Yes - that is a big source of concern for me as well, and why I'd like to have a better feel for the direction of the Congress. And, though Republicans occupying both branches is a bit less unsettling to me than Democrats doing it, the spectre of a Palin presidency coming down the pike makes me think of another few years of Dubya, but without all of the entertaining mangling of the English language (this, in my mind, is unique to Palin - I think a McCain presidency would be strikingly different from a Dubya presidency)

__________________
"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

It wouldn't be divided if John was President. The only thing i fear more than all Dem WH/Congress is a Democratic Congress with a John McCain Presidency. It'd be like a wet dream for him and with him as the party's standard bearer the GOP members left in Congress would have to fold.

John McCain has demonstrated throughout his adult life his inability to walk and chew gum at the same time. Now he is being asked to campaign for president and save the world from the depredations of his dear friends in the financial sector--both at once! No wonder he seems dazed and confused.

I'm certain that, should John McCain actually become president, he will have no trouble arranging that there be only one crisis at a time. Surely America's enemies will show him at least that much courtesy!

And I am the Emperor of Zambodia!

Here is what I meant - Obama's refusal to go back to washington and "do his job" is making him look bad to voters. That was McCain's plan all along. It was a brilliant political move too. McCain gets out of another long, pre-arranged, scripted and choreographed debate and pushes the entire Obama campaign back on their heels. And what does the Obama camp do? they fall right into McCain's trap (Again!, like they did with their obsession with attacking Palin on experience) and insist that they keep the debate schedule . What is Obama going to do now? debate himself?

__________________
I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it.

I sort of agree with you. On many occasions the incumbent president has had a lot bigger responsibilities being thrown at them while up for re-election. They found time to campaign and work at the same time.

__________________
"Hard work without talent is a shame, but talent without hard work is a tragedy." -fortune cookie

Fair enough. It remains to be seen, IMO, how this plays out, but I'm glad that you weren't attributing some kind of high-minded moral imperative to one of the participants in this inherently Machiavellian dance. Whether it is him "doing his duty" or "creating the impression at large that he's doing his duty" is subtly but importantly different in my mind. I certainly wouldn't dispute that it's a shrewd and interesting play by McCain (particularly since if he gets razzed over "running" from the debate, he can simply point out that Obama wouldn't do the town hall debates)

__________________
"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

As I said earlier, Obama cares more about Obama than America.

The people will see this and it will cost Obama big time.

Just another example of the greed and power hunger of the left which is more important than America and its citizens.

John McCain is a politician, everything he does is to further his political career. Let's not forget that. He never "suspends" campaigning, every move is calculated for potential political impact. The question is how many undecided voters will look at this move and NOT recognize that it's pandering? I suspect very few.

All that said, I think the Obama campaign should think carefully how they respond to this. If I were them I would:

1. Agree to a suspension of the debate, it will look very bad if Obama is in Mississippi and McCain refuses to show up because he's "working on the problem."
2. Use every opportunity to demonstrate that Democrats have been at the forefront for pushing for checks and balances in the Wall Street bailout.
3. Continue to point out that Presidents must be able to multi-task and continue to point out that McCain has NO experience when it comes to economic regulation.
This is a major hail mary pass by the McCain campaign and the fact that the Republicans on this board recognize it as such suggests that if they are smart this will not hurt the Obama campaign. Frankly, if McCain gets his way and the campaigns are "suspended" that actually doesn't help him. It allows his brand of "country first" to get promoted for a bit, but in order to make up these defecits in the swing states nothing can replace actually campaigning. Stunts look great in September, but campaigning gets the job done in the long run.

__________________
Yesterday, John McCain actually said that if he’s president he’ll take on, and I quote, 'the old boys’ network in Washington.' I’m not making this up. This is somebody been in Congress for 26 years, who put seven of the most powerful Washington lobbyists in charge of his campaign. And now he tells us that he’s the one who’s gonna take on the old boys' network,” he said. “In the McCain campaign that’s called a staff meeting!- Obama, 9/17/2008

I could accept that. With Clinton as POTUS and Newt Gingrich running the house (contract with America!) - we did pretty darn good. We cut the deficit, balanced the budget etc... But you are forgetting one thing, Bill Clinton was a centrist who was willing to compromise when he had. His political power was constantly diluted and weakened by his sexual dalliances and ongoing "bimbo eruptions". That is why we were able to move things in the "right" direction. Obama is no centrist...he's a doctrinaire liberal, period.

__________________
I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it.

I don't think Palin would be similar to Bush, but McCain would be. The results however would be the same (Bush got wht he wanted with a mainly GOP friendly congress and John would get what he wants with a Dem controlled Congress).

Palin on the other hand would be nothing like Bush, her views on certain things are similar (seems like Bush to be portrayed as a big oil politician when both have lambasted oil and natural gas company's tax breaks etc and both are religious and so on) the vision isn't there from Palin.

When Bush met with ME oil and gas pipeline industry individuls back when he was Governor some of them were tied in with the Taliban and while not much has been made of that he also didn't need the help of the incumbent President at the time to achieve that goal.

Before he became President his response to foreign policy wasn't to give a goofy laugh and say "I can gone see that here Mexico from the Ranch" was it?

The vision is different. (Not meant literally, seeing as she has glasses, which help to apparently see accross continents).

Also? What does this "suspension" of the campaign mean a week from now. If the bailout bill is passed with Democratic provisions to ensure homeowners then we're back to the campaign again no? Is John McCain not going to campaign from here on out until the Wall Street crisis is taken care of? That might work if most Americans had a sense he knew anything about the economy, but according to the polls a minority of them do. This may appeal to the kinds of voters who "hate" partisanship. But how many of those are there really? I have not seen any numbers which indicate the reason people currently support Obama is he's "bi partisan" rather they seem to support his ideas and plans for the future. I think the potential impact of this will be like their other hail mary pass, Sarah Palin, except less so. There may be an uptick in McCain's numbers in the short term, but there's no concrete plan of what he will actually do. He's not even ON the Banking committee neither is Obama. They will vote on the bill, obviously, but the committee decides who is going to write the bill. It's all so silly.

__________________
Yesterday, John McCain actually said that if he’s president he’ll take on, and I quote, 'the old boys’ network in Washington.' I’m not making this up. This is somebody been in Congress for 26 years, who put seven of the most powerful Washington lobbyists in charge of his campaign. And now he tells us that he’s the one who’s gonna take on the old boys' network,” he said. “In the McCain campaign that’s called a staff meeting!- Obama, 9/17/2008

Is the Senate planning to stay all night Thursday to discuss/solve the issue? If they aren't doing that on Thursday then your comment doesn't really address the point at all.

__________________
Is our children learning? -George W. Bush

"I think—tide turning—see, as I remember—I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of—it's easy to see a tide turn—did I say those words?"—Washington, D.C., June 14, 2006

"[T]he illiteracy level of our children are appalling."—Washington, D.C., Jan. 23, 2004

Now they want to suspend the VP debate as well. What the hell is Sarah Palin going to be doing that she does not need to debate? This is getting ridiculous. CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive - McCain camp to propose postponing VP debate « - Blogs from CNN.com

__________________
Yesterday, John McCain actually said that if he’s president he’ll take on, and I quote, 'the old boys’ network in Washington.' I’m not making this up. This is somebody been in Congress for 26 years, who put seven of the most powerful Washington lobbyists in charge of his campaign. And now he tells us that he’s the one who’s gonna take on the old boys' network,” he said. “In the McCain campaign that’s called a staff meeting!- Obama, 9/17/2008

I think the V.P. threat is just an excuse to further limit the amount of public appearances Palin makes.

__________________
Is our children learning? -George W. Bush

"I think—tide turning—see, as I remember—I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of—it's easy to see a tide turn—did I say those words?"—Washington, D.C., June 14, 2006

"[T]he illiteracy level of our children are appalling."—Washington, D.C., Jan. 23, 2004

well he did come out with and sppt. of legislation and said so clearly in a senate floor speech in 06....hummmmmm, he said he was clearly in favor of getting a handle on freddie and fannie, but barney frank said he saw no reason to do such and that people were talking it up and creating the angst and there was nothing to worry about...yea great and hes still running the banking comittee....that pesky democratic congress eh?

....and he, frank stomped on it in committee.....so facts don't exactly sppt the fact he was asleep on this or never came out on it, Obama on the other hand was now where to be found.....though he was no.2 on the fannie and freddie cash lobbyist list though wasn't he?

__________________

"The captain has turned off the `No Dubbing' sign. You are free to speak any language you choose."