John McCain's decision to "suspend" campaigning in order to Think back to American history. Did Abraham Lincoln "suspend" his campaign for president in 1864, with the Civil War raging? Did Herbert Hoover "suspend" his campaign in 1932, during the depths of the Great Depression? Did FDR "suspend" his campaign in 1936, in the midst of the Great Depression, or in 1944, as allied troops pushed into Europe and fought Japan in the Pacific? Did presidents "suspend" their campaigns during the Cold War, during the Korean War, during the Iraq War, etc?
No, of course they didn't. Why not? Because that is NOT Democracy. To the contrary, this is what tin pot dictators in banana republics do - "suspend" elections because of some "crisis" that requires their "urgent attention." This is essentially what the corrupt thug Rudy Giuliani tried to do after 9/11 in NY City, but he was rightly rebuffed. As the New York Times wrote at the time:
...While Mr. Giuliani has been a great leader during this crisis, the truth is that no one is indispensable. George Washington understood that when he rejected repeated attempts to keep him in office indefinitely. Washington was followed in the presidency by a long line of successors, some of them distinctly mediocre. But the country went on, because people put their faith in the democratic process and not in the strength of any one individual.
Today, John McCain is arrogantly arguing that his presence in Washington, DC (despite the fact that he has rarely been seen there during 2007 and 2008, and despite his admitted lack of expertise on the subject matter at hand - the economy) is more important than the democratic process. John McCain is essentially saying that this nation's greatest leaders were wrong when, during times of great economic and military upheaval, they made sure that Democracy proceeded without interruption. And the bottom line is that John McCain is demonstrating his frightening lack of judgment, his fundamental misunderstanding of what makes America great, in trying to arbitrarily set his own rules and skip out on a debate about our future that tens of millions of Americans want to see.
So, here's a message to John McCain: if you have such contempt for Democracy and the American people as you're demonstrating here, don't just "suspend" your campaign for a few days, "suspend" it entirely and give the nomination to someone who understands our nation's values, to someone who is not not a "desperate and nuts" old man.
With respect to the debates, it's my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who, in approximately 40 days, will be responsible for dealing with this mess. And I think that it is going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once.
They are anti-Democratic in the worst possible way. I suppose that makes them Republican. Let's see: winning at all costs, even if it means jettisoning your own core values... Sounds about right.
The question is: how will it play outside of politically-savvy circles? Bay Buchanan and others were doing their best yesterday to paint this ploy as selfless and patriotic.
So McCain must be running out of money. It must be that simple.
Time to turn up the spending volume then :)
I see this is more of a case of creating a distraction so that the topic isn't about the economy.
He's doing this primarily as a way to get attention.
By his cowardice, cowering, incoherent statements, senseless doublespeaks, claims he'll do things he actually opposes and will never do, shameless grandstanding, and false assertions of positions stolen from Barack Obama, John McCain has proven himself unfit for the highest office in the land. The man needs a crib sheet and to steal strategy and positions. And right now he's at the Clinton Global Initiative claiming he'll get more equity for women! He doesn't even support the equal pay act!
I heard the political analyst from Fox News on WTOP trying to put that spin on this development---- except for the bit about Obama, whom he scarecely mentioned, except to say "Obama, however," continues, and wants the debate. Yawn. When I heard that, I called WTOP once again, and suggested they interview Naomi Klein, author of "Shock Doctrine," who describes this exact crisis that we are going through, what it means, and how to handle it. They sounded interested in doing so. Ha.
What does this mean, exactly? Is he furloughing his entire staff of lobbyists so that they can get across the river from Arlington to DC to engage in the orgy or corporate socialism about to go down? Is he pulling his ads (they appear to still be running)? Or, is he pulling his ad buys (you know, the ones that our tax dollars go to pay)but (more likely) still running ads via the high-money donors bankrolling his RNC fundraising apparatus? If he's suspending his campaign, why is Sarah Palin making an appearance in Philly today? Why is he still giving interviews (to Katie Couric, etc.) after saying he'd suspended his campaign?
He can't win on the merits, so he's trying to distract from what's really going on. He's been more absent in the Senate in this Congress than anyone but Tim Johnson, who had a stroke.
His campaign has become a dangerous, repugnant, cynical farce. The man has lost all honor, and I hope he is repaid by a crushing landslide loss.
Or, something like that...
Why is McCain bent on obstructing public debate-- at a minimum he can fly to MS and fly back to D.C. to keep up the grandstanding.