Top Reasons Why John McCain Lost

I'm a politics junkie so I've been reminiscing about the 2008 presidential campaign which culminated a week ago with the election of Barack Obama over John McCain as our next president. Yay! As a huge Obama supporter I could give you 1000 reasons why he won. However, as a fed up liberal, I think that it's much more interesting to look at the top reasons why John McCain lost:

6. George W. Bush
- Worst president ever
- abysmal approval rating
- McCain voted with Bush 90% of the time = NOT a maverick
- McCain had no clear policy differences from Bush

5. Economic Crisis Response
- "The fundamentals of the economy are strong."
- suspension of his campaign (didn't really) political gimmick
- despite his intervention, House Republicans first voted against bailout (no leadership by McCain)
- uninterested and uninvolved in White House meeting
- Republican economic theories of deregulation and trickle-down economics mostly to blame
- didn't look presidential

4. Debate Performance
- won't look Obama in the eye
- won't say the same smears as on campaign trail to Obama's face (until 3rd debate and then it just came across as mean)
- "That One"
- erratic
- no clear difference from failed Bush policies
- poor temperament

3. Dishonorable Campaign
- originally promised he wouldn't then blamed Obama for it
- "Change" (stealing Obama's slogans / message)
- "Obama wants kids to learn about sex before learning to read."
- "He'll raise your taxes"
- "Lipstick on a pig"
- "Pals around with a terrorist"
- "Real America"
- "Obama is a socialist"
- "Barack Hussein Obama"
- rally attendees yell hate speech
- had to defend Obama from his own crowd members
- Joe the (fake) Plumber (plant / wingnut)
- lost credibility

2. Sarah Palin as VP Choice
- completely unqualified (Foreign policy, Interviews)
- obviously not a "Country First" decision by McCain
- McCain lost "experience" attack on Obama
- not a true reformer (Wasilla left in debt, bridge to nowhere, ethics violation)
- national joke (SNL - Tina Fey, late night comics, etc.)
- hypocrite ("Hockey Mom" vs. 150K wardrobe, bridge to nowhere, "reformer")
- kept away from media
- no credibility

1. Barack Obama
- terrific candidate
- Democrat after 8 years of Dubya (R)
- great VP pick (Joe Biden)
- true message of change
- more presidential
- bipartisanship
- better policies
- better campaign
- better temperament
- hope


I will never doubt that Obama was the better choice no matter what McCain might have said or did but, after listing all of these negatives against McCain, it really shows just how bad the Republicans have to be to be able to get a Democrat elected president (let alone the first black one ever). I think if McCain had just been more positive, effectively outlined his different vision for the future separated from Bush, and if he had made a responsible and not political choice for his VP, this could have been a much closer election, and he might have even squeaked out a win (even with Bush on his back). I believe this could have been possible only because of people's instinctive reaction to reject change, especially in a time of hardship and while we're in two wars. I also think that it's possible that, no matter how McCain ran his campaign, Obama's message was so strong that he was able to overcome this obstacle.

If you want to succeed in politics then you have a great blueprint with Barack Obama's campaign but Democrats should watch out because they better believe that some Republicans will be smart enough to learn from McCain's mistakes. Hopefully that will mean the end of the nasty and divisive tactics they've been using to scare people for votes. If that is the only outcome of this election for their side, then I'm proud to help them out by listing exactly how John McCain totally blew it. Besides, it feels good to gloat a little after all that us liberals have been through over the past decade. When Barack Obama is sworn in as our 44th president it will be a new day for America and, if they truly want a better way forward for our country, then Republicans should also learn from his successful campaign and his examples through leadership in the years to come. If we can just go back to who has the best ideas and policies no matter what political party they belong to, then I believe we will all be better off.

State Education Grades Compared to 2008 Presidential Election Results

It seems the best excuse people on the 'right' can come up with today for why John McCain lost to Barack Obama is that people were uninformed or mislead by the "liberal media." Or, in other words: They are stupid. This is a ridiculous argument. I'm not saying that all Obama voters are smarter than all McCain voters, but let's look at a comparison of the education system for states and how they voted in the 2008 presidential election.

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce State-by-State Report Card on Educational Effectiveness .

And, according to the final electoral college map from MSNBC.

7 of 10 states with a "A" rating on academic achievement voted for Obama-Biden:

Massachusetts- Obama
Minnesota- Obama
New Hampshire- Obama
Vermont - Obama
New Jersey- Obama
Connecticut- Obama
Kansas - McCain
Washington- Obama
North Dakota - McCain
Montana - McCain


7 of 10 states with a "B" rating on academic achievement voted for Obama-Biden:

Ohio - Obama
Virginia - Obama
South Dakota - McCain
Pennsylvania - Obama
Wisconsin - Obama
Maine - Obama
Wyoming - McCain
Colorado - Obama
Nebraska - McCain
Iowa - Obama

8 of 10 states with a "D" rating on academic achievement voted for McCain-Palin:

Arizona- McCain
Tennessee- McCain
Georgia- McCain
Kentucky- McCain
Arkansas- McCain
Rhode Island - Obama
Alaska - McCain
South Carolina- McCain
Florida - Obama
Missouri- McCain

States with a "F" rating on academic achievement were split evenly 5 for Obama-Biden and 5 for McCain-Palin:

District of Columbia - Obama
Mississippi - McCain
New Mexico - Obama
Alabama - McCain
Louisiana - McCain
Hawaii - Obama
Nevada - Obama
West Virginia - McCain
California - Obama
Oklahoma - McCain

States with good educational systems overwhelmingly voted for Obama-Biden and states with poor education mostly voted for McCain-Palin. This comparison clearly shows that better educated people voted for Obama and poorly educated people voted for McCain. It is more likely that well educated people made an informed decision and were able to seek out the truth. It is also more likely that poorly educated people did not make an informed decision. So, maybe we can put this pitiful excuse that Obama voters are uninformed or were fooled by the media to rest now that we know the facts.

Obama Hater's Reckless Endangerment Possibly Results in Obama Vote

I live in the heart of red-state Alabama so it was no surprise when our regular vinyl and wire Obama-Biden sign was stolen after only being up in front of our house for just over a week. However, what happened Saturday crossed way over the line. In broad daylight someone dragged our homemade Obama-Biden sign out into the middle of a busy highway recklessly endangering the life of anyone driving by at the time who could have either hit the sign or would have had to brake suddenly or swerve to miss it. Who would have known that the end result would be a undecided voter possibly making up their mind to cast their ballot for Obama?

First, this isn't any regular sign. It is fashioned from a large piece of plywood about four feet wide and has 2x4s on either side as a base so it will stand up straight. There was nothing controversial painted on my homemade sign, just the words Obama and Biden in blue and a big red check mark all painted on both sides over a white background for maximum visibility. Some free-speech hating coward thought it was perfectly okay to just drag it off our property and out onto a busy two-lane highway where the speed limit is 55 mph. Someone could have easily been killed in a automobile wreck if they had hit the sign or had to try to avoid it.

We live on the top of a hill overlooking a busy highway in a rural part of the state. I knew that putting out an Obama-Biden sign was risky since, not only are we vastly outnumbered here by Republicans, but the only location where it would be visible from the road is about 50 yards from our house so it would be easy to steal without us noticing. After our regular Obama-Biden sign was stolen last week my girlfriend and I decided that putting out our only remaining sign would be too easy for someone to grab so we created our own and we made it practically un-stealable. We painted a large and heavy piece of plywood about four feet long and created a stencil for the words Obama and Biden and a large check mark. My girlfriend is an artist so it was no problem for her to also create a stencil for Obama's logo in the "O" of "Obama" and we were proud of the result. So the plywood would stand up, I attached 2x4s on each side that were cut to the same length of the plywood. I'd guess that the entire thing weighs over 50 pounds so nobody could easily snatch it and run away. Our homemade sign had remained down by the side of the road for almost a week without incident.

All day Saturday I had been extra nervous about the sign since the election is drawing near and (if the polls are correct) it is apparent Obama will win. It was around 6pm when I heard a loud noise outside so I leaped off of the couch and looked out the front door to see my sign was now out in the middle of the road. I immediately went outside but I didn't see the creep who did it - only their car which was parked up the road a bit and unfortunately my view was obstructed. I yelled as loudly as I could for them to "get off my property you *expletive deleted*!" By the time I could grab a baseball bat for self-defense and run down our gravel driveway they were gone. I would have pursued them in my car but I had to drag the sign off of the road before some unfortunate passerby hit it. When I had completed doing this it was too late to go after them to try to get a license number. I was understandably furious. Not only was someone trampling on our freedom of speech, they were willing to put people's lives in danger at the same time.

The last thing I wanted to do is give in and remove my sign, but the next day I decided it wasn't worth it to keep it by the side of the road where any anti-Obama idiot could drag it out into the highway and possibly kill someone just because they disagree with my political beliefs. I moved it up on the hill where it is not as visible, but can still be seen. I've been warned by the authorities that I should watch out on election night and in the days following for more acts of vandalism now that our home has been marked as supporting Obama. I am not afraid because those kind of people that would do such a thing are nothing but cowards and they should also know that Democrats have guns too!

I am so disappointed that this is what it has come to in our society that people will do such despicable acts just because of our differing political views. I believe that this kind of hate is a direct result of the inflammatory rhetoric from the McCain-Palin campaign that has stirred up their supporters to believe that anyone who supports Obama must be an anti-American terrorist supporter. All of America should hold John McCain and Sarah Palin accountable for their divisiveness and fear-mongering on election day.

And now for the happy part of my story. As I did when our original Obama-Biden sign was stolen, I called the County Sheriff, not because I thought they could catch the perpetrator, but so they'd know what was going on and would look after the house when they could. The deputy that came out was an extremely nice fellow and we immediately got into a conversation about the election and he claimed that he was still undecided. His concerns about Obama were the tired old falsehoods that he won't respect the flag, etc. so I quickly set him straight by explaining Obama's reasoning for sometimes not wearing a flag pin, and I made sure he knew that Barack's grandfather (who helped raise him) was a WWII vet so there's no way he could have been brought up to hate America. We talked about the economy and I explained how Obama's plan favors the middle-class much more than McCain who wants to give more tax breaks to huge corporations and will leave out over 100 million tax payers. He indicated that he had heard the charge that Obama might be a socialist, and I dispelled this as typical fear-mongering from Republicans and proved how ridiculous a claim that was based on his tax policy and if you simply read the definition of the word it is just not true. We talked about Iraq, and even though he thought it was right for the US to go in there in the first place, he agreed we should now leave. I explained that McCain has no exit strategy for Iraq and Obama will bring home our troops responsibly. The deputy also agreed that Roe v. Wade should not be overturned and I made sure that he knew that McCain has said his Supreme Court nominees would definitely have to agree that it should be overturned and that Sarah Palin believes abortions should be illegal even in the cases of incest and rape. I also told him that by looking at how each candidate has run their campaign you can get a good idea of how they'll run the country. I explained how Obama's pick of Joe Biden for VP was a true country first decision in comparison to McCain's choice of Palin and how their campaign of divisiveness and lies about Obama has been dishonorable.

In the end the Sheriff's deputy gave no clear indication which way he'd vote, but I felt good about setting the record straight about both candidates and discounting the smears about Obama that he was concerned with. It was good to know there are some in my area who still have an open mind and aren't just blindly buying into the propaganda from the right. Will he vote for Obama? I don't know, but I will hope that this ugly incident will turn into a positive with the possibility of one more vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

How about some specifics Governor Palin?

OK, I couldn't resist. I had to write a post about he Biden/Palin debate. If you're not into it, scroll down to my previous post for some comedy.

Any thinking person can plainly see that Joe Biden won this debate, and here's why. He had intelligent and informed answers for all the questions with specific details that made sense. It's as simple as that.

Sara Palin had an obvious strategy for this debate: If she didn't know the answer, she went right to a prepared speech. This didn't work in the few interviews she's given so far because the interviewer could ask more follow-ups demanding a specific response and the result of those interviews has been embarrassing. In the debate, Palin mostly spoke in generalities with very few details about McCain's policies. The most glaring example of this was her "answer" about an exit strategy for Iraq. Palin herself has said she'd like to see a clear exit strategy, but apparently she's yet to hear one from McCain because she had no answer and changed the subject.

IFILL: You both have sons who are in Iraq or on their way to Iraq. You, Gov. Palin, have said that you would like to see a real clear plan for an exit strategy. What should that be, Governor?

PALIN: I am very thankful that we do have a good plan and the surge and the counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq that has proven to work, I am thankful that that is part of the plan implemented under a great American hero, Gen. Petraeus, and pushed hard by another great American, Sen. John McCain.

I know that the other ticket opposed this surge, in fact, even opposed funding for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Barack Obama voted against funding troops there after promising that he would not do so.

PALIN: And Sen. Biden, I respected you when you called him out on that. You said that his vote was political and you said it would cost lives. And Barack Obama at first said he would not do that. He turned around under political pressure and he voted against funding the troops. We do have a plan for withdrawal. We don't need early withdrawal out of Iraq. We cannot afford to lose there or we're going to be no better off in the war in Afghanistan either. We have got to win in Iraq.

And with the surge that has worked we're now down to pre-surge numbers in Iraq. That's where we can be. We can start putting more troops in Afghanistan as we also work with our NATO allies who are there strengthening us and we need to grow our military. We cannot afford to lose against al Qaeda and the Shia extremists who are still there, still fighting us, but we're getting closer and closer to victory. And it would be a travesty if we quit now in Iraq.

The surge is not an exit strategy from Iraq Governor Palin! You have no answer because John McCain has NO exit strategy for Iraq. Also, we are NOT down to pre-surge numbers in Iraq. That is a lie.

Biden then gave an excellent response to what Palin said, and he actually answered the question.

BIDEN: Gwen, with all due respect, I didn't hear a plan. Barack Obama offered a clear plan. Shift responsibility to Iraqis over the next 16 months. Draw down our combat troops. Ironically the same plan that Maliki, the prime minister of Iraq and George Bush are now negotiating. The only odd man out here, only one left out is John McCain, number one. Number two, with regard to Barack Obama not quote funding the troops, John McCain voted the exact same way. John McCain voted against funding the troops because of an amendment he voted against had a timeline in it to draw down American troops. And John said I'm not going to fund the troops if in fact there's a time line. Barack Obama and I agree fully and completely on one thing. You've got to have a time line to draw down the troops and shift responsibility to the Iraqis.

We're spending $10 billion a month while Iraqis have an $80 billion surplus. Barack says it's time for them to spend their own money and have the 400,000 military we trained for them begin to take their own responsibility and gradually over 16 months, withdrawal. John McCain -- this is a fundamental difference between us, we'll end this war. For John McCain, there's no end in sight to end this war, fundamental difference. We will end this war.

Sarah Palin's next response was more of the divisive rhetoric that the Republicans have been using to bully others into following their failed policies for years.

PALIN: Your plan is a white flag of surrender in Iraq and that is not what our troops need to hear today, that's for sure. And it's not what our nation needs to be able to count on. You guys opposed the surge. The surge worked. Barack Obama still can't admit the surge works.

That's right, just like McCain, Sarah Palin thinks that anyone who opposes staying in Iraq indefinitely is a traitor who wants to surrender. It's this kind disgusting talking point that makes me sick, and I can't even believe they think it works on the American people. How stupid do they think we are? Issues like Iraq aren't black-or-white, they're extremely complicated. The surge does not equal the entire war in Iraq - it is just a tactic. There are still plenty of problems there the surge has not addressed at all. The Iraqi government has yet to meet all the political considerations that the surge was suppose to allow them to do. That means the surge hasn't even succeeded - and there's no indication it will work anytime soon.

To all those who are buying into the McCain/Palin bullshit: WE'VE ALREADY WON IN IRAQ! Saddam Hussein is dead, they've elected their own government and we've trained hundreds of thousands of Iraqis to take over their own country's security. There is absolutely no reason for us to stay in Iraq. Who is attacking us there? Iraqis! Every National Intelligence Estimate that's been released shows that Al Qaeda makes up less than 5% of those launching attacks in Iraq. Therefore, Iraq is not the central front of the war on terror - and I don't care if the terrorists have said that it is. (Unlike Palin who brought that point up. Glad to know that you believe what Al Qaeda has to say Sarah!) There is no organized group that can be defeated in Iraq. It is a variety of foreign insurgents and Iraqi people who are tired of the United States controlling their country. Right now the Iraq war is nothing more than an occupation. You can't win an occupation.

So please, stop with the "We're gonna win" and "You want to quit and surrender" nonsense. It only divides our country and it's just plain wrong.

Obama and Biden have the best solution to get out of Iraq responsibly. A timeline for our withdrawal is the only way to put enough pressure on the Iraqi government to have them complete the political reconciliations and take over their own country's security. After two debates I still don't know what John McCain's plan for an exit strategy in Iraq is other than surging forever.

There were many other examples of Palin's inability to answer the questions and the lack of specifics astounded me. Anybody can stand up and say they'll work hard for the people and reform government and win a war but her being unable to give any details of HOW exactly they plan on doing any of that says a whole lot.

People, stop being fooled by slogans and generalities! In these desperate times we need new, detailed ideas from leaders who can express them in an intelligent way. That's exactly what Barack Obama and Joe Biden have done. In both debates so far McCain and Palin have failed to give specifics of how they'll be different than the Bush administration. That's because there are no differences.