Why Did McCain Pull Out,?

Excerpts from the Washington post article on McCain's sad attempt to escape the first debate. One wonders if this is because he knows that his weakness with the economy. Consider these points:

1) the Deregulator while Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee,
2) the candidate who recently thought the economy was financially sound, and then
backtracked by saying he meant "the workers" (huh?)
3) who thinks it is a good idea to cobble together a commission to study the situation
even after government bailout of Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, AIG, and Lehman Brothers
4) and whose concept of personal wealth is so skewed as to be unaware of his own
property holdings

"...Obama called McCain early this morning to seek a joint statement on on their goals for the bailout measure now being negotiated between Congress and the Bush administration. But before that statement was issued, McCain went before television cameras to say he was putting the campaign on hold and wanted to delay Friday night's presidential debate on foreign policy. Among other things, McCain senior adviser Steve Schmidt said McCain would begin unilaterally pulling down his campaign ads and cease fundraising...

The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) said that it is "moving forward with its plan for the first presidential debate at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, MS this Friday, September 26," despite the McCain announcement. "We believe the public will be well served by having all of the debates go forward as scheduled," the Commission said."

And the LA Times:

""This is exactly the time the American people need to hear from the person who in approximately 40 days will be responsible for dealing with this mess," Obama said. "In my mind, [the debate] is more important than ever."

The Commission on Presidential Debates said it planned to hold the debate on Friday despite McCain's request.

"The plans for this forum have been underway for more than a year and a half," the commission said. "The CPD's mission is to provide a forum in which the American public has an opportunity to hear the leading candidates for the president of the United States debate the critical issues facing the nation. We believe the public will be well-served by having all of the debates go forward as scheduled."


See also the NY Times.

Other articles regarding McCain's cynical and pathetic gambit.

Analysis: McCain's debate ploy a sign of weakness which highlights that McCain's ploy was meant to derail Obama's 9 point lead according to some polls.

Another poll finds a 46%-34% lead by Obama on economic issues--no wonder McCain doesn't want to have a debate now:

Obama-McCain debate to go ahead: commission

Poll: Wis. voters may be swayed by debates