Ooooh, I think I just got the warm tinglies a little.

Maybe I ruled out that career in white slavery a little too quickly.

Bazziiiiingg! Watch me fix the economy and slam dunk all up in your face!

Game...blouses.

"What are you going to do if you're elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!"
-Letterman

pitch perfect.

Great line!

Badass by Obama. Call that jackass out. My Republican coworker even said he was "flummoxed" by McCain's move. This is basically a last minute gamble for McCain to appear to be taking the crisis by the reins and say "I'm committed to fixing the economy. My vast understanding of brokerage houses, hedge funds and international financial system is needed to solve the crisis that 533 others can't! I can't even spare 90 minutes of my mind-grapes on Friday at 9pm to debate!"

Ma---lar---key.

I don't see how they're mutually exclusive. Just so we're clear, the President usually isn't the guy who comes up with the plan for issues as complex as a wide-ranging financial bailout--this is what advisors do. The President is the one who decides if it's a good idea or not and then sells the idea to the American public who then can tell their Congressmembers to vote on it one way or another.

So...by Obama presenting his thoughts to the public and comparing them with McCain's during the debate, I think that would help everyone get their heads around the problem and the proposed solutions. What did George W. do tonight? He went on TV to describe the problem and what he thinks should be done.

wait a minute - who actually LIKES mccain anyway? i have yet to meet anyone in person who thinks that sexy mcpalin ticket is better than oh-bamma

"i have yet to meet anyone in person who thinks that sexy mcpalin ticket is better than oh-bamma"

You don't get out much do you? It's a very different world when you get outside the Beltway. ~44% of the US vote are leaning towards that ticket.

What Monkey said.

We don't need to hear you two argue and bullsh*t and make empty promises that you won't carry out in office. Both of you, get your asses back to DC and do your jobs.

If America wanted change, they wouldn't keep re-electing the same gridlock perpetuating cockheads and career politicians peddling the same brand of patronizing claptrap. Americans HATE change. Change is scary. Change costs money. Change moves people with different colored skin into your neighborhood, frightens the elderly, and says rude things about your mother. So long as the Senate is arguing with the House, and they're both arguing with the White House, nobody gets anthing accomplished, and that's how we likes it. Besides, the time for change isn't when the economy's in the crapper, it's when the economy's going gangbusters and everyone's riding the self-fellating gravy train of free mortgages and houses-as-ATM-machines.

Vote Monkeyrotica: Because the Status Quo is Your Best Entertainment Value.

Instead what we will have is the two candidates in a meaningless debate - giving us their same ol'.

I have no problem with rescheduling the date if it means the questions will be adjusted and updated based on the actions taken this weekend and both of them can review the actions, make their adjustments and can answer those questions with more accuracy - after the fact. I think that is reasonable ..

Seriously, you're all missing the point. Every one of you. Lot's of fancy rhetoric here but no real issues or ideas beyond a trivial understanding of the American people's needs. We need Knight Rider. And This whole toxic mortgage presidential amber alert fucked that up.

Seriously, the answer was on TV, a talking car, it was right there! He was probably going to say something about the economy! And how to fix it! And you had to go and talk over it. Maybe if you'd shut up, W, we would have heard the answer. Now we have to wait until next week. Great.

prufrockn - I really wish Councilgungan JarJar would hurry up and vote Fenty emergency powers, because it's people like you that will be sent to the spice mines of Kessel. For a safe and secure society.

Either that, or you'll be banished to the Forbidden Zone with General Zog and you'll be stuck listening to Terence Stamp emote for all eternity.

prufrockn - Political threads aren't very common here, and when they are posted, they aren't exactly disguised. If you don't want to talk politics here, don't click.

He hasn't really suspended his campaign. ala Bush, using words but actions belie.

But is anyone else old enough to flash back to Jimmy Carter and his refusal to leave the White House during the Iranian hostage crisis? That worked out real well...

IMGoph, you've got two people running for the highest office in the land. Which type of person would you prefer generally, ignoring the Congressional process for the moment. The kind of person that sits back and says, eh, I'm not the expert, it's someone else's problem, it's not my role to help in this crisis... or the kind of person that wants to take action, even if it might not be while sitting in the committee chamber, but doing something, anything, to help the situation. Think of it another way. If there's a bus crash and there are several people injured on board, do you sit there and do nothing because you're not a trained paramedic or rescue worker, or do you jump in and take action, even though you're not especially qualified or have any background in life saving, and try to help some people out? In my opinion, many people have just lost all sense of what government is supposed to be, and take for granted that someone running for election has forfeited their day job in order to pursue it. I still think Obama is going to look worse on this one to middle america. Regardless of the formal political process to respond to this crisis, a debate is not as important as the economy right now. Period. Reshedule the darn thing and then Obama can debate McCain on the merits of the postponement, and make himself look even more foolish.

It's not a bus crash, for one. That's right out of the Shitty Analogy Playbook: Use an analogy that contains a life-threatening situation to describe a situation that does not contain a life-threatening situation.

But to continue on your shitty analogy.. let's say there are 2 EMTs working on each bus crash victim. Would you push them aside and start doing CPR?

*Helping* people in a bus crash may lead to their paralysis or brain damage if you don't know what you're doing.

Actually, if there's a bus crash and there are trained paramemdics and the trained paramedics say "please get out of the way," I would probably get out of the way.

Although I don't really get why they can't come to DC, sit in the Senate all day, and then take 90 minutes to do the debate while the rest of Congress takes a gin break. Problem solved.

Knight riderrrr!!!!!!!!

But to continue on your shitty analogy.. let's say there are 2 EMTs working on each bus crash victim. Would you push them aside and start doing CPR?

honestly, krisa, just because someone is doing something doesn't mean it helps. action for the sake of action is just one step away from pointless. doesn't matter how it plays with middle america.

So let me get this straight.

John McCain--

-That same John McCain who was one of the Keating Five Scandal related to the Lincoln S&L crisis of the 1980s (although, I guess to his credit he was too much of a wuss to actually help out his old pal Chuck Keating by getting the Feds off his back, and just got a slap on the wrist);
-That same Chuck Keating who gave John McCain and his family huge political contributions and unpaid trips, etc.;
-that same S&L crisis which prompted Congress to bail out insolvent S&Ls when the scat hit the fan by creation of the biggest boondoggle in American history: the Resolution Trust Corporation;
-That same Resolution Trust Corporation which has been offered as the vehicle by which we will save our bacon now, long after Wall St. has gotten done putting trillions into buggywhips;

That same John McCain . . . needs to skip the debate in order to help guide our country in this latest, eerily similar financial crisis? Well, I guess he does have experience in such matters.

VOTE JOHN McCAIN . . . THE CANDIDATE WITH EXPERIENCE!!!

Politbro i agree that neither would have contributed much to the bailout, but i still would rather them postpone the debate til after the weekend so that we can hear them debate the actual bailout plan rather then their usual economic rhetoric we already have heard.

for example; I'ld like to hear if either will alter their tax refund promise.