Crikey

Writing in Time’s Swampland blog, Joe Klein says John McCain’s handling of the current bailout negotiations and the decision to suspend his campaign point to a lack of measured response to times of crisis:

“John McCain faced another crisis yesterday — a political one, not the financial emergency he used as an excuse for his rash actions — and once again he overreacted. This is becoming a pattern (as is his “greatest crisis since…” formulation: yesterday, since World War II; previously — on Georgia — since the end of the cold war), and it is not very reassuring behavior in a potential President…

“Happily, in the end, McCain did the responsible thing…but he did it foolishly, in a panicky fashion. He did support the emerging compromise. He took the Democrats’ modifications — on oversight, homeowner and taxpayer protection, and restrictions on payouts to the executives who made these disastrous decisions — and made them his own. His support will help widen the majority of legislators who will support the bill.”

Read more here.