Who's he kidding? McCain is just taking his campaign to Washington. I'll bet he's not welcome.

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Surprise, surprise. John McCain was so floored by Barack Obama's nine-point lead that he's 'suspended' his campaign and decided to duck Friday's debate.

McCain and his minions are still locked in an active blood fight with the New York Times over their timely response to his challenge to have his embattled Fannie/Freddie campaign chief, Rick Davis' record "examined by anybody who wants to look at it,” and the report Tuesday that the lobbying firm of the head of his transition team was on Freddie's dole from 2000 until the bailout.

This morning, McCain's hired hands were still attacking the Times over Davis while, revealingly, neglecting to deny the heart of the charges; the $15,000 a month Davis got to help Fannie/Freddie duck regulation.

The only thing McCain will likely do in Washington is, first, work to cover-up whatever tracks he's made along the road of deregulation he traveled in the years before this presidential bid. Next, McCain will gather together all the likely suspects to stage a political response to the economic crisis.

It's not credible that McCain is ready to put politics aside just to focus on his day job. Just a week or so ago, his spokesman Brian Rogers threw down the political gauntlet and declared that the time for substance was over and signaled the beginning of the do-anything, say-anything campaign of lies that earned them the scorn of the senator's longtime media apologists.

“We ran a different kind of campaign and nobody cared about us," Rogers whined. "They didn’t cover John McCain."

Unable to attract anything more than Palin gawkers on the campaign trail, McCain is heading back to the town and the institution he regularly scorns in every address to take advantage of the taxpayer-funded platform. It's a wonder what McCain, and his confessed limited grasp of economics, hopes to contribute to the financial debate in Washington.

It's certain that we'll be treated to at least one breathless presser from McCain (covered by a media 150% against him :eyes:) with all of his fellow 'reformed' deregulators surrounding him, promising to clean up the mess they made . . . if we just give them more money to squander. But it's also certain that there won't be any joy among anyone seriously working to negotiate a bailout bill upon hearing that the presidential campaign is heading to the Capitol.

[DCKit]

1. The definition of "Old and In The Way"

He needs to grandstand and will disrupt meaningful progress.

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2. Despite claiming to want a bill

. . . he's set to 'get in the way' of the effort underway.

Hell, Reid was told McCain was with the administration and the legislators in Congress who are negotiating this thing. Then McCain came out and set himself outside of the process. He doesn't want to help as much as he wants to, as you say, grandstand and obstruct.

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3. Majority Leader Harry Reid said in a statement that the candidates' presence could be a distraction

"If that changes, we will call upon them. We need leadership, not a campaign photo op," Reid said. Sources tell CNN that Reid read the statement to McCain when the two talked on the phone Wednesday.

And the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, said McCain's decision to return would would bring the "charged political atmosphere" of presidential politics to Washington.

"I'm not sure that will help create a positive, bipartisan or nonpartisan atmosphere to solve the problem," said Durbin, who added, "I think we need to do this in a thoughtful, quiet, and sensible way. "

One of the Democratic negotiators, Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, dismissed McCain's move as a "political stunt."

"The negotiations have gone on," Schumer, an Obama supporter, said. "It's as if, you know, you're in the middle of drawing an amazing painting and someone else comes in and says, 'hey, come in, let me throw my brush marks on there.' It just doesn't make sense.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/24/congress.mccain.reaction/?iref=mpstoryview