Why are Republican candidates who used to at least be intelligent men trying to turn into George W. Bush?

As if Mitt Romney trying to turn himself into a faux macho man and Rudy Giuliani repeating the "Be afraid! They're coming to kill us all!" mantra of the Crawford Caligula weren't bad enough, John McCain is embarking on a new campaign to try to convince Americans that even after five years of bumbliing -- less more time than it took the allied forces to defeat Hitler, Mussolini, and the Emperor of Japan -- the Iraq war is winnable:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will launch a high-profile effort next week to convince Americans that the Iraq war is winnable, embracing the unpopular conflict with renewed vigor as he attempts to reignite his stalling bid for the presidency.

With the Virginia Military Institute as a backdrop, McCain plans to argue in a speech on Wednesday that victory in Iraq is essential to American security and that President Bush's war machine is finally getting on track after four years, aides and advisers said.

It is a gamble at a critical time for the former front-runner for the Republican nomination, the political equivalent of a "double-down" in blackjack, as one person close to the campaign put it. A candidate once seen as the almost inevitable winner, McCain is struggling in the polls and this week placed dead last in fundraising among the three top Republican and three top Democratic contenders.

McCain's supporters say that though he is not declaring "mission accomplished," he has little choice but to enthusiastically renew his support for the war.

"You can't get around the elephant in the room, which is Iraq," said Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.), who discussed the speech with McCain as the pair flew back together from a congressional visit to Iraq this week.

In the interview on CBS News's "60 Minutes," McCain responds to criticism of the marketplace comments by saying, "Of course I am going to misspeak, and I've done it on numerous occasions, and I probably will do it in the future," according to excerpts released by the network.

But McCain also says, according to excerpts, "I believe we can succeed." And he urges viewers to "support this new strategy, let's support this new general and let's give it everything we can to have it succeed."

Note how McCain, like his role model, isn't saying what "success" would look like or what it means. He just wants us to give it "everything we can" -- presumably including an entire generation of young men and women -- to have it "succeed."

It's one thing for an idiot like George W. Bush, who took the rich boy's easy way out during the Vietnam era, to talk about "giving it everything we can." For someone who DID fight in a pointless war, and was a POW in the bargain, to talk like this because he wants the presidency so badly that he'll feel his entire life has been a waste if he doesn't get it, is simply tragic.