Debate commission says McCain-Obama faceoff still on

Never mind all of today's hoopla -- Friday's first presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama is full-steam ahead.

Per the just-released statement by the Commission on Presidential Debates, which organizes the meetings between nominees:

The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) is moving forward with its plan for the first presidential debate at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss. this Friday, September 26.  The plans for this forum have been underway for more than a year and a half.  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.

Earlier today, McCain announced that he is halting his campaign because of the nation's economic turmoil and the fragility of the proposed financial firm bailout proposal, and called for the debate to be postponed. Obama called for it to go on. Then politicians in both camps weighed in, with -- surprise, surprise -- Newt Gingrich and Arnold Schwarzenegger backing McCain's plan, and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid supporting Obama's position. Who says politics isn't predictable?

-- Seema Mehta

Comments

[sloppyjoeblow]

If McCain doesn't have the stamina to both work on the financial crisis issue and do a 90 minute debate, then maybe he doesn't have the stamina to be president.

[jefflz]

Kudos to the debate Commision for not buying into this latest McCain stunt. Are we to believe that the candidates themselves are needed for the direct negotiations between Congress and the administration? Hardly. Is McCain trying to tell us he can't walk and chew gum at the same time? Or is he just plain chicken?

[dressypink]

This McCain's new ploy will not work this time. McCain has been running a very disgraceful, dishonorable, dispicable, deceptive and disgusting campaign, no sane person should fall for these gimmicks. Whenever McCain is down in polls he resorts to diversions, phony campaign and lies. I am glad Obama had the sense to resist him this tiime.

[germanguy]

Check-mate Macl!

[esmeralda dangerfield]

Let Sarah Palin stand in for McCain.

That's what a VP is supposed to do.

[plain jane]

Thank goodness. Logic reigns supreme. The McCain antics are exhausting.

[Rasputing]

Senators Obama and McCain gave their word to debate in Mississippi on Friday night. Great men keep their word.

[Bellingman]

@We take no prisoners

Excellent satire of a childishly ranting brainless ditto-head. You're obviously a secret Obama supporter.

Keep up the good work!

[Jordan]

"Obama and Biden just want to carry on ... while McCain wants to put the people and their economic concerns first." Then why is it that McCain hasn't cast a vote in over 5 months, whereas Obama was voting until 2 months ago? This is purely a gimmick by McCain. He is 1 man of 535 in congress and will make little difference there. (Especially as he is not on the appropriate committees nor is he an economic expert.) He is however one of two people poised to become the next president. The public would be better served by him going out and telling us about himself so we can make the correct decision come November.

[JoAnn Pratte]

John McCain has not had a good two weeks--due to his own gaffes, lack of judgement and having lobbyists (getting paid by Freddie Mac until last month). It seems when his numbers go down, he tries another gimmick. He picked Sarah Palin without vetting her fully, focused on nonsense like pigs and lipstick and now this gimmick--postponing the debate. He hasn't shown any leadership in this economic crisis but now wants to use it to try to make himself look presidential. A president needs to be able to handle more than one thing at a time. He can deal with the bailout and still show up and perform at a debate. If he can't do this then I don't see how he could possinbly serve effectively as a president.

[SN]

Isn't a presidential candidate suppose to be able to multi-task. So that would mean go vote on the economy and also attend the scheduled debate. If he can't handle those 2 things and has to suspend his campaign that doesn't fair well if say there are 3 things going on in the world and he has to attend to them. Congress is probably better off anyway if he votes remotely through modern day technology since he has all the secret service and election stuff around that could be distracting. Oh wait does he know how to use modern day technology.

[Eddie Zalez]

The presidential debate should go on and be turned into a debate about the bailout. The Wall Street criminals that looted our economy should be punished. The members of Congress that allowed this major embarrassment to happen to our nation should be identified and asked to resign their committee positions. Now we know why seniority in Congress does not work well and there should be term limits.

[Young but not naive]

HELLO EVERYONE!
i'd like to propose a vote in this comments section...
this for everyone regardless of political orientation...

Who is for...?

A. Switching the VP debate to take the presidential debates place on Friday

B. Letting Palin stand in for McCain on friday

C. Re-schedule

D. None of the above (submit another idea..)

[Thom Lager]

This is like trying to cancel the sopronos during peak season. Oh John, ya just don't get it.

[Larry Clifton]

Obama is hoping for defeat for America, just like Democrats always do, whether the topic is war, economics, civil rights or elections. bad news for America is good news to Democrats.
Mccain is right - country first!
Nobama
http://www.examiner.com/x-852-Atlanta-Civics-Examiner

[PerfectSolution]

If John McCain is not available to debate, he should send his VP, Sarah Palin, to debate for him. To keep things fair, Obama can send Joe Biden.

[troublemaker]

Don't worry. John will be there. This is to heighten the excitement. Then, maybe John will punch Barack in the face. Even if Barack kicks his butt, we will laugh with glee!

[Rodney Lamprey]

Wait, wait, let's suspend any more elections until Bush repairs the economy and finds Osama bin Laden's grandchildren.

McCain just wants to be in Washington so his lobbyists are well represented to get a slice of the $700B of taxpayers money.

[MasterYodaFreak]

There was a McCain supporter on MSNBC tonight who stated that even though John McCain does not sit on any comities in charge of rectifying our economical situation he is the one person the republicans need to hear from to get this bill passed. If John McCain is so instrumental leader persuading the direction of the Republican Party into decision making then why did the government not do something in 2005 when McCain (Supposedly) brought this to light the first time? Why did the republican do nothing then?

[The Psychologist]

To "We take no prisoners and eat the wounded" - Your moniker says it all - hostility and killing. Then your statement speaks to hypocrisy. You should be McCain's running mate so you can stand behind the placards that read "Reform, Prosperity and Peace". Do you know that "reform" is another word for "change"? McCain can't even come up with his own campaign foundation!

[sandieggan]

Will anyone really notice? The most ardent republicans that show up for his speeches are only there to see Palin.
They really don't care if he takes the rest of the campaign off entirely... Just give them Sarah, but don't ask her any questions!

[Ira in LA]

What are the implications of Friday's debate going forward with the V.P. candidates instead? They need to be able to step in in case of disability or other unavailability. Joe Biden might complain, but Gov. Palin can show 'em what she's got. If McCain's busy, what are we going to do, cancel the elections?

[To Jordan From we take no prisoners.and.eat the wounded]

McCain does not vote present...he takes a stand and stays with it and adjusts as circumstances dictate...hey
Obame votes present and then says all the others showed bad judgement in taking a stand...the Chicago
bum has been getting away with murder worshipping a
racist and hate monger pseudo preacher for TWENTY
years.....HELLO? His stands for criminals like Rezko and
Ayers...downplayed by the liberal media rate among the
the most flagrant abuses of our collective conscience. A
nation that can no longer distinguish between good and
evil is condemned to the type of decripitude and decadence that have plagued Grecian and Roman empires.Obama/Biden? Osama/Satan...evil twins

[S. M. Cook]

John McCain can be expected to manage his campaign as he will; he will continue to do so, and we will watch his actions filtered through various media, and cast a vote that is slightly more informed than the agerage voter.
Barack Obama will perform likewise; some millions of persons will cast a vote on election day, perhaps in record numbers.

Or so we are told.

Meanwhile, a bill has been presented as due and payable; an interesting fact of our times? Most thought having our grandchildren fund our couch-on-wheels pie in the sky greed extravaganza, rather than us living responsibly within our means, right and just.

Most were wrong.

We live in interesting times.

[Ted Suzukawa]

We managed to hold presidential debates during the Civil War. The Bailout vote is hardly worthy of comparision. Especially considering how little interparty bickering there was before John McCain came back.

Then again maybe this mess does at least tell us something about the canidates. Obama seems to be willing to delegate to others. McCain seems to want to handle everything himself.