There's a crisis in the economy, many people are still pretty cloudy on the details, no one can agree what to do. Gee, if only there were some public forum where party leaders could get together and present their ideas for fixing the problem and preventing it from happening in the future...
It would have to happen soon. Like, Friday night. I'd want to see both candidates attend, and there would need to be a moderator.
What to do, what to do... It's a pickle!
McCain backing out on the debate is a cop out. Change the location to DC so they can be near the Capitol if a vote takes place. Change the topic of the debate from foreign policy to economics. But don't cancel the debate. This isn't a "drop everything" moment. If McCain can't hack this, it's just further confirmation that he'd be a terrible president. God forbid our next president should be able to multi-task. As Letterman said, "What are you going to do if you're elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!"
I'm okay with the campaigns releasing a joint statement, coming together on a solution, whatever. I'm okay with them agreeing to suspend campaigning (including ads) for a while. Politics I can do without for a few days.
But the debates are one of the few times campaigns rise above politics and start being about issues. This would be an excellent opportunity for a public forum on the very issue that Congress is trying to hash out, where we could hear solutions from both campaigns. Heck, bring Paulson into the debate and let him present his side. Cancelling or postponing the debate is a bad idea - we all need to know what's going on, and a debate that 60 million or more are expected to watch is the perfect time and place to hash this out.