BZZT wrong.
McCain LOST because he was only ever really motivated to beat the other Republicans in the primary.
McCain did not actually want to be president. He wanted to beat the other Republicans.
Once he did that, he didn’t care. McCain quit.
McCain beat his own campaign. Palin very nearly rescued it, despite McCain and his stupid staffers’ incompetence.
Contrast McCain's presidential campaign with his own re-election effort in 2010 in which he campaigned hard and became a born-again conservative--for a season--so as to rally the party's base.
Yes. I remember the Convention. Many of the other speeches were good. Palins was the best. McCains was so flat I keep waiting for him to get some pep into it. He made Gerald Ford, by comparison, seem like Patrick Henry .