Well McCain canceled Letterman on Wednesday because he had to suspend the campaign to fix the economy.
The problem is that apparently Letterman was the only thing he canceled. David didn’t take it to well:
Night one. Scroll down and watch the second video.
This is Letterman at his best. He even cuts into an internal feed at CBS News to show what McCain was doing instead of going on the show.
What was the rest of the list?
And, interestingly, CBS News is not happy about that.
Bummer. Perhaps they need a community organizer to help keep them working together. 
From the article:
My reaction to this bit of spin is to cry “Shenanigans!” If you felt this wasn’t a night for comedy, SAY THAT, Mr. Straight Talk Express. Don’t LIE your lumpy head off and say you’re flying right out of town to go join your fellow senators (who, by the way, didn’t want you there anyway) when you didn’t even leave town until the following DAY.
I mean, forget common courtesy and honoring your commitments. Purely from the standpoint of your OWN BEST INTERESTS, what good did you think would come from antagonizing a man with his own very popular TV show, a man who can now be COUNTED on to take every opportunity to embarrass and needle you while the nation watches?
Ms. Wallace’s quote archly looks down its nose at Letterman while ignoring the fact that McCain’s behavior adds yet another example of his dishonesty and willingness to step on people in his desperate, lurching path to the White House.
The Letterman story has been talked about in several GD and Pit threads, but hasn’t had it’s own dedicated thread yet.
Trying to divine Dave’s real feelings on political matters is futile. He knows he has to appeal to the fat part of the bell curve. He’ll make jokes but then he’ll generally compliment the people he jokes about.
However, because futility doesn’t bother me here are some impressions:
–He wants dignified and capable people for president and VP.
–He never cared for Quayle. They were both from Indiana, and Dave saw him as a rich, mediocre, frat boy.
– He knows Palin isn’t qualified.
–He thought Bill Clinton hurt the dignity of the office. Cigar fucking and all that.
–Like most Americans, he understands that GWB is a bumbling mediocrity.
–He has liked McCain on a personal level for a long time, but…
Thought the " campaign suspension" was goofy.
Thought the Palin nomination was bizarre.
Might have thought the Paris Hilton ad was ungallant.
Might have some authentic concerns about McCain’s age.
…and he was authentically pissed when he found out, mid-show, that McCain had basically lied to him. And I use the qualifier “basically” only because I don’t know exactly what excuse McCain had given him on the phone that day.
I’m not sure what to make of Olbermann filling in for McCain. Even though it’s hard to come up with a last-minute featured guest, you’ve got to think that Dave was giving McCain two fingers in the ribs. But I think it was just playful funning, until the shots of McCain getting his make-up applied came onto the control room feed.
I think the McCain campaign did something to piss off the God of Unintended Consequences:
Skips Letterman because it wasn’t a night for comedy. Comedy ensues.
Goes to Washington to broker a bailout deal. Bailout deal comes apart at the seams.
Puts Palin on with Katie Couric, because they think she can’t handle a hard-hitting journalist. Um.
When Dave started he had a reputation for being sarcastic and nasty. There are people (like Cher, for example) who wouldn’t go on his show because they thought he was mean. Now he’s all Elder Statesman of Late Night, people forget that. McCain’s people just got a reminder. And they’re going to be getting more reminders every night from here on out.
Paris Hilton remembers.
I was amused by Olberman’s reaction – I’m not going to say a thing, I’m going to sit here and watch this all play out. Back to you, Dave.
I was thinking more like two fingers as in the British salute, not two fingers in the ribs. Tough week for McCain. Palin gives an interview sounding like Miss South Carolina. He “suspends” his campaign as if he would swoop down like Mighty Mouse and save the day, only to sabotage the negotiations that were coming along nicely. Then he hems and haws about going to the debate, lies to Letterman who in a live video feed from CBS News proves the lie to a national TV audience. If he wins and he runs the country like he ran his campaign, heaven help the world.
Who gives a shit?
Who gives a shit about Letterman anyways? Washed up, has-been.
This is just a publicity stunt to try to pathetically gain any ratings points on Leno. Pathetic.
So he arranged with McCain not to come? :rolleyes:
McCain did him a favor by giving him material he can use for days, not to mention lots of press. Did the McCain campaign think they could get away lying to a late night host?
You can substitute McCain’s name for Letterman in this post and it would pretty much be right on the money.
The fact that the answer is evidently “yes” is perhaps the saddest part of the whole fiasco.
He’s an American citizen with a vote. If McCain’s contemptuous of a citizen who’s a millionaire and has his own talk show, how contemptuous do you think he is of you?
Seems like the basic problem was McCain telling Letterman that he cancelled the show because he had to fly back to DC to handle the financial situation. Simple enough, and good enough. Yet, here McCain shows up on the network feed, right down the road in NYC, same network even, giving an interview. The Letterman staff catches it , and makes due hay.
All John McCain had to do was to be honest and tell Letterman that he decided to do the Couric interview instead, so sorry, but that’s the choice, changing circumstance. Easy enough. Instead, he, or staff, lied, by stating he was going back to Washington to do battle there. Well, that was obviously a lie: he was in the CBS studio in NY doing a preferred interview And that was what Letterman went off on. Seems pretty simple. Now, after a few days, we see that the suspension wasn’t much of one. And, really how much was gained there? Good for Letterman for speaking up.
You can lie to news organizations, but you better watch out with late night hosts.