Why John McCain Lost

[Caligirl]

No dis-respect intended - however, no one could have gone up against obama and won. Obama fever hit america earlier this year when he beat the clinton machine. Gathering massive crowds, raising hundreds of millions of dollars.... Nothing could've gone up against Obama and won. McCain picked the most conservative player on the field right now and rallied his base. Unfortunately, his base is shrinking. Social conservatism is dead. The Dixecrats are dead. America is now a center-left country.

McCain could have easily beaten mccain. He lost because of of the way he ran his campaign. Everyone that saw his concession speech thought 'if only he had ran with that integrity and honesty and kindness....'

I hope the next GOP candidate takes note of that.

 

[WillowTree]

McCain could have easily beaten mccain. He lost because of of the way he ran his campaign. Everyone that saw his concession speech thought 'if only he had ran with that integrity and honesty and kindness....'

I hope the next GOP candidate takes note of that.

one word. hypocrite!

 

[Turboswede]

No dis-respect intended - however, no one could have gone up against obama and won. Obama fever hit america earlier this year when he beat the clinton machine. Gathering massive crowds, raising hundreds of millions of dollars.... Nothing could've gone up against Obama and won. McCain picked the most conservative player on the field right now and rallied his base. Unfortunately, his base is shrinking. Social conservatism is dead. The Dixecrats are dead. America is now a center-left country.

I disagree, this was McCain’s race to lose, I remember during the Republican primary hoping that McCain would not be the GOP because then I would be forced to vote Republican. That’s the kind of candidate a party should have going into a general election, one that will draw voters who, otherwise vote a party ticket. It’s what won Regan the presidency in 80 and again in 84’.

2 months ago I was sure I would be voting for McCain in the general election but by focusing on the GOP populist base he alienated me as a social moderate and fiscal conservative. When I watched the VP debate I just kept wondering what the hell was McCain thinking?

As I watched the supporters of McCain become more and more angry and passionate about issues that were secondary in my opinion and the GOP backers (Fox news included) became less interested in talking to plans and policies and more interested in character attacks on Obama, I realized McCain had become the new face of the traditional Neocon spin machine.

After watching McCain’s speech last night I realized that, in defeat, the true McCain could emerge again, and be booed by a crowd of his own supporters when praising asking Americans to respect the president elect. Sad…

 

[jschuck12001]

No dis-respect intended - however, no one could have gone up against obama and won. Obama fever hit america earlier this year when he beat the clinton machine. Gathering massive crowds, raising hundreds of millions of dollars.... Nothing could've gone up against Obama and won. McCain picked the most conservative player on the field right now and rallied his base. Unfortunately, his base is shrinking. Social conservatism is dead. The Dixecrats are dead. America is now a center-left country.

I agree, Hillary was the toughest opponent he faced, once he beat her you had to believe he was going to win it all.

 

[editec]

We ALL watched McCain go from one person with one set of views, (even I thought he was a stand up guy!) to another person entirely within 4 years.

Had he not done so he'd likely have not gotten the Republican nod, but by doing so he shored up his far right base and lost the moderates.

Add to that, his signing onto the bailout, which infuriated the repbulcian fiscal moderates, and the fact that he essantially supported the same fiscal plans that Bush did and he was doomed when the economy tanked.

I doubt ANY Republican could have won this election, folks.

I think McCain gave up a month ago, to be honest.

 

[sealybobo]

We ALL watched McCain go from one person with one set of views, (even I thought he was a stand up guy!) to another person entirely within 4 years.

Had he not done so he'd likely have not gotten the Republican nod, but by doing so he shored up his far right base and lost the moderates.

Add to that, his signing onto the bailout, which infuriated the repbulcian fiscal moderates, and the fact that he essantially supported the same fiscal plans that Bush did and he was doomed when the economy tanked.

I doubt ANY Republican could have won this election, folks.

I think McCain gave up a month ago, to be honest.

I thought he was a stand up guy too, before all this. And I'll say it again. I think he would have gotten the RIGHTS vote if he stayed in the middle. Why not? He would have been their lesser of two evils.

Ultimately, they would have voted for him because he was not Obama.

And then McCain could have focused on winning independents over.

But you are right, he had no chance.

I wonder how Mitt Romney would have done.

 

[Jon]

McCain lost because he let his campaign managers make all his decisions. After reading the things coming out about Palin and how Schmidt single-handedly picked Palin, and how McCain hardly conversed with Palin during the campaign process, it's apparent McCain trusted Rove & Associates to put him into the office much like they did Bush.

McCain of 2000 could have won this election. His concession speech proved that he's still the same guy, but he was hiding behind the GOP political machine to get elected. Yes, I think even McCain of 2000 could have beaten Obama. What he should have done is used the Rove tactics to win the GOP nomination, and then separated himself from those people and ran his own campaign for the general election. He trusted an old system, a failed system, a heavily and publicly scrutinized system.

Look at how close it was in a few of the key states. McCain/Lieberman would have pulled people out of the Obama column, but it would have lost them the Republican base. McCain/Huckabee probably could have done better than McCain/Palin, and I can't stand Huckabee. Huckabee is a figure how energizes the base, but he's moderate enough to appeal to some independents.

I have a feeling Huckabee will be the figure to watch in 2012. He ran a good campaign with very little money and without the Rove machine on his side.

 

[Ravi]

McCain lost because he let his campaign managers make all his decisions.

Then he deserved to lose. Exit polls showed that age was a bigger factor on voter's minds than race.

 

[Coloradomtnman]

I haven't changed my mind either. I think it was a combination of fraud,and media in the tank, yesterday we saw intimidation, I will never be convinced the election was a fair one. Until ACORN stops being fradulant we can never be sure. Oh well you guys got yerselves a presidents. I'm still waiting.

First of all, the election was such a blow out that fraud doesn't go far enough to explain it. Secondly, ACORN registered fake voters, those voters didn't vote because they didn't exist i.e. Mickey Mouse. And it was only a few people who ACORN employed to register voters that used fake names to boost the number of voters they registered. It was about laziness. But even were ACORN to have registered a million people who didn't exist - none of those people voted!

Try to grow beyond your hate, Willow.

 

[Caligirl]

one word. hypocrite!

Well, I meant to say that McCain could have beaten Obama, typo.

But I'm not a hypocrite. I have said before that I liked mccain, still do. It was palin that sank the ship. Sorry.

I have said many times that I would have voted mccain over hillary.

Everyone (everyone) I know that saw Mccains concession speech said (and I agree) that if he had ran his campaign with that tone he would have won. He would have.

He lost (LOST) the campaign by pandering and stooping to lows in his ads. Everyone knows he has honor, but he chucked it under the bus for the religious right. He pulled it out again at the end, but it was too little too late.

I am not a hypocrite, but i don't need to convince you. it's not important. Here is the news event that happened in 2005 that inspired me to write to McCain to tell him I would vote for him over Hillary, for this sort of bipartisan spirit:

CNN.com - Senators compromise on filibusters - May 23, 2005

The group's members also agreed that they would oppose attempts to filibuster future judicial nominees except under "extraordinary circumstances."

Fourteen senators -- seven Democrats and seven Republicans -- signed on to the deal.

That bloc is large enough to derail both Democratic filibusters of judicial nominees and any GOP attempt to employ the so-called "nuclear option" to change Senate rules through procedural maneuvers to prevent the tactic from being used.

You can believe me or not, but most of the country is in the middle and the party that gets there wins.

You'll see in the other thread this morning that I am also happy that the republicans can still filibuster.

the filibuster is a check/balance on the system, and any majority party that tries to get rid of it loses my vote. Any party that protects it (as McCain did) earns my respect.

 

[Caligirl]

First of all, the election was such a blow out that fraud doesn't go far enough to explain it. Secondly, ACORN registered fake voters, those voters didn't vote because they didn't exist i.e. Mickey Mouse. And it was only a few people who ACORN employed to register voters that used fake names to boost the number of voters they registered. It was about laziness. But even were ACORN to have registered a million people who didn't exist - none of those people voted!

Try to grow beyond your hate, Willow.

The intimidation thing - interesting - I haven't heard of the right being intimidated, but I did hear about indiana poll workers challenging democratic registrations exclusively.

 

[ABikerSailor]

I respect your opinion but from a conservative.... You are crazy! Palin was THE reason McCain got the conservative vote. Without Palin McCain wouldn't have even been this close.

And second you have no clue about about Joe the Plumber. Obama came to his street. Joe did not go seek Obama... So for you to say this is a McCain plant is flat out untrue.

I agree with your last point.. McCain ran a crappy campaign but it's hard to compete against a guy who spends 7 times as much as you and has the media on his side.

However the real reason McCain lost is because he is not a conservative.

Palin wasn't the reason he got the vote......she was the one that rallied the base. However, when they saw what a ditzy bitch she really was, they started to back away from her. Hell.....they were calling her a diva just a day or two before the election! What more do you need to hear to figure out she'd lost the momentum she'd started?

Yes, you're right....Obama DID come to Joe (Sam)'s street. However, you do realize that every moment of a candidate's time on the trail is choreographed, right? So....all the McStupid camp had to do was find out where he was going door to door, call people in that area, and find out who the McCain supporters were, and then coach them into what to say. It's not rocket science.....

Even though Obama used public funds (a good move in my opinion), the average campaign contribution was only 90 bucks. He was smarter than the idiot that is a clone of Bush Jr.

 

[Andrew2382]

wow, biker just showing how fucking incompetant you really are.

Republicans like Palin and want to see her come back. It was polled that a good 70+% would like to see Palin in 2012

 

[Caligirl]

Hi Andrew,

According to this poll palin loses to romney and huckabee both, among republicans, and only half want to see her in 2012

20. Thinking ahead to the next presidential election... If John McCain is not elected president in November, would you like to see Sarah Palin run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, or not?

44% Yes, would

38% No, would not

18% Don't know

Western Standard

Newsweek, for some reason, has decided to ask voters who they think should represent the Republican Party in 2012 should McCain fail to win the presidency (flip to page 15 of the PDF doc).

The outcome?:

1. Mitt Romney with 35 per cent support
2. Mike Huckabee with 26 per cent
3. Sarah Palin with 20 per cent

For the record, people in the middle will go far more for romney, but hey, the choice is your guys.

 

[ABikerSailor]

wow, biker just showing how fucking incompetant you really are.

Republicans like Palin and want to see her come back. It was polled that a good 70+% would like to see Palin in 2012

No, it shows how blinded you are dude........

Most DON'T want to see Pandering Palin in 2012. Me? I hope she ends up working in a strip club, giving bj's for candy bars and spare change.

Or.......at the very least.......watching the rest of her political career go down the toilet and seeing her voted out of office.

 

[jschuck12001]

McCain lost because he let his campaign managers make all his decisions. After reading the things coming out about Palin and how Schmidt single-handedly picked Palin, and how McCain hardly conversed with Palin during the campaign process, it's apparent McCain trusted Rove & Associates to put him into the office much like they did Bush.

McCain of 2000 could have won this election. His concession speech proved that he's still the same guy, but he was hiding behind the GOP political machine to get elected. Yes, I think even McCain of 2000 could have beaten Obama. What he should have done is used the Rove tactics to win the GOP nomination, and then separated himself from those people and ran his own campaign for the general election. He trusted an old system, a failed system, a heavily and publicly scrutinized system.

Look at how close it was in a few of the key states. McCain/Lieberman would have pulled people out of the Obama column, but it would have lost them the Republican base. McCain/Huckabee probably could have done better than McCain/Palin, and I can't stand Huckabee. Huckabee is a figure how energizes the base, but he's moderate enough to appeal to some independents.

I have a feeling Huckabee will be the figure to watch in 2012. He ran a good campaign with very little money and without the Rove machine on his side.

I think you hit it right on Jsanders, I expect Mccain to come back to center left and wouldnt be surprised if he works with Obama in some way. I dont think he is a Republican by heart and I think this election opened his eyes to that fact.

 

[Andrew2382]

No, it shows how blinded you are dude........

Most DON'T want to see Pandering Palin in 2012. Me? I hope she ends up working in a strip club, giving bj's for candy bars and spare change.

the place you work at is hiring I assume

 

[Andrew2382]

Hi Andrew,

According to this poll palin loses to romney and huckabee both, among republicans, and only half want to see her in 2012



Western Standard



For the record, people in the middle will go far more for romney, but hey, the choice is your guys.

Yeah, which is expected, on that poll, Palin is still new where Romney and Huck are household names

Regardless, it will be Jindal you see come out in 2012

 

[Jon]

Huck are household names

No one even knew Huckabee outside of Arkansas until this year, and most forgot him two days after the primaries.

 

[del]

No one even knew Huckabee outside of Arkansas until this year, and most forgot him two days after the primaries.

makes a great squirrel, though.

mmmmmmmm, squirrel.