David Letterman Roasts John McCain After McCain Bails on "Late Show"

Sen. John McCain canceled his appearance on the "The Late Show with David Letterman" on Wednesday night, but gave a false reason as to why. Earlier on Wednesday, McCain announced that he was suspending his campaign to go to Congress to work legislation on the bailout crisis on Wall Street. McCain personally called the Late Show to cancel his appearance on the show last-minute, citing that he was rushing to the airport to get back to Washington. During the introductory monologue, Letterman announced McCain's cancellation to the audience, who was disappointed by his absence. Keith Olbermann, the MSNBC political commentator, filled in for McCain on the show. However, during the telecast, Letterman learned that McCain was actually still in New York. In fact, McCain was just a few blocks away at the CBS News headquarters, preparing for a last-minute exclusive interview with Katie Couric. During his interview with Olbermann, Letterman interrupted Olbermann to show the audience a live shot on the internal CBS News feed of a makeup artist putting the finishing touches on McCain while he waited to talk to Couric. "He doesn't seem to be racing to the airport, does he?" Letterman said, shouting at the television monitor: "Hey, John, I got a question! You need a ride to the airport?" McCain has been a frequent visitor to the Late Show. In fact, McCain announced his presidential bid on the show in 2007. If he was to show up on Wednesday, it would have been his 13th appearance on the show. During the show, Letterman began to be critical of McCain's decision to suspend the campaign. "I’m more than a little disappointed by this behavior," he said. " 'We’re suspending the campaign.' Suspending it because there’s an economic crisis, or because the poll numbers are sliding?" "You don’t suspend your campaign," Letterman continued. "Do you suspend your campaign? No, because that makes me think, well, you know, maybe there will be other things down the road –- if he’s in the White House, he might just suspend being president. I mean, we've got a guy like that now!"

His famed top 10 was entitled "The Top Ten Questions People are Asking The John McCain Campaign":

#10 "I just contributed to your campaign – how do I get a refund?"

#9 "It's Sarah Palin – does this mean I’m pars’dent?"

#8 "Can’t you solve this by selling some of your houses?"

#7 "This is Clay Aiken. Is McCain single?"

#6 "Do you still think the fundamentals of our economy are strong, Genius?"

#5 "Are you doing all of this just to get out of going on Letterman?"

#4 "What would Matlock do?"

#3 "Hillary here – my schedule is free Friday night."

#2 "Is this just an excuse to catch up on napping?"

#1 "This is President Bush – what’s all this trouble with the economy?"