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 ...
No, it was the key tactical blunder.
The key strategic blunder was relying on the media to not twist every event into a pro-Obama narrative.
To a large extent McCain was a creation of the media.
“Former McCain Adviser Admits Bailout Support a Strategic Blunder”
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NSDT!
He had too many lobbyists on his campaign...if he didn’t have any lobbyists and was truly looking to reform this decision would have been obvious.
He deserved to lose after that incredibly stupid move. I am suspending my campaign to go back to Wershington to fix this...
UNBELIEVABLE!!!
The jist of the article isn't that support for the bailout was a mistake because it was wrong for America ... but that support for the bailout was a mistake because it didn't help the campaign ...
Country First® ... what a crock.
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.
as days pass It seems McCain ran to loose..a fix was in
he crossed the aisle so many times that in the end he
was on the other side for his own campaign..waiting to see what gets thrown his way in the next 4 years..
Benedict Arnold and McCain could be the same person.
Really? Polls showed that 85+% of the population were vehemently against the bailout (which means that liberals, moderates, and conservatives alike all agreed on this issue), and you rocket scientists somehow came to the conclusion you did?
McCain really did run a crappy campaign with crappy people. It was obvious during the campaign, but was confirmed first with the post-campaign Palin sniper attacks and now this.
McCain proved himself to be untrustworthy. Campaigning on stump, and as part of his convention speech, he repeated over and over that when he is President he would veto any bill coming to his desk with earmarks. He would make the porkers famous...we would know their names! Then he pranced in to Washington and voted for a bailout bill laden with $150 billion of pork!! AAAGHHH!!! I was completely disgusted and still voted for him. I can see why many voters, not knowing the truth about Obama thanks to the MSM, would not have.
You are correct. People need someone to pull for, not against. It’s hard to pull for political candidates that are the same. Political candidates are products - like soda, dishwashing soap, etc. Some are good, some are not. People do want to choose between the two. If the product appears the same, they will go with the packaging - what looks good, looks cool.
In all fairness, I heard Sarah Palin on the stump in Ohio and she slammed the bailout as "straying from our American principles." My husband and I were surprised she strayed from the McCain line, but she may have done it because she was alone.
Bingo.
I have always looked at McCain's "maverick" status as "Me first" and nothing more. It has always been about him and his political career. He lacks principle.
I have to agree especially since it was reported at the time that over 80 percent of the citizens were against any bailout for anyone. Surely among the cracker jack staff was someone that could have written it up for McCrazy to explain it.
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.”If the McCain camp thinks this, its no wonder they got trounced.
And Doug buy a clue. The 'key blunder' was McCain himself. He approached the campaign as if he was debating a Bill on the senate floor to name a Post Office.
In English, he was the worst GOP candidate since sliced bread was invented.
yes she was
HANNITY: Well, you know, both you and Senator McCain supported the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. You both opposed the bailout of government intervention as it relates to Lehman or Merrill. But now we read this morning that AIG is going to get some type of government bailout.
Was that the right call?
PALIN: Well, you know, first, Fannie and Freddie, different because quasi-government agencies there where government had to step in because of the adverse impacts all across our nation, especially with homeowners. It’s just too impacting, we had to step in there.
I do not like the idea though of taxpayers being used to bailout these corporations. Today it was AIG, important call there, though, because of the construction bonds and the insurance carrier duties of AIG.
He would have been better off if he had been completely for the bailout. He would have been better off if he had been completely against the bailout. He would have even been better off if he had ignored the bailout. Instead he just looked panicky and innefective.
well you can’t really have it both ways.
In view of your objectivity, perhaps you can clarify the position of those who blame McCain for not being sufficiently conservative thus suggesting that many conservatives either failed to vote or voted for the Messiah.
Enabling the election of the Messiah thus increasing the power of the liberal establishment seems to border on insanity.
McCain did not go after Obama or stand up for Sarah because he wanted a chance to work for the “new president”.
McCain proved to be the complete loser I had him pegged for.
If he announced his opposition to the bailout, the press would’ve simply run with the standard “Republicans Starve Babies.”
yeah, babies on wall street. come on, it would have been a winner. But it wouldn’t be enough to simply oppose the bailout. He would have to support the Pence/newt plan.
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