I don't believe that McCain's suspension of his campaign last week was anything more than a political move, but according to a couple videos I've seen recently, Senator McCain may suspend his campaign again.
After harsh criticism from liberals and even his own party for his suspending his campaign, Senator McCain remains open to the idea of doing it all over again. I can sympathize with his plight, he made a gamble (see New York Times story of him gambling) and he came out to be the loser. The only option he has is to go "double or nothing" in which he again suspends his campaign. This time McCain could suspend his run without the threat of appearing ignorant of the American people as was asserted by the Obama camp when McCain floated the notion that he wouldn't participate in the debate. Now, I am all for a heightened focus on the bailout because in my opinion it is bigger than the election in many ways. But sending Senator McCain, who admitted he "doesn't really understand economics" to the Wall Street Journal, is a terrible idea. He won't contribute anything except some criticism of any proposal, as evident in his last performance. So why bother? Leave it up to qualified representatives and senators, if McCain does anything constructive he should rally his fellow Republicans to support the bill and ignore partisan politics. However, this opposes the McCain campaign's logic that the U.S. economy will prevail so I won't be holding my breath until McCain leads Congress to a win. Instead, I'll focus on trying to contain myself until Thursday's vice presidential debate in which Palin will presumably have to discuss the current economic situation and make an absolute fool of herself as she has done all-too-well this week via Couric's interviews. As McCain fumbles another economic issue, Americans start to see what four more years really looks like, and I doubt that they will find it appealing.
McCain's possible suspension of his campaign- for a second time in a row- will probably resonate better with Americans this time around, since nobody can accuse him of trying to skip a presidential debate.
Even if McCain isn't vitally important to the process of drafting a rescue plan, as the potential next president, it would be necessary for him to be familar and involved with any plan or bill that is proposed.
By the way, just out of curiosity-- did you give your own blog post a five rating? I noticed it had only one read when I opened it (which would have to be the author), and yet it had a five rating. That's pretty unethical... besides, the ratings don't matter for much, anyway.
Certainly unethical, I just thought it was funny that it actually works. I've blogged on a lot of different platforms and this one has been a little screwy and slow. Trust me, I did it not to get a good rating but to test it, feel free to call my bluff and give me the lowest ratings on anything I write here. Hope I didn't put you off too much by that.
Onto the important stuff though, I highly doubt that a second suspension of his campaign will benefit him in any way. It didn't help him the first time, and it sure won't help him again. My basis for this is nothing more than gut-level and what I observed to be the majority opinion that McCain's move was mostly political rather than "Country First." I do agree wholeheartedly that he should be involved in the plan seeing as he could potentially be the president but isn't it a bit late for that? I guess I hold senators to a higher standard than I should, it seems that all 100 should be pretty familiar with any proposed solution by now.
The ratings do make a difference, actually, as blogs that make the Highest Rated list get huge reads. So voting for your own is not allowed.
But just to repeat for everyone out there THE RATINGS ARE IMPORTANT! SO VOTE! If blogs get stuck on the Highest Rated list because no one is voting enough to switch it up, those bloggers have a HUGE advantage.
"Never go with a hippy to a second location."
~Jack Donaghy
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
Seriously. My blog describing a sex change surgery went from 700 reads to almost 5000 in 2 weeks because it was on the highest rated list. Crazy.
Also... I rate some of my own blogs. Is it really not allowed, cuz now I feel bad. But I don't really think it's unethical to rate your own blogs unless you know your blog is only worth a 2 (based on what you would rate someone else if they wrote it) and you give yourself a 5, just because it's yours. I don't think it's any worse than writing your name in or voting yourself class president or prom royalty or something.
"What a crazy random happenstance!"
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Read my Blog!
Because later in the contest, a couple of my earlier blogs got dredged up and ended up on the highest rated list. One of those was the blog to which I referred in my crappy blog post. I clearly did not feel they belonged there, so I rated them down. It still didn't work, though. So I guess that's more blogging advice-- if you aren't proud of it, don't publish it!
"Never go with a hippy to a second location."
~Jack Donaghy
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
I agree on many points of your blog except the bailout. The only reason politicians are even considering it is because they feel they must do something in order to satisfy voters. If you look back to just before the Great Depression a smaller bailout was attempted and once it was passed it failed.
Ultimately, politicians shouldn't pointing fingers at who voted against the bill, but who voted for it. Note: Republicans aren't the only people who voted against the bill, contrare to the way the media is spinning it.
Well, I really am stuck on the bailout. I was talking with a grad economics student and he said that the bailout should be passed because the economy will fall into recession like that of the Great Depression if it's not passed. I'm not sure if I buy that, but we're certainly in dire straights and I have a fear more in the effect that a rejection of the bailout will have on the market and anxious investors than the actual financial ramifications. The guy I was talking with made the comparison of a parent and a drug addict. If the drug addict messes up, you gotta bail him out or he'll come and kill you. (Mind you, he is a really smart guy, his metaphor just sucks.) But under that metaphor, I said that sets a premise where the kid can screw up and always know he'll get bailed out. I worry that this bailout establishes an idea in the heads of many investment firms and investment banks that you can take as much risk as you want and if you're lucky you make a lot of profit, if you're not lucky and the deal backfires you will always have the Fed to get you outta jail.
So in short, I don't like the idea of the bailout but I think it is a necessary action because it will prevent an even worse financial crisis. Luckily I live in Oregon, where one senator voted yea and one nay.
Thanks for the comment.
I agree on your points about the bailout and the position of McCain's campaign towards the economy. McCain's 'country first' is the essential aspect of his campaign and I would not be surprised if he had decided to eventually suspend his campaign. Question is whether his active help is necessary. I think that there are many congressmen within the republican party who can do a better job on proposing new solutions to this issue. I think that provided the dangers and importance of events that occur today it would be better for everyone to do their job. Lastly, I would be more careful about Palin, her nomination has already stirred up the campaign and even though recently she showed she's completely unprepared for the job at stake, she might demonstrate some knowledge on economy, or at least enough to get the media off her back.
Alex,
Agreed, I think there are far more qualified people in congress to handle such a financial problem and the role of Obama and McCain should be understanding the situation and providing support rather than involving themselves in the proposal.
True, Palin's a pretty big threat to Obama. She demonstrated tonight that she can at least maintain, which may be enough to keep that support she got after the convention.
Thanks for the comment.