One of my most favorable moments from the 2008 election was McCain during the debates wandering around like a senile old man. It reminded me of the famous Kennedy-Nixon debate and how that was the tipping point that ended Nixon’s chances in 1960. In my personal opinion any Republican candidate would have received bad press in last year’s election. It was almost impossible to follow Bush and be seen as favorable, so many saw McCain and thought “four more years”. This fear that the liberals instilled in the public that McCain was just another Bush plus the media’s portal is what killed McCain in the 2008 election. However it is generally agreed that no Republican candidate would have won. As someone in class said, McCain was not as pretty as Obama, and that does have something to do with choice, however I believe the media portrayal is what killed his candidacy. Fox and other conservative media outlets saw McCain as too middle of the road, too moderate, and liberal outlets cried Bush several times. During the race the media would latch on to many bad sound bites such as McCain wondering around it made him seem as though he was not fully capable of running a country. He seemed disconnected and once Palin was introduced as his running mate it scared many people because they questioned McCain’s life span and it became an reality that Sarah Palin could be running our country. She was the tipping point for the downfall of the McCain campaign. Sarah Palin at the time had never been out of the country, and was more inexperienced than Obama. The media was quick to judge her and her personal family drama as well as her annoying accent, which even furthered McCain’s bad press. Some critics said that McCain’s choice was fueled by an attempt to gain distraught Hillary supporters, but many of those felt as if Palin was a mockery of a powerful female. Many of the Hillary supporters although unhappy with the choice of Obama, still voted for him over the McCain-Palin ticket. All in all I believe that the bad press coverage John McCain received specifically after selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate killed his chances as President of the United States. Comment away!
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I don't think that McCain was a bad as Nixon was in the first televised debate, yes he did appear senile and old; but he did not have that deep. dark and gruesome appearance that Nixon did. What really killed it for McCain was not the debates or the television advertisements it just boils down to the simple fact is that he is a jackass! I am conservative and did not want to vote for him!
ReplyDeleteI disagree on the fact that you say Palin was more inexperienced that Obama. In reality, she was running a state and she was doing it quite well. Palin is strong headed and determined. I have found that if any of the blame can be placed on her for causing McCain to lose, it is because so many people became jealous of her. ESPECIALLY other women. I have come to this conclusion because of what actual women have told me. Women have said over and over again that they were/are jealous of how beautiful she is. Even more, so many people could not stand the fact of how successful she really was until she was in the national spot light. Much of her problems came from not knowing how to effectively deal with the media and their attacks. I find it very odd that people just automatically disliked her because of how the media painted her to be. If anything, she helped to put a fire under McCain's campaign and actually get the base excited! On a final note, the only reason that Hillary was not made out to be some unintelligent woman is because she has had previous experience with the national media due to her husband. She learned the ropes and came out fighting. I expect to see the same with Sarah Palin.
ReplyDeleteI can assure you that the reason I dislike Palin is based on her lack of intelligence and her conservative views, not due to jealousy. The women in your "study" must not have been informed citizens so as to rationalize hatred toward Palin because of their jealousy. Personally, I judge political figures on their performance in office, voting history, and the issues they back, not on their looks. That would be shallow and what I would consider poor citizenship. As a woman, I am not jealous of her success and honestly believe she is just milking the spotlight for more attention and money. I really cannot name one good thing that she has done for her state in the last year, and what kind of "good" politician abandons their position as governor even though they promised they would not. What she has been successful with is becoming a political figure head, one that represents the disappearing breed of die hard conservatives.
ReplyDeleteThat's right in line with my theory, Drew! I have come to the conclusion the Dems are having trouble passing healthcare reform because the GOP is jealous of President Obama's dashing good looks. I came to this conclusion using anecdotal evidence and watching Glen Beck, so I know it's true.
ReplyDeleteBut in all honestly, I could rattle off 20 reasons why I do not support Sarah Palin off the top of my head. None of them would be because I am jealous of her beauty. In the last election, SOME racists did not vote for Obama because he is black. Also, SOME women might not have voted for the McCain/Palin ticket are jealous. I am sure you would argue that the racists who voted based on those assumptions are minute. I think you need to expand your world a little before you make sexist assumptions about women. Give people more credit, and accept that a decent amount of people do not agree with Sarah Palin on the issues. It sounds like you are trying to excuse what most people considered to be poor candidate by blaming "women who are jealous."
Laura, I aggree that when one party is in office it all depends on how well that they do, if the party does well then their candidate for the new election has a chance to succeed. Like after Clinton, because of his mistakes it was hard for Gore so what happened we got a republican in office. Then Bush screwed up, so what happened we got Obama. And I also agree that Palin is an airhead!!! Wow she needs to stay out of politics she doesnt know anything. She most likely doesnt know what the UN is and what NATO means. lol. Seriously, though she does make all women look like, all that matters is looks and not brains. And I am so sick of that in our society. So sick of it. Palin is not a good example of a intelligent, woman at all. She is nothing that I aspire to.
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