Is McCain blowing Bush or the Dark Lord?

Keith did a good piece tonight on the internal destruction of McCain's campaign. It seems McCain sold his soul for almost nothing - in yet another fascinating display of cultish loyalty to Bush. Undeserved loyalty.
Watching his bland repetition of Bush's bullshit talking points on his idiotic war -it occurred to me McCain's nonsense is more closely linked to Dick Cheney. Why is John McCain plowing ahead with this horseshit about Iraq- that has ruined his chances, that even the GOP base no longer believes?
Is Dick , the Dark Lord, involved? Or is McCain just an awful candidate?