Let’s face it: John McCain had a hard row to hoe. Conservatives never really warmed up to him. At times he appeared to be phoning it in. His staff’s “strategy”, particularly with regards to advertising and message shaping, was pathetic. The press was overwhelmingly biased in favor of his opponent. He was outspent 8-1 by the Obama people. Overall, the campaign was limp, confused and disorganized.
John McCain had the class and dignity to accept responsibility for his loss. His staff, however, is a different story. Unable to take any blame for any of the poor decisions made by overpaid and incompetent campaign aides, former staffers are feverishly trying to stay hireable and politically viable by engaging in hysterical finger-pointing. So who is REALLY to blame for McCain’s defeat?
Of course! Sarah Palin.
Never mind that McCain needed Sarah Palin more than she needed McCain. He needed her to gain much needed street cred among conservatives. She routinely outdrew him at campaign rally after campaign rally. Say what you will about her — agree with her or not, respect her or not — in a few short weeks Sarah Palin, the most popular governor in America and one of the most viciously vilified women in politics next to Hillary Clinton, became a bona fide political and pop culture icon. If McCain had been crazy enough to choose Mitt Romney instead he would have lost not only the northeast but the South as well. So let’s give the lady some credit for breathing life into a moribund campaign.
But no. It was her shopping sprees that finished McCain off.
Right.
Never mind that the clothes were paid for by the party.
Message to McCain staffers engaging in this anonymous sniping: I hope that the press suspends their practice of hiding your identities and exposes you for the cheap shot artists you are. May you never work on another campaign again, not that you deserve to - you didn’t exactly knock the country’s socks off with your mad political skillz.
On another note, a friend of mine texted me this morning bellyaching about how if John Kerry had run a campaign like Obama’s we would have been spared another 4 years of Bush. I had to remind her that Kerry couldn’t have run this sort of campaign. He didn’t have Obama’s natural advantage of a press corps that did a swan dive into the tank for him. That aside, Kerry had another major weakness - he was being advised by Bob Schrum, an overpriced hack who came to the Kerry campaign having lost every presidential campaign he ever worked on. Going back, Al Gore had Donna Brazile. Dukakis had Susan Estrich. Mondale had Bob Beckel. Not coincidentally, all these political geniuses with their strong records of failure are now employed as “contributors” by cable networks.
On the other hand, Bill Clinton had James Carville and Paul Begala. And Bill Clinton was a sensational campaigner, better than anyone I’ve seen in my lifetime. One could argue that his campaign was run with more skill than Obama’s; after all, Obama didn’t have a Gennifer Flowers holding a press conference before the New Hampshire primary. The press corps declared Clinton’s candidacy dead and buried. We all know how that turned out.
To return to the original topic of this blog…men fuck up most egregiously. A female sacrficial lamb is trotted out to take it in the neck. Enough already.
COMMENT FROM LARRY JOHNSON–Amen!! DCMediaGirl, as always, nails it. The boneheaded decision of the McCain campaign to start Palin with the likes of Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric, rather than a more sympathetic forum like Sean Hannity. The chickenshit carping at Palin is now demonstrating that the McCain team could not be trusted to govern. If they are this stupid and obtuse. If they are this vicious and small minded, then fuck them. Barack outspends McCain 8 to 1 and his team refuses to use the issue of Reverend Wright and other material available to them and the fault lies with Sarah? I don’t think so.
McCain would not have come close to beating Obama without Palin. That is a fact. Deal with it.
John McCain had the class and dignity to accept responsibility for his loss. His staff, however, is a different story. Unable to take any blame for any of the poor decisions made by overpaid and incompetent campaign aides, former staffers are feverishly trying to stay hireable and politically viable by engaging in hysterical finger-pointing. So who is REALLY to blame for McCain’s defeat?
Of course! Sarah Palin.
Never mind that McCain needed Sarah Palin more than she needed McCain. He needed her to gain much needed street cred among conservatives. She routinely outdrew him at campaign rally after campaign rally. Say what you will about her — agree with her or not, respect her or not — in a few short weeks Sarah Palin, the most popular governor in America and one of the most viciously vilified women in politics next to Hillary Clinton, became a bona fide political and pop culture icon. If McCain had been crazy enough to choose Mitt Romney instead he would have lost not only the northeast but the South as well. So let’s give the lady some credit for breathing life into a moribund campaign.
But no. It was her shopping sprees that finished McCain off.
Right.
Never mind that the clothes were paid for by the party.
Message to McCain staffers engaging in this anonymous sniping: I hope that the press suspends their practice of hiding your identities and exposes you for the cheap shot artists you are. May you never work on another campaign again, not that you deserve to - you didn’t exactly knock the country’s socks off with your mad political skillz.
On another note, a friend of mine texted me this morning bellyaching about how if John Kerry had run a campaign like Obama’s we would have been spared another 4 years of Bush. I had to remind her that Kerry couldn’t have run this sort of campaign. He didn’t have Obama’s natural advantage of a press corps that did a swan dive into the tank for him. That aside, Kerry had another major weakness - he was being advised by Bob Schrum, an overpriced hack who came to the Kerry campaign having lost every presidential campaign he ever worked on. Going back, Al Gore had Donna Brazile. Dukakis had Susan Estrich. Mondale had Bob Beckel. Not coincidentally, all these political geniuses with their strong records of failure are now employed as “contributors” by cable networks.
On the other hand, Bill Clinton had James Carville and Paul Begala. And Bill Clinton was a sensational campaigner, better than anyone I’ve seen in my lifetime. One could argue that his campaign was run with more skill than Obama’s; after all, Obama didn’t have a Gennifer Flowers holding a press conference before the New Hampshire primary. The press corps declared Clinton’s candidacy dead and buried. We all know how that turned out.
To return to the original topic of this blog…men fuck up most egregiously. A female sacrficial lamb is trotted out to take it in the neck. Enough already.
COMMENT FROM LARRY JOHNSON–Amen!! DCMediaGirl, as always, nails it. The boneheaded decision of the McCain campaign to start Palin with the likes of Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric, rather than a more sympathetic forum like Sean Hannity. The chickenshit carping at Palin is now demonstrating that the McCain team could not be trusted to govern. If they are this stupid and obtuse. If they are this vicious and small minded, then fuck them. Barack outspends McCain 8 to 1 and his team refuses to use the issue of Reverend Wright and other material available to them and the fault lies with Sarah? I don’t think so.
McCain would not have come close to beating Obama without Palin. That is a fact. Deal with it.