HuffPo has a report on yesterday’s White House meet between Bush and leading congressional and senate members to reach an agreement on the $700bn bailout of Wall Street.

You’ll remember this is the meeting that Sen. John McCain “suspended” his campaign over. McCain climbed up on his high horse, threw off his partisan hat, and threw his talents behind the American people. Yeah right.

Anyone who has been watching the McCain campaign closely, will not be surprised to find that this was yet another McCain stunt. McCain, in stark contrast to the animated and informed discussion around him, remained quiet and was unable at any point to offer any specifics or give his support to any agreement.

Later McCain even admitted he hadn’t read Hank Paulson’s plan. That’s right. The crisis was so important that McCain felt the need to cancel an appearance on David Letterman (and lie to the host, BTW), “suspend” his campaign, and then attempt to delay tonight’s Presidential debate in Mississippi. Yet it never occurred to McCain that the crisis might be important enough for him to know what the hell he’s talking about.

Then just as everyone thought they’d reached a tentative agreement on a revised draft of Paulson’s plan, McCain finally woke up and mentioned a counter-proposal that a few House GOP’rs had offered. Not that McCain was backing that one or anything. He just needed to be seen doing something. Reports are rife that those present at the meeting are furious that McCain could have derailed an agreement, just because the GOP candidate wasn’t sure how his support of any deal would go down in the polls.

Sen. Chris Dodd, via. HuffPo ::

“What happened here, basically, if you want an honest appraisal of the thing, we have been spending a lot of time and I am tired. I have spent almost seven straight days at this in trying to come out with a workout plan for our economy a rescue plan,” said Dodd. “What this looked like to me was a rescue plan for John McCain for two hours and took us away from the work we are trying to do today. Serious people trying to do serious work to come up with an answer.”

So much for putting country before politics, eh?

About the author
Aaron Murin-Heath is an occasional contributor. He is a writer based in Newark-on-Trent and Tallinn, Estonia. He is both socially and economically liberal. Aaron blogs at tygerland.net.
· Other posts by Aaron Murin-Heath


Story Filed Under: Economy ,United States