Pelosi and Reid, thy name is failure.

That’s interesting, because to hear the Democrats spin it, McCain singlehandedly torpedoed the very deal they said they had — during a conference in which he allegedly didn’t say anything.

Pretty good Jedi mind tricks.

On Wednesday, McCain made the right decision, because it looked like things were going to unravel horribly and the financial markets would implode on Thursday and Friday. Turns out they didn’t. With that in mind and the proposed packages in major rework, McCain likely felt matters were well enough in hand that he could do this debate.

His campaign made it quite clear there would be no debate unless a deal was reached. There is NO DEAL. Quote:

A senior McCain adviser made clear McCain would not attend a Friday debate unless a congressional rescue deal was sealed.

“If the package is reached and the country is saved, there will be a debate,” the aide said. “But if there’s no deal, how can you get on a plane … for a debate?”

Both of these candidates have been ready for this debate for weeks. All the questions that will be asked tonight have already been asked. A day or two of prep is not going to make a hill of difference at this point.

The deal was close to agreement as of Wednesday evening, and McCain acted on impulse to gain some glory, swooped in to take some credit for participating…. and it backfired. Not only was there no deal reached, but reports from within the White House conference has McCain sitting without saying a word. McCain never suspended his campaign, nor did he pour all his resources into tackling this issue. This wasn’t just a flip-flop, it was a FLOP.

I would say that McCain, in cold war terms, blinked, but this doesn’t look like a serious effort to begin with.

PS. Obama went to the meeting because Bush asked him to go.

I think McCain gained some capitol he hasn’t spent yet. Torpedoing the plan offered by President Bush blunts the ‘more of the same’ charge and it looks like he cornered Obama in to ‘supporting’ a bill that is polling pretty poorly with the voters.

Perhaps an unintended benefit, at least for McCain, is the boost he gave to the House Republicans pushing for a better, or at least less crappy, solution.

Spot on in that depriving Obama his prep time was definitely a goal the achieved.