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I Almost Wonder if Republicans Deliberately Lost the Election
11/09/2008 | SoftwareEngineer

Posted on 11/09/2008 8:52:11 AM PST by SoftwareEngineer

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To: jpl

My opinion is that McCain was put up by the RINOs as was Bob Dole to keep a decent conservative from winning the nomination and possibly the election. From there, I can’t figure out the strategy, if it was supposed to be to actually win the election, or the theories posted here. If Clinton had not had a Republican Congress for the last 6 years of his presidency, the economy would have never been as decent as it was. If Obama has Democrats for most of his administration, they will bring this country way down, and hopefully we can resurrect it before it’s too late.


41 posted on 11/09/2008 9:07:28 AM PST by murron (Proud Marine Mom)
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To: jpl
McCain never really wanted to win the election and become President all that badly.

I don't agree with Michael Savage about everything, but Savage has voiced a sentiment which I have long thought might be true - something about having his plane shot down and being captured by the enemy in Vietnam forced a loser's attitude on McCain - somehow it fundamentally altered his personality.

You saw the same thing with GHWB [Bush 41] in the 1992 election against Clinton - GHWB had been shot down [twice, I believe] in WWII, and you could almost see from the get go that he knew that his 1992 campaign would go down in flames.

And the tactical similarities in the campaigns were really striking: Just as McCain would declare that Jeremiah Wright was off-limits in 2008, so too GHWB had declared that Gennifer Flowers [et al] would be off-limits in 1992.

I just have this nagging feeling that there's something about getting shot down which turns these guys from winners into losers.

Or maybe it's even worse than that - maybe they were losers to begin with and that's why they got shot down in the first place- a true "winner" would never have allowed himself to get shot down - either he would have figured out a way to avoid the flack, or he would have forced the thing home on a wing and a prayer.

Now I know that's not going to be a popular sentiment around here [particularly among anyone with close ties to the POW/MIA community], but you just got the feeling with both GHWB in '92 & with McCain in '08 that they were fundamentally losers at heart, not winners.

PS: If anyone is interested, possibly the greatest movie of the 20th Century was made about this very theme.

PPS: On a slightly different topic [although I wonder how different it really is], this kinda thing has just got to cease once and for all:

1992: Clinton 46yo, GHWB 68yo
Clinton: +22 year advantage

1996: Clinton 50yo, Dole 73yo
Clinton: +23 year advantage

2008: Obama 47yo, McCain 72yo
Obama: +25 year advantage

The whole question of [perceived] sexual virility is just too dadgum important in our society nowadays to think that a 70 year old geezer on Viagra can spot a quarter century advantage to some Gentleman's Quarterly stud muffin and still expect to have a snowball's chance in Hades of winning.

Especially if The Old Guy is unwilling to go on the offensive and make it abundantly clear what a thug and a criminal the young stud muffin really is.

42 posted on 11/09/2008 9:08:11 AM PST by KayEyeDoubleDee (const Tag &referenceToConstTag)
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To: SoftwareEngineer

There were plenty of Republicans who wouldn’t vote for McCain on principle and voted for Obama to send a very clear message that the GOP needs to reconstitute itself (according to Rush 20% of conservatives voted for Obama).

2012? I guarantee that conservatives will head the ticket. If I were a gambling man I might be inclined to bet on Jindal. Conservative, photogenic, bright, articulate— He just might be the Repubs next Bollywood Prez....


43 posted on 11/09/2008 9:08:30 AM PST by freebilly
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To: SoftwareEngineer

Considering the RNC didn’t want to run a National Campaign during a National Election, that McCain was more concerned as being seen as a “nice buy” and “fair” than in winning, I’d say you’re pretty much on target.


44 posted on 11/09/2008 9:08:38 AM PST by theDentist (Qwerty ergo typo : I type, therefore I misspell)
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To: SusaninOhio
"Why would McCain WANT to inherit the many problems, as well as a dem-controlled congress?"

One could have asked Ronald Reagan that same question.

The truth?

McCain is and always has been a bumbling, back-stabbing RINO turncoat whose role as an Elite Globalist was to play patsy for the NWO's candidate.

We witnessed how a REAL player (Sarah Palin) goes for the throat when running to win. McCorpse played to lose.

45 posted on 11/09/2008 9:10:32 AM PST by AC-130 Gunship (Odinga-Hussein 0bama: D@mning us all to a "vibrant" hell of "diversity" and Marxism.)
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To: SoftwareEngineer
Maybe. Soros is an oil speculator. The price of oil got so high, people - especially those in subsidized housing (which was flooded by left wing activist organizations) - could no longer afford to pay their mortgages. The housing market went bust. The bail out was to replace all the money lost on oil, so people could reestablish their mortgages and adjust the credit market.

In a situation like this, who'd want to be president? The Republicans saw it coming and tried to warn people, but the democrats protected it all. It was all pulled off perfectly - just before the election.

Yes, innocent people got hurt, but to the left - "The end justifies the means."

46 posted on 11/09/2008 9:10:52 AM PST by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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To: AC-130 Gunship

It had everything to do with our open primaries where the indies and dems voted for McCain while the conservative vote was split between several people, mainly Huckabee vs Romney (populism vs. fiscal conservatism — not to mention the religion thing).


47 posted on 11/09/2008 9:11:38 AM PST by redgirlinabluestate
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To: SoftwareEngineer

You have got my attention, I’ve harbored such thoughts.

That struggle is likely to play out over the next few months,starting with a fight over the party’s leadership.

We’ve started early with the trashing of Sarah Palin.

Here are a few quotes from El Rushbo....”Why destroy Sarah Palin right now? The only reason I see is to make sure she doesn’t rise again as a force for conservatism in the Republican Party.”

“John McCain’s campaign staff has now spent more time attacking Sarah Palin than they spent combined on Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn, Rashid Khalidi, Frank Marshall Davis, and Obama himself. This party must be suicidal.”

“Look at what Palin did. She’s minding her own business up there in Alaska, they call her up because they need a hail Mary, so she drags herself and her entire family all over the fruited plain without missing a beat. She was unfailingly cheerful. She was a spot of sunshine in an abysmal election year. And now McCain’s camp is trashing her.”

And my favorite...............
“Implosions can lead to bigger reconstructions. That’s what we face now, and the country can’t do without a Republican Party.”


48 posted on 11/09/2008 9:12:05 AM PST by IrishMike (Gov Sarah Palin - Gun control is hitting what you shoot at)
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To: SoftwareEngineer
I thought along similar lines; what if McCain had won? He'd be facing more stone walls to cut spending, taxes, etc.

Since he lost, the Dems want him to be the "power-broker" to help push their agenda on the Repub side.

Problem is...he might be the "maverick" once again and go against the 'prevailing wisdom of the Dems and fight them tooth and nail on more spending.

We can hope...

49 posted on 11/09/2008 9:12:11 AM PST by Florida native
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To: SoftwareEngineer

Doesn’t compute. SCOTUS is screwed for decades, no one wanted to see that happen.


50 posted on 11/09/2008 9:12:40 AM PST by hflynn ( The One is really The Number Two)
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To: GeorgiaDawg32

The icing on the political cake for Obama-bots will be to “Hoover-ize” George W. Bush & the Republicans in congress. Doing so will insulate Obama to the maximum extent possible for the inevitable problems as we go forward with his agenda.


51 posted on 11/09/2008 9:12:49 AM PST by Tallguy ("The sh- t's chess, it ain't checkers!" -- Alonzo (Denzel Washington) in "Training Day")
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To: Force of Truth

I think they tried a lot harder to win after it was clear BO was the opponent, rather than HC.


52 posted on 11/09/2008 9:13:06 AM PST by thesetruths
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To: SoftwareEngineer
He must have thought that the next four years were going to be horrible on the economy and McCain was going to be blamed solely.

From The Onion:

WASHINGTON – African-American man Barack Obama, 47, was given the least-desirable job in the entire country Tuesday when he was elected president of the United States of America. In his new high-stress, low-reward position, Obama will be charged with such tasks as completely overhauling the nation's broken-down economy, repairing the crumbling infrastructure, and generally having to please more than 300 million Americans and cater to their every whim on a daily basis. As part of his duties, the black man will have to spend four to eight years cleaning up the messes other people left behind. The job comes with such intense scrutiny and so certain a guarantee of failure that only one other person even bothered applying for it. Said scholar and activist Mark L. Denton, "It just goes to show you that, in this country, a black man still can't catch a break."

53 posted on 11/09/2008 9:13:36 AM PST by Alex Murphy ( "Every country has the government it deserves" - Joseph Marie de Maistre)
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To: Jagman
I think you are giving McCaine and his bumblef—ks WAY too much credit in this scenario...

Agree.

54 posted on 11/09/2008 9:13:56 AM PST by Right_in_Virginia
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To: SoftwareEngineer
I would say that you are not being cynical; but, I agree with you and when it comes to politics (or most things really), I am very cynical.

Anyway, sometime in October I realized that McCain really didn't want to be President. It was the only explanation that fit the behavior. He truly believed that either Hillary or Barack would make fine presidents, so why get nasty about it.

I told my hubby that I was having a "Lincoln moment" (in frustration with the general not actually fighting the war), in that I felt like asking McCain, "hey, if you are not really running for President, could you give the chance to someone who actually wants the job".

55 posted on 11/09/2008 9:14:37 AM PST by LibertarianLiz
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To: Thane_Banquo
The most prolonged economic downturn since the Great Depression will not be hung around a new GOP Presidency

No, it will be blamed on the old GOP presidency. We will be hearing about "the failed Bush policies" whenever the economy is the story from now till doomsday.

56 posted on 11/09/2008 9:15:12 AM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: SoftwareEngineer

I am as cynical as you are apparently. But I believe it started long before Sept. of this year. It began when they insisted, again, that the party needed to be moderate, refuse to accept the real cause of the loss in ‘06, and then with the nomination of McCain. We almost succeeded, with Governor Palin’s help, in dragging him over the finish line, but again, too many disassociated Republicans stayed home.


57 posted on 11/09/2008 9:17:47 AM PST by gidget7 (Duncan Hunter-Valley Forge Republican!)
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To: SoftwareEngineer

All the RATS in MI still blame John Engler for Everything that Jenny Grandmole has done to destroy the state.

It has been 6 years. BTW...Mi was doing great while Engler was Gov!

Nope, the RATS will blame Bush for the next 30 years and the MSM will back up the claim.


58 posted on 11/09/2008 9:19:07 AM PST by Beagle8U (FreeRepublic -- One stop shopping ....... Its the Conservative Super WalMart for news .)
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To: SoftwareEngineer

Republicans? No. As a whole, they are politicians and as such, are too power hungry to step back and think of anything but maintaining their death grip on the reins.

‘the maverick” on the other hand, he has a known record of “crossing the aisle” to help fellow democrats...er...I mean his good friends in the democrat party. So I wouldn’t put sabotage beyond him.

He wasn’t in the least bit serious about the campaign. He put insurmountable stumbling blocks in the way of his proxies at every turn. Taking legitimate and extremely important subjects like wright, ayers, and hussein’s multitudinous associations with terrorists and terrorists enablers completely off the table and denouncing anyone who he could that even hinted at these subjects.

It was only when he was assured he would be assisting a fellow democrat....er....good friend into office that he acted like he was even trying in the smallest measure.

Yes, I fully believe “the maverick” wanted to lose to assure the election of a democrat.


59 posted on 11/09/2008 9:20:42 AM PST by Dr.Zoidberg (11/5/08 There are 1533 days until communist occupation ends. What are you doing to shorten the war?)
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To: pillut48
is it possible that those who were advising McCain were actually plants who screwed things up on purpose

McCain never has displayed any decent sense of boundaries, so he probably hired all sorts of sabateurs into his campaign.

60 posted on 11/09/2008 9:21:00 AM PST by hinckley buzzard
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