My friend Matt Welch (who wrote a book about John McCain) takes a look McCain's speech trumpeting his support of the surge and suggesting Obama's lack of support disqualifies him for the highest office in the land.
What interests me here is McCain's classic trait of personalizing all policy debates. If you disagree with him, it must be because you are dishonorable, and placing politics ahead of country.
and ...
Second and more interestingly, at the time of the surge, there was zero political cost to McCain supporting the surge. He was running in a Republican primary, and not particularly well, so his ironclad support for troop escalation was largely seen by many Republican stalwarts (in a season where the only anti-war candidate was being treated like a leper) as one of the best things going for the guy, given his various transgressions on other counts.
