Today, after John McCain announced that he's suspending his campaign and returning to D.C. to focus on passing legislation to address the economic crisis, Harry Reid said that it wouldn't be helpful to have the presidential candidates at the negotiating table: “it would not be helpful at this time to have them come back during these negotiations and risk injecting presidential politics into this process or distract important talks about the future of our nation’s economy. … We need leadership; not a campaign photo op.”

But yesterday, Reid demanded that the White House made sure the legislation had John McCain's backing, and Reid floated this bogus piece of news clearly intended to force McCain's hand: "I got some good news in the last hour or so … it appears that Sen. McCain is going to come out for this." McCain flatly denied that he had endorsed the plan.

So Harry Reid says that it's essential that John McCain backs legislation designed to avert the greatest economic meltdown since the Great Depression. And when McCain says the legislation, in its current form, is not good enough, Reid tells McCain to stay away from Capitol Hill. Who's playing politics with the economic crisis?

Update: McCain spokesman Brian Rogers points out that Reid also said yesterday: "We need the Republican nominee for president to let us know where he stands and what we should do."

Rogers says in a statement: “Unfortunately, Senator Reid is putting partisan politics ahead of the business of the American people. But there should be no mistake: 24 hours ago Reid and his Democratic colleagues on the Hill couldn't have been more desperate for Senator McCain's help in resolving this crisis. Now they've got it.”