Thoughtprints

How stupid does he really think we are? In a feeble attempt to make it look like he is so worried about how they’re doing in Washington with the Wall Street rescue plan, he went on television and announced he’s suspending his campaign, pulling his ads and immediately going to D.C. to help with negotiations. Oh, and he said he asked Obama to do the same thing.

Now for the REAL chronology of events: Sen. Barack Obama, in a news conference later Wednesday, said that he and McCain had spoken by phone and had agreed to issue a joint statement about shared principles in the approach to resolving the economic crisis.

But he disagreed with McCain’s call for postponing Friday’s first presidential debate in Oxford, Mississippi.

“It’s my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person will be the next president,” Obama said. “It is going to be part of the president’s job to deal with more than one thing at once. It’s more important than ever to present ourselves to the American people.”

Regarding McCain’s call to join him in Washington to help participate in the debate over the economic recovery plan, Obama said: “I will be anywhere at any time,” he said. “If you need us I’ll be there.”

Announcing his decision to suspend his campaign, McCain said, “I am calling on the president to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself. It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem.” (No such meeting was even discussed, let alone scheduled)

Barack Obama said he wants Friday’s scheduled presidential debate to go ahead, despite John McCain’s call for a suspension of campaigning to deal with the faltering economy.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid issued a statement saying the presidential debate should go on and that McCain’s negotiations should not be a “photo op.”

“It would not be helpful at this time to have them come back during these negotiations and risk injecting presidential politics into this process or distract important talks about the future of our nation’s economy,” the statement said. “We need leadership, not a campaign photo op.”

“If there were ever a time for both candidates to hold a debate before the American people about this serious challenge, it is now,” he added. He also said that they haven’t heard hide nor hair from John McCain on this issue, so why now? In fact, he hasn’t made one Senate vote since April 8th. At least Barack Obama continued to vote until July 19th!

Obama called McCain early Wednesday morning to ask for a joint statement, a McCain senior advisor said.

An Obama campaign source confirmed the call and said that McCain returned his call six hours later, and accepted the concept and suggested the two of them return to Washington to join the negotiations. The source says that Obama told him that he would do that only if negotiators saw it as useful.

According to the Obama source, soon after they ended the call, McCain announced he was suspending his campaign and returning to Washington.

Stunt? Fear? One-upmanship attempt? Just plain old stupidity?

The University of Mississippi, site of this year’s first presidential debate, released a statement Wednesday afternoon saying the school still expects the event to take place as scheduled Friday evening.

“The University of Mississippi is going forward with the preparation for the debate. We are ready to host the debate, and we expect the debate to occur as planned,” read the statement. “At present, the University has received no notification of any change in the timing or venue of the debate. We have been notified by the Commission on Presidential Debates that we are proceeding as scheduled.

Hmmm. Seems everyone but McCain is still planning on having a debate Friday night.

What are your thoughts?