YES, IT'S SO BRAVE TO TAKE A FAR-RIGHT POSITION WHEN YOU WANT FAR-RIGHT VOTES

In today's Washington Post, Richard Cohen lists things he admires about John McCain, including the following:

... last but not least, his very early call for additional troops in Iraq. His was a lonely position -- virtually suicidal for an all-but-certain presidential candidate and no help when his campaign nearly expired last summer.... McCain stuck to his guns.

Er, McCain's campaign nearly expired in '07 because he was sinking in the polls among Republicans. So what were we hearing from the Republican candidates whose campaigns didn't seem to be expiring?

Rudy Giuliani: "In every speech he makes, Rudolph W. Giuliani talks about Iraq and makes clear that he sides with President Bush, endorsing the war and the deployment of 21,500 more troops."

Mitt Romney: "Mitt Romney today endorsed President Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq...."

Fred Thompson: "I would do essentially what the president's doing. I know it's not popular right now...."

Let's sum up: According to Cohen, McCain's brave support for sending more troops was very, very harmful to his campaign -- as we saw when polls showed McCain slipping behind, um, a bunch of guys who also supported sending more troops.

By the way, Republicans hated the idea of sending additional troops so much that a mere 73% of them endorsed the idea, according to a poll conducted in January '07 by Cohen's own newspaper.

Brave, brave John McCain!