Is McCain Preparing to Vote Against the Bailout Bill?

[kpete]

Interestingly, when President Bush addressed the nation just minutes later, he essentially agreed to the exact same set of principles in his own speech. So the question is: Why wouldn't McCain agree to a fairly innocuous, Mom and apple pie set of conditions for a bill?

Democrats fear this morning that McCain is setting up a scenario in which he will vote against the bill, rally conservatives to his side and, most importantly, distance himself from both President Bush and Congress before the election.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/politicalinsider/2008/09/is-mccain-preparing-to-vote-ag.html

[GarbagemanLB]

1. That would have worked if he had not suspended his campaign to work out a bill. It would show

failure on his part.

[doc03]

7. McCain can claim he tried his best bring the parties together

but the Democrats were just playing politics and he had to put America first and vote against it.

[WI_DEM]

2. Yes! This is what I've been saying all along. He will vote against it to show he's

independent of Bush and try to run as an economic populist who won't bail out wall St., while he will try and paint Obama as somebody who cares more for Wall Street than bankers. Voters by and large are opposed to the bail out bill.

[ErinBerin84]

3. I read on TPM

that Huckleberry sent out emails to his "army" or whatever, railing against the bailout.

[nc4bo]

4. I thought he implied he agreed with the terms of the bailout plan - he even borrowed O's 5 point

protections too.

[wmbrew0206]

5. I've been reading a lot of stories that say, Republicans are setting McCain

up to look like a hero on this bill.

The Republicans are supposedly against this bail out and Paulson called Lindsay Graham and told him that he needed to get McCain back to give the other rethugs cover for voting for this. Otherwise, its a Democratic bill that is very unpopular.

That is their story anyway. They will say it shows McCain's leadership in doing something unpopluar with his party for the good of the country, yada yada yada.

I think the rethugs are playing politics with this one to try and help McCain look good on the economy.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

6. I think the Dems should insist that they all (Ds & Rs )vote for the bailout together

or no vote will be held and they'll all go down together. It's either bi-partisan, acceptable and non-political or it isn't.

If it becomes a political football due to McCain's grandstanding, then so be it.

[wmbrew0206]

8. If you do that, then you step McCain up to look like the savior

The President and the Dems want this bill to go through in some form, the republicans are happy to let the market sort it out.

If the Dems insist on a unanamous, or close to it, vote, then McCain can come in, as the now leader of the GOP, to make it look like he is leading his party and putting the country first to pass the bill, after he gets Obama's plan inserted, and then claim its another example of the bipartisan type of politics you can expect from him.

It is better for us to get Obama's plan in the bill and pass it with bear minimum republican support and leave McCain on the outside looking in and looking irrelevent.

[Essene]

9. It back-fires on Mccain on so many levels...

1. He cant argue that a deal must be reached and then also vote against it claiming conservative principles.

2. He's already completely lost the economics argument. Voting no makes him look more inflexible and ideologically driven than Bush himself. The dialog then focuses on his ties to lobbyists and his deregulatory philosophy.

3. His only documented concerns about this bail out is that it lacks oversight and needs to not compensate failed executives

[doc03]

10. I am thinking the whole thing is a stunt orchestrated

buy Rove to make McCain look Presidential. He stabs Obama in the back after Obama offers him a chance for a joint statement that would have kept it out of the Presidential campaign. Obama refuses to suspend his campaign or cancel the debate. So now the President summons both of them in for a meeting, now Obama is trapped in Washington and forced to vote or if he goes back out to campaign McCain can claim credit for staying in Washington and working out a compromise.