McCain has no intnention of skipping the debate, and Democrats need to be careful tomorrow

[Hippo_Tron]

This play is certainly a Hail Mary but there is a potential reward here. I am assuming that the McCain campaign is thinking rationally here and that may be an error on my part. But hear me out.

McCain knows that he has no real shot of getting Obama to agree to postpone the debate. Doing so would not only give Palin more time and a week for the press coverage to change, but Obama would look like a follower. McCain also isn't going to give Obama an empty stage to walk on to. That would be an absolute disaster.

So what is McCain trying to do? He's trying to make it look like he's putting pressure on Washington to pass the bail-out so that at the end of tomorrow he can take credit for something he didn't do. If the bailout passes tomorrow McCain will say: "The bail-out passed because I issued Washington an ultimatum by saying I would skip the debate and that forced everybody to sit down together and work out their differences. So while Senator Obama talked about the financial crisis, I actually got something done." Of course this will be complete crap, but knowing the media it's the kind of crap that they will buy.

The thing about this is that it will only work if the bail-out passes tomorrow. Democrats if at all possible need to find a way to stall without making it look like it's their fault for stalling. If it's Friday night and there's no bail-out passed then McCain's Hail Mary has failed and he has to show up to the debate after he promised not to. The problem is that I fear the Democrats might not have anything to stall on. Paulson and Bush will probably give the Democrats every provision that they have been asking for just to save McCain's ass. It may not be possible to stop a deal from being made tomorrow.

Feel free to say I'm crazy, but I am more than a little worried about tomorrow.

[BlooInBloo]

1. OHNOES!!!! ITSAROVIANTRAP!!!!!

I can't believe no-one has had the steely-eyed sagacity to see through it like you have! KUDOS!!!!

[RagAss]

2. That's a decent assessment. And a good time for us to roll out....

"The Keating 5 Ads" !

[LiberadorHugo]

8. Absolutely not!

The Keating 5 ads will amount to the Obama Camp swiftboating its own camapign. 4 of the 5 were Democrats, and the only person exonerated (at least in part) was McLame.

[krawhitham]

30. SO WHAT, the other 4 are not running for President

the only Keating 5 member that matters is McShit

He is the on Keating 5 member running for anything

[RagAss]

31. Who cares...who were those 4 anyway?

[Median Democrat]

3. Then, He Essentially Admits That It Was A Political Stunt

That no really needed him, and that he was just trying to put political pressure on Congress to accept Bush's plan with no strings attached.

[Hippo_Tron]

What you call a political stunt he will call "Leadership"

And his buddies in the media may just call it that too.

[elocs]

4. You may be crazy, but I'm not sure how worrying about things helps at all.

Worrying will freeze you into indecision and constantly cause you to second guess yourself. Not much good and useful comes from worrying. Worrying is a cousin of cowering, and Obama doesn't do cowering.

[Hippo_Tron]

6. I'm worried because I don't have control, I wouldn't suggest that Obama worry

I would suggest that he proceed with caution and have a plan to deal with each of the potential curve balls that may be thrown his way.

[alcibiades_mystery]

11. Wow! What a suggestion!

The Presidential candidate should "have a plan" to deal with various campaign contingencies!

Holy fucking cow! Now THIS we need to get to the campaign immediately! A plan! Fucking brilliant!

:thumbsup: :rofl:

[Hippo_Tron]

15. Look I trust Obama, Axelrod, and Plouffe to handle this situation well

I'm just saying that if I were Axelrod or Plouffe and I were briefing Obama tomorrow I would add in a few reminders to "watch your back". I know that's fairly simple advice and you can laugh at it all you want, but sometimes candidates do get blind-sided by these things.

[alcibiades_mystery]

22. Well thanks for posting your brilliant suggestion

You are a keen and insightful commentator on human affairs!

[elocs]

16. Does worrying make you feel better or worse? More empowered or helpless?

I am reminded of the first part of The Serenity Prayer:

"God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference."

I don't worry about things I cannot control. Otherwise, where would I begin? Where would I end?

[Hippo_Tron]

18. Let me put it this way, I'm not losing any sleep over this

And I will probably not be worrying about it 15 minutes from now. Maybe more than a little worried was the wrong choice of words.

[JohnnyCougar]

5. Sorry.

The media won't buy that line, and neither will the public at this point. McCain will still be in New York 12 hours from now. He hasn't done anything. Congresspeople have already been saying that there has been great progress made. McCain is screwed. Even if that's really his plan, it's not going to work. This makes him look panicky and indecisive.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. Bailout plan won't pass tomorrow. McCain will show up & Obama better be careful, as you advise. nt

[still_one]

9. Obama said it best, presidents need to "deal with more than one thing at once."

[alcibiades_mystery]

10. But are you a little WORRIED?

:eyes:

The plan is going to pass tomorrow. Everyone already sees this for what it is. McCain looks like a fool, whether it passes tomorrow or not.

You're gonna cause yourself a stroke the way you sit around and dream up things to worry about. Chill out, yo.

[seabeyond]

12. i read a post where dems are saying they have it put together and just a couple

things to iron out. they are seeing thurs

also, ... mccain never called to see what was up, obama called daily and talked to paulsen

bush was putting out obama plan which is on record

my thing that i see will be helpful, this info is already on the record. media is aware. and MAYBE mccain will not get away with taking credit for it

[joshcryer]

13. The key is that he gave the Democrats infinite political capital, hear me out:

Basically McCain *cannot* miss the debates, so whatever plan is passable in a bipartisen way, that's the one he'll have to vote on.

Guess which one that will be? The Obama/Democrat plan.

Obama will then be able to say "I'm glad you agreed to our plan, and not the regulatory crapshot that you guys had drummed up."

[LiberadorHugo]

14. Dude...

If Obama and his team were that oblivious to these sorts of possibilities, he would not have even been able to outflank Alan Keyes, let alone the Clinton machine.

[Hippo_Tron]

17. I know and I certainly trust that they know what they are doing

I'm more concerned that the media won't see this for the ploy that it is.

[jberryhill]

19. The assumption of rationality is, as you state, a large one

Looking over the last several weeks, it does not appear that the McCain campaign suffers from any oversupply of rationality.

[orwell]

20. Thank God most of the hand wringers aren't running this campaign

McScram has done nothing but screw up for weeks now. Obama is standing back, appearing Presidential, and letting him implode. All of the polls are showng this. All of them. Let me ask you, who would you rather be right now, Team Obama or Team McScram? :rofl:

Failin/McScram is turning into Humpty Dumpty. All the media's horses and men can't put Humpty together again.

Some Democrats are so weak and so used to losing after 8 years of Bush/Cheney they can't even tell when they're kicking someone's ass. This is the strategy Ali used when he decked Foreman after letting him punch himself out for five rounds. Rumble young man rumble.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rope-a-dope

If McLame doesn't show up on Friday or Failin doesn't show up against Biden, it's over.

[GrizzlyMan]

21. The verdict is in: Skiiiiiiiiiiiip it.

I love the new color coding system.

[Beregond2]

23. You're giving him WAY too much credit.

[grantcart]

24. Another possibility - he makes a dramatic last minute enterance

to the debate announces that there is an agreement in principle.

During the debate he doesn't do well but has his excuse in hand he wasn't prepared and was preoccupied with the crises.

"Sorry Jim could you repeat the question"

I am not worried about it because I think it will fail but I do think he will be at the debate,.

[gravity]

25. The McCain camp isn't acting rationally

If they were smart enough to pull that stunt off, they wouldn't have gotten in this mess in the first place.

[MarjorieG]

26. We need to get as good a deal as possible- sunset, limited scope/amt, review after election....

[NYC_SKP]

27. No, don't think it would be anything to brag about:

"The bail-out passed because I issued Washington an ultimatum by saying I would skip the debate and that forced everybody to sit down together and work out their differences."

Admitting that he pressured congress into anything for political points is not something about which anyone should, or could, be proud.

I don't think the press would support that claim, and pundits on shows sure as hell wouldn't let it pass.

I think this is clearly a win for Obama.....but I don't want to jinx it!

[TheKentuckian]

28. Ohh, its definately ballbreaker deal territory

because it is an auto-gut punch for us. Paulson's bill was ludicrous. The no oversight, no review, ask no questions section gives you an instinctual urge to strongly recommend a corner in Hell for them to sit and spin in.

It would seem any deal that gets them the money would have to be accepted, otherwise the fallout will be crazy.

[justiceischeap]

29. Nope!

The only thing wrong with your assessment is the fact that McCain won't even get to DC until tomorrow afternoon. The deal is reported to be completed now. Lastly, the Dems got out ahead of this. Plus with the talking points about suspending the campaign leaking... well, this, though a good argument, is not a valid one. The only people who will believe that he had anything to do with this are those that aren't thinking clearly to begin with. The same people who believe all the lies even in the face of the truth.