Sceptical response to McCain’s calls for a campaign suspension

Republican presidential candidate John McCain's calls for a break in the election campaign in order to deal with the economic crisis have been greeted with a mixture of scepticism and bemusement by commentators.

Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee was moved to suggest it was "more of a rescue plan for John McCain and not a rescue plan for the economy."

"Now that we are on the verge of making a deal, John McCain airdrops himself in to help us make a deal," marvelled Democrat Representative Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, complaining that McCain's arrival would simply mean having to "troop down to the White House for a photo op."

Sam Stein in the Huffington Post writes that McCain "addressed the current economic crisis with direness previously unseen". This was "an attempt by McCain to grab the leadership mantle he did not own...and members of Congress were left scratching their heads."

Thomas B Edsall also in the Huffington Post, says McCain's move was an attempt "to beat Barack Obama to the punch". His decision "appeared designed to pre-empt Obama, who, according to aides, had already initiated efforts to seek a bipartisan solution".

Commentators agree that much rests on what the candidates had agreed before the announcement. Greg Sargent on Talking Points Memo says that if Obama's claim that he was blindsided are true, then "McCain's public call for a suspension was anything but apolitical. If McCain had truly intended to keep this apolitical, he would have asked Obama to jointly suspend the debates, made his own full intentions clear, and waited for Obama's private and definitive answer before going public."

However, there was support from Republicans. Newt Gingrich described the move as "the greatest single act of responsibility ever taken by a presidential candidate."

"This is the day the McCain-reform Republican Party began to truly emerge as a movement which puts country first, solutions first, and big change first," added the former House Speaker.

CNN's Dan Cafferty questioned McCain's sudden desire to head for Washington. "[McCain] hasn't cast a vote in Congress since April," Cafferty opined. "He's not going to be working on the legislation. The debate is scheduled between the two men who want the job of running the country. I don't understand the logic of saying 'let's cancel the debate.' I want to hear what these guys have to say about what they're going to do about the problem that the country has."

"Let's get real," urges Cenk Uygar back at the Huffington Post. "John McCain didn't ask to move the debate on Friday because he genuinely thought that if he and Obama went into DC on Friday that they would magically be able to solve the financial bailout problem... This is a political gambit by McCain, pure and simple."

It was left to David Letterman to stick the knife in. McCain was due to appear on the Late Show on Wednesday but pulled out after suspending his campaign.

"I think somebody's putting something in his Metamucil," scoffed the chat show host.

FIRST POSTED SEPTEMBER 25, 2008