Bailout Deal Reached? Maybe Not

UPDATE: After a meeting of congressional leaders, the two presidential candidates, President Bush and his advisers, Republican Richard Shelby threw water on the idea of a pending agreement. Back to the drawing board! Chris Dodd blasted John McCain's participation, or lack thereof:

"I'm not quite sure what John McCain said at the meeting. He said something. ...He had no indication he was for any particular plans. I don't know where he is on all this."

Original story:

How they ever did this without John McCain, we will never know. But Democratic lawmakers say that Congress has now reached a tentative deal. So that means we can get the popcorn ready, and prepare ourselves for a good old fashioned debate on Friday.

Or, maybe not? From the AP:

John McCain's campaign expressed cautious optimism Thursday as congressional Republicans and Democrats agreed in principle on a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry hours before the two presidential candidates were to meet with President Bush on the crisis.

Even so, the action didn't appear to be strong enough to convince McCain to attend Friday's scheduled presidential debate.

Wow. Is there no end to the temper tantrums? Will McCain try to kill this deal if it doesn't meet his personal specifications? Of course, McCain's insistence that he's at the center of the solution is all pretty silly. Especially seeing as McCain never actually suspended his campaign in the first place. He blew off David Letterman, gave an interview to Katie Couric and to Ohio TV, did some fundraising, and spoke at Bill Clinton's forum all before he headed to Washington. And all the while he continued to run ads, had surrogates on TV attacking Obama, and never closed his campaign offices. And tonight, after he leaves his session with President Bush and Barack Obama he'll not campaign by doing interviews with each of the big three networks.

And if you still have a smidgen of faith left in McCain's judgment, all you have to do is watch Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric. Chris Webber has a portion up that should be required viewing for every voting age American. Watch it here.