John McCain’s Camp is being raided by insurgents.  His allies have gone home to take care of their own business.  The terror of liberalism is reconstituting in the Red States.  Border skirmishes are being lost to the ground game of the Obama Camp.   McCain needs to call his buddy General David Patraeus.

General Patraeus is pretty smart.  He knew that he needed allies in the Sunni, Kurd, and Shiite neighborhoods.  He negotiated with the enemy.  He offered more honey and less vinegar.  Patraeus understood simple human nature – the old honey and vinegar axiom.

McCain has followed the Bush axiom of search and destroy, drop the napalm, with us or against us, dead or alive, all or nothing, Dark Arts of Rovian Politics, insanity.  And then McCain wonders why people are abandoning his cause.  Unfortunately, McCain thought the Patraeus surge was all about more boots and more guns and more bombs.  McCain does not understand the Patraeus concept of ‘surge.’

The McCain Palin campaign mentality reflects on their world view.  “I am right.  You are wrong.  Go to hell!” McCain’s idea of diplomacy is to shoot the messenger.

A surge in campaign terms, and applying the Patraeus model, would include catering to the middle of the road, the independents.  The number of people who do not claim Party affiliation is as large as those associating them selves with either the Republicans or Democrats.  Thus Iraq has Kurd, Sunni, and Shiite – America has Democrat, Republican, and Independent.  (OK – so it is a lame analogy, but you get the idea.)  The Presidency, the country, cannot be won with only one faction – it takes at least two – and some catering to the third.

McCain is a Sunni – the minority faction.  His campaign style suggests he doesn’t care about the Independents.  He has dug his heels in the dirt and stubbornly proclaimed, “You are either with us or against us.”

Let go of the pride Senator.  Call your friend, General Patraeus, and ask him about the nuances of surging.  Ask him about the humanitarian component of winning support.  Ask him about vinegar and honey.