PALIN/JINDAL ’12
Re: Robert Stacy McCain’s How John McCain Lost:

R.S. McCain can be just as depressed as he can talk himself into. But please, just remind him to vote.
— Jerry Broaddus
Whitehouse, Texas

I just love when people try to “stake their claim” to a story early. When John McCain surges in the next three weeks and takes the presidency, please have “The Other McCain” admit he was simply trying to be an opportunistic tool.
— Dave Martin

This is an excellent analysis of John McCain’s final and fatal blunder. One can only ask why so many Republicans thought it would be otherwise. I have been telling people for over a year now that John McLame was not a conservative and would never win in November. The Republican power brokers ignored his weaknesses because they were so intent on getting someone in office who they could manipulate to continue the policies of George Bush, which have been disastrous for the country. McLame has been wrong on just about every major issue, from abortion to Supreme Court nominees and immigration reform. He has now irreparably damaged his campaign by supporting a bailout bill loaded with pork that benefited the very people responsible for our economic mess. And if that wasn’t bad enough the bill gave unlimited powers to Henry Paulson, one of the architects of this mess.

As a conservative I will be sticking to my original plan to vote for a third party candidate in November. I know Obama will be a disaster for the country, but I believe John McLame would be even worse. The one bright spot is that an Obama administration will give conservatives the kind of ammunition that the Carter administration gave us. Oh! And my latest prediction is that an Obama administration will be a repeat of the Carter administration.
— Paul Martell

You know, there’s still 30 days left in the race and McCain has been in tighter spots so I wouldn’t give up on him quite yet. Having said that, though, if he does lose, I have to agree with Robert McCain’s assessment that McCain blew it on the bailout. The House Republicans and the Senate gave him a chance to redeem himself and oppose it, but McCain wouldn’t take it. Of course, the bailout would have still passed but it would have been without McCain’s vote. Everyone who voted for the bailout is going to be in trouble. People are mad and scared. Not a good combo if you’re an incumbent.

Next, let’s talk about how Bush blew it by following his father’s example. I don’t really see the difference between an outright $700 billion tax hike and a $700 billion “rescue.” The money has to get paid by someone and don’t look to Congress to make any spending cuts.
— Andrew Macfadyen, M.D.
Omaha, Nebraska

Oh, Dear. I have been thinking the exact same thing since McCain “suspended” his campaign to run off to D.C. and his attempt to postpone the first debate…only I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud.

When Obama replied with the fact that a potential president should be able to do two things at one time — it resonated.

Yep, McCain jumped the shark with that move — and then to top it off, instead of fighting a taxpayer bailout tooth and nail — he and Obama sounded like the same person with regard to the economic crisis.

I’m praying for a miracle, however. My husband is a small business owner and we CANNOT afford an Obama presidency…but more than just my own personal stake in the election… I fear for our country if Obama is elected. His political instincts may be good but his political philosophy stinks. We may get another ‘Jimmy Carter’ in the White House and perhaps that’s what it’s going to take before we can get another “Ronald Reagan.”
— Cathy Thorpe
Columbus, Georgia

RSM has called it a little early for the McCain loss. Two weeks of hammering away at Obama’s obvious weaknesses coupled with a skilled attack in the next debate can melt a 6 point lead away to parity.

The real October surprise is coming in a couple weeks and that would be the many bombs your friendly mail carrier will deliver: third quarter 401k and mutual fund reports. They will be very ugly.

The MSM will follow up with days of negativity with the questioning of Republican “plans” for a remedy. Maybe we can postpone these reports until Nov. 5? The Obama will then make a commercial with a clip of President Bush declaring “…this sucker could go down” if John McCain is elected.

Sounds too simple but then so is going after Obama’s glaring weaknesses which up until a couple of days ago McCain had not done.
— Diamon Sforza

What a defeatist! Has the author considered the sampling of those polls he refers to? They are overwhelmingly Democrat! Has the author been around for 2000 and 2004, where the polls pointed to a Democrat victory as well?

Does the author know that most pollsters are owned by the media? And that said media is 80% in the tank for Obama? Early voting is commencing in several states, and the polls are slanted to discourage votes for Senator McCain, and to coincide with the meme that the Wall St. crisis is the fault of the Republicans.

I wonder what excuse the author will make if he is proven wrong? If he is proven wrong, I would like to offer him a scoop of Moose Tracks ice cream to top that slice of humble pie.

Really, such a myopic article is not worthy of this journal.
— Catherine Alling

I share Robert Stacy McCain’s frustration, but will not join him in writing John McCain’s political obituary. Not yet anyway.

First off, I just don’t trust all the polls. Regardless of who they say is up or down in the current news cycle.

But most importantly, I simply do not believe the American people will vote into office an anti-American radical. I realize Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton were elected, but I think it is indisputable that neither of them stepped-up to the plate with an America-despising biography like Obama’s.

If I am wrong, then I will mourn the loss of the once-great America. Until then however, I cannot fathom anything but a McCain victory.
— Dave Mills
Rolla, Missouri

If indeed Americans elect Obama, despite his inexperience, despite his contempt for America, despite his ties to a domestic terrorist, and despite the Democrat-caused financial collapse that is evicting hundreds of thousands of American families, the conclusion must be that democracy — and, by extension, our republic — is a failure, since it would demonstrate that the American electorate is incapable of rationally selecting the president, choosing instead to award the presidency as the political equivalent of the American Idol or Oscar.

Perhaps this ignorance is the inevitable result of decades of teachers failing to teach and journalists failing to report the facts. Perhaps it is because the Democrat party has been relentless in its attack on the family, religion, and the military.

Whatever the cause(s), Obama’s election would demonstrate the inherent self-terminating nature of democracy, in the absence of a rational electorate. It would demonstrate, also, the ultimate success of the radical left’s long march through the institutions, and their ultimate and perhaps permanent control of not only the media and schools, but also all three branches of government as well as the private lives of us hapless Americans.

All too soon, those of us not on the government payroll will look back upon November 4, 2008 — not September 11, 2001 — as the pivotal moment in the decline of the United States and, perhaps, its dissolution into two countries, ironically red and blue.

Two hundred and thirty-two years. Almost one quarter of a millennium. Thank you, Founding Fathers. It was quite a country, while it lasted.
— David Govett
Davis, California

Robert Stacy McCain reveals what is wrong not only in the mainstream/Democrat media, but much of the conservative alternative media — a hubris that they know everything and we the people are merely their pawns. Swallowing hook, line and sinker Democrat media predictions is a dangerous game for conservative prognosticators. Way back in 1980 the pollsters told us the election was a tie — Reagan won in a landslide. Jeffrey Lord’s insightful “In the Tank for President Kerry” is a goldmine of wisdom. Yesterday, CBS led with this headline “CBS Poll: Presidential Race Tightens.” Obama’s lead had shrunk by 6% from their poll last Wednesday and now its 48% Obama, 45% McCain. The RealClearPolitics average has Obama up by 6%. The problem with polls is they are not factual information, but media tools to promote Democrat candidates. Even when polls favor the Republican the media will spin it for the Democrat every time.

What should McCain do? Dig deep and go after Obama. It is time to take the gloves off and start punching. McCain has nothing to lose as history has proven “dirt sticks to dirty candidates” and Obama is as dirty as they come. His ties to corrupt bankers who caused our current financial downturn are real and should be exploited. The Obama camp has already dug up the ancient “Keating 5” so McCain should tie Franklin Raines and the current financial mess to Obama. That would knock the feet out from under Obama on the one real issue that’s helping him the economy. When voters realize Obama is a major part of the problem he’s history, but is up to McCain to make that link, because the Democrat media won’t.

McCain needs to air ads showing Obama doesn’t even know how many states there are or basically isn’t bright enough to be President. Lampooning and making fun of Obama isn’t going to hurt McCain, but it is going to cause Obama and his handlers to go berserk. McCain needs to start having fun at Obama’s political expense. Scorch the political landscape and scatter Obama’s political ashes to the wind.
— Michael Tomlinson

Thank you for printing this article. It’s very helpful.

I understand articles in left-leaning publications trying to suppress right-leaning voters. I understand articles in right-leaning publications trying to suppress left-leaning voters.

This article, whether true or false, will only serve to suppress votes for McCain.

Publishing something like this at this time has what purpose? Have your marketing people given you advice that you would sell more magazines if Obama is elected?

Perhaps you suffer the kind of white guilt that only permits one answer to this multiple choice quiz:

If 95% of all ______________ people vote for the ___________ candidate, the
election outcome will be the result of racism.

a. Black
b. Hispanic
c. American Indian
d. Asian
e. White

Morons.
— Jim North

I have been a subscriber to American Spectator, and a site visitor, for years. I am disappointed by the defeatist article by Robert McCain you just published. Please save such demoralizing articles until AFTER the election!
— Vivek Rao

“How John McCain Lost”? Get serious. The McCain/Palin ticket is not dead, for several very good reasons.

First and foremost is the Bradley effect. This is not a typical white bread Presidential election. This is the first Presidential campaign involving a black candidate for President. While the citizenry of this country has become largely colorblind in recent decades, there are still a number of people who won’t vote to place a black man, or a woman or other minority, in the White House. This is reality. Various scholars of this phenomenon place the percentage of voters who would vote against a minority candidate, even though they say they would support him, at between 5% and 12%. Even allowing for a monolithic block of minority votes for a black candidate, this is not insignificant. Especially in a close race.

Second, there is the philosophical bent of the individual candidate. Both McCain and Obama know that they can not win a national election against even a mildly conservative candidate if their personal philosophies become a major point in the campaign. They are both simply too liberal to satisfy the bulk of the voters in this country. In this contest, however, John McCain has a clear advantage. While John McCain is a proven liberal populist, Barack Obama can be shown to be decidedly communistic, and decidedly anti-American, in his philosophy. The McCain campaign, through Sarah Palin, is busily exploiting that now.

Third is the undecided voter. The popular identification of the undecided voter; chiefly among scholars and blue-state and Washington pundits; is a person who is an independent or moderate Democrat. While these groups are, indeed, a potential source for McCain votes, they are not the most significant group of undecideds that are available to McCain/Palin. That group is Conservatives. Though a significant number of conservative voters have, reluctantly, decided to support a McCain Presidency, there are still a large number of Conservatives who have not. They view John McCain as being the person that has actively worked against conservative ideas, aims and goals and they have no trust in him to abandon his previous positions on various issues and embrace Conservative principles. Now, this is the area where the campaign can do much more. The continued exposure of Obama as a dangerous anti-American, socialist radical will attract working-class Democrats and Conservatives alike. This is the time to go positively negative. No one with an I.Q. above the ambient temperature in Nome, Alaska truly believes in political promises. Politicians have been proven to say anything and do anything to win an election. Therefore, what the candidates promise is largely irrelevant. Their character and philosophy are not. And this is what will make a difference on election day, not who is proposing a better health insurance package for the 15% of the population without one.

This election will boil down to whether the American people would rather have a likable liberal populist or a radical socialist with ties to a wide array of criminals (Rezko, Ayers) and anti-American firebrands (Rev. Wright, Louis Farrakhan, Ayers again, etc.). It all depends on how aggressively the McCain campaign exposes Barack Obama’s true nature.

The only real wild card in this election is voter fraud and the Democrat Party is working overtime on accomplishing that. Reports, some from the liberal media, of organized fraudulent registration, fraudulent voters, institutional disenfranchisement all perpetrated by Democrat Party members or their agents, such as Acorn, flood in. And yet, few seem to care. It must be remembered that over 1000 ineligible voters (convicted felons), in King County Washington, voted in the last Gubernatorial election in that state and a Democratic Governor was elected by only 1000 votes. Yet, there seems to be little enforcement activity underway to combat this. Fraud could win this election for Barack Obama, little else can. If the contest can be kept honest, the election is not lost to McCain.

“It’s not over til it’s over.” — Yogi Berra (Noted American Philosopher)
— Michael Tobias

If John McCain loses this election, it was lost when he won the nomination. Unlike Obamanation, who greatly appeals to the core of the Socialist Democrat Party, John appeals only to those that have disdain for both major parties. His core voters are both principle-less and spineless where as the proper role of government is concerned. I won’t recount his many efforts to undermine the core principles of the Republican platform which used to center around the central tenets of the Bill of Rights and individual freedoms. His one bright spot in this election isn’t running for President.

When a man says, “he would rather lose an election than a war” he in essence has already surrendered that which he says he does not want to lose. The election is the war and must be fought with the same dedication to winning as any real war should be if you intend to win it. There is a place for honor but in the middle of a battle you can lose sight of what it takes to win. As General Tommy Franks is fond of saying, “the enemy gets a vote” and one must rise to the occasion if one is to prevail. The Obamanation and his propaganda machine have no honor as someone like McCain would understand. Democrats in general have no interest in honor either as demonstrated by the last four, including Obamanation, Presidential candidates.

Of course it also goes without saying that if your enemy has more votes than you do than that probably means there are more of them than people with your world view. I put no faith in an ignorant American voting public that has demonstrated time and time again that it is clueless about what goes on outside their own narcissistic universe. The majority of Americans depend on Socialism to get through their daily lives. Obamanation plays to our weaknesses as a people. He is not the problem any more than Hitler was the German people’s problem. Your neighbor is the problem. Obamanation will just be the “organizer” pushing us closer to the cliff. If John McCain can’t grasp he is in a war and act accordingly in pretty short order, Robin Hood, the thief is going to come visit most people’s lives every pay day. But John will have his honor regardless.
— Thom Bateman
Newport News, Virginia

We conservatives did not have a dog in this fight until Sarah joined the ticket and that was the only bright spot of this election year. McCain/McBackstabber cannot face a crisis without shooting some conveniently placed Republican prior to beginning any real analysis of the issue (Christopher Cox). McCain/McBackstabber could not even figure that the real villains in this financial debacle were actually on the other side of the aisle. (Frank and Dodd). I am not sure he has it figured out yet. Keep your heads down if you are in the GOP McCain/McBackstabber will be looking for someone to skewer when he loses and he always blames Republicans first.

The silver lining in all of this is that Sarah will be well blooded and ready for 2012.

Palin/Jindal in 2012!
— Jeff Seyfert