Bush drops McCain the warmonger in it

In these very bad weeks for Republican John McCain's hopes for victory in November, the most cruel blow of all is surely that President George Bush has evidently decided to let McCain sink, without even pretending to toss a life-belt to his fellow Republican.

Two mean-spirited men by nature, Bush and McCain have never liked each other much and this natural animosity was fanned by the vicious nomination fights of 2000, when Bush routed McCain with salvoes of slurs, including one about a black 'love child' disfiguring the senator's escutcheon.

Both are now in poor political shape, with contradictory strategies for rehabbing their fortunes.

The president is saddled with an approval rating bumping along in the 20s. Each day he is served another platter of contemptuous

stories about 'the worst presidency of modern times', the lack of any enduring 'legacy', the approaching Democratic landslide that will put the Republicans in the wilderness for at least a decade.

For his part, McCain trails Barack Obama by anywhere from four to nine points. Often he seems a forgotten candidate. Only one reporter turned out to cover his arrival at an airport in New Hampshire last week. He flails wildly, whining that it's Obama's fault that the price of oil is bankrupting Americans.

Aside from the race card, McCain's last best hope has always been a steady pounding of the war drum against Iran. Then he could strut about on the poop deck as a man seasoned in the grim business of putting Americans in harm's way, in contrast to his wimpish opponent.

And indeed all through the first half of this year the drum rolls were unceasing. But then, in the last 10 days, to McCain's mortification, they stopped. Suddenly the air is fragrant with talk of a possible new dawn in relations between the US and Iran. Bush even sent