McCain to suspend campaign

H/T Duane Lester at All American Blogger who pulled the story off Drudge

I hopped on Twitter and saw Duane’s Tweet. Wow.

From Drudge:

MCCAIN: America this week faces an historic crisis in our financial system. We must pass legislation to address this crisis. If we do not, credit will dry up, with devastating consequences for our economy. People will no longer be able to buy homes and their life savings will be at stake. Businesses will not have enough money to pay their employees. If we do not act, ever corner of our country will be impacted. We cannot allow this to happen.

Last Friday, I laid out my proposal and I have since discussed my priorities and concerns with the bill the Administration has put forward. Senator Obama has expressed his priorities and concerns.This morning, I met with a group of economic advisers to talk about the proposal on the table and the steps that we should take going forward.I have also spoken with members of Congress to hear their perspective.

It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the Administration’ proposal. I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time.

Tomorrow morning, I will suspend my campaign and return to Washington after speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative. I have spoken to Senator Obama and informed him of my decision and have asked him to join me.

I am calling on the President to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself. It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem.

We must meet as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans, and we must meet until this crisis is resolved.I am directing my campaign to work with the Obama campaign and the commission on presidential debates to delay Friday night’s debate until we have taken action to address this crisis.

I am confident that before the markets open on Monday we can achieve consensus on legislation that will stabilize our financial markets, protect taxpayers and homeowners, and earn the confidence of the American people. All we must do to achieve this is temporarily set politics aside, and I am committed to doing so.

Following September 11th, our national leaders came together at a time of crisis. We must show that kind of patriotism now. Americans across our country lament the fact that partisan divisions in Washington have prevented us from addressing our national challenges. Now is our chance to come together to prove that Washington is once again capable of leading this country.

Developing…

To be really honest, this smacks of a big political stunt to me. I reserve the right to change my mind later because I’m shooting from the hip and being honest with my first reaction. I’ve never been a big McCain fan until he became the only hope of avoiding an extremist in the White house. On the other hand, I can say McCain has a track record of doing what he believes is right at the time - I’ll point to supporting the surge when it was extremely unpopular and politically costly. So maybe…hopefully…most likely…he knows better than I do.

Update #1

I just heard that Obama is refusing to cancel the debate. Good. While discussing this on Duane’s comments section I noted that I still think this whole “pause the campaign” thing seems kind of gimmicky. We’re what? 40 days from the election? I’m voting for McCain either way because there’s no other alternative, but inability to maintain focus on the task at hand and delegate or trust others is not indicative of a healthy management style. I hate to take shots at our guy, but I gotta call ‘em as a I see ‘em.

McCain is running for the Chief executive spot. Top management. Obama is running for national messiah. McCain needs to speak clearly on this issue and take a unwavering, principled position, and continue working on winning the White House. Yeah, this whole mess is bad for the economy but so would a four-year Jimmy Carter…err, I mean Barack Obama presidency. What can McCain do in Washington that he can’t do from the campaign trail while also performing his current, primary, and most important task at hand?

I hope I’m wrong, but this just looks too much like a stunt and the Obama campaign is going to come out on top of this one.

CNN:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain announced Wednesday that he is suspending his campaign to return to Washington and focus on the “historic” crisis facing the U.S. economy.

The Arizona senator called on his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, to do the same.

The Obama campaign announced that Obama would make a statement shortly.

He also urged organizers of Friday’s presidential debate at the University of Mississippi to postpone the event.

“I am calling on the president to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself,” McCain told reporters in New York. “It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem.”

It was not immediately clear how extensive the suspension he announced would be — whether it would include dropping television advertising or just canceling scheduled appearances. McCain took no questions after reading his statement.

McCain’s announcement came just hours before President Bush was scheduled to address the nation on the troubled state of the U.S. financial system — a problem for which his administration has proposed a $700 billion bailout.

In response, the Obama campaign said Obama called McCain at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday to ask if the Republican nominee would join him in a joint statement of “shared principles and conditions” for the proposal. It said McCain called back at 2:30 p.m. — shortly before his New York announcement — to agree, and “The two campaigns are currently working together on the details.”

The bailout plan has met with a cool reception in two days of hearings on Capitol Hill, where both Democrats and Republicans have expressed skepticism about the proposal drafted by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

“It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the administration’s proposal,” McCain said. “I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time.”

But he added that he believes Congress could forge a consensus on legislation “before the markets open on Monday.”