PoliticalDerby.com

John “Surge” McCain, who no doubt thought he could win over the doubting conservatives by leading the charge for sending more troops to Iraq, has seen his negative poll numbers “surge” and now appears eager to blame someone for the escalating disaster in Iraq. Thus, Dick “Darth” Cheney gets unceremoniously tossed under the bus: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0107/2390.html

The timing is interesting. Just as Cheney’s indicted aide Scooter LIbby’s trial starts to heat up, McCain decides it’s time to blame the widely disliked VP for the “witch’s brew” of a “terribly mishandled” war. Nothing like kicking a guy when he’s down. And it’s not just Cheney on McCain’s list, as former SecDef Don Rumsfeld gets the bus treatment as well: “Rumsfeld will go down in history, along with McNamara, as one of the worst secretaries of defense in history.” Well, I’m guessing one name just got crossed off Rummy’s Christmas card list.

McCain is obviously realizing just how much this wager he made on the Iraq “surge” is blowing up in his face. Regardless of whether sending more troops over might have helped a while back — and most generals who were ignored by the White House wanted a LOT more troops, and a LONG time ago — it looks like this was a phenomenally poor political calculation by McCain. He should have known better than to tie himself to such proven incompetents as this administration long ago proved itself to be. He’s in full damage-control mode now, and whether or not the fallout will be fatal to McCain’s White House hopes remains to be seen.