Phil, I give credit to McCain for building up a “brand name” during the past 10 years that made him far more competitive than most other Republicans would have been. But what he did with that brand this year was pathetic. He missed opportunity after opportunity, both negative and positive, and never even put forth a coherent message. And he was a jerk. A flat-out jerk. The economic “crisis” was tailor-made for him to prove that he is the guy to trust in a tough spot, and instead he came off like a panicky, buck-passing, scapegoating, hack. Plus, his almost spur-of-the-meoment choice of Sarah Palin turned off more voters than it turned on. MAYBE, if he and his campaign had done some advance work, Palin might have been more help than hindrance. But they “winged it,” and put Palin in a position she wasn’t ready for and had not been prepared for — and it turned off tons of educated white women, exactly the demographic they were actually trying to attract. That, too, was McCain’s fault. Too much playing things by his gut like riverboat gambler, not enough calm and steady leadership.
The whole campaign, until the last five days, he was an angry old man. Angry old men lose American elections. The voters adjudged him temperamentally unsuitable for the office, and they were right.
