From the Washington Post. A must read account of the bailout talks on the Thursday of the debate. I almost feel sorry for the man. It explains why he could barely make eye contact with Obama during the debate. Ouch. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/26/AR2008092603957_pf.html
Yes, that Hank Paulson got down on his knee and begged Pelosi not to hold a press conference about the debacle has already travelled to the edge of the internet and back. Paulson is already indebted to the Democrats.
McCain has something to feel ashamed of? He should feel responsible for the House Republicans (who were never okay with the bailout deal to begin with) coming out and saying "F this, we're not going along with the Paulson plan," the same thing that they had been saying all along?
...Especially given that he only had a day or two to work towards getting support for the plan before he had to fly back to debate Obama. If Obama was really about unity, he'd have agreed to postpone the debates. Imagine the message it would've sent if both Presidential candidates had suspended their campaigns to work together to get legislation passed. But no. Obama had to engage in partisan Politics as Usual.
Phooey. You'd better be able to work on more than one thing at a time if you want to be president. Obama was there. McCain was there. Suspending his campaign was a stunt. Please tell me you didn't fall for it.
What work? He had zero to say in that White House meeting. He isn't on the Banking Committee, so he doesn't even have access to those negotiations. Some 75% of the public wanted the debate to go on as scheduled. And nearly as many identified the maneuver as the political ploy that it was. Even Haley Barbour more or less said that McCain needed to get his ass to Oxford. The message that would have been sent is that the public was being blown off so that McCain could posture, pose and obstruct in Washington.
Riiight. So if you were a Congressman and your secretary told you a long time, influential Senator and the GOP's candidate for President wanted to talk to you about upcoming legislation, you'd tell her to send him away. Gotcha.
Congress and the White House are already moving too fast. Trying to cram in solving the nation's biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression in the couple week's time is foolish, let alone it being at the height of the election cycle.
