Are you actually contending that McCain was a better candidate than Sarah?
Had McCain had some core values, and had remained true to himself, and the brand that he built, then yes. Not only he would have been a strong candidate, he could have won had he paired up with Romney and treated the debacle country is facing SERIOUSLY.
However, once he surrendered to Rovian wing of the party, slash and burn, divide and conqueor, his brand was gone, he was gone.
Instead of analysis and finding solutions, he relied on razzle dazzle moves, winning news cycles, trivializing big issues, tricks, robocalls etc.
America is too scared right now to fall for dirty tricks.
McCain’s failure TEMPORARILY surrendered the party to Sister Sarah.
Objective from that point onwards was to get your base (perhaps 40% of the electorate) out, and then SCARE THE HELL OUT OF 10% more.
If Obama wasn’t black, then GOP would be facing Goldwater-Proportions debacle.
Sarah Palin scared America. Fortunately for GOP, she made such a fool of herself during the interviews, that instead of fearing her, they started laughing at her. GOP was spared.
For that I thank her.