McCain's Suspension of His Campaign
A Wee Question
[And Another Wee Question]
[And an update]
The me of about two years ago or so would now be passionately arguing that the best explanation for McCain's suspension of his campaign is that he is genuinely aiming to do his part to address the current financial quasi-crisis.
The me of right now just wants to pose a question:
If John McCain were ten points up in the most recent poll and about to seal the deal with a debate, would he call for a suspension of the campaigns under those conditions?
['nuther question:
Is this an actual suspension of the campaign, or is it just McCain bowing out for a bit? Because if it's the latter, then presumably Palin will continue to campaign. If so, then it's a winning strategy for McCain--both Obama and Biden will have to quit campaigning, but Palin, the McCain camp's most popular campaigner, can keep going. (It'd be a winning strategy even if Biden could keep going, too, of course.)
In fact, even if both campaigns stop completely, it'll still be a winning strategy for McCain, since he's losing what is, in effect, a contest between the two campaigns. Given that you are losing under condition C1, you might as well see what happens if you switch to condition C2.
But I'm sure the fact that this decision coincides perfectly with Senator McCain's narrow self-interest is purely coincidental.]
[And: McCain is also suspending all advertisements, thus pressuring Obama to do likewise. This, again, is a winning strategy for the campaign with less money.
Just sayin']
A Wee Question
[And Another Wee Question]
[And an update]
The me of about two years ago or so would now be passionately arguing that the best explanation for McCain's suspension of his campaign is that he is genuinely aiming to do his part to address the current financial quasi-crisis.
The me of right now just wants to pose a question:
If John McCain were ten points up in the most recent poll and about to seal the deal with a debate, would he call for a suspension of the campaigns under those conditions?
['nuther question:
Is this an actual suspension of the campaign, or is it just McCain bowing out for a bit? Because if it's the latter, then presumably Palin will continue to campaign. If so, then it's a winning strategy for McCain--both Obama and Biden will have to quit campaigning, but Palin, the McCain camp's most popular campaigner, can keep going. (It'd be a winning strategy even if Biden could keep going, too, of course.)
In fact, even if both campaigns stop completely, it'll still be a winning strategy for McCain, since he's losing what is, in effect, a contest between the two campaigns. Given that you are losing under condition C1, you might as well see what happens if you switch to condition C2.
But I'm sure the fact that this decision coincides perfectly with Senator McCain's narrow self-interest is purely coincidental.]
[And: McCain is also suspending all advertisements, thus pressuring Obama to do likewise. This, again, is a winning strategy for the campaign with less money.
Just sayin']
posted by Winston Smith at
3:16 PM
7 Comments:
Probably not. Even two years ago I would have had to wonder why someone, who admitted he knows very little about the economy and is not on the Senate banking committee, etc., suddenly thinks he can make a difference when so many others (many more qualified) are already working on the problem.
I'd see it as political posturing and making sure those rich/super-rich donors get their bailouts.
But perhaps I'm just too cynical for my own good.
My favorite comment thus far is Ezra Klein's (who, if you don' already read, you should):
THIS IS NO TIME FOR DEMOCRACY.
If neither the economy nor John McCain's poll numbers approve, I just can't imagine that this country will be ready for something as divisive and crudely political as a vote in early November. So here's the question: Will Barack Obama put his country first and agree to delay the election until the stock market lifts and John McCain has a better chance? Or is this all about Obama?
McCain: I haven't finished my homework, so I'd better pull the fire alarm.
More analytical comments (but not much) here.
Aside from hard-core McCainiacs, I think everyone else can see how transparent this move is.
The people he needs to sway, the independents, want to hear more about his economic policy, especially in light of what's been going on lately. The fact that he decided to do this two days before the debate instead of last week reeks of desperation. I am at least semi-confident in independent voters' ability to distinguish genuine good intentions vs. disingenuous ones.
I don't think this is a winning strategy at all unless Obama decides to follow along, and all signs point to no as far as that goes. And he gives the reasons why he isn't. Good for him.
Isn't there also an issue with campaign ad money? Because McCain took public funding to finance his campaign, a lot of the ads are being funded by the RNC, etc, to compensate. A campaign suspension may not include them, or Swift Boat Vets, etc. A lot of Obama's money is coming straight through his campaign; I'm guessing his ad campaign would be stifled by a suspension.
Alright everybody, let's keep cool heads about this. We can't let McCain's previous atrocious behavior let analysis of his current and future behavior become a runaway train.
We gotta control ourselves on this one AND especially during the debate tonight. The more coherent we are, the less we resort to uncharitable reconstruction of their arguments, the stronger we are.
Besides, I think this campaign has shown us that they don't need any exaggeration by us to successfully demonstrate their shortcomings.
The only thing McCain has left is to lay off his own failings onto Obama. Tonight, he'll claim that Obama caused the failure of the bailout deal and that, if Obama had just followed his lead, all would be bliss today.
There's nothing in this that makes sense, but McCain doesn't have the luxury of coherence any more, if he ever did.
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