Limbaugh is ripping McCain a new one on his show right now, explaining the Bob Dole letter controversy and (properly) accusing McCain of mischaracterizing both what Dole wrote and what Romney said about it. He said that McCain’s behavior — turning any criticism of himself or Dole into an attack on a military veteran’s “service” — was disgraceful and evidence of the campaign’s worry about how things have been going the past few days.

From what I can tell, Limbaugh is entirely correct.

McCain’s behavior in this episode is revealing. It demonstrates that regardless of how compelling the political case is for GOP conservatives to swallow their many issue disagreements with McCain, the biggest obstacle is the character of the senator. A leader is someone capable of inspiring confidence and articulating a shared vision. McCain’s limitations as a leader are clearly illustrated by the past 24 hours. Typically, when someone tries to form and lead a coalition and can’t seem to pull it off, the blame belongs to him, not to the audience he’s trying to reach. By reveling in the kind of identity politics commonplace on the Left (substitute veteran status for race or sex), McCain is sabotaging his own attempts to persuade his target audience.

This is an event far more telling about one’s capacity for leadership than are past efforts to pass bipartisan (bad) legislation.