Posted on 10/23/2008 11:53:30 AM PDT by Signalman
Losing a presidential race is not an easy thing. Losing the primary is one thing. But making it to the finals, so close you can almost taste it, and then watching it slip through your fingers is one of those experiences from which few people ever fully recover.
If it's a race for re-election, a first term that doesn't become a second, at least you can go off, build the library and console yourself that you're still a member of the club. If you're young enough, you can convince yourself that there is always next time, four years down the road, that the next campaign is only days away. Even if you never run again (see Al Gore, John Kerry), you can get a long way thinking you might.
There will be no such solace for John McCain if he loses. He tried twice. He made it to the finals. He is, frankly, too old to try again. It will be someone else's turn next time.
And it's not clear, even if the talking heads don't want to admit it, that there is anything he can do now to change an outcome that is feeling more certain with each passing day. You can "what if" the race to death: what if he hadn't picked Sarah Palin; what if the economy hadn't collapsed; what if Hillary Clinton had won instead of Barack Obama? But what is matters, not what if. He did pick Palin; the economy did collapse; and for my money, I think Hillary would have beaten him handily.
At this point, almost everything that matters is beyond McCain's control. He can't control the fact that the Dow has collapsed, that Joe the Plumber has a lien on his house, that Palin doesn't read newspapers, or that Obama doesn't make mistakes. He can't even begin to match Obama in terms of organization or money.
He is on the verge of the final days of a campaign that he will relive and second-guess for the rest of his life.
McCain may not be able to do anything to change the numbers on Nov. 4 or the colors on the map. But there is one thing he can do. He can decide how he will go out, what kind of man America will see, whether the candidate America remembers will be the one who started this race, the one who served in the Senate with distinction, the one who crossed congressional aisles to do what was right, the one who stood up for Kerry when he was being swift-boated, the one who championed campaign finance reform, the de-politicization of the judiciary and fairness in immigration reform, the one who really did put country first for decades; or a bad copy of the guy who beat him by playing dirty politics in 2000.
John McCain brought tears to my eyes in 1988 when he led the Republican Convention in the Pledge of Allegiance. He made me believe there was such a thing as principle when he stood up to the scumbags trashing him in 2000, stood up to the scumbags trashing Kerry in 2004, stood up to the loudmouth talk-show hosts spreading anti-immigrant ire in 2007.
I haven't seen that guy lately. I haven't seen the guy who carried his own briefcase and was willing to take every question and do his best to tell the truth in answering them. I haven't seen the guy who rode the Straight Talk Express, the guy Democrats like me were most worried about facing in a general election.
What I've seen is another desperate politician tossing mud at his rival, looking for cheap shots and funding robocalls instead of denouncing them.
Maybe with the economy the way it is, the Bush presidency as unpopular as it is, the desire for change as great as it is, there was never a chance for the guy McCain used to be. It may be too late for him to win with dignity, but there is still time for him to lose that way.
And it matters.
It will matter to him for the rest of his life. It matters to the process he has fought for and to the country to which he has dedicated his life. He deserves a better last act than the bad jokes of the Palin fiasco. Two weeks isn't much time. But it's time enough to change the way the ending feels, if not how it plays.
I assumed she was writing this for Barry. Silly me!
I can hardly wait to see Estrich’s face on Nov. 5. (And believe me — that’s the ONLY time I would ever want to see her mug!)
Being frightfully ugly with a voice like a tabby with laryngeal trauma must not be an easy thing, either.
I’ll settle for seeing this knee pad wearing liberal ho drunk and ugly on Fox when Obambi the Marxist loses. Just like last time.
Right, Susie. Ol’ John just needs to lay down and die with dignity. This, of all the pure crap I’ve either read or seen or heard lately, has to be the most transparent attempt on behalf of Obama to “advise” the opposing campaign.
If John McCain had not picked Sarah Palin, he would have not even been competetive. It is that one act that gave him credibility with Republicans and made his election plausible.
Frankly, I still think he will win this thing, and Sarah Palin will be a big part of the reason why.
Her face reminds me of the North end of a Southbound mule.
I think only half of this posted,, i didnt see anything about her take on how it should go if Obama loses?
Bwahaaahahahaaaaaaaa
And if Hillary beat Obama, McCain would have probably picked Pawlenty or Lieberman and would be trailing by 15+.
I agree. One question no poll would dare ask those who support McCain (because they know they wouldn’t like the answer) is “would you still be supporting his ticket if he had chosen a ‘moderate’ instead of Palin?” They would be “shocked” (I think they know it too but pretend she’s only a problem for him in order to destroy her) to find out that his support would vanish without her.
Nobody but nobody but NOBODY can whistle past the graveyard like a Dem. If Bozo doesn’t win I can’t IMAGINE the Dem response except that it must be as divorced from reality as they are.
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