Posted on 11/20/2008 6:44:58 AM PST by Rufus2007
As it turns out, swaying from conservative principles doesn’t always pay off for a Republican presidential candidate. Sen. John McCain learned that lesson that hard way.
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a senior policy adviser to McCain’s failed campaign, said Nov. 19 that McCain’s support for the $700 billion bailout of the financial sector was the “key strategic blunder of the entire campaign.”
“We also make mistakes,” Holtz-Eakin told a group of conservatives at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. “There’s no doubt about it--20/20 hindsight. I think the key strategic policy error of the entire campaign, that is mine, is believing that the bailout bill would help.”
...more (w/audio)...
(Excerpt) Read more at businessandmedia.org ...
I would say that Sarah was NOT for the bailout; in fact she said it early on as I recall. However, being the #2 on the ticket she had to tow the McCain line on things that didn’t totally sit well with her.
I think I see part of the problem here.
yeah it was a big blunder.... but there was so much
un-conservative about McQueeg as to make this one blunder just part of the larger blunder of having him as the republican nominee.
He got the 48% of the plurality, thanks to Sarah Palin and no thanks to him.
I am of the opinion that McCain would’ve gotten steamrolled either way. If he announced his opposition to the bailout, the press would’ve simply run with the standard “Republicans Starve Babies.”
“Vanna, I’d like to buy a clue for $100.00 . . . OK, the word is FAIL?” Juan McCain
Totally agree. Even Dick Morris said McCain would have been 10 points ahead of Obama if McCain had said not just “No” but “Hell No”!
Sad that something this big is looked at as “strategic”. Gone are the days when leaders fought for what they believed in. McCain claimed to be a “fighter”, but I guess that was just the strategic thing to say.
If you have stared into the face of bankruptcy or losing a nasty lawsuit, only to step back from the precipice, you know the difference.
Let’s not forget, too, that when the meltdown was happening, McLame took a swipe at ONE person. Was it Barney Frank? no. Was it Chris Dodd? No...was it ANY of the “advisors” to Obummer that lined their pockets at FM/FM? no
It was a republican....Chris Cox, head of the SEC.
McLame sux. Thank God he didn’t win. Now we can REALLY get back to conservative principles and PICK conservatives to lead our party. And we all better scream like girls if we see one RINO being touted as the ‘best choice’. Ya hear??
Mccain is not a conservative. The lesson is don’t be McCain the Senator when you can be McCain the candidate.
Gee, the little fat guy who appears on FOX as a guest thought it was a stroke of genius.
Either you are a conservative or you are not. Why did making a decision on whether to support the bailout require a “strategic decision?” If McCain was a true conservative he would have found the whole concept of the bailout repulsive and the decision would have required no strategic plannin. So much for “Country First,” eh Mac?
You have to have conservative instincts before you can betray them.
Was Sarah for the bailout herself??
yes
Yep, what chance McCain had was pissed away when he waved OK at the bailout bill. Those Republicans who trusted their conservative instincts did fine in the election.
Opposing the bailout would have also killed the McCain = Bush narrative since the media tagged it as the Bush/Paulson Bailout.
Ain’t it the truth...
Instead:
“If anyone is ever in a comparable position before us, take the time or again in the future, take the time to step back and ask, ‘Is this a good policy move? Will it really help?’ he said...
The McCain camp allowed itself to be HAD in a big way. Literally aligning with the MSM and the DNC talking points on this issue - along with recklessly buying into a gargantuan dose of typical Liberal hysteria – This sucked McCain/Palin right into the Obama whirlwind and made McCain indistinguishable from the Bush to a lot of voters who were still trying very hard to MAKE that distinction for themselves.
Obama had bought into the ‘Buyout’ hysteria and so McCain- perceived as the underdog, anyway- started looking and sounding just like the opposition … NOT a good idea!!!
McCain gave up the moral high ground … and for absolutely NOTHING! I did not understand it at all... McCain spent his entire campaign trying to put as much distance as possible between himself and the Bush administration… then turned around and backed the bailout to his own immediate and permanent detriment.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008 8:09:35 AM · 46 of 57
edzo4 to beebuster2000
McCain lost 6 weeks ago when at the start of the housing crisis he rushed back to Washington, refused to hammer the democrats for Fannie mae and subprime loans
told the people he was against pork barrels spending and concerned about giving $700 billion of the taxpayers money to paulson, then turned around and voted for the $850 billion dollar bailout, he had the chance to prove he was a maverick and he let it slip away
freerepublic should have run the mccain campaign we knew months before the election what they are figuring out a month after the election
mcstupid finally figures it out.
Where is the “Captain Obvious” graphic when we need it!!?
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