Presidential Debate Tonight Still On!: McCain & Obama Will Debate (Pictures)
Posted on September 26, 2008
Evidently, the Presidential debate tonight is back on! Senator John McCain had said he would suspend his campaign and not attend the debate, due to the current financial crisis. But Obama wanted the debate to go on as scheduled, and McCain has agreed to attend the debate in Mississippi. The presidential debate should start at 8 or 9 p.m. Eastern time tonight.
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Well, it looks as if the presidential debate will be held in Mississippi as scheduled. McCain had said he would suspend the campaign, and not attend the debate, until an agreement could be reached on the mortgage proposal.
Of course the agreement hasn’t been reached yet, but it appears the suspension was hurting McCain’s campaign. Many looked forward to the debate, and it could look bad for McCain if he did not attend. And Barack Obama wanted the debate to go on as scheduled.
McCain will fly out to Mississippi for the 9 p.m. debate Friday night. In a press statement, the McCain campaign said:
“Senator McCain has spent the morning talking to members of the Administration, members of the Senate, and members of the House. He is optimistic that there has been significant progress toward a bipartisan agreement now that there is a framework for all parties to be represented in negotiations, including Representative [Roy] Blunt as a designated negotiator for House Republicans.”
Little progress seems to have been made in the financial crisis, but McCain has “listened to all sides so he could help focus the debate on finding a bipartisan resolution that is in the interest of taxpayers and homeowners.”
“Both parties in both houses of Congress and the administration needed to come together to find a solution that would deserve the trust of the American people,” the statement said. “And while there were attempts to do that, much of yesterday was spent fighting over who would get the credit for a deal and who would get the blame for failure. There was no deal or offer yesterday that had a majority of support in Congress. There was no deal yesterday that included adequate protections for the taxpayers.”
Just last night, McCain and his staff had mentioned they might not attend the debate if a deal had not yet been set in place. But Senator Lindsey Graham said on morning talk shows that McCain will attend the debate even if he had just “as little as an outline or a proposal” pending.
A House Republican leadership aide said McCain’s staff is “acting sort of as a go-between between the White House and the House, trying to push negotiations along.”
“I understand that there is a lot of attention on this but I also wish Sen. Obama had agreed to 10 or more town hall meetings that I had asked him to attend with me,” McCain said. “Wouldn’t be quite that much urgency if he agreed to do that. Instead, he refused to do it.”
Below is John McCain’s statement saying that he will attend the debate tonight:
John McCain’s decision to suspend his campaign was made in the hopes that politics could be set aside to address our economic crisis.
In response, Americans saw a familiar spectacle in Washington. At a moment of crisis that threatened the economic security of American families, Washington played the blame game rather than work together to find a solution that would avert a collapse of financial markets without squandering hundreds of billions of taxpayers’ money to bailout bankers and brokers who bet their fortunes on unsafe lending practices.
Both parties in both houses of Congress and the administration needed to come together to find a solution that would deserve the trust of the American people. And while there were attempts to do that, much of yesterday was spent fighting over who would get the credit for a deal and who would get the blame for failure. There was no deal or offer yesterday that had a majority of support in Congress. There was no deal yesterday that included adequate protections for the taxpayers. It is not enough to cut deals behind closed doors and then try to force it on the rest of Congress — especially when it amounts to thousands of dollars for every American family.
The difference between Barack Obama and John McCain was apparent during the White House meeting yesterday, where Barack Obama’s priority was political posturing in his opening monologue defending the package as it stands. John McCain listened to all sides so he could help focus the debate on finding a bipartisan resolution that is in the interest of taxpayers and homeowners. The Democratic interests stood together in opposition to an agreement that would accommodate additional taxpayer protections.
Senator McCain has spent the morning talking to members of the administration, members of the Senate, and members of the House. He is optimistic that there has been significant progress toward a bipartisan agreement now that there is a framework for all parties to be represented in negotiations, including Representative Blunt as a designated negotiator for House Republicans. The McCain campaign is resuming all activities and the senator will travel to the debate this afternoon. Following the debate, he will return to Washington to ensure that all voices and interests are represented in the final agreement, especially those of taxpayers and homeowners.”
Do you readers think John McCain is doing the right thing by proceeding with the presidential debate as scheduled? Or should Barack Obama have agreed to postponing the debate in light of the financial crisis?
Images: WENN/PR
Source: news
3 comments
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McCain getting back into the debate is a purely political move, like everything else he does… it’s not that he wants to inform Americans or demonstrate his know-how, he just thought thought not showing up to the debates would make him look bad
serious folks: TODAY’S AMERICA NEED McCain!!