McCain could've won this election. His campaign was absolutely horrible - maybe the worst strategy I've ever seen. He should've realized that he didn't need Palin to unite the base - the base was so united against Obama that they would vote for McCain just despite him. McCain's great stength was that he was a man of integrity & he could get the middle's attention. By turning to almost exclusive negative advertisement against Obama and selecting Palin, he ruined the only chance he had. Also, when the war was the primary issue on people's minds McCain was viewed as being different from Bush & a good choice. When the economy became the primary issue, McCain didn't have a strategy to separate himself from Bush.
He was a terrible choice who made terrible decisions (Palin, wussy campaigning, wimped out about Rev. Wright, stopped campaign to vote for the bailout, did nothing to gain momentum for three months while Hillary and Obama were duking it out, etc.) He may be a great, dedicated American hero, but he was also a terrible choice for president. He is old, too war-oriented, too closely associated with Bush, and he admitted that he knew little about the economy, which may have been one of the main reasons he lost. Had he chosen someone strong on the economy, like Romney, as vice president, he would have had a better shot, but instead, he picked someone not for the well being of the nation, but someone for his well being come election day. That backfired and none of Hillary's voters showed up. If people have to choose between a moderate Republican linked to the Bush years and a Democrat, obviously, they'll go Democrat, as we've seen from Tuesday.
I strongly disagree here. I'm not so convinced that the base would've voted for McCain because of Obama alone. I for one would've voted for Bob Barr and if I heard correctly off the radio quite a few conservatives did cross over and vote for Obama. Now if McCain didn't pick Palen and picked Joe Leiberman or someone like that the conservatives might as well voted for someone other than the republican ticket. Some people that didn't vote for McCain claimed it was because of his age. Let me say that their are differences between McCain and Obama however some conservatives wouldn't vote for McCain because of his stance of going against the republican agenda for the last 8 years. Some figured they might as well vote for Obama this time around. I did vote for McCain because of Sarah Palin and I might've voted for him with Huckabee, Romney BUT there was no reason to vote for McCain if he picked anyone else. The Democrats won this election when moderates and whoever else crossed over and made him the nominee of which I was totally against!
Sarah Palin did not make or break this election for John McCain. I have dealt with executive candidate selection throughout my career. Obama had absolutely NO bullet statements that showed he had a track record of being successful in a similar role. This election was more about Obama convincing the women of this country, who turned the tide in his favor, that he would not turn out to be a jerk. The only thing that the Democrats have accomplished so far is to tear down the image of the Bush presidency. Now they actually have to go out and show some results which is a much much harder thing to do. Selecting Rahm Emmanuel as Obama's Chief of Staff is a terrible start. We shall see..
McCain was slightly ahead in the polls until he said that "the economy is fundamentally sound." That was the biggest bullet statement of the campaign, and Obama pounced all over it.
1. Agree 2. Could care less 3. Who cares 4. More fearmongering and referring to Obama as Christ and that people don't think they have to go back to work.. blah blah blah 5. McCain loves McCain. Has no interest in economic policy. Want to keep failed foreign policy. Flip flopper with zero integrity 6. Our foreign policy is in shambles.
Well, she definitely didn't make it... And while she didn't break it all by herself - another candidate could've pushed McCain up instead of dragging him down.
I don't think any Republican was going to win this election. Agreed. He had to go right to get nominated but it left him too far from the center to get back the independents and progressive democrats that he had in 2000. Any campaign that puts vilification of the opponent above promotion of one's own virtues is usually the loser. Especially when the people are fed up with partisan bickering. McCains biggest shortcoming has always been economic policy. He admitted it himself early in the campaign. The crisis exposed it entirely.
Perhaps not, but McCain isn't a true Republican & I believe he had the best chance to grab the independents vote out of any Republican - he just screwed it up. The economic crisis couldn't been his moment to show that he surrounds himself with good people & thus his economic shortcomings were a non-factor. He didn't do that.
