What do you think most negatively impacted McCain campaign?

[TheCoxwain]

All of the choices below are, I think, Valid reasons. I am looking for the single BIGGEST factor.

I think that McCain's Embracing of Rovianisms despite being at receiving end of it, severely damaged his image - leading to a cognitive dissonance in everyone's mind. I think this led people to question their own beliefs about McCain that damaged his credibility. I am voting for Choice 3

[Virginia Dare]

1. The perfect storm of all of those things...

it's hard to pinpoint any one as the most important.

[OmahaBlueDog]

2. I think the campaign suspension was where it really came unglued

It made him appear erratic.

[featherman]

3. Feud with David Letterman?

[TheCoxwain]

7. That cannot possibly explain the state of the McCain campaign

[featherman]

17. Just a joke. The real answer is that McCain is a terrible candidate and a worse

campaigner as I posted often when it looked like he was wrapping up the GOP nomination. The only thing he had going for him was the broad and deep "man-love" many in the media had for him from his (fictional) "straight shooter maverick" days.

Once that was nullified by his erratic, angry, and altogether bizarre campaign, this slide was inevitable in what certainly was going to be a Dem year anyway due to the broad anti-Bush, wrong track feelings around the country.

Better answer?

[TheCoxwain]

18. Oh Yeah .. You are a Democrat ... therefore you are smart!!!

[Cosmocat]

4. Bush ...

and the Rs in general.

Make no mistake, by anyone other than the 40% rabid Rs, and even to most of them, Bush is recognized as the most gawdaweful president we have known in our lives. AND, to all but the 40% rabid Rs, the entire country realizes that the Rs had TOTAL power and screwed up a pretty darn good thing.

Picking Palin was incredibly self destructive, but if McCain hadn't had Bushco and a disaster of an R ocngress before him, the right and the media would have been able to play their game and it very well would have worked. People aren't buying it this time.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

5. John McCain. nt

[Pyrzqxgl]

6. The fact that McCain walks like a penguin & he may not be totally human.

[Lilith Velkor]

8. Economy fall down and go boom.

[CrispyQ]

9. Just like Biden toasted Giuliani's primary with "A noun, a verb & 9-11,"

Tina Fey toasted McCain/Palin with "I can see Russia from my house."

So I voted for option 1.

[endarkenment]

10. Letterman and Fey

[FSogol]

11. Other: All of the Above. n/t

[TheCoxwain]

12. I am sure it is all of the above ..BUT I am trying to understand the SINGLE BIGGEST FACTOR

in people's minds..

[Solomon]

14. It was the Palin pick.

Really insulted America with that pick.

[stillcool]

13. I don't know which one..

but it has become obvious that there is no there there. Not even Guns, God, and Gays. Just Tax Cuts, Drill baby Drill, and Obama is scary.

[nichomachus]

15. It's so hard to choose

I think it's the incoherence. He's just so erratic and hopeless. Palin worked well to corral the wandering evangelicals back onto the ranch, but they were only half a vote, because they probably were just going to stay home. The down side of her was to drive away moderates and independents, which is why the rallies these days are filled with mobs of goons. That's all that's left.

However, it was his lack of a message, lurching from one contradictory statement to another, incoherence, and signs of early dementia that have turned off corporate America. In these times, they can't afford to have a batshit crazy old man at the helm, backed up by Wasilla Sally speaking in tongues and plotting revenge against anyone she perceives as having dissed her.

[alwysdrunk]

16. The "Campaign Suspension" and the cancelled debate

..in addition to the economic problem. Trying to pull such a bullshit, transparent to everybody, half-assed gimmick like that RIGHT when people were getting scared of a serious drop in thier quality of life made the "erratic" label a proven fact before Obama even said it. I think any undecideds and leaners who figured the VP doesn't do shit anyway were finally convinced. All of this Ayers, Acorn and reboot bullshit won't make people forget that.

[Wolfies Revenge]

19. all the above but especially Sarah wolf killer Palin

[TheKentuckian]

20. All the stupid stunts (including Failin)

admitting he doesn't understand the economy, and pushed off the cliff by his "the fundamentals of the economy are strong" while the market was collapsing.

[TheCoxwain]

32. There was great video by Brave new PAC that I saw .. all the flip flops

[Schulzz]

21. The CBS/NYT poll asked a similiar question:

[TheCoxwain]

22. So my hunch was right ....and sarah is a big negative too

[Bucky]

23. If we can elect Dan Quayle, Palin's no obstacle. It's the economy, stupid.

No I didn't just call you "stupid," stupid. I was referring to that other DUer.

[my3boyz]

24. John McCain. He is not a good candidate. The minute he said the fundamentals

of the economy were strong he was toast. Then the people just needed to see that Obama was presidential and understood complex issues. Once they were convinced of that they jumped off McCain's sinking ship...........

[WeDidIt]

25. I can sum it up in a single letter

W

So I can't vote in your poll.

[TheCoxwain]

26. You can vote under - anti-incumbency ( W is the current incumbent)

[blm]

27. 8 years of GWBush. Post-Katrina, post-Iraq Civil War, post-Record Home Foreclosures there was no way

for the GOP candidate to win without massive vote stealing - and since Dean replaced McAUliffe as party chair in 2005 he has strengthened party infrastructures in states where they'd been left to collapse for over a decade. Growing party muscle in those states assures MORE Dem votes are allowed, cast and counted.

[workinclasszero]

28. Its hard to choose between Mooselini and the economy but

I guess I'll say the economy.

McBush said the fundamentals of our economy are fine right before one of the biggest market collapses in history!

The dumb f***er is now proposing as a fix...wait for it....

MORE tax cuts for the rich and the wall street thieves!!

MORE Reagan trickle down / voodoo policies that have worked so well in the past!:sarcasm:

Don't even get me started on Caribou Barbie...what a disaster and stone cold proof that McCain is not fit to be anywhere near the White House!

[onetwo]

29. The ecomony reminded people of the importance of this election.

There's nothing like the widespread loss of cold hard cash to get people to stop paying attention to the bullsh*t and start looking for substantive reasons to support their chosen candidate.

Once the attention paid to the candidates shifted in this way, factors like the Palin pick and the debate performances became properly relevant and sideshows like "palling around with terrorists" became correctly irrelevant. People jumped off the "hockey mom" train and started asking themselves, "Could this woman actually do the job?" Historically, the presidential debates minimally affect the race; this time, Americans watched a bit more closely in order to determine who truly is the more presidential of the two. On the other hand, what now appears to be the Republican "October Surprise" (Ayers) has largely fallen flat.

McCain did not help himself with self-inflicted wounds like his erratic response to the economic crisis and the Letterman snub.

...Then you have the Tina Fey factor.

[Ikonoklast]

30. It's the creepy child-molester voice

Followed by the yellow chiclet-tooth smile.

Seriesly.

The guy looks and sounds demented.

[teknomanzer]

43. Yeah really - what is with the spooky voice?

I see I am not the only one who has taken note of that creepy telling ghost stories around the campfire spooky tone McCain uses - oooooh don't go into the grave yard its haunted... and then they found a hook on the handle of the car door! I find it insulting. I am not an 8 year old cub scout so please stop trying to scare me with your ridiculous theatrics. Obama is not the bogeyman - although McCain would be properly cast as a zombie.

[Blue_Tires]

31. Palin

yeah, she invigorates the mouth-breathing fundies in the GOP, but they were already going to vote for McCain -- most sane moderates see Palin as no more qualified to serve on some small-time county council or something...

I'm just glad McCain didn't select Romney/Huckabee/Paul/Brownback...this race could have been a lot closer...

[BklynChick]

33. combination of his ineptness in picking Palin and ineptness on the economy

[dsomuah]

34. Infighting inside the campaign

[TheCoxwain]

35. Though I get your point .. My intention was to figure out the reason why

McCain has suffered in the Public Eye...

I dont think the discipline of his campaign is why anyone is voting against McCain.

[dsomuah]

39. Well I do ...

In the sense that it's prevented McCain from coming up with a coherent message of his own. The campaign has toyed with a lot of messages but never managed to stick to anything, and I've watched different messages have come out from different parts of the campaign.

So instead, for the past three months McCain hasn't been telling people why they should support McCain but telling people why they shouldn't support Obama. Anytime I talk to a McCain supporter and ask them to tell me why they back McCain, they don't talk about McCain's policies, they talk about everything they don't like about Obama.

[WA98296]

36. The Letterman Effect! (:

[Uzybone]

37. Palin

the cynical choice of Palin spurred many people to realize that McCain was not in this for the good of the country. He was in it only to win. Most of the people I know who were sitting on the fence dumped McCain once he picked her.

[MadHound]

38. So many things

First, he's coming in on the heels of Bush, which meant it was an uphill fight for any 'Pug, much less one that supported Bush nine times out of ten. Then he made the mistake of having Palin as his VP. Sure, initially it was a boost for him, but even while his numbers were rising immediately post convention, you could already see a trickle of moderate 'Pugs heading for the door. As Palin got more exposure, that trickle became a flood. Finally, the economy and his erratic flailing around trying to address it. This just didn't look presidential at all.

Really, all that McCain has left is the base, the fundy conservative base who aren't sticking around for him, but rather are sticking around for Palin. Their dream is to ride McCain into office and then have him croak a couple of weeks into his term so that she can take over.

McCain was the sacrificial goat for the GOP this year. They knew that it was highly unlikely any 'Pug would win this year, so they trotted out McCain to take one last one for the team.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

40. McKKKain

[No Elephants]

41. All of the above, plus McCain's age, McCain's general personality, McCain's flip flops and

on and on. Oh, and let's not forget that photo of him hugging on Bush and the photo of Bush kissing Lieberman, McCain's new BFF.

[teknomanzer]

42. Its STILL the economy stupid

The truth is if the it were not for the economic slow down, massive foreclosures and the financial crisis McCain would be doing better, people would probably disregard Palin's obvious lack of qualifications and the focus of the campaign would have been about the War in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is for this reason that the McCain campaign has been nothing but a disjointed series of trick plays, on side kicks and Hail Mary passes; all of which have have failed and given Obama better field advantage.