Non-Partisan: The Politics Behind the McCain Campaign Suspension

Today’s announcement from John McCain was more than what the press uttered, it was a strategic campaign move that more than took Barack Obama off-guard, but poses as a trap. 

This morning McCain announced the suspension of his campaign and his proposal to delay the first presidential debate so he can participate in bailout talks, urging opposing candidate Barack Obama to do the same. 

But to me this is no more than a genius PR stunt with a popular campaign trap strapped on as bait. By suspending his campaign, McCain has provided himself a chance to rebound from the political loss he was handed to by Obama’s bold economy talking point that was made out of the bailout plan when it first surfaced. 

 The most crucial word used in McCain’s statement is  “suspend.” This is a popular strategic move which acts as a  giant bait for the opposing party to jump on, and this has  essentially already started. Similar to what McCain attempted  during Hurricane Ike and the GOP Convention, McCain is  taking the hint of the economy crisis and the bailout and  stopping campaigning to help a topic that is popular with  the America people, and most importantly, popular with the  non-partisan mainstream media. 

 What McCain is essentially doing is getting himself into the  press as someone who seemingly wants help with the  economy, and furthermore give Obama enough bait for him to complain. And if this is successful, McCain could unleash a statement looking something like this:

I am disgusted over the selfish actions of senator Barack Obama for intervening politically with a cause that is posing a national crisis. I originally encouraged him to join with me and rise above campaigning to help solve this problem, but it seems that has ignored me and thus the rest of the American people.

And this could seriously injure the Obama campaign, hitting them with something they have never been hit before: a attack questioning their morals. And so far, Obama has been fast on his feet reacting to McCain’s decisions. We’ll just have to see for ourselves if he takes the bait.

Our Largest Oil Importer Is…Canada?

As weird as this may sound, our biggest suppliers of oil to use are North and South of us, not East. A Washington Post study tells us that Iraq isn’t even in the top 5 of our top importers, and Mexico — you heard me right — Mexico is number three. But the biggest shock of all was the #1 spot — Canada, which gives us 1,840,000 barrels a day. Like you, I had always thought of the Middle East as our big oil supplier, but shockingly enough, it only claims three out of the top ten spots in the Post’s list. So why haven’t we heard this from anyone yet? What do I think? The common stereotype today, with the war on terror and such in the middle east along with the rising gas prices would most likely concur together, making the average American believe that the war caused the gas inflation. This would be a great example of one of my favorite quotes, Hanlon’s razor — which reads: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. Not that I am calling the American people stupid, but easily persuaded.

Iraq Banned From Olympics

To me, the definition of Olympic sports is uniting the world to play something that isn’t political. Sports was created to be the triumph of the individual or the team, and now, today it has escalated to the worst thing in my mind that could happen to an athlete. Thursday the IOC confirmed the suspension that they gave to Iraq in June. Their reason? Political interference. This decision devastated Iraqi sprinter Dana Hussein as well as other Iraqi athletes that trained years for their moment. Trying to comfort Dana, her coach reasoned with her, saying that she can run in 2012. Her response: “I don’t know if I will alive then.”

Until the world can drop their egos for a common purpose, sports will never be the same and it is certainly a shame that is has to be this way.

Don’t Worry John — You’re Not Alone

McCain’s Foreign Strategy

After demanding some more media attention, John McCain got his big break: a national TV interview on Good Morning America. But leave it to Johnny to mess it up with (what else) but saying that he needs to crack down on the Iraq-Pakistani Border. It seems someone forgot there’s a small little country shoved in between there — just about the size of California, New York, and Texas combined. Maybe he should go back to 5th grade geography class. Heck, I know third graders that can do better than that. As our comedian in chief, George Bush would put it, it he doesn’t learn geography fast, he’s going to have some trouble putting  food on his family. Maybe as an apology to America, he should tell Barack to add Iran to the 57th state to remove any confusion. Thanks to Matthew Yglesias for the picture and click here for his original article.