The freakish size of Nancy Reagan's head.

[Tellurider]

McCain's problem is that he wanted to be president. Obama wanted to be president because he wanted to bring change to the united states and make them stronger and better, or at least that is how he ran his campaign. McCain just. wanted. to. be. president.

And he would do ANYTHING to become president.

Why was he pushing the maverick thing? He was trying to say to centrist and center-lefts that he was not the same old GOP candidate and that he'd be bipartisan, which is what they wanted to hear. Why did Palin get put on the campaign? Whether is was McCain who picked her or not, he was told that she would "mobilize the base" and get all those crazy right-wingers to vote for him. Why did he run such a mudslinging campaign? Because when he ran in the primaries in 2000, that's what George W. Bush did to him, and look! Bush is president!

Basically in 2000 McCain wanted to lead the country into the 21st century. But during this campaign, he didn't care about anything but how he could become president. He sacrificed his morals and his judgment because he had been led to believe that the only way to be elected was to do so. He ran a campaign of fear (don't vote for Obama he's scary!) because for the last eight years fear has worked pretty well as a motivator. He didn't get rid of Palin because she DID do a good job of mobilizing the crazy fundamentalist base - although for every crazy fundie she won over, she lost two sane rational people.

The only time in the entire campaign that I think we got to see the real McCain was during his concession speech, because he was no longer whoring himself out for votes. And even then, it's hard to say exactly who the "real McCain" is now, considering how he threw the principles he was so admired for into the garbage because he really, really, REALLY wanted to be the president.

Incidentally, this sort of "whatever it takes to be president" attitude is shared by Hilary Clinton, and is one of the reasons why I predicted she would never become president. I think, or at least I hope, that most americans are suspicious of people who are willing to do anything to obtain power.

[Dotty]

Frankly, Palin is partly to blame...but so is them picking Palin. I mean, what kind of a decision is that? Would McCain exercise that kind of judgment with his cabinet selection? So, while she carries blame, she also shouldn't be the scapegoat they're making her into. If anything, she's a symptom of what made them lose.

EXACTLY.

[KWill]

I managed to catch Schwarzenegger on CNN yesterday (not sure when it was first aired). While he listed a number of reasons why I'd never vote for him, the Republican party needs more of his kind.

[McDuffies]

McCain's problem is that he wanted to be president. Obama wanted to be president because he wanted to bring change to the united states and make them stronger and better, or at least that is how he ran his campaign. McCain just. wanted. to. be. president.

Presidential candidates in most of cases seem like they're running for it because it's a logical step in their career more than anything else.

Why was he pushing the maverick thing? He was trying to say to centrist and center-lefts that he was not the same old GOP candidate and that he'd be bipartisan, which is what they wanted to hear.

I was led to believe that "maverick" thing comes from McCain's opposition to many of Bush's decisions during the past eight years which made him a sort of "outcast" and undesired among most powerful people in country.
As such he was perhaps the best choice for candidate, what with all the dissatisfaction with Bush. But it turns out that the most maverick person in Republican party is still pretty mediocre.
We can only guess whether the real mcCain is the one present during last eight years, or if he's actually shown his true face in capmain, under the pressure. What I'm wondering, though, if Republicans wanted a different, "maverick" candidate that oposes to values of George W Bush, couldn't theiy really find someone else but 70 years old man in their rows?

[Dotty]

Also someone who didn't vote with Bush 92% of the time -might've- helped, even if the votes were or weren't for the right thing.

[Tellurider]

Presidential candidates in most of cases seem like they're running for it because it's a logical step in their career more than anything else.

There's a difference between trying to further your career and blatantly lusting for power, that's all I'm saying.

I was led to believe that "maverick" thing comes from McCain's opposition to many of Bush's decisions during the past eight years which made him a sort of "outcast" and undesired among most powerful people in country.

Actually McCain had the "maverick" reputation from way back in the 1990's. He got it by not voting the party line on certain issues, and the reason he did it is because he didn't believe in the way the party was voting. He gained a good reputation off of that because it said he was a guy who was going to vote the way he believed was right, and the way his constituents believed was right, rather than say "I am a republican so I will vote with republicans."

McCain has actually been far, FAR less maverick-y in the last eight years - and again, I think it's because he wanted to be president and decided to be a good little senator so the whole GOP would back him.

[MixedMyth]

Reminds me. I heard or read an interview with Tina Fey about playing Palin for SNL and how her accent was pretty easy to nail, and the funniest thing in it was when she commented that "[Palin] drills those R's like there's oil in them."

[Phact0rri]

Reminds me. I heard or read an interview with Tina Fey about playing Palin for SNL and how her accent was pretty easy to nail, and the funniest thing in it was when she commented that "[Palin] drills those R's like there's oil in them."

think that was an AP article. I read it on msnbc at work I'm pretty sure.