McCain wants to ditch the debate, economy too important even though it was fine according to him last week!

This is amazing considering a week ago he couldn't even admit there was a crisis, but John McCain is "suspending his campaign" and asking that Barack Obama do the same and them both skip the debate in Mississippi on Friday -- which was supposed to focus on foreign policy

From Jonathan Martin's blog on Politico:

John McCain is calling for the first presidential debate, scheduled for Friday in Mississippi, to be delayed and urging Barack Obama to join him in Washington for a high-level meeting of congressional leaders to address the financial crisis.

McCain said in New York today that he is suspending his campaign tomorrow and will return on Washington.

It's an extraordinary move, plainly aimed at appearing presidential and above the partisan fray at a time of great challenge. It comes a week after McCain struggled to find his footing on the crisis and as national and state polls show him slipping in large part because of voter concerns over the economy.

"I am calling on the President to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself," McCain said this afternoon. "It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem."

McCain said his goal was to have a bailout package in place by the start of next week.

Martin also wrote that McCain compared the economic crisis to 9/11.

First of all, what can McCain do that President Bush won't inarticulately butcher in his special address tonight? I watched The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night and former President Bill Clinton broke down the economic mess without even resorting to "house of cards" metaphors.

My God. It's been so long with W. in charge that I forgot presidents could be smart and actually explain their views without massacring the English language.

Considering that going to Mississippi to bark at each other for 90 minutes really wouldn't stop either candidate from engaging in the economic crisis, I'm more baffled that someone didn't just request that the debate topic be switched to the economy so people can compare and contrast McCain and Obama's dueling plans. (Or McCain's lack of plan since the economy was fundamentally sound a few days ago.)

This is pure theater. I wish Obama had thought to first ask that the debate topic be changed because of the crisis. That way this stunt would have a lesser chance of working, but now that McCain's pulled it there aren't a lot of options here. And McCain (obviously) needed to do something that says "I get it" when it comes to the economy because in some polls Obama is opening up a 6-to-9 point lead.

Sigh. I call shenanigans.