Did the McCain campaign really think we were this stupid? Remember in High School when you'd have a big test coming up at the end of the week, and you'd keep putting off studying because you wanted to play ball, or watch TV, or talk to friends, ... And then you'd get to the night before the big test and have the inevitable "oh ***" moment. Sometimes you'd cram and try to get through it; other times, you'd show up and do poorly, and every once in a while, you'd pull the oldest play out of the book: fake being sick, not show up for the test, postpone it til Monday, buy yourself the weekend to study (and call friends and ask about the test questions), and then show up on Monday to take the test. Is this starting to sound eerily familiar?

Look, you can't have the week McCain just had, where you demonstrate beyond any doubt that you have no clue what you're talking about -- (i) whether it's going from "the fundamentals are strong" to "we're facing the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression" or going from (ii) "I'm against the bailout of AIG" to "this bailout is necessary and our only option"; or most importantly "(iii) admitting as late as Tuesday that you hadn't even studied the bailout proposal (see above re putting off studying) -- and then pretend like all of sudden everything else needs to stop because you're somehow uniquely qualified to solve the economic crisis. This is the most transparent attempt to call a timeout and avoid being exposed a failure that I've ever seen.

None of this makes any sense.

Leave aside the inconsistencies of McCain's position on the economy. How can anyone in their right mind think that McCain dropping in and injecting himself, the cameras and the politics into delicate detailed negotiations that have been ongoing for days would be helpful? Obama is right, their role should only to be to avoid politicizing this, call for bi-partisanship, and help garner support. At this stage of the game, neither McCain nor Obama can help with negotiations.
Finally, ask yourself these questions:
If this is so important and dire, why had McCain not studied the bailout proposal as late as Tuesday?
If this is so important and dire, why is Sarah Palin not joining McCain to try and solve this problem?

Can it really be true that our Presidential candidates cannot focus on two things at once? Didn't we have presidential campaigns during Civil Wars, World Wars, Great Depressions, Hostage Crises, Oil Shortages, ....? Shouldn't we expect our President to be able to deal with more than one serious issue at a time, or will McCain call on Russia to stop aggressions against Georgia, or UN to postpone meetings, or Iraq and Afghanistan to postpone attacks because he needs to focus on our failing economy or negotiating a nuclear pact with Iran or N.Korea?
Why would McCain's henchmen suggest that postponement of this debate mean we'd have to reschedule the VP debate?

See this for what it is - McCain doesn't know what he's talking about; he hasn't been showing leadership or experience; the polls are showing him what his test scores are likely to be if he continues on this path; the campaign wants to avoid, at any cost, any questions, scrutiny or debates involving Palin; and they're in a free-fall. In short, this is a transparent attempt to postpone the inevitable tests for Palin and McCain because of underpreparedness and because the test will expose them once and for all.

Just as the teachers and everyone else in High School knew what was going on, I suspect everyone here understands it too. The difference is - that was High School, this is the presidency of the United States.