McCain’s trying to delay Palin-Biden debate, too

10 comments September 25th, 2008

 

Largely unnoticed in the initial hubbub over John McCain’s proposal to postpone the first presidential debate, scheduled for Friday night, is the fact that he ALSO WANTS  to indefinitely delay running mate Sarah Palin’s debate with her Democratic counterpart, Joe Biden.

Excuse me for being cynical, but this ostensible secondary angle casts the overall idea of postponing debates in a whole new light.

It’s no secret that Palin is not exactly ready for prime time, which is why the McCain camp has shielded her from regular exposure to questions from pesky reporters. Postponing her debate with Biden until some unspecified later date gives her more time for preparation and perhaps allows for creation of some pretext for scrubbing the debate altogether.

McCain’s proposed postponement of his  first debate with Barack Obama already is viewed in some quarters as a political ruse – or a “Hail Mary pass,” as THIS PIECE in Business Week calls it — and the Palin angle only reinforces that perception.