McCain Makes It Worse as GOP Erupts Over Bailout

A tenuous agreement on a bailout plan for Wall Street that had been reached Thursday morning was threatening to fall apart by the time evening had arrived. At fault, it became clear, was a divided Republican Party within the House of Representatives, whose leadership begrudgingly favored the $700 billion bailout but whose ardently conservative members were balking at the idea.

Things grew so heated within the caucus, the Politico reported, that "some House Republicans are saying privately that they'd rather 'let the markets crash' than sign on to a massive bailout."

One GOP lawmaker, referring to his defiant colleagues, asked rhetorically: "For the sake of the altar of the free market system, do you accept a Great Depression?"

But if the party was looking for leadership, it did not find it in its presidential nominee. Sen. John McCain, who on Wednesday said he was leaving the campaign trail to help steer a bailout proposal, may have just exacerbated the problems.