Breaking: McCain Cancels Debate and Letterman—Watch It Tonight!

John McCain's unilateral withdrawal from the first scheduled presidential debate could be one of the worst campaign blunders in U.S. history. Are we to believe that suddenly the economic crisis that has been deepening over the duration of the Bush administration has just now caught the attention of deregulation maverick McCain and necessitated his withdrawal from the debate—even though McCain admits that economics aren't his strong point? Why are any number of other crises—including our current wars—not inspiring McCain to cancel? Why, oh why, couldn't McCain have his running mate Sarah Palin fill in for him during the crucial Friday night economics session?

And here's a good one: Why would McCain cancel his debate appearance when he could have canceled his Monday appearance (grilling baby back ribs) on Rachael Ray's show instead?



Source (3:19)


So anyway, from what I heard tonight from Keith Olbermann, McCain canceled his appearance on tonight's Letterman show—but stupidly (typically?) got caught in a lie. Apparently he begged off Letterman, explaining that he was heading to DC to save the world from the economic crisis, but he actually dumped Letterman to tape an interview with Letterman's CBS colleague Katie Couric! Or something like that. The point is he got caught by Letterman—and you can see the evidence on the Letterman show tonight.

And hey, here's the story as per The New York Times.

ADDENDUM Here's a preview via Gawker.