Recall what had happened: Serial filibusters were staged by Dems against many Bush nominees throughout 2003 and 2004. The GOP and the president campaigned on the issue of the judges throughout the elections of 2004, and won a 55 seat Senate majority in part on the strength of the outrage on the issue. Majority Leader Frist set about organizing a strategy --the Constitutional Option or Nuclear Option-- which anticipated that a ruling would be requested from the Senate Chair --the Vice President-- on whether or not a filibuster could be used against a judicial nominee. At least 50 of the GOP's 55 senators were pledged to support the chair. A crucial and long-lasting victory would have been won and a principle established.

Days before the vote and the end of the filibusters, John McCain engineered a deal with six other Republicans and seven Democrats which threw some fine nominees under the bus in exchange for a temporary abandonment by Democrats of filibusters against some Bush nominees. The shock and outrage at McCain among conservatives at this awful deal was of a intensity that has rarely been matched. John McCain in effect undid the vote of 2004, compromised away an issue he had not been asked to lead on and on which millions of Republican voters had voted and for which they had contributed. Millions of Republicans care deeply about judges. John McCain did not. He could not allow Majority Leader Frist his victory, but in sabotaging Frist, he sunk his own candidacy. The one issue on which all three core GOP constituencies agree is the importance of originalists on the bench. It was obvious amid the wreckage brought about by the Gang of 14 that John McCain didn't care about the courts. He cared about John McCain.

The neuralyzer will have to be set to be careful not to obscure the memory of John McCain's heroic service and painful sacrifices during his long imprisonment, and it will have to leave the memory of Senator McCain's steadfast support for victory in the war. He is truly a great American.

But he is a lousy senator when it comes to legislation and priorities, and a terrible Republican when it comes to the party's agenda.

The independents and the newspapers of New Hampshire love the idea of a McCain candidacy. Some are giving a last salute to McCain for his wartime heroism. Others are expressly attempting to stop Mitt Romney's momentum for the reason that the same newspaper tried to stop Ronald Reagan in 1980 --Romney has the best chance in November.

But it is the Republican nomination McCain is seeking, not the applause of the MSM and independents. A Republican nomination he won't be getting.