I'd describe it a little differently.
I'd call it "the worst financial crisis since a vulnerable Republican ran for president with the Democrats in control of Congress."
The last time this happened it was called "The S&L Crisis," and had been ginned up so it would hit just as we were going into the election season.
Bigger picture: expect this type of earth-shattering crisis (financial or otherwise) to hit just before election time from now on. There are many powerful folks out there, mostly on the left, who believe they can turn chaos to their advantage, if they can make it hit when the American population is trying to decide who they will vote for.
They only way this can work is due to the utterly corrupt and dishonest media.
They've tried to make America "ungovernable" for decades, starting in the '60's, and have decided that that wouldn't work.
Now they've realized that they only have to make America "ungovernable" for a few weeks, during the run-up to a Presidential election, to get most of the same benefit for themselves.
I agree with every word you wrote. Paulson and Bernanke are Dems and I think they are making this sound a lot worse than it is, for election purposes. I can’t believe President Bush is going to hand them $700B. I getting scared for McCain.