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The subtitle of Sidney Blumenthal’s essay in the Guardian today got me quite excited. Printed under The Myth of McCain was this titillating phrase: “Once the presumptive next US president, the Republican frontrunner’s popularity has nose dived.”

Now this sounded like a good read. Surely there would be some evidence demonstrating the sour turn of fate for Johnny “Reb” McCain and his rootin’-tootin’ warmongering.

Unfortunately, Blumenthal just reaffirmed that McCain spews non-stop hate in private (and sometimes public), and has now tied himself inexorably to our Flummoxed-In-Chief:

He is now chained to Bush. As Bush’s war has escalated, McCain’s popularity has nose dived. Still the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, he might have made himself more acceptable to the base, but his political strategy has shattered his myth. Bearing the burden of Bush, he may have become unelectable.

Boy howdy, if there were some truth to that, I’d french-kiss my athletic socks. No Republican presents the electable threat McCain does. If his political capital’s turned to confetti, this country stands a much better chance of actually turning the corner.

But Blumenthal doesn’t back that statement up with any new info.

In this space, we’ve already covered McCain’s atrocious voting record and vampiric desire for more bloodshed in Iraq. But we’ve also discussed the alarming notion that even self-identified liberals don’t seem to notice this and continue to back him. Yeeargh.

Democrats can’t just sit around hoping the American public realizes McCain’s nothing more than another Bush in waiting. We have to begin a concerted effort to reveal his true nature.

John Edwards calls Bush’s idiotic troop surge “The McCain Doctrine,” and that’s the kind of grenade we have to lob in his lap. The more associations with Bush and his failed choices, the better. We can’t just self-congratulate ourselves in British papers for McCain’s failings and hope everyone else connects the dots.