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Sarah Palin did not lose the election for McCain, the real reasons:
1. Bush, duh!
2. Financial crisis
3. McCain was unwilling to fully use the republican attack machine
The huge corporate money has switched sides. What do you expect the Republicans to do? Populists are in. I like Huckabee better, but this is the only direction open to the party right now.
#1. I would agree with the first two, but the third … McCain going as negative as he did gave his campaign no traction. Ramping it up with more Rev. Wright would not have helped. This is not 1988.
And Palin was cited as a major factor with some of the crossover endorsements.
#2 doug – “And Palin was cited as a major factor with some of the crossover endorsements.”
And drew crowds of supporters MUCH larger than McCain did. Without Palin McCain wouldn’t have picked up nearly as much of the Repub vote that he ended up getting.
Repub candidates don’t win by running as moderate centrists. They win when running as conservatives.
#3 “Repub candidates donât win by running as moderate centrists. They win when running as conservatives”
Oh please. You picked up that stupid line from Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council – the head wacko of the wingnut religious movement.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/07/conservatives.election/
Can’t you sheep republicans think for yourselves? Do you have to read the party email every morning to find your voice?
I think Palin’s biggest accomplishment was bringing back the hot librarian look.
#4 Dallas. “Oh please. You picked up that stupid line from Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council”
Sorry, Dallass. It’s what I told Hastern in ’04.
I think the “Need a penis” thread is calling you.
đ
I’d say McCain lost because he kept putting his eggs in the wrong baskets.
He said long ago that he needed to study up on economics and that he was confident that national security and fear of terrorism would be a more important issue for voting. He wound up being wrong.
He wound up using Joe the Plumber as a mascot. There were some that didn’t identify with him and didn’t feel as if McCain was representing them. Also, there were some strange things about Joe…
McCain said he’d put his campaign on hold to fix the economy, but he didn’t have a plan when he got there. He didn’t wind up standing ‘high above’ or ‘out from the crowd’ the best he wound up doing was going along for the same plan as everyone else (including the president).
The only bad basket that McCain didn’t put all his eggs into was the one that might’ve helped him win: the aggressive negative political machine. He only partially committed to it, and clearly didn’t like the taste it left in his mouth.
It also didn’t help that his long history of being a maverick didn’t sit well with conservatives when he won the primary and wasn’t enough to win moderates away from a charismatic guy.
#3. “Repub candidates donât win by running as moderate centrists. They win when running as conservatives.”
Nixon ran to the center twice and won. Bush I won his first term promising moderation – “kinder, gentler,” and Bush II won his first term as a moderate (“compassionate”) conservative. (well, you may have a point there, since Gore actually got more of the vote).
Lets pretend that Bush II was actually a conservative, even though he and the GOP controlled Congress vastly expanded government spending – he got reelected by a far smaller margin than previous incumbents (Nixon, Reagan, Clinton).
Bush I lost reelection because of bad economic news and possibly because Perot siphoned away the moderate vote.
The record of those who run as unabashed conservatives is mixed at best – Reagan won twice, but Goldwater got buried, as did McCain and Dole/Kemp.
(and McCain DID run as an unabashed conservative. he jettisoned his opposition to the Bush tax cuts, for example, and explicitly called himself “a soldier in the Reagan Revolution.”)
doug said: “McCain DID run as an unabashed conservative”
Yea, but no one really believed him.
#9. well, when you call out the ayatollahs for what they are, that tends to stick with people.
plus, there were some other things (his original opposition to the tax cuts, support of Bush’s immigration reform, compromising on breaking the filibuster of the Bush judges) that stuck in the craw of those who demand ideological purity.
BUT, I don’t think anyone can claim that the GOP base did not come out for McCain. overall turnout was something about 80%, and they just got swamped by moderates and liberals.
and I am sure there were a lot of moderates who had some misgivings about Obama, and were influenced by the high-profile endorsements by moderate Republicans.
and a lot of those moderate Republicans cited the Palin pick as a big factor in their endorsement.
the other thing about Palin is this (as even Charles Krauthammer said it right after the pick), she totally neutralized the killer argument against Obama that might have appealed to moderates:
lack of experience.
you just cannot say with a straight face that Palin was qualified and Obama was not. the grounds for distinguishing the two (her “command” of the Alaska National Guard and “executive experience”), sounded just silly. These things sounded even MORE silly after her fumbling interviews, which displayed that this experience had apparently not given her any expertise about national affairs.
I would not say she sunk the McCain campaign, but I don’t think she helped. Obama drew big crowds in states HE lost, so just bringing out the gawkers does not win elections.
McCain/Palin lost because you can’t run a ticket with one candidate who has a foot in the grave and another one who’s not smarter than a 5th grader.
Too bad you didn’t have the balls to do one on The Messiah or Plugs.
#12 Of course not. LOL
Herr Jägermeister, how about “the fundamentals of the economy are sound”?
#11: Nailed it! The other thing that doomed them was the attempt to spread a rumor that Obama was secretly Muslim. Heck, his supposedly Muslim father was agnostic/atheist.
I still vote for blowing a moose.
“Becoming 1st GOP VP Candiate”
Shouldn’t that be 1st female GOP VP Candidate?
George Bush was the biggest reason McCain lost. There were also a lot of little reasons. But number one, and exit polls show this, is George Bush.
I saw the lines at the polls here in Ohio, and I have to say that turnout was the most important element of Obama’s victory. His ground organization was remarkably well directed. However, this election is yet more proof that until we get an electoral system that works, in several key states such as Ohio we will have to win by 10 points at least to win by 5; the official totals say that over a hundred thousand -fewer- Ohioans voted in this election than the 04 election, which is balderdash. The turnout was much larger this year. Similarly, Alaska had a depressed turnout, despite the fact that everyone up there said it was the biggest turnout they had every seen; I think Senator Corruption up there had a 16 point swing from behind to win, which is absurd, and tells me he cheated some more. The dems need to focus on the corruption of our voting system, unless they want to have to win by 10 to win by 5 from now on. . .
I’m a republican and I believe Palins greatest accomplishment has been helping to destroy the current statist/warmongering republican party. Hopefully we can get a real republican party who actually believes in traditional republican ideals…like during the goldwater era.
#20 That’s interesting. Goldwater was a libertarian and a notable critic of the religious right.
Angry liberals are showing their lack of confidence in BHO, and can’t shut up about Palin.
At this point, they’re doing more to promote her than the GOP. Thanks guys!
#22 James Hill
I’m not so sure. I hear the Republicans have tagged her and released her back into the wild.
#22 That is correct. Goldwater was a badass, and Goldwater jr. is just as awesome.
Traditional republican ideals are very close to that of libertarians and constitutionalists. Limited government, non-interventionist foreign policy, etc…
#14 – QB – âthe fundamentals of the economy are soundâ
Oh, absolutely… when you’re rich.
#15 – Floyd – The other thing that doomed them was the attempt to spread a rumor that Obama was secretly Muslim.
…or that he is a terrorist. My fundamentalist Christian neighbor still believes he is… :rolleyes:
#23 – She has to be in Alaska to name herself Senator, duh. Besides, Alaska is superior to the Lower 48… even when it’s cold.
Continue spending your day masturbating over Palin, liberals. At least you’ve upgraded over Hillary.
(And any reply to this message is simply your worship of me. Good luck with that.)
#24 Cool, I get where you’re coming from. What I’m wondering is this:
Doesn’t Palin’s popular support mean that the Christian right now dominates the Republican party?
in my previous post I was replying to #21 not #22
#27 I’m not too worried about the palin support, unless she goes back to highschool and learns how to think like an intelligent person, there is no way Palin is going to ever win an election.
Actually I can’t see the republican party winning an election ever again – and I will help to make sure of it – if they don’t go back to the more sane and traditional republican Ideals.
I just can’t see republicans winning an election campaigning on a warmongering, deficit spending, big statist government platform.
#22 – James Hill
Cry us a river, James… McCain/Palin lost and you’re showing your bitterness. It’s okay… cry…