I wouldn’t go that far on the first part. Juan never wanted to win. He’s too interested in being the False Messiah’s knobshiner.
I think McCain did want to win. He was on a political dead watch in August 2007. He had no money and no staff. His allies told him to quit the race and get behind Giuliani. Yet he refused. Then Fred, Mitt, Rudy, and Huckabee all imploded and McCain was the last man standing.
However after seeing the money Hillary and esp. Obama were raking in, the McCain campaign became demoralized. McCain wandered the country aimlessly looking for campaign theme. Mac finally found a campaign them in Palin. Mac wanted to talk about national security and Palin was to discuss energy independence. Then the stock market cash came and those issues were knocked off the table. As result, Mac became unfocused and tried to shift focus away from the economy. Doing so made McCain look out of touch with the American people. That sealed the deal for Obama.
Or his Defense Secretary?
Which actually would be very smart on BO's part. For one thing, it's a job for which Juan McVain is eminently qualified. For another, it burnishes BO's claim to be bipartisan. And it would tend to dispel people's belief that he would do what he will do, which is strip our military to the bare bones. In addition, Arizona has a Dhimmicrap governor, so regradless of what happens in Georgia, they'd hve their filibuster-proof Senate.