McCain bails from debate to 'help' with bailout

In an obvious attempt to insert himself into the government bailout negotiation hoopla (and avoid a potentially dangerous debate with Obama over said issue,) McCain has flown back to Washington to 'help' the Democrats and Republicans reach a consensus that has nearly been reached without him.

McCain - who even before the election, had THE lowest attendance of any senator in the 110th Congress, missing 408 of the last 639 votes cast - seems to feel that he should be there for the post-agreement photo shoot.

Even Republicans seem to suspect that McCain is simply doing this to connect himself with whatever outcome is achieved by their hard work. Obama has called McCain out; reminding him that it is 'a president's job to do more than one thing at once.'

Meanwhile, Ole Miss stands to take a huge financial pounding - to the tune of a $5.5 million dollar loss - if the debate is canceled. I'm sure McCain of the 10 houses never even gave that a thought.

Oddly, the McCain camp also wants to postpone the VP debates as well. Apparently Sarah Palin will also ride into Washington on a white horse and save Wall Street from financial ruin. No wait, she is Governor of Alaska, and Biden (an actual Senator) is willing to appear as scheduled. Can't wait to hear the McCain team's spin for this one.

File this under 'Cut and Run.'

From Think Progress:

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are not enthusiastic about the presidential candidates injecting themselves. Time’s Jay Newton-Small reported last night that “leaders from the left and the right rejected the idea of McCain and Obama taking over the talks”:

But leaders from the left and the right rejected the idea of McCain and Obama taking over the talks. When asked by reporters if he wanted McCain sitting in blow-by-blow negotiations Rep. Adam Putnam, the No. 3 House Republican, simply smirked, mute for ten seconds as reporters laughed. Democrats were more voiciferous in their rejection of McCain-Obama negotiations; New York Senator Chuck Schumer and Rep. Jim Clyburn, the No. 3 House Dem, both said if McCain had really cared where have he — and his staff — been in the negotiations thus far.

Putnam told Politico that “McCain and Obama were most valuable in speaking to the need for action rather than getting into the legislative details.” Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL), the ranking Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, indicated he didn’t want McCain’s help, pointing “McCain away from the House and toward the Senate.” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said the candidates return would “not be particularly helpful.”

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA), who is one of the chief negotiators of the bailout proposal, derided McCain’s “late entry into the negotiations“:

“McCain is Andy Kaufman in his Mighty Mouse costume - ‘Here I Come to Save the Day,’” Frank said as he left a Thursday morning caucus meeting with House Democrats, saying the Republican presidential candidate’s decision to enter the mix “is not helpful.”

“He hasn’t been involved,” Frank said. “He doesn’t know anything about it.”

One anonymous Republican ridiculed McCain’s plan to jump into negotiations, telling the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank, “Daddy’s coming home.” Frank also mocked the idea that McCain could help with the details, quipping, “I guess if I wanted expertise there, I’d ask Sarah Palin.”

Ouch.

Actually, upon looking more closely at the Ole Miss debate - moderated by Jim Lehrer of PBS - I think I may grasp the true underlying reason for the mad dash back to Washington. Jim Lehrer of PBS is perhaps the one debate moderator that might ask real questions. Questions that would put McCain on the spot.

I suspect that the McCain camp would have used literally any excuse to escape this debate - even a barn fire in Arkansas would have sufficed.