I should add, though, that I think Brother Mark is off on one point on McCain. He wrote this the other day, “His supporters point to essentially one policy strength, McCain’s early support for a surge and counterinsurgency. It has now evolved into McCain taking credit for forcing the president to adopt General David Petreaus’s strategy. Where’s the evidence to support such a claim?” The fact is that McCain was calling early and often not just for more troops but the adoption of counterinsurgency tactics in Iraq. He participated in the AEI event last January releasing the Kagan/Keane plan. He did much behind-the-scenes work lobbying the administration on the surge that hasn’t yet been written about. And when congressional Republicans went wobbly on the war last year, McCain stood in the breach and bucked up his colleagues, even as he was getting slammed by the mainstream media. If he had gone south, it would have been game over. On the surge, McCain was prescient, dogged, and brave. It is difficult to exaggerate his contribution and he deserves whatever credit he’s taking for it.