Why I think McCain will lose

chipboy wrote:

McCain could have won if he voted against the bailout. It was extremely unpopular and it would have given him a differentiating key issue. He could have started saying Obama and Bush voted together on the bailout 100% of the time and stolen Obama's thunder. Plus it would have fit perfectly with his theme of vetoing ear marks and stopping wasteful government spending. It would have galvanized the right and won him independents in droves. I have no idea why he voted for it.

Voting against the Bailout would have been a big score, but he didn't. The fact that he grandstand and then backed off took away all his creditability as he tried to bash Obama. Even Republicans took shots at McCain's failed tactics, which was easy because it appeared that is McCain fell back into Bush's fold. Obama won on the Bailout because yes, he voted for it, but he immediately came out with a plan addressing the middle class and taxpayers as a whole. He came out and said yes, I'm going to tax the wealthy but I'm going to stabilize the middle class. McCain was silent, he had nothing to show the American public except the fact that he voted for the Bailout that Bush wanted. McCain forgot that the American people also expected something from this Bailout and neither Bush nor McCain offered them anything. Obama took the lead and address their concerns.

McCain was prepared to run his campaign as seeking to become commander-in-chief, when the country needed a President and McCain had nothing to offer them. Just like Bush, McCain treated these like they are two separate jobs, when in fact, they are the job of one person. The American public needed to see a leader, presidential material and McCain and his campaign failed that test time after time. All people saw was a disorganized campaign that left the America public questioning the erratic behavior of McCain and the possibility of a Palin presidency.

hailhailkc wrote:

I think McCain is going to lose because he doesn't have "what it takes" to win the election. Define that how you will (cheating, the willingness to play really, really dirty, grass roots ground campaign, was out spent, etc...) However you define "what it takes", I don't think McCain ever had it.

Personally, I believe McCain wasn't willing to play as dirty as he should have. He needed a Karl Rove. I think McCain's life experiences as a POW...and the fact that Bush beat him up bad for the Republican nomination...had A LOT to do with the way McCain wanted to run this campaign. I think all of that made him take the "nice" route early on...and that cost him. Quite frankly, he needed to steal it, and I don't think he had it in him. Did Bush steal it??? I don't know...but I think Bush was willing to do what it took to get the nod.

McCain is nothing more than the Republican version of John Kerry. No one is interested in him, he's boring, terrible campaign.

Anything could happen, but I don't think it will. Sorry John, you were my lesser of two evils this time. It didn't work for Kerry, it won't work for you. Best wishes, it just wasn't meant to be.

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Nope.
McCain will lose because he had abandoned that 'Maverick' label a long time ago... when he checked his character (and his political balls) at the doorstep and pandered to the Religious Right in order to fit in and play the game. You can no longer call yourself an 'outsider' or 'Maverick' if you assimilate to the conventional thinking and forfeit your character in order to get votes.
The Palin selection was exactly the political pandering that made him more of an status quo Republican in the neo-conservative model... than, someone carrying a message of change.
That was McCain's mistake.