So, McCain is coming back to Washington in order to Save the Bipartisan (or "Bushpartisan") Economy-Rescue Deal! (NewsBusters link, so of course, fuck fuck fuckitty fuck.) Why, Paulson begged him to come back and scare those fidgety GOP House members into going along with the administration plan!
Paulson then called, according to my sources, Senator Lindsey Graham, who is very close to John McCain, and told him: you've got to get the people in the McCain campaign, you've got to convince John McCain to give these Republicans some political cover. If you don't do that, this whole bailout plan is going to fail. So that's how, McCain, apparently, became involved.
Bill Kristol thinks that getting the deal would make McCain look Presidential!
If candidate McCain, for whatever mixed motives, ends up acting in a way that results in a deal that is viewed as better than the original proposal, and that seems to stabilize the markets and avert a meltdown--he'll benefit politically, and he deserves to. For McCain will have acted presidentially in the campaign--which some voters, quite reasonably, will think speaks to his qualifications to be president.
But wait!
Maybe McCain is coming back to Washington in order to Wreck the Bipartisan Economy-Rescue Deal!
Democrats fear this morning that McCain is setting up a scenario in which he will vote against the bill, rally conservatives to his side and, most importantly, distance himself from both President Bush and Congress before the election.
So what's going to happen? Who knows, because the only known quantity is the certainty that McCain is going to act like a totally crazy motherfucker.