so mccain can help economy" and i wouldnt have called for obama to suspend his campaign... if youre looking for the media storyline to be "mccain cares about america," you cant make it this obvious a stunt you know? the press is already pissed at him and frankly i bet theyre hungry for the opportunity to "redeem" him--and if he did this properly theyd eat it up.

Office reaction to this news: incredulity and mockery, mostly.

Tomorrow: McCain sells half of his houses and cars, rents Williamsburg flat to invigorate the economy while reaching out to untapped metrosexual voters.

So long as they put it on camera.

I'm sure Tha Pumpsta would eat it up.

Kill Whitie with DJ McCain

Anyway, I suggest the Friday debate go on with Palin standing in for McCain. Hooray!

Obama: "So, have you ever seen a grown man naked?"

wtf are you talking about

it's an airplane ref

it's not meant to be mean anything. which is kinda where mccain's campaign is heading.

i've seen airplane homie i just meant wtf are you talking about

good sum up with great typo from josh marshall:

What's changed today in the financial crisis other than John McCain's poll numbers tanking? Isn't this the campaign equivalent of faking an injury when you're down late in the 4th quarter? Note too that McCain was in the mist of debate prep when he made this decision.

Look at what appears to have happened. Obama reached out to McCain privately to agree to a shared set of bailout principles. McCain went off the handle again and tried to use the crisis as a way to call off the debates.

McCain deserves a red card for simulation

but what will Americans think?

american-americans?