scarpy Says:

wait, what’d he say to couric??

ye ye ye Says:

and yet Ohio continues to go Red.

Can we just fucking throw them out of the country? pleasE?

b. hussein canuckistani Says:

Who wants to bet that if the VP debate takes place, Palin calls in sick, or has to go to an uncle’s funeral?

cleek Says:

if this works for McPOW, i’m moving to Canada.

liberatemeiexinfernis Says:

what matters to the close to 45% of the American people, despite all evidence that the GOP leadership misled this nation into a deep deep military and economic abyss, who are still bumblefuckety enough to vote for the GOP, is “can they have a beer or go moose hunting with Sarah Palin?”

that said, I learned one this this week so far that may negate my thesis enough: Dont fuck with the American man’s (or woman) money. Even KKK will vote for Obama if anyone fucks with their money. Seeing GOP card carrying Social Security depending senior citizen’s revolt against McCain is truly a sight to behold

demkat620 Says:

if this works for McPOW, i’m moving to Canada.

I’ll take Jamaica. Canada is too cold. Sorry, Krista.

D. Mason Says:

Chris Matthews just announced that the debate commission has said the debate will go on as scheduled.

strawmanmunny Says:

if this works for McPOW, i’m moving to Canada.

If this works, is there any doubt left as to why this country is in the situation it is in?

I mean, really, after a while, people have to be held accountable and the people that continue to vote for the same morons get what they ask for.

My empathy for places like Ohio and the South(and my home state of Kentucky) is gone for good if McCain wins. I’ll be the one fiddlin’ while Rome burns.

strawmanmunny Says:

if this works for McPOW, i’m moving to Canada.

If this works, is there any doubt left as to why this country is in the situation it is in?

I mean, really, after a while, people have to be held accountable and the people that continue to vote for the same morons get what they ask for.

My empathy for places like Ohio and the South(and my home state of Kentucky) is gone for good if McCain wins. I’ll be the one fiddlin’ while Rome burns.

b. hussein canuckistani Says:

I’ll take Jamaica. Canada is too cold. Sorry, Krista.

If McHindenburg wins, it’ll be too crowded too.

strawmanmunny Says:

Just to be clear, lest somebody sends the CIA after me, I’m not advocating any type of violence in holding people accountable….I just mean, it’s time we just told people, “Sorry, you lost your home, your job, your teenage daughter is knocked up and you have no income, there’s the street and the bed you made, lie in it”

LiberalTarian Says:

I got a big fat dose of batshit crazy from a neocon today. I mean, I’ve read about how these people perceive the universe, but I’d never actually been exposed to it. If they go for McCain, where will we be able to hide from their dumbassery? What country will not be plunged into financial chaos along with the US? Hang on kiddies, it’s going to be a rough ride.

Comrade Napoleon Says:

and yet Ohio continues to go Red.

Can we just fucking throw them out of the country? pleasE?

Hey, I am from Ohio. Just toss everything south of I-70 out and that will do the job. Its basically part of the south anyways.

The Moar You Know Says:

Additionally, McCain has suggested that he and Obama could debate next Thursday instead of the VP candidates.

O RLY?

Gosh, how convenient is that?

Gold Star for Robot Boy Says:

I got a big fat dose of batshit crazy from a neocon today.

Details?

Jake Says:

I just can’t get over how much McCain’s campaign resembles a bad reality TV show.

And this fucker wants to be President. This fucker could be President. I don’t want him anywhere near the Oval Office. The guy walks around with his zipper down all day. No thanks.

Comrade Scrutinizer Says:

Re: McCain’s right eye. Dunno what’s going on there. My wife the nurse practitioner was talking with me on the phone tonight, and said, “Damn, McCain really looks sick.” She was looking at the eye and the lack of affect on that side of his face, and wondered whether he had something neuro going on. She thinks he’s dropping the debate because of health, not because of politics. We had a long conversation on what would happen if McCain became incapacitated between now and the election.

Greg Says:

I hope the debate occurs regardless. Let Obama get up there next to an empty podium. Jim Lehrer will mention how McCain was invited but pulled out, Obama will spend a few minutes talking about why it’s important to continue regardless (basically rehashing his press conference today) and then let’s have 90 minutes of Obama and Lehrer discussing his foreign policy vision, with maybe a few questions about the economy thrown in.

Ted Says:

My god, this is the easiest choice in an election in my lifetime.

It really is. Reasonable people could weigh the choices carefully in Carter/Reagan, Bush/Dukakis, Clinton/Bush, and even Gore/Bush II (before anyone knew how much of a fuck up W is). I can’t believe the polls are as close as they are on this one. But I said the same thing about Kerry/Bush, so what do I know.

Failin’ Palin « Media Needle Says:

[...] Failin’ Palin John Cole at Balloon Juice: Additionally, McCain has suggested that he and Obama could debate next Thursday instead of the VP candidates. [...]

Jake Says:

Courtesy of Hilzoy, this gem:

It also makes no sense: he’s still giving some speeches, but he has stopped airing ads. Does anyone seriously think that airing ads would seriously impair John McCain’s ability to address this crisis? Does he usually wind the ad tapes himself?

Salty Party Snax Says:

Great line from Obama: “It is going to be part of the president’s job to deal with more than one thing at once.”

Sounds to me like Obama, using the most polite language imaginable, just called Crash McCain an addled old fool.

Studly Pantload Says:

On CNN I just heard Dana Bash suggest that McCain wants to cancel the debate on Friday if there is no deal for the crisis:

Chuck Todd is reporting that the McCain camp is stating, “No bailout resolution, no debate.”

Why do I smell a pocket veto in the offing?

But, hey, if McCain wants to make Friday night a 90-minute Obama infommercial, I guess I can’t complain…

dmsilev Says:

Check out Palin being interviewed by Katie Couric:
YouTube

Epic FAIL.

-dms

Ted Says:

Hey, I am from Ohio. Just toss everything south of I-70 out and that will do the job. Its basically part of the south anyways.

That same plan would work for Missouri as well.

Alvin Says:

McCain’s talking points gets mistakenly leaked to media:
http://coloradoindependent.com/9151/oops-colorado-mccain-camp-sends-internal-e-mail-to-reporters

“Shut up! Shut up!”

Paul L. Says:

The One/Obama would never skip/duck a debate.

...Earlier this summer, a consortium of veterans’ and military groups proposed a forum near Fort Hood, Texas. CBS agreed to televise the historic event, which would have been the first “debate” on military issues, with questions posed by members of the armed forces, their families and veterans.

The forum was scheduled for 11 August, but Mr. Obama took a pass, citing scheduling conflicts. Organizers offered to move the forum to another debate, but the Democratic nominee declined. Senator McCain was firmly committed to the event, but the debate was eventually cancelled, due to Obama’s non-participation.

dadanarchist Says:

Holy shit, you’ve been on fire all day John!

I submit that John Cole turning his righteous fists of fury on the GOOPers is at least one good thing that has come out of the Bush years.

Comrade Josh Vondoktorpepper Says:

Paul L., having punctured his blow-up sheep and now in search of any kind of attention, posted:
=====
The One/Obama would never skip/duck a debate.

...Earlier this summer, a consortium of veterans’ and military groups proposed a forum near Fort Hood, Texas. CBS agreed to televise the historic event, which would have been the first “debate” on military issues, with questions posed by members of the armed forces, their families and veterans.

The forum was scheduled for 11 August, but Mr. Obama took a pass, citing scheduling conflicts. Organizers offered to move the forum to another debate, but the Democratic nominee declined. Senator McCain was firmly committed to the event, but the debate was eventually cancelled, due to Obama’s non-participation.

===
The difference is that MCCAIN IS PUSSING OUT ON A DEBATE THAT HAD ALREADY BEEN AGREED TO AND SCHEDULED MONTHS IN ADVANCE

AkaComrade Says:

This has absolutely nothing to with McCain’s falling poll numbers. Pure coincidence. Country first. POW.

Steve V Says:

It appears Obama has been summoned to the White House tomorrow. I expect Bush and McCain will attempt to physically ambush him at this meeting.

Nikolita Says:

@ Alvin – Shit, I laughed so hard at that. “Please do not reach out proactively to the media” and they went and sent it to the media. Totally figures.

SGEW Says:

I smell something clever brewing.

Everyone (correction: all reasonable people) are viewing this latest McCain stunt with the derision and scorn it so rightly deserves. Sound familiar? This is how we treated Gov. Palin’s introduction, which only strengthened her support among the whackjob demographic.

So the question is: what demographic of teh stupid hoi polloi is he targeting now? The “maverik” believing morans? The “I cans be a billionaire too” crew? It could work (and then we’ll all decry the idiocy).

I don’t think “flailing” is the right word. These moves are carefully thought out, and are intended to have specific effects (in this case delaying the V.P. debates until she’s “ready” (if ever), and putting the foreign policy debate towards the end of the schedule, which might help McCain). The effects of some of the moves (see, e.g., Palin) appear to be back-firing, but maybe they think they can keep snowballing everyone with a blizzard of bullshit, and not have any of it catch up to them until Nov. 5th.

ThatLeftTurnInABQ Says:

What Obama and Biden should do is to announce, unilaterally, that he (Obama) will be in DC on Friday attending to the issue of the Wall St. bailout legislation.

Nevertheless, the debate will go on as scheduled. Joe Biden will take Obama’s place, showing the American people that he (Joe Biden) is ready to step in at a moments notice if something were to happen to the President. That is what the VP must be ready to do.

Obama and Biden will both state that they expect that Sarah Palin will also show up in place of John McCain, assuming she is ready for the task.

The subject of the debate will be foreign policy, as previously scheduled. When a VP has to step in for a President, they don’t get to pick and choose the time or the subject at hand. They have to play the cards already dealt.

[comment also posted at ObWings]

From Pine View Farm » Debate-lessness Says:

[...] Frankly, John Cole nails it. [...]

Comrade PeterJ Says:

What Obama and Biden should do is to announce, unilaterally, that he (Obama) will be in DC on Friday attending to the issue of the Wall St. bailout legislation.

Nevertheless, the debate will go on as scheduled. Joe Biden will take Obama’s place, showing the American people that he (Joe Biden) is ready to step in at a moments notice if something were to happen to the President. That is what the VP must be ready to do.

Obama and Biden will both state that they expect that Sarah Palin will also show up in place of John McCain, assuming she is ready for the task.

The subject of the debate will be foreign policy, as previously scheduled. When a VP has to step in for a President, they don’t get to pick and choose the time or the subject at hand. They have to play the cards already dealt.

I really like your idea, especially since it seems more and more likely that this is all about postponing the VP debate.

ThatLeftTurnInABQ Says:

whoops – so much for originality. I see that Lee and others all had the same idea in the “Of Course He Did” thread.

Great minds think alike, etc…

Brief Essays With Pictures » Blog Archive » Letterman Eviscerates McCain Says:

[...] Look, I would be remiss if I pretended like I know a lot about politics. I most definitely do not. But today has been a surreal day for me to watch the political theater of McCain appearing to slowly come apart at the seams. First, Sullivan notes McCain appearing to lie about his back-and-forth with Obama. Then the McCain campaign is caught acting offensively with questions asked by Sullivan. Then Palin stumbles around talking to Katie Couric. Upon realization that Palin is terrible, McCain starts floating the idea of canceling the vice-presidential debates. Meanwhile, McCain’s trying to bail on Friday’s debate, which will now include questions about the economy. And then we end with this: [...]

Comrade PeterJ Says:

Obviously a sign that it’s a great idea.

Comrade Tax Analyst Says:

“TALKING POINTS: SUSPENDING THE CAMPAIGN, Please do not proactively reach out to the media on this.

If they find out this is all just a phony-assed political ploy my dreary old ass is toast.”

jcricket Says:

I submit that John Cole turning his righteous fists of fury on the GOOPers is at least one good thing that has come out of the Bush years.

Fuck-en-A. Just when you think McCain can’t sink lower, he does. If the Republicans do manage to hoodwink us yet again, I think the Palin/McCain Depression will be significantly than the last one.

And as others have said, that 40% continue to vote Republican because to them all that matters is opposition to abortion, lower taxes, hatred of gays, war war and more war, or whatever the pet issues of Republicans are these days makes me deeply, deeply sad.

I’d be fine if the Republican voters consisted solely of the KKK, or Norquist’s merry band of thieves. But the high percentage is truly depressing.

comrade chopper Says:

word is the dems have gotten the WH and treasury to agree to provisions. the bill is about 98% done.

so mccain is going to suspend his campaign, turn around tomorrow and fly into washington on a white horse only to find the whole thing already done when he gets there.

this, my friends, is an epic fail in the making.

seriously, i’m saying screw it, i’m buying a full-on popcorn machine.

Komrade Kain Says:

And as others have said, that 40% continue to vote Republican because to them all that matters is opposition to abortion, lower taxes, hatred of gays, war war and more war, or whatever the pet issues of Republicans are these days makes me deeply, deeply sad.

I’m not sure I agree. I think it’s LDS. Liberal Derangement Syndrome. These people have been completely trained to hate and not trust liberals. It’s just a knee jerk response. They will vote Republican all the way up to the point the feds take away their houses and maybe after that because they’ll somehow think it was the liberals fault somehow.

We need to hit rock bottom before the healing can begin.

cain

JackieBinAZ Says:

so mccain is going to suspend his campaign, turn around tomorrow and fly into washington on a white horse only to find the whole thing already done when he gets there. so that he can claim that the parties preemptively sat down and stopped all the bullshit because they knew he was on the way.

Just tidied that up for you a little bit.

Comrade Trotsky Says:

I suspect that the WH will stall the final negotiations just long enough to give McCain a reason to avoid the Friday night debate. As for Graham’s offer to “postpone” the VP debate, I can’t imagine, after watching that trainwreck of an interview with CBS, that a few more weeks of debate preparation will make any difference. So if their plan is simply give Sister Sarah more time to prepare, why are they even bothering? Wouldn’t it be better to take the hit now and get it out of the way?

Just Some Fuckhead Says:

I’m not sure I agree. I think it’s LDS. Liberal Derangement Syndrome. These people have been completely trained to hate and not trust liberals. It’s just a knee jerk response. They will vote Republican all the way up to the point the feds take away their houses and maybe after that because they’ll somehow think it was the liberals fault somehow.

I had a guy like that in my office today. Absolutely incensed at Bush and all the Republicans – including McCain – that drove us off a cliff in the last years. But absolutely would not even consider voting for Obama. I asked him what his plan to hold Republicans accountable was and he said outside of sending the RNC a nasty note in response to their last fundraising letter, he didn’t have one.

Comrade Tax Analyst Says:

Just Some Fuckhead says:

I had a guy like that in my office today. Absolutely incensed at Bush and all the Republicans – including McCain – that drove us off a cliff in the last years. But absolutely would not even consider voting for Obama. I asked him what his plan to hold Republicans accountable was and he said outside of sending the RNC a nasty note in response to their last fundraising letter, he didn’t have one.

I saw Ben Stein on CNN a few nights ago. He was saying how horrible McCain’s economic plans were and just flat out said, “McCain has the wrong set of advisor’s…I really wish he had Obama’s advisors”, to which the other party being interviewed (it was either Rubin or Reich, I can’t remember that at the moment) suggested that perhaps Ben ought to be endorsing Obama. Stein did not even blink and said, “I’m supporting John McCain”. Which he again reiterated at the end of the interview.

Jess Says:

I had a guy like that in my office today. Absolutely incensed at Bush and all the Republicans – including McCain – that drove us off a cliff in the last years. But absolutely would not even consider voting for Obama.

A while back Tim F. reported on the fear factor of the conservative psyche, but there’s another typical characteristic; extreme loyalty to their tribe, from which too often follows an obstinate hostility to those outside the tribe, just about impossible to overcome. I have to admire the unconditional loyalty of some of the conservatives I’ve known, but every virtue has its its vice.

TenguPhule Says:

I had a guy like that in my office today. Absolutely incensed at Bush and all the Republicans – including McCain – that drove us off a cliff in the last years. But absolutely would not even consider voting for Obama. I asked him what his plan to hold Republicans accountable was and he said outside of sending the RNC a nasty note in response to their last fundraising letter, he didn’t have one.

I would like to sell him a bridge to Alaska.

Shade Tail Says:

Buy her prep time? Nonsense. They’ve been spending the last nearly three weeks trying to prep her by keeping her out of public view and giving her intensive briefings, and she’s still looking like an utter hack and loser.

They’re not trying to give her more prep time, they’re trying to prevent the VP debate from ever happening. And no wonder, considering how big a fool she made of herself in front of Katie Couric. After Joe Biden gets through with her, “fool” will be an inadequate description of Sarah Palin.

emme Says:

Steve V Says:

It appears Obama has been summoned to the White House tomorrow. I expect Bush and McCain will attempt to physically ambush him at this meeting.

I’m thinking they might actually be meeting Obama to surrender and tell him he can have the Presidency. McCain knows he can’t handle it he’s old and mentally slow and Sarah Palin is mentally slow too. At least McCain has the excuse of being old.

Brachiator Says:

Steve V Says:
It appears Obama has been summoned to the White House tomorrow. I expect Bush and McCain will attempt to physically ambush him at this meeting.

This shit will backfire on Bush, McCain and the other stupid mofos if Obama shows up. Photos of Obama at the White House will get holdouts used to the idea of Obama as president.

of course, I assume that Bush and the Decepticons will go out of their way to give McCain all kinds of presidential aura, and will try to withhold the same from Obama. But if anything slips through, Obama can only benefit.

comrade chopper Says:

This would also buy Palin some more prep time.

according to the times, its mccain who didn’t prep for the friday debate and is looking for a do-over.