[Publius804]

McCain was an assmunch for taking public financing while Obama raised millions and millions. The more one reads about this campaign the angrier one gets. He ran like he didn't want to win.

[ken21]

the pubies are either going to have to buy a tv network,

or learn to respond to democrat media attacks on the person.

i’m tired of this.

president george w bush did nothing to enhance his image.

he should have regularly explained his policies to the american people.

not doing so left him vulnerable, and his successor candidate as well.

[Cicero]

I don’t know how much money McCain could have raised privately. He doesn’t have the corrupt billionaire friends that Obama has. He doesn’t have the Chicago machine. He doesn’t have a ton of foreign donors. He doesn’t sell his honor for profit. And he isn’t very popular among the base.

Which is another way of saying that he was a poor candidate. He could Reach Across the Aisle as often as he liked during the campaign, but he wasn’t going to get any contributions from the Kennedys or the Feingolds.

Sarah inspired the base, but there again, it’s doubtful that ordinary, patriotic Americans could match the funding from Obama’s corrupt machine.

[ketsu]

Note that my tagline(stolen from another astute FReeper 3 weeks ago) says it all.

[redhead]

"He ran like he didn't want to win."

Exactly. check my blog postfor today. I said the same thing.

[goldstategop]

I'm glad to see McCain hoist on his own petard. But will he learn from it? Nothing will teach McCain to keep government from interfering in politics. Nothing - not even losing an election.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[SoCalTeresa]

This election raises many issues that we need to confront and diligently attack. Obama raised millions of dollars that can not be traced to confirm they are legal; voter registration fraud is unchecked; the media bias is reminiscent of the old Soviet Union. Unfortunately, it looks like the worst is yet to come. A Chief of Staff who sent a dead fish to someone he disagreed with? Is this really a sign of solidarity? Hardly.

[SoConPubbie]

Republicans need a candidate who’s unafraid of being a Republican. For a 72-year-old, John McCain gave an impressive campaign performance, but he lost. Why? Because he failed to articulate exactly how his opponent was such a danger to our economy, national security, and American values.

Man, Ruddy misses by 50%.

It wasn't only McCain's refusal to tell the TRUTH about Obama, it was his total lack of bedrock belief in conservative principles and hence his wrong-headed positions on so many conservative positions.

[Lizavetta]

McCain was the stiffest stiff that ever stiffed. He came across as so unnatural in EVERYTHING he said.

And let's face it...everyone swarmed to Palin because she was the antithesis of stiff and not because she deserved to be his running mate. We rallied to her because she's all we had.

She's likeable, apparently conservative, an attractive candidate, can give good speeches. But she was industrial strength unqualified to be VP, just as Obama is industrial strength unqualified to be president.

McCain thought the chickie vote would flock to him because of her, and he was wrong. Feminists will sell out a fellow woman YESTERDAY and excuse any atrocity against women as long as the perpetrator shares their politics.

[Theodore R.]

He ran like he didn't want to win.

Oh, yes, and I didn't know that he had recycled Bob Dole's old team from twelve years ago, another old compromiser who did not want to win. It was "their" turn, it seems, and gullible Republican primary voters fell for these flawed figures.

[Aria]

He ran like he didn't want to win.

I've through the same thing many times - it's like the nomination was his goal, not the presidency.

[Republic of Texas]

"He ran like he didn't want to win. "

He didn't. Not ever.

[4.6V8]

c’mon folks.

people voted against
George Bush.

[43north]

Remember this: McCain was forced upon we Conservatives by the Donks in the open pubbie primaries. They knew he was not electable. He almost monkeywrenched their plans by selecting Sarah as his running mate but the relentless, unchallenged media bloodbath that followed did her in.

I would bet she was responsible for 90% of the Conservative votes cast for McCain. It would have been a Zero landslide if it weren't for her.

And now, in typical republicrat fashion, its all HER fault simply because she is not one of the blue-blood establishment losers who love to lose that inhabit the party.

I personally do not see the republicans as a viable party any longer. They are too interested in getting along with donks to ever be successful on their own. They aren't interested in hearing from Conservatives.

I've seen multiple posts today citing news stories about how mccain and his bud Lindsay (isn't that a girl's name?) can't wait to get back to work butt-snorkelling the Senate donks and thus putting the screws to Conservatives and the rest of the American sheeple.

What a fine mess we've gotten ourselves into this time!

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

"Republicans need a candidate who’s unafraid of being a Republican. For a 72-year-old, John McCain gave an impressive campaign performance, but he lost. Why? Because he failed to articulate exactly how his opponent was such a danger to our economy, national security, and American values. "

That's right. Conservatives need a candidate who can speak persuasively and believes what he is saying. Reagan believed in his message. It is essential that the speaker believes and understands why the conservative message is true and why the socialist one is very wrong. McCain failed to articulate a convincing narrative why he should be president and why Obama should not. He was too lite on conservatism. And not hard enough on socialism.

The candidate must be a convincing conservative without coming across as a religious kook or extremist. He has to win a blue state. They need Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire back in the win column. Florida and Ohio. They need to appeal to the middle class and average Americans like Joe the Plumber.

[Rembrandt]

Republicans are in deep ca ca til they find a way to get ACORN out of the picture. With Dims in both houses of Congress and with Obama, I see no way that the ACORN issue will be resolved in the next couple of years.

[Ingtar]

Dirty secret - McCain could not get off of public financing at one point since the FEC is short of a quorum. I’m not sure if this effected the General as well. He probably figured that with the numbers he was getting before Palin that he would not raise enough to matter. It was one of many mistakes.

[wardaddy]

none of this mattered

whites decided they wanted a black man in the white house so they could preen over voting for him

and they did

conservative whites stayed home and plotted klan meetings

/s

[Peter Libra]

The power of the press was something I have not witnessed in over fifty years of watching elections. It was a juggernaut, save for talk radio.

(1). Suppose the MSM have tried in an ethical and professional manner to cover the whole spectrum. Suppose they then declared for one or the other candidate, after analyzing the whole scene.

(2) Used their blatent bias and supported McCain/Palin in the same way they supported Obama/Biden.

Would this have meant five percent of the vote- even more? Alas, there is no way we can know. They think they have done their country a service. Time will tell. I am reminded of another species here. It has lived with mankind through out the ages.

[mbennett203]

"He ran like he didn't want to win."

I swear I was thinking Bob Dole 2: Electric Boogaloo when he got nominated, and *poof* it happened.

And I'm not happy about being right, at all.

[DustyMoment]

FWIW, I think the ‘Pubbies have soiled their suits so badly that they aren’t likely to be a major force in politics for quite some time to come. As a lifelong Republican, those words don’t come easily to me, but here are my reasons for writing them:

1) Republicans abandoned their conservative roots. Their 12 years of “mostly” controlling both houses of Congress say it all. They became drunk with power and went on a spending spree the likes of which we haven’t seen in this country in generations.

2) “Country Club” Republicans. If ANY GROUP ever deserved that name, the current crop of Republicans in Congress certainly do. They won’t get their hands dirty nor will they upset the apple cart by taking the fight back to the Democrats. They cave and turn into Democrat doormats to avoid missing “social hour” in Washington.

3) Lack of party leadership. Perhaps the biggest betrayal we conservatives have had to deal with is the complete and total lack of leadership from George Bush 43. We worked tirelessly to get him elected in 2000 and again in 2004. We busted our hump to give him an all-Republican Congress, and look what it got us - president-elect Obama. It isn’t just George’s fault, it is the entire Republican Party’s fault that we are where we are today. And, cynically thrusting Mel Martinez on us the the Chairman of the RNC was just another of George’s slaps in the face to conservatives.

4) “Moderates” and “RINOS”. More than any political group I have seen, so-called “moderates” and “RINOS” have wrecked the party and the charade of party unity. When we compare ‘Pubbies with Democrats, the differences are distinct. Democrats tend to march in lockstep with the commands of the party leadership and not abandon the party line very often. By comparison, the “moderates” and “RINOs” sell the party down the river with great regularity. All this does is damage conservatism. Also, look at the differences between Congressional leaders. When Dems run the Congress, they rule with an iron fist (something the current crop of country club Republicans are too stupid to notice). When the ‘Pubbies run Congress, they can’t wait to share leadershp with the Dems and compromise with them, including returning to their groveling, doormat role.

What the Republican Party needs to survive is fewer country clubbers and more rock-solid Reagan conservative street fighters who aren’t afraid to take the fight back to the Dems. McCain proved what all the compromising and “crossing the aisle” gets. He got clobbered and thought it was all Palin’s fault (there’s a news flash in his future!). The Dems knew his weaknesses and exploited them and McCain, the country clubber, wouldn’t fight back.

We need more “pit bulls with lipstick” and fewer country club gentlemen afraid to spill their drinks.