Circumstantial evidence

Tell me if the following twos ought to be put together:

• McCain--behind in the polls, paired with a floundering running mate, and desperate to sieze control of the campaign narrative--makes the grandiose gesture of suspending his campaign and postponing the debates--including the VP debate--until a bailout deal is worked out.
• McCain goes to Washington and--in conjunction with House Republicans--scuttles the bailout deal, thus regaining the initiative by appearing to be driving negotiations and pushing back the VP debate to give Palin (even more) time to prepare.
  

Admittedly, it's a leap. It could be that McCain didn't want to scuttle the bailout plan (although, curiously, he never lent it his explicit support), and McCain may yet show up to the debate even with no bailout plan in place. However, I am a big believer in the idea that cognitive dissonance and good old-fashioned self-delusion can exert a powerful--albeit unconscious--influence on a person's decision making. My little conspiracy theory does not require McCain to have evil intentions--it merely requires that he (perhaps with the help of his campaign advisors) has persuaded himself that these actions really are what's best for the country, and that it just so happens that they benefit him strategically in the campaign.

In the end, though, there's no way to know, so this line of inquiry is a non-starter.