Friday, September 26, 2008

More fun with timelines

  • Wednesday, September 24th: John McCain tells David Letterman that he has to cancel his appearance on the Late Show because he needs to immediately catch a plane to DC to stave off an economic "crater".
    • Shortly after calling Letterman, McCain heads down to CBS Studios in New York where he gets make-up applied (was it the $5,000 make-up?) before giving an interview to Katie Couric...which in no way, shape, or form was a cynical play to try and make sure that Palin's disastrous interview with Couric was overshadowed. Stay tuned to see just how much the McCain campaign works with CBS in the coming weeks.
    • After his interview with Couric, McCain...well, at some point during the day he returned to his hotel in New York to get a good night's rest before his speech at the Clinton Global Initiative the next morning.
  • Thursday, September 25th: The economy is still here.
    • 8:30 AM: John McCain gives speech to Clinton Global Initiative.
    • Before noon: "Fundamental agreement" reached on bi-partisan bailout. McCain's plane still at Newark, NJ.
    • Just after noon: "Straight Talk Air" lands at Reagan National.
    • Around 1PM: McCain meets with House Minority Leader John Boehner to discuss House GOP plan.
    • Around 2PM: McCain has lunch before he leaves the Capitol grounds. According to the WaPo:
      For much of yesterday, McCain shuttled between meetings and his Senate office, but rarely came close to the Capitol suites and committee rooms where the talks were taking place.
    • Around 2:30 PM: Mr. Sponge calls the McCain campaign office and asks if it is still OK to donate to and volunteer for a "suspended" campaign. He is assured this is absolutely fine. BTW: I think I figured out what "suspending the campaign" means. McCain's website has turned off his calendar events. America first my friends, America first. In all seriousness, and as far as I can tell, the only thing the campaign actually suspended was his appearance on Letterman.
    • Late afternoon: McCain attends White House meeting that he requested. After sitting quietly for a few minutes, he blows it up:

      Towards the end, McCain finally spoke up, mentioning a counter-proposal that had been offered by some conservative House Republicans, which would suspend the capital gains tax for two years and provide tax incentives to encourage firms that buy up bad debt. McCain did not discuss specifics of the plan, though, and was non-committal about supporting it.

      Paulson, however, argued directly against the conservative proposal. "He said that he did not think it would work," according to the source. At another point in the meeting, President Bush chimed in, "If money isn't loosened, this sucker could go down" -- and by sucker he meant economy.

      ABC News reported that, following the meeting, Paulson "walked into the room where Democrats were caucusing...at the White House and pleaded with them 'please don't blow this up.'" But this story isn't incomplete, according to sources.

    • McCain returns to his Crystal City condo by 6PM, but not before recording several interviews with NBC, ABC, and CBS.
    • Economy is still here.

No comments: