McCain on Georgia

Josh Marshall has an e-mailer who sums up McCain's response to the Georgia crisis:

"McCain's first reaction to the Georgia crises was to urge action that would commit the United States to war with Russia (by having Georgia immediately admitted to NATO). Obama needs to point out that, in this test for whether McCain is ready to be commander in chief, McCain grossly overreacted. Indeed, several days later, after McCain had time to cool down, he retracted his statements, saying that military intervention should not be considered. McCain fundamentally does not understand the purpose of NATO. Obama needs be repeating this series of events like a broken record. McCain overracted, and then changed his mind 3 days later. A President has no such luxury. McCain is no match for the calm and calculated actions of a player like Putin."

Normally, I don't think campaign trail foreign policy statements should be taken at face value. In 1992, Bill Clinton advocated bombing then-Yugoslavia over the war in Bosnia, while 2000-era George Bush was famously interested in a "more humble foreign policy." However, in this case I'm concerned that McCain has a long public service record suggesting that he usually responds this way.