The McCain camp has just sent word that the senator is suspending his campaign and returning to Washington to deal with the financial crisis.
McCain is also calling for a postponement of Friday night’s debate and for Obama to suspend his campaign as well.
We have McCain’s prepared remarks here.
Oddly, the cable news nets are now playing a recorded — not live — statement given by McCain himself announcing the suspension:
Late Update: The Obama camp initially sent out this statement from spokesperson Bill Burton in reaction to the McCain announcement:
At 8:30 this morning, Senator Obama called Senator McCain to ask him if he would join in issuing a joint statement outlining their shared principles and conditions for the Treasury proposal and urging Congress and the White House to act in a bipartisan manner to pass such a proposal. At 2:30 this afternoon, Senator McCain returned Senator Obama’s call and agreed to join him in issuing such a statement. The two campaigns are currently working together on the details.
Later Update: The White House approves and, as if on cue, issues a statement:
“We welcome Sen. McCain’s announcement,” said White House spokeswoman Dan Perino in a statement. “We are making progress in negotiations on the financial markets rescue legislation, but we have not finished it yet. Bipartisan support from Sens. McCain and Obama would be helpful in driving to a conclusion. The financial market crisis is a big problem that requires a big solution, and solving this in a bipartisan way will help prevent economic damage spreading from Wall Street to all Americans.”
John McCain’s strategy at the moment appears to be to vote against any federal financial market bailout plan — whether it’s a good one or bad one — because it will give him an issue to pivot against both Obama, the Democratic Congress and Bush. But Sarah Palin appears now to have all but committed her running mate to support of whatever Congress passes. According to the AP, “Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin says the United States could be headed for another Great Depression if Congress doesn’t act on the financial crisis.” The context and quote aren’t clear. So we’ll have to see precisely what she said. But this would appear to box McCain in a bit — or force a retraction from Palin.
Late Update: Here’s video of Palin:
For $700 billion, I’d sure want to know what I was getting. So what is the American economy getting for its $700 billion bailout? Well, it’s kind of like a bazooka, or a mythological sea monster, or something like that …
Full-size video at TPMtv.com.
McCain Camp Won’t Talk About Ersatz Trooper-Gate Probe From Lynn Sweet …
John McCain campaign manager Rick Davis–under the spotlight because of his work for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac–is skipping a Wednesday lunch with reporters sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor.
On Tuesday, word came that McCain political director Mike DuHaime will substitute for Davis because he is “heading out on the trail” today.
Davis is the subject of stories in the New York Times and Newsweek about his work for the failed mortgage market makers. At issue right now: did Davis contradict McCain’s statement that he has not been involved with Fannie and Freddie for some time.
The Daily Muck Virginia remains very close, with a new Mason-Dixon poll giving McCain a 47%-44% lead. That and the day’s other political news in the TPM Election Central Morning Roundup.
So the latest is that we find that McCain campaign manager Rick Davis’s firm was on the Freddie Mac payroll until last month when the government took over Freddie and forced it to stop paying money to lobbyists and insiders like Rick Davis. Now, Davis is part owner of Davis Manafort, the firm in question. But the McCain campaign is insisting that Davis hasn’t drawn any compensation from the firm since 2006. So, the question is, is that true?
McCain campaign house blogger Michael Goldfarb says this is demonstrably false. And it may well be false. But the only evidence seems to be Davis’s and the campaign’s claims. I suspect that what they’re saying may be true. But at this point with Davis and the campaign caught in so many different lies, do they really have any credibility to make such claims absent actual evidence? I mean, just yesterday Davis was saying he hadn’t had any contact with the mortgage giants since the front group he ran for them shut down in 2005. And now we learn that the following year he asked them to keep sending more checks, apparently in return for no services rendered — a point, you should note, that Goldfarb appears unable to deny.
Second, if I’m an owner of a company, I don’t have to draw compensation today to reap benefits from the company’s current success and profits.
The best statement I’ve read so far on this tangled web is just out from Public Action Campaign Fund …
“John McCain’s campaign manager and Freddie Mac essentially had what amounts to a secret half a million dollar lay-a-way plan. For almost three years and as late as last month, Freddie Mac made secret, monthly payments of $15,000 to Rick Davis’s firm, apparently in exchange for providing special access to a future McCain White House. If McCain knew about this, his presidential campaign should be in serious trouble. If he didn’t know about it, he ought to fire Rick Davis immediately,” said David Donnelly, Director of Campaign Money Watch.