(CNN) - McCain supporter Sen. Lindsey Graham tells CNN the McCain campaign is proposing to the Presidential Debate Commission and the Obama camp that if there's no bailout deal by Friday, the first presidential debate should take the place of the VP debate, currently scheduled for next Thursday, October 2 in St. Louis.
In this scenario, the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin would be rescheduled for a date yet to be determined, and take place in Oxford, Mississippi, currently slated to be the site of the first presidential faceoff this Friday.
Graham says the McCain camp is well aware of the position of the Obama campaign and the debate commission that the debate should go on as planned - but both he and another senior McCain adviser insist the Republican nominee will not go to the debate Friday if there's no deal on the bailout.
I KNEW THIS WAS COMING HE TRIES TO PRETEND ITS ABOUT HIM AND THE ECONOMY BUT HE'S TRYING TO SAVE PALIN FOR MORE TIME TO STUDY........WHEN WILL THE AMERCIAN VOTERS RECOGNIZED (GAME).......THIS IS STREET POLITICS........EVEN THE CONGRESS MADE A STATEMENT TODAY SATING MCCAIN HASN'T BEEN CONCERN FOR 6MTHS ALL OF THE SUDDEN HE WANTS TO STOP THE DEBATES.........WAKE UP PEOPLE THIS IS POLITICS AT IT BEST......
Now is the time for debate. Now is the time to hear these canidates positions on economics, foreign policy, etc. Now is the time for John McCain to stop hiding behind Sarah Palin, Lindsey Graham, and others, and come forward and tell us what he's been doing in Washington D.C. these last 26 years. To tell us how he and Mr. Graham's policies are what have brought us to this point in our great nation's history. Now is the time for the Republican party to take responsibility for the looting of the public trust, to face the charges for their deregulatory policies that enriched the few at the expense of the many. His faux concern, like his choice of a running mate, are purely a political distraction with one goal in mind: to get his power-hungry ego elected president of the very nation he has done such a disservice to these past 26 years. No way, no how, no McCain!
McCain hasn't voted in the Senate since April. Now he wants to be involved?
Oh, that's an even BETTER idea! Now, McCain will have another week to prep and Palin won't have to show the country and the world how little she knows and understands!
Nice try, McCain! We're not buying it!
I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I KNEW IT. First they'll "postpone" it, then they'll find some excuse for it to never happen. Seriously CNN, CALL THEM OUT ON THIS CRAP.
So the whole manufactured issue is to get Palin out of a debate with Joe Biden? Not a surprise, really. Would the Palin – Biden "to be determined" date be in about 2028? She might be qualified by then.
Sen. McCain Taking The Easy Out.
Sen. Obama Is Correct!
Sen. McCain Why Not Send Your Strong VP Pick.
If they want to switch the debates so McCain can be in DC with Obama, then fine, let Palin and Biden go first.
This is just another stall tactic from the McCain camp loosely disguised as "putting country first."
Put your country first – and get out there in front of millions of Americans who want to hear what you have to say without a script and far away from the cozy halls of Congress.
Well, he's trying to escape debates. He knows he's going to get smashed by Obama on the economy so he runs away and tries to turn it to his advantage. I don't understand how people can still consider to vote for McCain.
THE MESSAGE is LOUD AND CLEAR !!!
THEY ARE AFRAID TO DEBATE!!!
MISSISSIPPI - VOTE FOR OBAMA!!
I GREW UP IN MISSISSIPPI AND AND I WILL VOTE for OBAMA
McCain is a Worthless WIMP!
And Palin the former newscaster can only read teleprompters!
Oh big surprise. What I still cannot believe is that the Republican party selected these two in the first place!
So that's what this is all about! And I thought McCain was putting his country first......he's just putting Palin first! lol
So sad, they can deal with the top issue, debate, they not deserve our respect, wake up AMERICA, mc Cain/ Palin totally loser!!!
what a joke!
NO WAY NO HOW, NO McPain..
REPUBLICANS RUNNING SCARED. DEBATES MUST GO ON...
of course we should cancel the vp debates. Lets also cancel all press meetings for the rest of the election cycle. if you want to know where mccain stands on anything check his website. That will be the only form of communication from here on out
This just shows that both McCain and Palin need an extra week to cram for their debates with superior candidates Obama and Biden.
It's another political tactic to "show" country first. But if you're smart enough, you'll notice that McCain is putting his politics first.
Has he not heard of MULTITASKING? It is one thing he'll have to do while being a President. Well, you can tell he's already incompetent.
Is this some kind of joke? Cannot two people debate for 90 minutes and then go back to do something else?
This day is unreal. Will the real John McCain please stand up? This is so crazy.
A lot of undecided voters are counting on these debates to decide. Then, McCain continues to bark about townhalls without Obama and he wants to cancel two debates! GET REAL!
McCain's fear of the issues is almost palpable. He is not that much older than I am and can't operate a computer. He doesn't know much about economics, and I suspect that it is beacause he doesn't much care about economics, I have taught myself. He picked a poorly thought out running mate(too bad Lyndon LaRouche is not female), and is terrified by his debate, and MORE terrified by the veep debates.
The debates will clearly make no difference as to how I will vote, but
I hope his ducking the debates will make a difference on how a lot of people will vote. If you want four more years of the same BS or worse,
vote McCain. If you are not rich and sane, vote otherwise.
And now they want to postpone the VP debate. What is wrong McCain. Are you afraid poor Sarah Palin not experience enough to debate with Joe Biden. Are you afraid she not strong enough to stand on her. Are you afraid she might trip and prove she is not ready to become VP. Don't hide. If she is experienced enough to be VP then she is strong enough to debate.
Better yet...let Palin debate Barack, while John McCain puts his Country first.
As an American citizen I find McCain's game-playing offensive. The economy of the United States is at stake. Our national security is at stake. Our civil rights are at stake. This man is playing politics with the stability of our nation and desecrating the blood and sweat of generations who built this country.
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
For god's sake NO!
Besides. What role would Palin play anyway, she's not a Senator nor a Representative of the House. She can't debate it on the floor so she might as well debate it on stage.
I'm tired of Multi-media elections – I want it back the old way, where people showed up, answered the question already, and then we pick who we think is best!!
OH MY GOD!!!! Now I know this was a real stunt. Sen. McCain really should suspend his campaign -- to go look for his honor and integrity. To be sneaky and take to the stage while your oponent is awaiting your answer to releasing a bi-partisan statement from the two of you regarding this crisis and to go even a step further to say let's put off the debate and state that you initiated this idea is lower the a snake. Can you say "pond scumb "? I have also though of John McCain as an honorable and heroic individual now I see him for what is has become – a man without scrupples and without honor. So said how low one would go to win a seat in the White House.
As my great-grandmother use to say when I did something she believed was beneath me -- SHAME ON YOU SENATOR MCCAIN – go sit in a corner.
It's rather obvious that they are just trying to keep her out of the spotlight as much as possible. My guess is that it wouldn't actually end up postponed, but cancelled. If we never know how she performs and what she stands for, the result will be she is voted for just because of what she is, pretty female. Please allow her to be seen and heard so we know more about her and what she stands for. This is becoming a circus and not a quality campaign.
What is indisputable here is that this whole, sorry financial mess owes a great deal to the Republican ideology of de-regulation, personified in Senator Phil Gramm, one of McCain's closest advisors, who authored the bill central to that de-regulation. Now, having helped to prepare the ground for this disaster, Sen. McCain wants to swoop in and fix it, an 11th-hour convert to populism? And, in doing so, he gets to postpone a debate in which he is _sure_ to face hard questions on these very issues, even if its focus is supposed to be foreign policy?
This is a quintuple farce and must be recognized as such.