Obama versus McCain (versus the rest)

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

One must say that McCain being the Republican nominee definitely makes the race far more interesting than any other Republican running for President. Not necessarily because McCain is running closer than any other Republican who was running, but could you imagine Romney or Huckabee doing this?

It probably is more political than not (though McCain may actually believe they need him down there in Washington), but it could be a great political move. We'll have to see.

Huckabee would still be in Texas attending covered-dish socials.

[watravaler]

He's obviously going to get owned in a debate with Obama...he might as well run from all of them.

[Big Fo]

(CNN) — McCain supporter Sen. Lindsey Graham tells CNN the McCain campaign is proposing to the Presidential Debate Commission and the Obama camp 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.

In this scenario, the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin would be rescheduled for a date yet to be determined, and take place in Oxford, Mississippi, currently slated to be the site of the first presidential faceoff this Friday.

Graham says the McCain camp is well aware of the position of the Obama campaign and the debate commission that the debate should go on as planned — but both he and another senior McCain adviser insist the Republican nominee will not go to the debate Friday if there's no deal on the bailout.

CNN.com link

Just how long are the Republicans going to try and shield Palin from the American people? It's beyond pathetic at this point.

It's smart politics though I guess. She can't even manage a Katie Couric interview without sounding like a complete fool.

COURIC: But he's been in Congress for 26 years. He's been chairman of the powerful Commerce Committee. And he has almost always sided with less regulation, not more.

PALIN: He's also known as the maverick though. Taking shots from his own party, and certainly taking shots from the other party. Trying to get people to understand what he's been talking about--the need to reform government.

COURIC: I'm just going to ask you one more time, not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation?

PALIN: I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to you.

Link to Couric - Palin interview transcript

This woman has no clue. Maybe the Obama campaign could propose to swap the dates of Friday's Presidential debate with next Thursday's VP debate, it'd be interesting to see how the McCain campaign would respond at least.

[digamma]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Not necessarily because McCain is running closer than any other Republican who was running, but could you imagine Romney or Huckabee doing this?

No, but mainly because Huckabee and Romney aren't senators with a vote on the package.

[Deattribution]

DEWEY BEACH, Delaware (CNN) -- Although Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden routinely mocks his Republican counterpart, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, for her onetime support of the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere," Biden and his running mate voted to keep the project alive twice.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden campaigns in Washington on Tuesday.

Both Biden and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama voted to kill a Senate amendment that would have diverted federal funding for the bridge to repair a Louisiana span badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina, Senate records show.

And both voted for the final transportation bill that included the $223 million earmark for the Alaska project.

An amendment offered by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, would have stripped the money appropriated to connect the Alaskan coastal city of Ketchikan to its airport on sparsely populated Gravina Island and diverted the money to Louisiana.

But Biden and Obama and 80 of their colleagues rejected the measure, an amendment to a massive 2005 transportation bill that funded thousands of projects across the country. Video Watch how Biden has blasted Palin »

"That is probably the most disturbing element of this and the campaigning on the Bridge to Nowhere," said Bill Allison of the Sunlight Foundation, a taxpayer watchdog group. "Because, yes, they had a chance to vote specifically against the Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska to redirect the money to people, to bridges and infrastructure damaged by Hurricane Katrina going in to New Orleans, and they chose not to."
Don't Miss


The final version passed the Senate 93-1. Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who has made his opposition to congressional "pork-barrel" spending a cornerstone of his campaign, did not vote on either the Coburn amendment or the final bill.

Palin, whom McCain chose as his running mate in August, has regaled crowds at the Republican convention and on the campaign trail with her declaration of "Thanks, but no thanks" for the bridge. But her conversion came after she became Alaska's governor in 2006 and after the bridge became a national symbol of congressional waste.

The record shows that she supported the bridge as a gubernatorial candidate, and Democrats have seized on the flip-flop, perhaps no one with as much relish as Biden.

"I got also a bridge I got to sell you here, and guess what, it's in Alaska, and it goes nowhere," Biden mocked Palin on the campaign trail last week in Maumee, Ohio. And in Canton, Ohio, he tied it to McCain.

"If you look at it John McCain's answers for the economy, and we're in such desperate shape, is the ultimate bridge to nowhere. It's nowhere," Biden said. "It takes you nowhere."

But while the applause line appealed to the Democratic faithful, it could come back to bite the Delaware senator.

This year, Delaware has requested 116 congressional earmarks through Biden, its longtime senator, at a cost to taxpayers of $342 million. In an appearance on CNN's "American Morning" with anchor John Roberts, Biden said that he had been open about those requests and that they all can be justified.

"Everyone has seen them, and we have no Lawrence Welk Museums and have no bridges to nowhere in Delaware. It's all straight up," Biden said.

Among his requests: $1 million for renovation of an opera house in Wilmington, another million for the construction of a children's museum and thousands of dollars for a water park renovation in Lewes.

"I think opera patrons generally can afford to -- you can raise money for an opera house; you can refurbish things a lot of different ways," Allison said.

"To have federal taxpaying dollars -- which is coming from people all over the country; low-income, middle-income people, as well as the wealthy -- to go to pay for the renovation of something that is really a luxury for Wilmington ... There are far more vital projects that anyone could think of that needs money. You got health care. You got education. You got all other types of things. Instead, we are redirecting money to refurbish an opera house in Wilmington or to build a children's museum."

And Biden's request includes a bridge that even the head of the Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce says is not crucial at this juncture.

The Indian River Inlet Bridge is a vital link between two popular beachfront towns: Dewey and Bethany. Without it, the estimated 30,000 summer visitors would have to travel an additional 35 minutes to get to the towns.

"We need a new bridge, and we are fortunate to be at a place where it is finally going to happen," said Carol Everhart, the chief of the Chamber of Commerce.

The existing bridge has some erosion problems, and if it ever collapsed, Everhart said, it would cause an economic disaster in the community. But it's safe for now.

"The bridge, as it is, is perfectly safe," she said.

Still, Biden asked for $13 million to help shore up the existing bridge and begin construction of a new one. And that's what troubles the Sunlight Foundation's Allison.

"This bridge is not in any danger of collapse, and essentially what Sen. Biden is doing is saying, 'My state bridge gets the priority dollar even though it is not a priority project,' " Allison said.

He said the Department of Transportation, rather than U.S. senators, should be deciding which bridges get priority funding in the country. That way, the bridges in the U.S. that need immediate repair would be first in line for the dollars needed to do the work.

As he embarked on his presidential bid in 2007, Obama said he would no longer ask for earmark projects. McCain, who has been a longtime critic of the process, does not seek any for his home state of Arizona.
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CNN asked Biden's campaign whether it could ask the senator about his earmark requests and his votes on the Bridge to Nowhere.

In response, a staffer e-mailed, "You've interviewed Gov. Palin re: her completely made up position on the Bridge to Nowhere right?"

CNN's Marcus Hooper contributed to this report.

I don't know if it's been mentioned before (I've missed some pages) but I thought it was an interesting point to be brought up since Palin gets all the heat for the flip flopping. Obama and Biden aren't any better concerning the same matter, and I still think Biden was a weak choice for Obama.

[Big Fo]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

meanwhile...

Obama: Ummm....hi
Obama's People: McCain is suspending. What do you want to do?
Obama: I don't know. What do you think we should do?
Obama's People: I don't know, what do you think?
Obama: Let's do nothing and see what happens.
Obama's People: Cool, that's change we can count on.

“I am calling on the President to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Barack Obama and myself,” Mr. McCain said in New York on Wednesday afternoon. “It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem.”

A short time later, Mr. Obama appeared at a news conference in Clearwater, Fla., and said that while he agreed “there are times for politics and there are times to rise above politics and do what’s right, ” he saw no need to cancel the debate, scheduled for Friday night at the University of Mississippi.

“This is exactly the time when people need to hear from the candidates,” he said.

He added: “Part of the president’s job is to deal with more than one thing at once. In my mind it’s more important than ever.”

Don't let what Obama says get in the way of your trolling eh?

Obama Rebuffs McCain on Debate Delay

[ISiddiqui]

Um... isn't Bucc right and Obama is basically doing nothing, or at least the same thing he planned to do?

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Um... isn't Bucc right and Obama is basically doing nothing, or at least the same thing he planned to do?

Well, Bucc is also suggesting that Obama doesn't know what to do, so that's a little bit different.

[Flasch186]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

So because McCain wants to change the dates of the debates, perhaps so there is no VP debate (hmmm, now why is that) Obama needs to 'change' or else he isnt a 'change agent'.

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

[SirFozzie]

In wrestling terms.. this is called heel heat. John McCain is standing in the center of the ring, daring Barack to come out, saying he'll rip him apart..

When Barack steps into the ring.. McCain quickly steps out..saying "I'll deal with you at the pay-per-view (the election)"

Learned the tactic from Larry Zybysko, I bet

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

Well, Bucc is also suggesting that Obama doesn't know what to do, so that's a little bit different.

Well, I think that was just a bit of humor embellishment (as he did with the McCain side... remember he didn't just do the Obama side). Though I wouldn't blame Obama if earlier when the news came out he didn't know what to do immediately... I wouldn't (I'd be like, 'what did he say?!')

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

So because McCain wants to change the dates of the debates, perhaps so there is no VP debate (hmmm, now why is that) Obama needs to 'change' or else he isnt a 'change agent'.

You honestly believe that McCain is trying to avoid putting Palin in a debate against Joe Biden?

[ace1914]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Um... isn't Bucc right and Obama is basically doing nothing, or at least the same thing he planned to do?

Explain to me, please, what exactly is McCain doing in Washington at 9:30pm on Friday night to stop him from debating?

[ace1914]

Originally Posted by samifan24

You honestly believe that McCain is trying to avoid putting Palin in a debate against Joe Biden?

Do you honestly believe they chose that date for the reschedule, arbitrarily?

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by ace1914

Do you honestly believe they chose that date for the reschedule, arbitrarily?

Of course not. Some are insinuating that the Republicans are scared to death of seeing Palin debating Biden. I think those people are severely overestimating Biden.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Well, I think that was just a bit of humor embellishment (as he did with the McCain side... remember he didn't just do the Obama side). Though I wouldn't blame Obama if earlier when the news came out he didn't know what to do immediately... I wouldn't (I'd be like, 'what did he say?!')

That's why I don't debate anymore here, the Obama fanatics are sooooo humorless and way too sensitive.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by ace1914

Explain to me, please, what exactly is McCain doing in Washington at 9:30pm on Friday night to stop him from debating?

You don't think he could be helping hammering out the language? After all, he is the de facto leader of the Republicans right now (a lot of Republicans really aren't that great of fans of the Bush administration's plan).

[JonInMiddleGA]

Having listened to the various spins on this while out & about this evening, I'm a little disappointed not to have heard what seemed like the most obvious reality in the whole suspend/don't suspend mini-tempest.

Whether I believe that's his motivation or not, there is at least reason to think that McCain might be of some use in negotiating a compromise. Hell, his willingness to bend when I don't believe he should is one of the things I dislike about him most and he has played that role at times in the past (reportedly, I'm not in the meetings so I can't claim to know first hand with 100% certainty). Obama meanwhile has done little except run for President since reaching the Senate. He'd be as useful in this situation as tits on a boar.

The positions both are taking seem to make a certain amount of sense to me when you consider their relative positions in Congress.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by ace1914

Explain to me, please, what exactly is McCain doing in Washington at 9:30pm on Friday night to stop him from debating?

And speaking of things I figured were beyond obvious (as I was in a post before this one) ... it isn't 930pm Friday that would be the problem with the debate, it would be the time not spent prepping for the debate while doing, you know, what a Senator should be doing such as participating in Senate business.

[ISiddiqui]

Earlier this week:

http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/12288...todayinfinance

Fearing a political backlash against Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has told the White House that it must serve up support from Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) if it hopes to ensure bipartisan backing for a massive economic bailout package by week's end.

McCain holds the key to such a bipartisan vote, according to Reid, because Republicans are likely to defer to his position on a bill that holds political peril. McCain on Tuesday night joined Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) in lending qualified support for the $700 billion package, but it remains unclear whether his backing is strong enough and timely enough to persuade the Congressional rank and file. According to a Democratic aide familiar with the discussions, Reid told Paulson this week that "if McCain didn't come out for this thing and come out for it quickly, it was going to begin bleeding Republican votes." Democrats "have a very real concern that opposition [from McCain] is going to drive away potential Republican votes," this aide said.

So perhaps McCain is needed back in Washington, according to Harry Reid at least.

[ace1914]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

You don't think he could be helping hammering out the language? After all, he is the de facto leader of the Republicans right now (a lot of Republicans really aren't that great of fans of the Bush administration's plan).

This wouldn't get done without him? For two hours on Friday, night? You've got a lot of confidence in McCain, I see.

[ace1914]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

And speaking of things I figured were beyond obvious (as I was in a post before this one) ... it isn't 930pm Friday that would be the problem with the debate, it would be the time not spent prepping for the debate while doing, you know, what a Senator should be doing such as participating in Senate business.

He, miraculously, figured this out 2 days before the debate, and since he hadn't attended a senate session since April, and while he's taking a major hit in the polls.


You can't bullshit, a bullshitter.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by ace1914

This wouldn't get done without him? For two hours on Friday, night? You've got a lot of confidence in McCain, I see.

Apparently Harry Reid does as well (see above).

And are you forgetting to factor in a plane ride and all that it takes to get ready for a debate which is almost hundreds of miles from DC?

[SirFozzie]

so move the debate to Washington DC.. hell.. clear out the Senate and have the debate there.

[ace1914]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

So perhaps McCain is needed back in Washington, according to Harry Reid at least.

Didn't know he had to be in Washington to show his support. Especially, since he hasn't been there is so long.

[ace1914]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Apparently Harry Reid does as well (see above).

And are you forgetting to factor in a plane ride and all that it takes to get ready for a debate which is almost hundreds of miles from DC?

That's like a 2-hour flight, not including time-zone changes. I see, McCain supporters are also grasping for straws. This is political move plain and simple.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by ace1914

Didn't know he had to be in Washington to show his support. Especially, since he hasn't been there is so long.

Um... obviously he doesn't support the bill as originally presented. So what, you want him to just say "I don't like it" and let it die?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

So perhaps McCain is needed back in Washington, according to Harry Reid at least.

Earlier I heard those comments mentioned ... and in the body of the same story heard where Reid & Pelosi were busy drafting comments to the contrary.

Probably not much of a flip-flop penalty when you're Reid though.

It left me wondering whether Reid was actually trying to set a trap for McCain with the original remarks, hoping that McCain would be foolish enough to show up for a debate unprepared or if for a brief moment honesty overrode his partisanship and he spoke without thinking of the potential consequences ... or even if for some bizarro universe reason he knew exactly what he was saying and was setting Obama up to look bad by failing to do likewise.

I can see it now, McCain wins in November and sometime around Obama's concession speech a smiling Reid rips off his shirt to reveal a "Clinton in '12" t-shirt

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by samifan24

Of course not. Some are insinuating that the Republicans are scared to death of seeing Palin debating Biden. I think those people are severely overestimating Biden.

No, I think they are estimating Palin. It is not that Biden is going to look great. I think it seems the McCain people don't think Palin can be ready by then. It is so easily apparent that you'd have to blind not see this for what it is. Let's go back to the campain offices...

McCain adviser: John, we are in trouble. Palin having real problems keeping the basic facts we are covering with her straight, and is not doing a very good job thinking on her feet. She'll not be ready next week.
McCain: Well, that's not good. How's our poll numbers?
McCain advisor: You might want to sit down for this....
McCain: Well, what can we do? Do we have the money to go real aggressive on TV ads to try to improve our numbers?
Advisor: No, sir. If we spend more now, we are going to be broke by the end of October.
McCain: Hmmmmm....what can we do to get good press and save money?




Obama Advisor: McCain suspending his campain and pulling all his tv adds. He wants to move the debate to next week and put off the VP debate.
Obama: Really? Crazy. How's our numbers.
Advisor: Going up.
Obama: Well, we'd be idiots not to take advantage of this and keep campaigning, right?
Advisor: Yes, sir. Full steam ahead.


BTW, why else in the heck would you pull TV ads unless you're worried about the money? It's not like McCain makes them, buys the time, and puts them on the air. It makes no sense at all.

[NoMyths]

Er, Flasch seems to have psychic abilities:

Link: CNN: McCain Camp to Propose Postponing VP Debate

Full Text:

(CNN) — McCain supporter Sen. Lindsey Graham tells CNN the McCain campaign is proposing to the Presidential Debate Commission and the Obama camp 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.

In this scenario, the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin would be rescheduled for a date yet to be determined, and take place in Oxford, Mississippi, currently slated to be the site of the first presidential faceoff this Friday.

Graham says the McCain camp is well aware of the position of the Obama campaign and the debate commission that the debate should go on as planned — but both he and another senior McCain adviser insist the Republican nominee will not go to the debate Friday if there's no deal on the bailout.

[NoMyths]

And this just in from Barney Frank on MSNBC:

Originally Posted by Barney Frank

"The Presidential campaign was in no way a distraction. Frankly, it would be more distracting for Senator McCain to come in here with an entourage now and try to inject himself into negotiations that have already progressed."

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Apparently Harry Reid does as well (see above).

And are you forgetting to factor in a plane ride and all that it takes to get ready for a debate which is almost hundreds of miles from DC?

Ummm....actually he doesn't.

Reid to McCain: Don't Come Back to Capitol

September 24, 2008 5:14 PM
A Democrat tells ABC News that, in a phone call late this afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that it would NOT be helpful for him to come back to Washington, D.C., to work on the Wall Street bailout bill.
McCain this afternoon suspended his campaign and said he would skip the first presidential debate in order to return to Capitol Hill to work on the log-jammed Bush administration legislation, which, as of Wednesday afternoon, was in peril.
McCain had phoned Reid to ask about the prospects of him, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and others to sit down and work together on hammering out a bipartisan proposal.
"Sorry," Reid said to him, a Democrat close to Reid says.
Reid then read McCain the statement he had just put out: "This is a critical time for our country," says the Reid statement. "While I appreciate that both candidates have signaled their willingness to help, Congress and the administration have a process in place to reach a solution to this unprecedented financial crisis. I understand that the candidates are putting together a joint statement at Sen. Obama’s suggestion. But it would not be helpful at this time to have them come back during these negotiations and risk injecting presidential politics into this process or distract important talks about the future of our nation’s economy. If that changes, we will call upon them. We need leadership; not a campaign photo op. If there were ever a time for both candidates to hold a debate before the American people about this serious challenge, it is now.”
A source close to Reid said McCain didn't have much to say after that. Reid, the source says, thinks McCain's maneuver is a gimmick born from bad poll numbers and the fact that "debate prep must not be going very well."
- jpt
UPDATE: McCain senior adviser Mark Salter emails: "Yesterday, Harry Reid said that consensus couldn't be achieved without John McCain's leadership. John stepped up and is providing that leadership. Now Senator Reid seems to have changed his mind for reasons we'll let him explain. But what he should understand is that this isn't about Harry Reid or John McCain or Barack Obama. It's about the American people and, in the words of Warren Buffet, the financial Pearl Harbor they're facing. John's committed to doing his part to help avert that calamity. We hope Senator Reid is too."

[ISiddiqui]

That just makes Reid looking like he's playing politics... first saying Republicans would defer to him and then saying, oh no, please don't come back!

You know like JIMG already discussed a few posts up (the Reid having a Hillary '12 shirt comment).

[Flasch186]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

In wrestling terms.. this is called heel heat. John McCain is standing in the center of the ring, daring Barack to come out, saying he'll rip him apart..

When Barack steps into the ring.. McCain quickly steps out..saying "I'll deal with you at the pay-per-view (the election)"

Learned the tactic from Larry Zybysko, I bet

ew good one although, it more like he stepped out of the ring and said, "I have more important things to deal with and will get at you later. Oh and that match between our managers? Well we might not have enough time for that to happen now."

[sterlingice]

So, McCain, in dropping everything to deal with the financial crisis, does a Curic interview, meets with the British supporter, and will stick around until tomorrow in New York to address Clinton's little shindig.

SI

[Galaril]

I heard that Obama said today in a speech that what kind of president can't do more than one thing at a time? This si going to boomerang right back at McCain as nothing more than being afraid of debating Obama whether true or not. And anyone here or anywhere's else who thinks the Republican's aren't afraid to have Sarah debate ANYONE is a bigger for than she is. I mean God they won't even let her answer a question from the media unless setup three weeks in advance.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I can see it now, McCain wins in November and sometime around Obama's concession speech a smiling Reid rips off his shirt to reveal a "Clinton in '12" t-shirt

Brilliant

SI

[cartman]

Oops. McCain's spokesperson in Colorado accidentally emailed out the campaign's internal talking points about the suspension to the media.

Colorado Independent » Oops! Colorado McCain camp sends internal e-mail to reporters

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

Maybe the Obama campaign could propose to swap the dates of Friday's Presidential debate with next Thursday's VP debate, it'd be interesting to see how the McCain campaign would respond at least.

That was exactly what I was thinking. It would be a great tactical move by the Obama team, since Biden doesn't really need any prep on the issues aside from having someone hit him repeatedly with a mallet that says "Don't say anything stupid, you idiot!" on it, while from all accounts Sarah Palin is still having trouble identifying the location of Russia's capital.

[Jas_lov]

Originally Posted by samifan24

You honestly believe that McCain is trying to avoid putting Palin in a debate against Joe Biden?

Yes. If not, they should be. And it doesn't matter if she's debating Biden or a tree stump, it's obvious that she's an idiot.

YouTube - CBS Sarah Palin interview

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by cartman

Oops. McCain's spokesperson in Colorado accidentally emailed out the campaign's internal talking points about the suspension to the media.

Well, that's one way of getting the key points to the media I guess.

[Arles]

Originally Posted by cartman

Oops. McCain's spokesperson in Colorado accidentally emailed out the campaign's internal talking points about the suspension to the media.

Colorado Independent » Oops! Colorado McCain camp sends internal e-mail to reporters

It's sooo scandalous.

I can't believe people think this was an accident. McCain is simply playing the media to run with his own talking points. By making it seem like a "mistake", McCain just got gleeful liberals to repeat his talking points for 48 hours - somehow thinking they are hurting him

As to the debate, I think it's a wise move for McCain. They will not get postponed, the democrats would storm the capital with torches as they all feel Obama will roll him. He makes it look like both him and Palin aren't ready (also postponing the VP debate) - which once again sets up the low expectations gambit. Then, he will reluctantly take the debate, appear very statesmen-like while Obama ends up looking like the eager politician more interesting in gaining an advantage in the election than helping the country.

Jeez, I'm still amazed at how the media (and many in this thread) have been played like a fiddle by McCain the past 2-3 months. But, if it ain't broke, don't fix it...

[SirFozzie]

you know we're in the opposite sketches (YCDTOTV reference) when the Democrats are frantically trying to slash down the amount of a handout, and the Republicans are trying to inflate it.

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by Arles

It's sooo scandalous.

I can't believe people think this was an accident. McCain is simply playing the media to run with his own talking points. By making it seem like a "mistake", McCain just got gleeful liberals to repeat his talking points for 48 hours - somehow thinking they are hurting him

As to the debate, I think it's a wise move for McCain. They will not get postponed, the democrats would storm the capital with torches as they all feel Obama will roll him. He makes it look like both him and Palin aren't ready (also postponing the VP debate) - which once again sets up the low expectations gambit. Then, he will reluctantly take the debate, appear very statesmen-like while Obama ends up looking like the eager politician more interesting in gaining an advantage in the election than helping the country.

Jeez, I'm still amazed at how the media (and many in this thread) have been played like a fiddle by McCain the past 2-3 months. But, if it ain't broke, don't fix it...

I think you're seeing things differently then most everyone else sees it. The problem with having constant low expectations is.. well.. if you never progress to having higher expectations, then you generally lose.

[ISiddiqui]

Interesting..

CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive - CNN confirms: McCain, Obama to meet with Bush about bailout « - Blogs from CNN.com

Bush asked McCain and Obama to come to the White House to fix this and, Obama has accepted! Of course, one could say that Bush is in on this to help McCain (I think Bush thinks he can save his own legacy, but whatever).

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

I think you're seeing things differently then most everyone else sees it. The problem with having constant low expectations is.. well.. if you never progress to having higher expectations, then you generally lose.

Well, not always (2000 & 2004, and in some respects 1980).

[cartman]

I guess if he was doing this for the good of the country in a non-partisan way, then why the need for distributed talking points?

[Arles]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

I think you're seeing things differently then most everyone else sees it. The problem with having constant low expectations is.. well.. if you never progress to having higher expectations, then you generally lose.

I think both Palin and McCain will exceed their low expectations in the debate and have higher expectations. They've just been playing that hand longer than I thought was possible.

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

you know we're in the opposite sketches (YCDTOTV reference) when the Democrats are frantically trying to slash down the amount of a handout, and the Republicans are trying to inflate it.

I'm not sure what is more scary...you making a YCDTOTV reference or me not even having to do a double-take on the acronym. Hopefully I'm not the only one.

[Flasch186]

would you possibly think anything else? this page of the thread is a massive lesson on how badly Arles is spun.


LOLLERS, McCain stood Letterman up and who did Letterman get instead: Keith Olberman. Must see TV.