McCain SuspendsCampaign 2 Hide KEATING 5
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| Thu, 09-25-2008 - 4:15am |
John McCain stopped his ads and tried to convince Barack to do the same, because the Keating Five Scandal was the next topic to hit the airwaves. In a panic, McCain suspended his campaign and used the "bailout" negotiations as his excuse. McCain is Transparent, but in the wrong way. lol.
And then there is the first debate....which John knows will make him look like the incompetent senator that he is. His childish tactics are getting old now. No pun intended. lol.
http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/09/24/mccain-suspends-campaign/
McCain Suspends Campaign!
By David Knowles
Sep 24th 2008 3:10PM
Filed Under:eJohn McCain, Breaking News
John McCain, the guy who just last week insisted that the "fundamentals of our economy are strong," has asked Barack Obama to call off Friday's debate due to the ongoing financial crisis, and has officially suspended his campaign to return to Washington D.C. to belatedly take up work on the bailout bill.
This is a very strange move, given that Congress had already spent the past three days hammering out a deal with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Could it be that the real crisis is that McCain saw all of the recent polls showing him losing ground on the issue of the economy? Can we read this as anything but another cynical attempt to grab headlines?
He wouldn't have been able to head back to Washington to vote on the bailout without grandstanding? Congress has been meeting for the last three days on this matter. Why is he suddenly so attentive? Read McCain's statement here.
Suspending a campaign means what, exactly? No more television ads? No press releases? Or does this just extend to speaking engagements? Apparently his suspension doesn't include free network publicity. McCain was just interviewed by Katie Couric, following his big announcement.
Perhaps this is just a case of one-upmanship, considering that Obama privately called McCain at 8:30 a.m. and asked that the two men issue a joint statement of principles on the bailout proposal.
UPDATE: The Obama camp says "the debate is on." McCain wants to postpone the debates with a time out. Looks like Obama isn't backing down.
The real question remains, why now, after we've had three solid days of Congressional hearings, has McCain decided it's time to scurry back to Washington? It seems that Republican House support for the bailout is crumbling. McCain still won't say whether or not he'll vote for the emerging package, and was angered when Harry Reid said he thought McCain would support it. Reid now says he thinks it's best that both candidates stay away, and go on with their previously scheduled debate. Obama has signaled his support, and qualifiers. Maybe McCain needs the time to ask some questions and figure this one out? It beats having a bunch of reporters asking you questions in a debate, no?
Now we learn that if the bailout passes tomorrow, McCain is cool with having the debate. Guess that means he agrees with Obama, and will vote yes.
Obama confirms that he'll be at the debate at Ole Miss, the school that has laid out millions of dollars in preparation for the debate. Furthermore, Obama says they can fly back to Washington following the event, if need be. Even thought the compromise is now mostly done, McCain thinks his healing presence is needed for the final push. This from the man who hasn't made a Senate roll call vote in the past 5 months and who is the first to admit that he doesn't know much about the economy. McCain to the rescue!
Back to the suspension issue: Why should one candidate be able to dictate the terms of the election? Stop campaigning when I say so. Postpone debates until I deem it the right time. Don't interview my running mate!
Chuck Schumer calls McCain's move "Just weird."
Joe Klein says it's a "Gimmick" and a "Hail Mary."
The National Review's Kathryn Jean Lopez:
Obama sounds more reasonable and less gimicky than McCain. He says that there is no reason why we can't do more than one thing at once. Obama says it is "more important than ever" to have a debate... ...Obama may win this campaign moment yet. If McCain protests, he looks petty.
David Letterman, who McCain canceled on, even though he was just down the street doing an interview with Katie Couric:
"What are you going to do if you're elected president and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!"
The National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru:
But it is hard to see what McCain can do to help, and easy to see how his intervention could hurt. He brings, as he himself has admitted in the past, no expertise to the table. And won't Democrats be less likely to cooperate on a plan if doing so will help make McCain be the hero of the hour?
So McCain's move may have been a mistake on substance. It may also prove to be a political mistake too: If McCain can't bring both parties together in an economic crisis after staking so much on it, won't voter draw adverse conclusions about his leadership ability?
Survey USA has a snap poll up, and it's not good news for McCain:
When asked "what to do about debates?" only 10% say they want them postponed. 50% say hold as scheduled, and 36% say have the debates just ask a lot of questions about the economy.
When asked whether the candidates should "suspend campaigns?" only 14% say yes.
And our own AOL poll finds 58% of responders say they want Friday's debate to go on as planned.


I also think that suspending his campaign was due in part to wanting to post-pone the debate because HIS suggestion for a date to reschedule to is October 2nd. Which just happens, coincidentally (NOT!), to be the date that the current VP debate is scheduled for. No wonder he desperately wants to reschedule... it's to give Palin more time or better still, not manage to FIND time at all for the VP candidates to debate at all within the next 40 days.
I do believe without a doubt that this has to do with slipping poll numbers and the Keating Five.
Mich
I disagree with you, but I'm pretty sure
I disagree with you, but I'm pretty sure
I just have to say, I am almost unreasonably angry about all of this.
(( I find it sad that a true hero who served his country is resorting to these kinds of tactics.))
It appears that John McCain wasn't a hero, afterall. A hero wouldn't pull these stunts. McCain joined the Navy out of obligation and expectations from his military family. He didn't care enough to be a good student. He put himself first then and he's doing it now.
As senator, he's betrayed the trust of his colleagues and the taxpayers by using his office to help another senator deregulate the savings and loan sector. So, he knows all too well how this economy can be stressed by deregulation of banks.
This stunt is a preview of how he would run the country. Eratic, with deception, without concern for the American people, and selfishly.
In the wake of this disasterous economic blow to America...these clips are extremely relevant and serve to remind and inform people of the true nature of John McCain's "service" to the American taxpayer. 3.4 Billion dollars is nothing to sweep under the rug.
http://mccainkeatingfive.com/?page_id=15
Keating Five Videos
This page will feature Keating Five news clips and any videos covering the Keating Five Scandal.
Updated September 25, 2008:
Rachel Maddow of MSNBC had Matt Welch on to discuss the Keating Five Scandal.
Updated September 24, 2008:
Ok, this isn’t a Keating Five related video, but damn it’s fun. John McCain canceled his appearance on David Letterman’s show and told Dave he was “rushing back to Washington” to help fix the financial mess. A few hours later while filming his show, Dave finds out McCain is really down the hall from his studio giving an interview to Katie Couric. Dave rips McCain non-stop for the entire show.
Updated September 24, 2008:
Jed Lewison of the JedReport.com pieced together this video from other clips, including a few we haven’t seen before, like Charles Keating in handcuffs.
Updated September 18, 2008:
MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show has syndicated columnist David Sirota on to talk about John McCain’s flip flop on suddenly wanting to regulate the financial industry. Maddow has a great line, “McCain has been in Washington for 26 years and he’s wanted to regulate the financial industry for all of 26 hours.” Then Sirota brings up the Keating Five and says it is relevant to the financial crisis we are in today, that it needs to be discussed. Watch…
Updated August 21, 2008:
CNN finally decided to actually do some investigative journalism and briefly covered the Keating Five Scandal and John McCain’s role in it. There are some ridiculous claims by McCain in it, such as, his lawyer said he didn’t do anything wrong, so everyone should believe it. But one of the federal investigators McCain and the others tried to intimidate rips McCain and has some juicy insults. This is from August 21, 2008…
The first clip features original media coverage of the scandal and the Senate investigation.
This is a great explanation why we need to say No way...No McCain!
http://cubajournal.blogspot.com/2008/09/john-mccains-fake-populism.html
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
John McCain’s fake populism
John McCain is desperate. He has chosen a religious fanatic for his running mate. And now, after the debacle in the stock market yesterday, he is parroting a fake populism.
He doesn’t know what the economy is all about – he owns seven homes – and he now is trying to convince the gullible uneducated sheep that he is a populist.
A populist is someone who fights for the people. John McCain is an agent of and a defender of the wealthy ruling elites.
If you are a working class person, and you vote for McCain, you are voting against your best self interests. You are voting to screw yourself.
McCain's fake suspension is viewed as the desperate tactic that it is. He's chaotic as a leader.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/25/during-suspension-mccain_n_129280.html
During "Suspension" McCain Grandstands, Advisers Attack
When John McCain announced yesterday that he was suspending his campaign to help everyone solve the economy, and inviting Barack Obama to do the same, I must admit -- at first, I tried to think unconventionally, and I allowed myself to consider whether McCain's gesture, while almost certainly quixotic, might be sincere. Of course, soon after, I peeped the tick-tock, and learned that it originated with Obama encouraging a joint statement on the matter. For his trouble, Obama and his campaign basically got blindsided by this "suspension" maneuver. This is apparent on its face, and really should quash any suspicion that McCain's decision to suspend his campaign and inject himself into the bailout proceedings was some sort of "Country First," non-political gesture.
Of course, another clear sign that this campaign suspension is pure bunk is the fact that no suspending of the campaign has actually occurred! As documented on last night's Late Show With David Letterman, McCain's hasty exit didn't find the candidate beating a path to the halls of power, to lay hands on the nation's economy. His next stop was to sit down with Katie Couric, after which, he went...nowhere? You know, despite all the danger the country was in. Today, his surrogates have been out on teevee, in clear contravention of the suspension order. Nicolle Wallace and Tucker Bounds both appeared on MSNBC, sandwiching themselves around a campaign appearance McCain made himself at the Clinton Global Initiative. Meanwhile, at 10:00 am this morning, the actual leaders on this matter began their actual work on the bailout package. It's fair to say that they've already outpaced all of McCain's contributions on the bailout matter, even if we include the lovely set of talking points his campaign drew up for campaign volunteers to use in discussion -- you know, the campaign volunteers whose activities are supposed to have been, uhm...suspended.
But McCain is an honorable man, after all, and he is, at some point, coming to Washington, at President Bush's behest, not in pursuit of personal ambition, but of Solutions for America, right? Right? At AMERICAblog, Joe Sudbay notes that today's schedule of events casts doubt on this contention:
At 4:00 p.m., (ABC News reported via email) George Bush, whose approval rating on the economy is at 16% with a 76% disapproval, will be hosting the White House photo-op (that's what Barney Frank is calling it). John McCain will be there for that session.
Let's be clear: McCain will miss the meeting about substance. But, McCain will be there for the grandstanding.
Where, exactly, is this suspension of campaigning?