The McCain C.W.?

When both the Washington Post and New York Times use their A-list political reporters to tackle the John McCain-Iraq question, you know the Beltway C.W. about Iraq defining McCain '08 is getting set in stone. A couple of questions to ponder after reading the Post/Times powerhouse pieces: will the media give McCain wiggle room on Iraq even if his criticism of Bush is from the right and not the left? Is the only "wrong" answer as far as the political press corps is concerned is agreeing with the WH strategy? Can McCain get traction on any other issue in the short term? And if not, will that be a good thing as far as wooing the GOP base is concerned? Isn't McCain's real Iraq risk in the general, not the primary? BTW, the more critical the media is of McCain in '07, the better he looks to the MSM-bashing GOP base?

Get the answers to these questions and you may have the answer as to whether McCain will be the GOP nominee in '08.