Rice: McCain may have made Georgia crisis worse

On Hardball last night, Obama advisor Susan Rice voiced the strongest version I've heard of the criticism of McCain's rapid condemnation of Russia Thursday.

"John McCain shot from the hip, [with a] very aggressive, very belligerent statement," she said. "He may or may not have complicated the situation."

McCain's first statement was dramatically different from the White House's, Obama's, and the Western Europeans, all of whom were urging calm, and all of whom shifted to condemning Russia only after it emerged that that was futile. (Indeed, Obama moved toward McCain's statement just a couple of hours later.) I haven't seen it suggested, however, that the Russian push past the disputed regions was in response to McCain.

UPDATE: Tim Kaine, meanwhile, seems to have given Obama credit for the ceasefire.