Obama Dismisses McCain's Call For Suspension Of Debate; Says He Was Blindsided

[RedEarth]

At a press conference just now, Barack Obama rejected John McCain's demand for a suspension of the debate.

"I believe we should continue to have the debate," he just said. "I believe it makes sense for us to present ourselves to the American people."

"Obviously if it turns out that we need to be in Washington, we've both got big planes, we've painted our slogan on the side of them," Oama also said. They can get us from Washington to Mississippi pretty quickly." The debate is set to take place in Mississippi.

Obama also said that he was blindsided by McCain's public call for a debates suspension. After describing their conversation about a possible suspension, Obama said: "I thought that this was something that he was mulling over. Apparently this was something that he was more decisive about in his own mind."

Obama later said, of their conversation: "I proposed putting out the joint statement. He concurred with that. he then also said, 'I would like us to look at suspending the campaign and pushing the debates off.' I said, 'let's put out the joint statement first, and then get our campaigns to discuss this.'" Obama said he later saw McCain announcing his plans on television.

One more time: If this version of events was true, 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 and waited for Obama's private and definitive answer before going public.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/obama_dismisses_mccains_call_f.php

[Mark E. Smith]

1. Nothing but a cheap ploy by McCain

... and an act of desperation.

[sellitman]

2. This was a desperate move by McSame.

Desperate because he is falling fast in the polls.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

4. McCain is gambling again, playing poker and trying to raise the ante

When Obama, who made the first contact, discussed issuing a joint non-partisan statement with McCain about the crisis, McCain's ego couldn't stand being upstaged and he had to make another political move to get noticed.

[Cha]

3. Obama handled that whole mcchicken thing

like the experienced pro he is.

[TlalocW]

5. Obama did perfect

He told the truth about what happened and before he could be made out to be a tattler, he got in a couple of snarky shots at McCain that showed how pathetic McCain is being.

TlalocW

[Lugnut]

6. I've read that McCain is a big gambler.

He must lose a lot.