John McCain was tired. He was angry. And he was confused. But he had a good excuse. He was old, and he’d been half beaten to death.
Mike Huckabee is none of those things. But the real model to learn from here is Ronald Reagan.
Reagan was old too. But he was very much in touch with his faith. Did Vietnam strengthen McCain’s faith or weaken it?
McCain saw campaigning as a necessary evil. He saw his sense of humor as a way to get votes sometimes and something to reign in sometimes. But like that of another old guy, Bob Dole in 1996, it had an angry edge to it.
Huckabee saw campaigning as a way to meet people, learn from them, and share his goofy sense of humor with them. Great wisdom for such a young man.
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McCain lost failed to explain the Dems culpability in the credit crunch
6eorge Jetson (Diary) Sunday, March 15th at 9:19AM EST (link)GAME OVER.
McCain was tied in the betting (unbiased) in early Sept. But then Lehman Bros failed on Sept 15th, the market began to plunge, and Obama talked of those “failed policies of the past 8 years.”
Would anyone dispute that the credit crunch came about due to an overallocation to the housing sector? Did Barney Frank not explicitly state that he was in favor of helping the poor purchase homes? Was the Dems policy not one of “more housing please” with it’s advocacy for loosened credit standards? *
McCain, with a campaign chairman that had taken significant consulting fees, barely mentioned the Fannie/Freddie issue. He certainly spent a lot more energy railing on President Bush. And so with fortunes plunging, all Obama needed to reference were “those failed policies of the past 8 years.”
Game over.
*Now I don’t necessarily buy the “gun-to-the-head of the banks” CRA spin, but certainly the CRA provided regulatory cover for banks to bet on the housing sector, which was a very profitable bet as long as housing prices were going up. Disasterous when the music stopped. For the Dems to claim they had some magic regulatory pixie dust up their sleeves when they had been advocating for a greater allocation to the housing sector all along is just BS.
Hear, hear!
Achance (Diary) Sunday, March 15th at 9:35AM EST (link)He had that moment when he could have snatched the brass ring, but that “moderation” and “collegiality” took over; with a little help from the real conflict you describe. On that day, it was still possible to win, thereafter, it didn’t much matter what happened.
In Vino Veritas
nice family circus -nt-
Beaglescout (Diary) Sunday, March 15th at 10:54AM EST (link).
“A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one.”
Focusing on the spiritual guidance Barack Obama received for 20 years would have also improved McCain's chances.
David123 (Diary) Sunday, March 15th at 11:54AM EST (link)Pastor Wright sermons. UGH!
David123
That's what I mean about McCain
bigbagofwind (Diary) Sunday, March 15th at 4:14PM EST (link)Confused. When we needed his leadership the most. He didn’t the confidence that Reagan’s faith gave him in the darkest hours of recession and Cold War. We can only wonder about Obama, for now. And pick the best Huckster we can for our Party.