JoeB131
Diamond Member
McCain ran a good campaign in 2000. He was a maverick, he spoke his mind, he put what he thought was best above what the party thought was best
In 2008, he seemed like a tired old man who knew this was his last shot. He put aside his personal values in order to do whatever it took to get the nomination. By the time the convention came around he was deeply indebted to the far right. So much so that he allowed them to push a loser like Palin on him
I hate to keep correcting you on this, but you are trying to put 2011 Palin on the ticket instead of 2008 Palin.
What did we know about Palin in 2008. She was a reformer, like McCain. She challenged the Murkowski/Stevens machine in Alaska and won. She actually took some pretty moderate positions. She was a woman succeeding in a man's world. The ironic thing was in her first two years, she really governed center-right.
The real problem McCain had in 2008 was that he couldn't take Huckabee without pissing off the Romney supporters, and couldnt' take Romney without pissing off the Hucakbee people. And there was a lack of enthusiasm for him all around.
Initially, picking Palin was a home run and gave him a good boost in the polls. Then the bottom fell out of the stock market, and it was pretty much over at that point.
Now, yeah, did she walk into the buzzsaw of the national media? Yup. NEVER TRUST THE MEDIA. They are not our friends.
I think he did make some mistakes. ONe was that he wasn't going to make an issue of Obama's associations with Wright and Ayers and other loons. He really should have.