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After sleeping on & mulling over yesterday’s tumultous events in Washington, it is my view that rather than ‘elevating’ the discourse in the current campaign, thanks to John McCain’s fourth-quarter drop-in of this bailout debate, politics has dragged down the discourse of a serious, bi-partisan discussion of our nation’s economic future. Right before heading home last night, I informed a hardcore GOP co-worker of Mike Huckabee’s stance on McCain wanting to cancel the debate.
His reply: “I’m beginning to think he’s right.”
“It was the very outcome the White House had said it intended to avoid, with partisan presidential politics appearing to trample what had been exceedingly delicate Congressional negotiations.” - the New York Times
“The Republican candidate, according to sources with direct knowledge, sat quiet through most of the meeting, never offered specifics, and spoke only at the end to raise doubts about the rough compromise that the White House and congressional leaders were nearing.
McCain’s reluctance to jump on board the bailout agreement could throw the entire week-long negotiation into a tailspin. Sen. Chris Dodd, after leaving the White House, suggested on CNN that the tenuous process could be derailed by what he viewed as McCain’s political motives.
“What happened here, basically, if you want an honest appraisal of the thing, we have been spending a lot of time and I am tired. I have spent almost seven straight days at this in trying to come out with a workout plan for our economy a rescue plan,” said Dodd. “What this looked like to me was a rescue plan for John McCain for two hours and took us away from the work we are trying to do today. Serious people trying to do serious work to come up with an answer.”
According to the source with knowledge of the White House gathering — which featured both presidential candidates, congressional leaders and the President — virtually ever key figure in the room, save McCain and GOP Sen. Richard Shelby, were in agreement over a revised version of Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s plan.” - Nico Pitney & Sam Stein
“When asked by reporters if he wanted McCain sitting in blow-by-blow negotiations Rep. Adam Putnam, the No. 3 House Republican, simply smirked, mute for ten seconds as reporters laughed.” - Jay Newton-Small
“…in trying to put himself at center stage, McCain managed to insert politics into the situation. The first issue all week on which congressional Democrats and Republicans split along party lines was whether McCain’s noisy intervention demonstrated boldness or bluster.
The surest way to derail any prospect of a timely rescue plan would be to have Obama and McCain get involved in the nit and the grit of the negotiations. The reason is obvious: The two major-party presidential candidates would never really abandon the campaign with less than six weeks left before the election. They’d just be shifting it to a venue where it could do maximum damage. The anodyne joint statement from the two campaigns Wednesday highlighting the urgency of the situation was about the most constructive thing Obama and McCain could do, next to staying the hell out of the way.
McCain succeeded in focusing attention on himself, but not necessarily in a good way. Voters may see this not as an illustration of brave leadership but as another example of McCain’s “ready, fire, aim” approach to dealing with any crisis. Putting himself at the center of events — making any situation all about him — is more than a political tactic for McCain. It’s his nature, and I wonder if most Americans won’t be unnerved at the prospect of electing a president who’s always so ready for his close-up.” - Eugene Robinson
“If you doubt that McCain’s moves were about rescuing his candidacy rather than our economy, consider how his proposal to suspend the presidential campaign came about.
McCain had just finished a phone call with Obama on Wednesday in which they discussed a joint statement of principles and McCain broached the idea of suspending the campaign. Obama said he’d think about it, but McCain didn’t give him time. To Obama’s surprise, McCain appeared on television shortly after the conversation to announce his unilateral pause in campaigning and a call for postponing Friday’s debate. This is bipartisanship?
As for getting the nominees to yesterday’s White House meeting, Bush’s lieutenants had been in discussions with McCain’s people during the day Wednesday. Obama didn’t get his invitation from the president until around 7:30 p.m., just an hour and a half before Bush’s speech. This was an active intervention by Bush on behalf of McCain to box Obama into the photo op. Again, was this bipartisan?” - E.J. Dionne
& by the way - here’s a compilation of what McCain’s inner circle said on cable news networks yesterday - a day, remember, that McCain was supposedly off the clock, campaign-wise:
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