Big John! Big John ! Big, Bad John ... Gas Masks for the Media

McCain announced at 2:30 this afternoon that he is “suspending” his campaign because of the financial crisis in which the treasury secretary and fed chairman seek 700 billion dollars to bail out private finance and insurance companies who are in “meltdown” because of failed mortgages and what have you and it is apparent even to economic dummies like me that we are in deep shit. He says he is going to Washington to attend the crisis in a bipartisan manner and is asking Obama to do the same. Oh yes, he wants to cancel Friday's debate. (As Church Lady would say, "Well. Isn't that conveeen-ient?")

When I started reading this story on CNN online, it seemed that McCain was taking the “nonpartisan” initiative to dive into this crisis and focus on its solution.

But then … wait a minute.

I read the entire story and buried half-way down in the text, it became clear that Obama was the one who took the initiative by phoning the McCain campaign at 8:30 this morning and asking him to issue a joint, nonpartisan statement resolving to focus on the problem, free of campaign rhetoric.

McCain, the hustler (doubtless machinating with Rovian operatives between early this morning and the “suspension” announcement), grabbed up Obama’s idea and ran with it, and CNN and no doubt the "deans" and "pundits" of the mainstream will report this straight-faced as not a ruse but as a "patriotic country-first, reaching across the aisles" move by that great "war hero" (granted) and, yes -- we must hear it every miserable day -- "maverick."

A talking point, if you will.

When the crisis came to light, McCain started out by saying astoundingly that the "fundamentals of the economy are sound," an endlessly iterated, boneheaded Dubya-ism if ever there was one,

and then that he meant American workers are what he meant by "fundamentals,"

and then he called for the SEC chairman's head (for starters, not knowing that the POTUS can't fire the SEC chairman w/o advice and consent),

and then he rolled his Marlboros up in the sleeve of his Harley T-shirt and called for taking away the bonuses of the CEOs,

and then ... he blamed Obama.

The point is: aren't the media tired of the stench of all the things this man pulls out of his ass every day? They never complain of the smell.

I'm not done. More in the next post.