This is the first time in my lifetime, that a presidential candidate has ducked out of a debate. We're talking about electing a president of the United States, not a president of the Glee Club!

McCain's justification seems to be that he can only concentrate on one thing at a time. Which would be an automatic disqualifier.

But another potential justification seems to be respect - the American people don't want or deserve to know what McCain would do as president, and don't have the right to ask him questions, even through bad representatives in a debate. Put simply, an informed public hurts the McCain campaign.

Whatever the excuse, it's shocking to watch a presidential hopeful abdicate like this. Even Mike Huckabee is calling McCain's ploy a huge mistake.

Newsflash! You are a day late and a dollar short. McCain announced this morning that he will be at the debate. Taking your spin, and the spin the McCain camp is putting on this aside, you end up with a couple options on how to look at this:

1) He suspended his campaign as a political stunt to turn the polls that have run against him over the last three days

2) He suspended his campaign to lead by example and deal with one of the most important problems facing our nation this century, thus putting his country first, ahead of his own campaign.

3) He suspended his campaign to put national attention and the pressure that comes with it on the lawmakers from both sides of the isle that are talking about giving 700 billion of taxpayer money to failed private enterprises.

4) He suspended his campaign because he was afraid of debating Barry O.

Given that McCain was one of the few lawmakers who spoke out loudly in favor of the surge, he has a track record of doing what he thinks is right, regardless of the political consequences. Given that he is now going to attend the debates, we can scratch #4 off the list entirely. That leaves the other three which probably all played a part in the most recent theatrics, number two being perhaps the largest of the three. Funny stuff. Hard for the Democrats to argue that these seated senators shouldnt still be doing their job(now more than ever) as the economy fails and they run for president.

Originally Posted by cbwm

2) He suspended his campaign to lead by example and deal with one of the most important problems facing our nation this century, thus putting his country first, ahead of his own campaign.

Putting aside the meaning of "suspended" and "campaign" - do you really buy that multitasking is what "evil doers" do, and we need a clear example of a man who can only do one thing at a time?

Originally Posted by cbwm

Newsflash! You are a day late and a dollar short. McCain announced this morning that he will be at the debate.

Or maybe you're saying it's good to make retarded choices even your own team can't get behind as long as you flip flop within a week. Which brings us back to George Will (and most of America)'s criticism of McCain's judgment and decision making ability.