Where did McCain go wrong?

[gabosaurus]

Can we actually have a real debate/discussion on this? Please?
I would like to have opinions on what issues or actions contributed to McCain's demise. What brought him down in the eyes of American voters?

I honestly believe McCain's biggest mistake was choosing Sarah Palin as VP. She attracted so much media attention (positive and negative) that it overshadowed the points that McCain needed to get across.
McCain should have chosen a stronger VP that would have pushed his issues and policies. Instead, he went with a candidate that he felt would pick up the disgruntled Clinton supporters. Palin's many pratfalls allowed the media to focus on that instead of McCain's positive points.

[-Cp]

Can we actually have a real debate/discussion on this? Please?
I would like to have opinions on what issues or actions contributed to McCain's demise. What brought him down in the eyes of American voters?

I honestly believe McCain's biggest mistake was choosing Sarah Palin as VP. She attracted so much media attention (positive and negative) that it overshadowed the points that McCain needed to get across.
McCain should have chosen a stronger VP that would have pushed his issues and policies. Instead, he went with a candidate that he felt would pick up the disgruntled Clinton supporters. Palin's many pratfalls allowed the media to focus on that instead of McCain's positive points.

Funny you say that about Palin:

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[LiberalNation]

I don't think he did anything so much wrong as the fact the deck was heavily stacked against him to begin with. The incumbent party wasn't going to win with the climate of our country right now.

[manu1959]

Can we actually have a real debate/discussion on this? Please?
I would like to have opinions on what issues or actions contributed to McCain's demise. What brought him down in the eyes of American voters?

I honestly believe McCain's biggest mistake was choosing Sarah Palin as VP. She attracted so much media attention (positive and negative) that it overshadowed the points that McCain needed to get across.
McCain should have chosen a stronger VP that would have pushed his issues and policies. Instead, he went with a candidate that he felt would pick up the disgruntled Clinton supporters. Palin's many pratfalls allowed the media to focus on that instead of McCain's positive points.

he picked palin and the gap closed.......what you should really look at is after 8 years of one party when was the last time the same party held serve.....

[hjmick]

I don't thing he did anything so much wrong as the fact the decked was heavily stacked against him to begin with. The incumbent party wasn't going to win with the climate of our country right now.

That about sums it up.

[stephanie]

wow...that no gloating is sure holding up..

[Hull]

Just too liberal. Too much of a maverick to bring home the conservative vote. He was warned he'd lose if he kept up his maverick rhetoric, talking about taking on his own party, and having best friends like Lieberman.

[avatar4321]

He won the nomination.

[Yurt]

he picked palin and the gap closed.......what you should really look at is after 8 years of one party when was the last time the same party held serve.....

bush's daddy...

mccain's biggest problem - he is mccain

[manu1959]

bush's daddy...

mccain's biggest problem - he is mccain

yep...and before that.....

[bullypulpit]

Can we actually have a real debate/discussion on this? Please?
I would like to have opinions on what issues or actions contributed to McCain's demise. What brought him down in the eyes of American voters?

I honestly believe McCain's biggest mistake was choosing Sarah Palin as VP. She attracted so much media attention (positive and negative) that it overshadowed the points that McCain needed to get across.
McCain should have chosen a stronger VP that would have pushed his issues and policies. Instead, he went with a candidate that he felt would pick up the disgruntled Clinton supporters. Palin's many pratfalls allowed the media to focus on that instead of McCain's positive points.

In the end, it wasn't about McCain...It was a repudiation of of the last eight years of GOP rule.

[theHawk]

Can we actually have a real debate/discussion on this? Please?
I would like to have opinions on what issues or actions contributed to McCain's demise. What brought him down in the eyes of American voters?

I honestly believe McCain's biggest mistake was choosing Sarah Palin as VP. She attracted so much media attention (positive and negative) that it overshadowed the points that McCain needed to get across.
McCain should have chosen a stronger VP that would have pushed his issues and policies. Instead, he went with a candidate that he felt would pick up the disgruntled Clinton supporters. Palin's many pratfalls allowed the media to focus on that instead of McCain's positive points.




He didn't pound Obama over the head with Rev. Wright.

But really, there isn't much McCain could of done. The financial crisis is the reason he lost, and most of the country doesn't understand that the Dems in Congress were far more responsible for causing it than the incumbant President.

Of course Bush did him no favors either. His aloof attitude about the economy, his mistakes in Iraq, and his abandonment of conservatism.

[manu1959]

In the end, it wasn't about McCain...It was a repudiation of of the last eight years of GOP rule.


yep....it has happened every time excpet bush I ( i think)

[Yurt]

yep...and before that.....

franklin

[gabosaurus]

wow...that no gloating is sure holding up..

Only you would interpret a serious question as "gloating."
I simply believe McCain would have put force a more serious challenge if he had chosen a more serious running mate.

[Yurt]

Only you would interpret a serious question as "gloating."
I simply believe McCain would have put force a more serious challenge if he had chosen a more serious running mate.

nah, palin actually energized his base

fact is, mccain was never strong to begin with, he is his own worst enemy and the obama did a great job of convincing people that a vote for mccain is a vote for bush

[Immanuel]

I don't think he did anything so much wrong as the fact the deck was heavily stacked against him to begin with. The incumbent party wasn't going to win with the climate of our country right now.

I have to agree with LN here. There was little chance that John McCain could win this election. Republicans were angry with the incumbent even though many would not admit it.

The other factor that cost John McCain this election was the fact that he was going up against a very charismatic man. Barack Obama is loved by an awful lot of people. He stirs people's hearts. He's the star that the young have been looking for. Hopefully, he can turn the hearts of the rest of us.

Immie

[stephanie]

Only you would interpret a serious question as "gloating."
I simply believe McCain would have put force a more serious challenge if he had chosen a more serious running mate.


yeah sure..

like your Vp pick is something to gloat over..

we now have dumb and dumber as our President and Vp...

[Sitarro]

yeah sure..

like your Vp pick is something to gloat over..

we now have dumb and dumber as our President and Vp...

No shit stephanie, 750 MILLION DOLLARS against McCain"s 100 million dollars, ACORN, 98 % of the black vote, The Mass Media behind him all of the way, Hollywood and the entertainment industry almost completely behind him, egotistical assholes running joke third party candidacies knowing it would just help Osama, ignorant guilty white voters that liked the idea of a black president to make them feel better about themselves and Osama shamelessly promising the same ignorant needy voters a bunch of bullshit that makes them think they would win a prize if Osama won........ McCain didn't lose, he had no chance to win against all of that.

All that and the 55 electoral votes from California, 31 from New York and 27 from South New York(Florida).

[Gaffer]

No shit stephanie, 750 MILLION DOLLARS against McCain"s 100 million dollars, ACORN, 98 % of the black vote, The Mass Media behind him all of the way, Hollywood and the entertainment industry almost completely behind him, egotistical assholes running joke third party candidacies knowing it would just help Osama, ignorant guilty white voters that liked the idea of a black president to make them feel better about themselves and Osama shamelessly promising the same ignorant needy voters a bunch of bullshit that makes them think they would win a prize if Osama won........ McCain didn't lose, he had no chance to win against all of that.

All that and the 55 electoral votes from California, 31 from New York and 27 from South New York(Florida).

That's why the messiah is in office. Your dead on again.

[Trigg]

McCain wasn't popular with real conservatives from the very beginning. IMO the only reason he won the nomination was because Huckabee and Romney split the votes between them and the republican party rules awarded all the points to the winner of each state. Instead of doing what the dems do and splitting them by percentages.

Palin wasn't a great choice IMO, but she was a true conservative and that actually helped McCain with the base.

McCain would have been my third choice for nominee and I suspect many felt the same way.

Obama on the other hand had excitement on his side, not to mention the fawning of the MSM. The man could do no wrong and when he did slip up they just ignored it.

[PostmodernProphet]

I would say his two biggest "errors" were running immediately following the Bush administration and running at the time that the housing crisis hit.....

in my opinion, a more conservative Republican candidate would have lost by a larger margin because the base seems to have turned out....and I think Palin was a wise choice, because the base turned out....

[5stringJeff]

I agree with Immie, in that McCain faced a likable opponent in Obama, and I agree with Hull, in that McCain was not liked by his party because his politics were not the same as the GOP base.

[Nuc]

I thought either McCain or Obama were improvements over Bush simply because they can speak English.

But McCain lost me when he chose an idiot for the VP slot. He lost all credibility there. :salute:

[stephanie]

no problems, the little Marxist and Joey Biden never had any credibility, and never will..

so we are lucky all the way around..:dance: