Debates canceled! Campaigns suspended! What the hell is going on? Oh Nothing, just John McCain pulling a cheap campaign stunt.
Which either makes McCain look like a maverick or a sad old man grasping at straws. Here's a time line of what went down, as best as anyone knows.
8:30 AM: So, the Obama camp has some neat idea about putting politics aside to focus on the financial crises. Obama calls up McCain to talk about possibly issuing a joint statement in support of an economic recovery package. McCain apparently mentions they should postpone the debate, but no decision is made.
Approx. 2:30 PM: McCain's campaign calls back and says "That is a great idea. Sure, we'll put politics aside and release a joint statement."
Approx. 2:31 PM: McCain doesn't put politics aside, and in a total campaign douche trick releases his own statement, says he is suspending his campaign for the rest of the week, and challenges Obama to make a similar statement, and oh yeah he doesn't want to have this debate on Friday.
4:40 pm: Barack Obama has a press conference to call out McCain on being a total douche (except in a mature presidential way). Says that as far as he knows, the debate is still on.
5:00 pm: Everyone's head explodes.
Basically McCain wants to be a maverick again and is using a "I'm above partisianship" stance to his total partisan advantage. Polls show people don't trust McCain with the economy as much as they do Obama, and he wants to be in a power position on the issue. By deceiving the opposition, which seemed to be acting truly bipartisan, he made it look like he had the high ground. Most likely, he's way too scared to debate Obama at the moment, and using the circumstance to his advantage. Obama mean while says that the American people deserve to hear the two campaigns debate policy now more than ever.
