Since securing the Republican nomination for President, John McCain has drastically changed his stump speech to try and convince the voters he's not embracing eight years of George W. Bush's failed policies.

Which...is pretty hard to do after you've:

• Voted with the President 95% of the time in 2007 and 100% of the time in 2008
  
• Built your entire campaign around Bush's failed economic policies, failed national security policies, failed education policies, failed energy policies and failed social security policies
• Slowly staffed up your campaign with former George W. Bush campaign staffers, at the recommendation of the political equivilant of Anton Chigurh - Karl Rove

Responding to Republican concerns that his candidacy was faltering, Mr. McCain put a veteran of President Bush’s 2004 campaign in charge of day-to-day operations, and stepped away from a plan to have the campaign run by 11 regional managers, Mr. McCain’s aides said Wednesday.

The elevation of Steve Schmidt — who worked closely with Karl Rove — at Mr. McCain’s headquarters represented a sharp diminishment of the responsibilities of Rick Davis, who has been Mr. McCain’s campaign manager since the last shake-up nearly a year ago...

...The move of Mr. Schmidt is the latest sign of increasing influence of veterans of Mr. Rove’s shop in the McCain operation. Nicolle Wallace, communications director for Mr. Bush in the 2004 campaign (and in his White House), has joined the campaign as a senior adviser, and will travel with Mr. McCain every other week.

Greg Jenkins, another veteran of Mr. Rove’s operation who is a former Fox News producer and director of presidential advance in the Bush White House, was hired by Mr. Schmidt last week after a series of what Mr. McCain’s advisers acknowledged were poorly executed campaign events.

Mr. Rove, who was Mr. Bush’s senior political adviser until he left the White House last year, was said by Mr. McCain’s advisers to have offered advice in recent days to Mr. Schmidt and others on how to get Mr. McCain’s campaign on track, but has stayed mostly on the periphery. Mr. Rove is aware, his associates said, that his own legacy could be helped should Mr. McCain win the presidency.

Well, at least Karl Rove's legacy would improve with a third Bush term - even if America's legacy doesn't.