Sen. John McCain’s performance on “Meet the Press” yesterday was decidely lackluster. The current GOP 2008 frontrunner and former maverick’s snap and crackle seemed to be replaced with a sodden doughiness. Perhaps it was the topic of the Iraq civil war and the “McCain surge,” which has been dragging Pres. Bush’s numbers lower since it was announced a few weeks ago.

The senator also made a wildly inaccurate reference to polling data ahead of the first Gulf War, which was caught by C&L. Sen. McCain said:

Only 15 percent of Americans supported the first Gulf War at the beginning.

But the actual data, from January 18, 1991 was the opposite:

The initial reaction by the American public to President Bush’s decision to go to war with Iraq is positive, according the Gallup Poll.

Seventy-nine percent of those interviewed on Wednesday night said they approved “of the U.S. decision today to go to war with Iraq in order to drive the Iraqis out of Kuwait,” while 15 percent disapproved, and 6 percent had no opinion.

We all make mistakes. But why so glum, Senator? Perhaps you’ve seen polling about how the war would affect your chances in 2008 if it is still raging? Or maybe you know some (new) dark truth about the current administration that is about to be revealed.