The Left's Favorite Righty

"Bush Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson . . . said a 'bold' approach was needed to achieve 'stability' in the market.

"Let me translate that. 'Bold' = Massively massive, taxpayer-funded rescue. 'Stability' = Privatizing profits and socializing losses on a scale we have never seen before in our lifetimes.

"I have had it with Pollyanna conservatives who continue to parrot the 'fundamentals of the market are great!' line.

"The fundamentals of the market suck. The fundamentals of capitalism have been sabotaged.

"Yes, yes, crony Democrats are to blame for much of how we got here. You don't need to recite all the talking points back to me. I've been writing about the Fannie/Freddie debacle for years.

"But it is September 19, 2008. And this is a Republican White House presiding over the Mother of All Bailouts."

The editorialists at the Wall Street Journal are gravely disappointed in McCain:

"John McCain has made it clear this week he doesn't understand what's happening on Wall Street any better than Barack Obama does. But on Thursday, he took his populist riffing up a notch and found his scapegoat for financial panic -- Christopher Cox, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission . . .

"Wow. 'Betrayed the public's trust.' Was Mr. Cox dishonest? No. He merely changed some minor rules, and didn't change others, on short-selling. String him up! Mr. McCain clearly wants to distance himself from the Bush Administration. But this assault on Mr. Cox is both false and deeply unfair. It's also un-Presidential . . .

"In a crisis, voters want steady, calm leadership, not easy, misleading answers that will do nothing to help. Mr. McCain is sounding like a candidate searching for a political foil rather than a genuine solution. He'll never beat Mr. Obama by running as an angry populist like Al Gore, circa 2000."

On ABC, George Will accused McCain of "un-presidential behavior by a presidential candidate," while Sam Donaldson declared that "the question of age is back on the table." Really?

In the New Republic, Jonathan Chait is still pondering Palin, whom he dubs "Dan Quaylin":