Sterling (Virginia, US), Sept. 20: Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joseph R. Biden Jr. said Friday that he wanted to end the cowboy mentality of the Bush-McCain era”.

"These guys have worshipped at the shrine of deregulation,” Bidentold about 1,000 supporters at a women's issues rally at Claude Moore Park.

Biden called for short-term, immediate intervention to “staunch the bleeding” in the financial markets and that in the long term, “we have to have a major, major overhaul of how the financial system works.”

“There are all kinds of ideas Barack and I are putting together right now, but you can't do it haphazardly,” the Washington Times quoted Biden as saying further.

“Part of the solution is ending the cowboy mentality of the Bush-McCain era,” he said.

The McCain campaign countered Biden's views at a “Women for McCain” press conference a few miles down the road.

Susan Allen, wife of former Sen. George Allen, and Jeri Thompson, wife of former Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson, criticized Biden for remarks they characterized as linking higher taxes to patriotism.

At Friday's rally, Biden said that “there are a lot patriotic people out there making more than 250,000 dollars. ... We just haven't asked anything of them in this crisis.” (ANI)