McCain campaign needs a time out

The Daily Kos is keeping a running list of responses to McCain's ploy to reschedule the presidential debate scheduled for Friday. [Update: word's just in that he'd prefer to reschedule the presidential debate in the slot reserved for the vice-presidential debate, and push the vice-presidential debate back to, well, never.]

Reactions to McCain's proposal kindly gathered for us on the Kos:
Rep. Barney Frank told a group of reporters outside the House chamber:

"It's the longest Hail Mary pass in the history of either football or Marys." (MSNBC)

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David Letterman:

"You don't suspend your campaign. This doesn't smell right. This isn't the way a tested hero behaves... I think someone's putting something in his metamucil."


"He can't run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second string quarterback, Sara Palin. Where is she?"


And my personal favorite:


"What are you going to do if you're elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!"

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Jesse Walker, of Reason magazine offers "The Shorter John McCain":

"I'd rather debate pressing issues behind closed doors with my colleagues than on national TV where voters might see me."

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Daily Kos reader SteamPunkX:

McCain Suspends Campaign Due to Lack of Interest

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Reid to McCain: Don't Come Back to Capitol

ABC news reports that "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that it would NOT be helpful for him to come back to Washington, D.C., to work on the Wall Street bailout bill."

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Senator Schumer on CNN: "Well, I thought what Sen. McCain did was just weird."

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Finally, the Daily Kos has some fun facts about McCain's attendance in this session of the Senate:

• Of all senators, John McCain has been the most absent.
• There have been 643 votes taken in the current Senate session: McCain has missed 412 of them.
• McCain has not voted in the Senate since April 8th. Since March, he has missed 109 of the last 110 votes.
• He missed votes on the GI Bill, energy policy, and in 2007 he missed all 15 critical environmental votes in the Senate.

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