[Rockingham]

I reflexively dislike such speculation as leading to paranoid conspiracy thinking, but I have seen such political treachery often enough to wonder if it is true in that instance. Based on first-hand accounts from people I knew, McCain's campaign had an air of antic unreality and programmed failure from the start.

This reflected McCain's oddball personality, which made him an unmanageable candidate. One cannot but wonder though if that is why GOP big-money business interests supported him without a strong effort at an intervention or workaround so as to give him and the campaign a chance to defeat Obama. Then and now, a segment of nominally GOP aligned big business and agricultural interests preferred Obama's open borders immigration and trade policies and even wanted Obamacare so as to force equivalent employee benefit costs onto competitors.

[Lurkinanloomin]

Have you ever seen a Presidential candidate tell their supporters they had nothing to fear from their opponent winning?
It was almost an endorsement.