suspending the campaign

In light of this bizarre development, I think Obama's response, while remaining high-minded and all that, should be sure to point out that it's not surprising that someone would go into panic mode around a financial crisis when he has a history of saying things like this:

I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues.

Update: It'd be nice if they'd highlight this ridiculousness too. Clearly McCain's asserting that his presence qua senator will be helpful in dealing with this crisis. Well, if that's the case, his presence qua senator in the preceding six months might have allowed him to understand that, no, the fundamentals of the economy are not in fact strong, which knowledge would've given him at least a fighting chance to fashion preventative, ameliorative measures. The guy hasn't cast a vote in the Senate since April 8. What a surprise that, only a couple of days before he goes head to head with his opponent in a debate and on day 28 or 29 of no (meaningful) press access to Palin and in the face of plummeting poll numbers and embarrassing news stories about his campaign manager's $15,000/mo. paycheck from Fannie Mae, he'd decide it's imperative he head back to D.C. What a joke. In addition, it shouldn't escape notice that he's, in the process, not just proven himself to be disingenuous, out of touch, and hypocritical, but also, apparently, he's a ratfucker.

Update: I think they (the McCain camp) clearly see the writing on the wall. McCain's known for a while that he's going to lose. The choice is to either lose by a respectable margin by playing it conventionally or throw the Hail Mary and hope that you bet right and win, even though the odds are clearly against you. This is what Palin was all about (and man, did that not pay off; consider how much better it'd be for McCain to have Romney by his side during the financial crisis as opposed to Palin) and this is what this bizarre campaign suspension is all about; it fits perfectly with his documented high stakes gambling persona. However, I don't want to discount altogether the possibility that this impulsive move was somehow prompted by some freakish scandal that's about to come out about Palin, such as an affair or what's becoming apparent with each passing day, namely, that she's utterly incapable of being in front of the public without having her hand held tightly, or, perhaps, some health issues McCain's having. Afterall, as Atrios notes, his left eye did look awfully weird during that press conference, and he's just generally looking pretty haggardly lately.

Update: Marshall is right. The only thing I'd quibble with is that, in an ideal world or even in a functioning democracy, having additional press resources in D.C. while this deal is being hammered out (for better or for worse) should facilitate a resolution, namely, by better educating the public about the nature of the "crisis" and its causes, by instructing the public about the various solutions being offered and who stands to gain from those solutions, etc. The fact that this isn't the case, that Marshall (rightly) feels that having the press around would muddy the waters rather than be a benefit, is depressing.