You always hear of those horror stories where passengers are trapped on a plane parked on the tarmac for hours on end. Well, I was lucky. That was the road I and my fellow compadres were traveling down, but 20 minutes after I posted my earlier story, the Captain came on the intercom announcing we could take off now.
Now, onto politics….
I really think John McCain ended his campaign today for all intents and purposes. His stunt in suspending his campaign and requesting a postponement of both his debate this Friday with Obama and the Vice Presidential debate on October 2 are being recognized throughout America and in the media for what it is: A stunt. You should have heard the conversations on the plane I was on. We all in the terminal saw the news and Obama’s response. These are actual quotes I wrote down while listening to the conversations about McCain’s stunt aboard the plane:
“Silly.”
“McCain saw the polls this morning and panicked. Hell, whenever he gets bad news, he panics. What is he going to do in the White House?”
“Johnny Boy is in trouble I guess.”
“Sounds like he doesn’t want to debate.”
“What is he gonna do? The last time John McCain dealt with banking he was part of the Keating Five.”
Barack Obama responded exactly right to this stunt. He correctly pointed out that a President must, by definition, concentrate on more than one issue, more than one crisis, at a time. And he refused to play along with the game of suspending his campaign. Barack Obama will be in Mississippi to address his plans to confront the myriad problems facing America. Whether or not John McCain wishes to join him is entirely up to John McCain. If he does not, he proves that he has no plans. All he has is campaign stunts. Indeed, all John McCain’s campaign has been is stunts. From suspending the gas tax to the selection of Sarah Palin to zig zagging about in response to the Market Collapse of 2008 (first the fundamentals of our economy is strong to “Holy shit we are in trouble, I am a populist now, let’s cancel the election!”)
And let’s say that John McCain does return to Washington to partake in these negotiations. Can his presence be any more than a distraction. John McCain has no experience with the economy, by his own admission. He is not on the banking committee, or on any of the committees currently in negotiation with the Bush Administration on this crisis. Indeed, he has not been in the Senate for months, and has not voted on a bill since April. There is some question as to whether his colleagues will even recognize him.
What John McCain needs to do is debate with Barack Obama about what his plans are to solve this crisis and progress our nation. What we do not need is any more of these panicked and idiotic stunts from John McCain. His latest is insulting to us as American citizens.
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Added: 10:19
McCain stunt gives Obama a bounce.
