Romney Would Let McCain Self-Immolate on Iraq

In response to Rich Lowry's post on McCain's ("dishonest") attacks on Mitt Romney's apparent endorsement of an withdrawal, Robert Kagan writes:

Everyone who was fighting for the surge in the early months of last year — and that was not a very large number of people back then—was desperately looking around Republican ranks for support. Most Republicans on the Hill were quiet. Most conservative commentators were not working up any enthusiasm, to say the least. And aside from McCain, the leading Republican presidential candidates at the time were being careful. It was clear that both Giuliani and Romney were tempted to let McCain take the issue and self-immolate. But of the two, I remember, Rudy was the one who decided to put himself most clearly on the side of the surge. He began speaking out on the need for more troops in his public appearances. The contrast with Romney is even more striking in this regard. As best I can recall, Giuliani never talked about timetables, withdrawal, or about stationing forces “nearby.” Among the three leading candidates, only Romney took that line.

I have to give credit to Lowry for posting this on the NRO blog.

The NRO crew - with the exception of Victor Davis Hanson - has it in for McCain.

I have a feeling they're going to end up on the wrong side of things, but of course the campaign's far from over.

See more here and here, and especially here.