McCain as Bush 3rd^H^H^H1st Term?

Whether it is rhetorically effective or not, I never cared much for the McCain as 3rd Bush term line of argument from the Democrats but the Bush 1st term makes a lot more sense

Obama’s statement put him in line with the White House, the European Union, NATO, and a series of European powers, while McCain’s initial statement—which he delivered in Iowa and ran on a blog on his Web site under the title “McCain Statement on Russian Invasion of Georgia,”—put him more closely in line with the moral clarity and American exceptionalism projected by President Bush’s first term.

I admit that I found this "moral clarity" appropriate following 9/11 but in hindsight it has obviously been flawed.