MCCAIN HASN’T ‘SUSPENDED’ ANYTHING…. In case you missed it, yesterday was a very good example of why Jeffrey Toobin makes CNN watchable.
On “The Situation Room,” Wolf Blitzer directed the discussion to analysis of John McCain’s decision to “suspend” his presidential campaign. Toobin, far more in touch with reality than most of his CNN colleagues, bravely set the record straight: “[C]an I just quarrel with the premise of this? Who says he suspended his campaign? He didn’t suspend his campaign. He’s been campaigning all day. He gave a speech in New York. He’s giving interviews all night. He’s raising money. His surrogates are attacking Barack Obama. I think this is posturing of being apolitical. And, frankly, I think we’re being kind of gullible in falling for it. He didn’t stop his campaign. He’s campaigning.”
Stephen Hayes from The Weekly Standard, leapt to McCain’s defense, noting that the campaign had “pulled his ads down.” So, Toobin interjected again: “No, he didn’t pull his ads down. His ads have been on. And he’s done exactly what Obama has done all day. And Obama admits that he’s campaigning. It’s the middle of the campaign. I don’t see why we should treat what he’s doing as anything different from what Obama is doing.”
Thank you, Jeffrey Toobin.
On a related note, the McCain campaign has reportedly instructed television stations to begin re-airing its ads starting tomorrow, regardless of whether a bailout plan has been completed or not.
In this sense, the difference between an active campaign and a “suspended” campaign is … well, there is no difference.
