McCain's Latest Stunt Backfires... Badly

I recall McCain reaping a harvest of media coverage when he wormed out of having to appear on that first deadly day of the GOP Hate Fest in St. Paul and instead claimed to be saving New Orleans from Hurricane Gustav. His entirely passive attitude towards the far more deadly and destructive Hurricane Ike showed, once again what a shameless manipulator of the media he is. But today's stunt beats everything.

Not having shown up at the Senate since early April-- and having none virtually no Senate work for over a year-- McCain, viewed his cascading poll numbers this morning and started running around screeching that the sky is falling. The Palin stunt had run its course and he needed some new shiny object. And that was... canceling the presidential debate scheduled for Friday. Clearly facing Barack Obama, someone capable of thinking on his feet and not talking in memorized soundbytes was something he was looking forward to as much as he was looking forward to appearing with George Bush (approval rating 19%) in St, Paul. His sudden concern for New Orleans weather saved him from Bush and he hoped that his just as sudden concern for Senate business would save him from a debate he never wanted to have and, with good cause, fears greatly.

Voters were stunned-- and sickened by another cheap McCain campaign ploy. When asked in an MSNBC poll whether they agreed with McCain that the debate should be postponed, 70.7% strongly disagreed (with another 9.2% agreeing). The number who agreed with McCain was identical to George Bush's current approval rating (exactly 19%).


As you can see on the CNN.com Quick Vote, 71% of voters think McCain's announcement is "a political gimmick" and 24% see it as an actual effort to help the economy. Newt Gingrich sees it as an opportunity for Republican incumbents to worm out of debates and is urging congressional candidates to follow McCain's lead, something many have been doing anyway, trying their best to avoid answering embarrassing questions about rubber stamp voting records and huge "donations" from Big Oil and Big Banks followed by votes that clearly helped Big Oil and Big Banks and hurt average Americans-- and average American voters.

Virginia wingnut Virgil Goode was, predictably, the first to jump in, already announcing he'd be ducking a debate at Hampden-Sydney College with a far sharper and more knowledgeable opponent, Tom Perriello. Tom's campaign spokesperson pointed out this evening that "Goode has participated in the Hampden-Sydney debate in every past election cycle. Why is he afraid to debate all of a sudden? He said yesterday that he's letting the lobbyists work on the bailout bill, so he certainly can't be 'suspending' his campaign to confront that issue. He has no credible excuse for ducking this debate. His constituents-- especially those in Farmville who do not have access to the Roanoke-Lynchburg and Charlottesville news markets-- deserve the opportunity to see both candidates debate the issues so they can make an informed choice in November. Mr. Goode does not own this seat; he has to earn it."

Illinois Senator Dick Durbin saw right through the cynical move by McCain and the Republican hacks who are following his lead-- watch Randy Kuhl (R-NY) be the next to announce no debates. "Last week," pointed out Durbin, "Senator John McCain declared the fundamentals of our economy 'strong.' Today he says the situation is so dire he needs to suspend his campaign and delay a scheduled Presidential debate so he can devote his full attention to the problem. With polls showing his campaign is at its weakest, Senator McCain's decision may have less to do with the drop in the Dow Jones average and more to do with a decline in the Gallup poll. It's not economic leadership that Senator McCain would bring to these negotiations; it's presidential politics-- which is the last thing we need if we really want to solve the serious problems our nation faces."

Even conservative Republican commentator George Will noted what a phony McCain is on the economic crisis. "Conservatives who insist that electing McCain is crucial usually start, and increasingly end, by saying he would make excellent judicial selections. But the more one sees of his impulsive, intensely personal reactions to people and events, the less confidence one has that he would select judges by calm reflection and clear principles, having neither patience nor aptitude for either. It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?"

Will has a good point. Americans want someone with a steady hand, who keeps his cool in a crisis, not someone who runs around screaming "the sky is falling" when it suits his own narrow interest. Obama is looking at McCain as though he were insane and rebuffed his efforts to duck the debate. "This ," he said, "is exactly the time when people need to hear from the candidates... Part of the president’s job is to deal with more than one thing at once. In my mind it’s more important than ever.” Instant polling shows that only 10% of Americans agree with McCain. Even Fox News shows McCain's polling numbers back in the 30's, where he was before the Palin stunt. (On a related note, the only newspaper to still take Sarah Palin seriously, the National Enquirer dared McCain to follow through with his threat to sue them by revealing the name of her secret lover (Brad Hanson, unfortunately, not of The Hansons).