McCain's Economic Woes

With McCain's campaign still "on hold", Johnny returned to DC in order to take part in the economic talks. However, it seems like McCain isn't coming back with an open heart and mind. Rather, many reports are stating that McCain has remained quiet and shut off during the discussions, only speaking during the closing moments to express doubt about the proposed agreement working.

It seems as if most of the media is jumping on the idea that McCain sabotaged the talks as articles are popping up in papers/sites across the country. In fact, in terms of a public perception of what is happening, the media has really taken control of the bailout talks. Regardless of what eventually happens in these talks, with all the national negative press that McCain is taking on today, will it matter what role he plays? Also, if he stays true to his word and no-shows the debate tonight, can he allow Obama unmitigated access to everyone watching the debate while he sits in Washington getting blasted by the press and Washington insiders alike? McCain has already been questioned heavily about his economic stance and now that he has taking time off to do nothing but fix the economy and is getting assaulted in the press for doing so, how can he recover? Is the press rearing its ugly head for all the slight that they felt from the Republicans?

UPDATE: ABC News is suggesting that since McCain broke the buyout, now he's got to buy it.

The Issues v. John McCain

With Wall Street facing some dire straits, what will each candidate do to help calm fears over an upcoming recession? With John McCain backpedaling from his stance that the economy is "fundamentally sound", it's been interesting to see how the media is portraying each of the candidates in this struggles. Even just from a quick scan of the LA Times or NY Times headlines will show that McCain is certainly the target of the scorn from the mainstream media. While Obama seems to escape unscathed from the day's headlines, there are an unmistakable glutton of articles about McCain's opinions (1)(2)(3)(4). It seems as if we may be beginning to enter a portion of the campaign built around issues and from the looks of it, McCain is starting to take more direct hits from the media about his inability to discuss the issues.

In a recent poll by Quinnipiac, Obama has regained a small lead in the race (49-45), rebounding from some polls last week showing him trailing a McCain-Palin ticket hot off a good showing at the convention. The article in the Times states that this only a portion of the polling came during the recent financial struggles. I can't help but wonder if this is a sign of the backlash that may be starting to stem from the attack tactics shown by McCain and Palin. As we mentioned in class on Monday evening, we wouldn't know the results of those ads until the next major poll came out. With the Republican Campaign finding themselves on the bottom of the heap, the question becomes how do they, in turn, rebound and regain the lead that they had, however slim it may have been.