It's 7:45 pm eastern time on Thursday night. Tomorrow I am going to a conference on the impact of race and gender on the 2008 presidential elections at St. Johns University Law School.
As of now, McCain is still claiming that he won't show up at the first presidential debate scheduled for tomorrow evening.
This is what I imagine: at the White House today, at the meeting convened by President Bush with the leaders of the House and Senate, McCain took Senator Richard C. Shelby, R-Ala., aside, to make sure that he, as the highest ranking Republican on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, would not agree to the $700 billion bailout.
This is the same Senator Shelby who voted against an extension of the Voting Rights Act and, like McCain, opposed making the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King into a federal holiday.
Although it appeared by afternoon, eastern time, that the bailout was at least set in outline form, McCain could still claim that he wouldn't go to the Friday night debate, because Shelby's resistance meant there was still too much work to be finished in D.C. on the stabilization of the financial markets.
NOTHING IS TOO CYNICAL: McCain is postponing the debate to avoid being questioned about economics and to keep Sarah Palin out of the reach of reporters or the scrutiny of the American voters.
As I said previously, the one thing folks agree about is: we should go forward with the presidential debates.
It isn't like McCain is a seated president running for reelection, where the campaign might be a distraction from his essential work at the White House. It's about being afraid to stand up before the nation and stand by his equivocations. In the morning, the economy is fine, by the afternoon, well, maybe it isn't.
Demand the debates: call, fax, or email the Republican National Committee: 202.863.8500 | f/202.863.8820 | e/info@gop.com
Demand that the debates and the election go forward. And remember, think before you vote.
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