After reading the final chapter of the Newsweek article, I do feel for McCain.

[Drunken Irishman]

I know it's blasphemous to say, but I always have a hard time watching someone struggle. It doesn't matter if they are my enemy, it's tough watching them go down. McCain knew he was losing and reading his words, especially dealing with New Hampshire, was tough.

I feel for him. Maybe it's because he isn't a threat anymore, but I feel McCain was corrupted by his campaign and unfortunately, allowed the Rovian politics to take over. I do believe had he allowed Salter to run the campaign his own way, McCain would not have only kept his image largely intact, he wouldn't have lost as badly It's obvious Salter wanted to run a truly decent campaign, unfortunately, he wasn't allowed to and because of that, the hatred of McCain's campaign will trump any good created in this election cycle.

Ultimately, I guess McCain deserves the blame there.

[av8rdave]

1. If he had campaigned like he conceded, he would have been harder to beat

[Orsino]

12. Yep. That was a great speech, well-delivered.

One speech can't heal the wounds his campaign opened, ohowever, so wake me if he continues with this mood of reconciliation.

[TTUBatfan2008]

2. What?

Schmidt is Rove's protege. He never wanted to run a decent campaign. He was brought into the campaign for the specific reason of going negative against Obama.

[Drunken Irishman]

7. Yea, I fixed it. I meant Salter, sorry.

[WCGreen]

3. John Stewart said it best when he said I would have voted for the

2000 McCain...

[Trajan]

4. Dancing with the Devil in the pale moonlight ....

'Poor John' ....

I understand your sentiment .... McCain had developed a 'Maverick' persona that was money in his bank (for those who care for that crap) ..... Going along with Rovian protege Schmidt dirtied his image with the general electorate ... But he MUST have known that would happen ....

It's gonna be kinda weird for him to return to work next week ...

[book_worm]

5. ultimately it was McCain's campaign and how it went was his responsibility

[Rosa Luxemburg]

6. the negative campaigning of McCain/Palin was 'below the belt'

I don't feel for McCain he should have stopped it

[Coexist]

8. Me too, read this:

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/FLDem5/416

[Why Syzygy]

9. It is tempting.

They don't call us bleeding hearts for no reason.

But, when I think about what COULD have been and what HAS been, I have to reserve my pity.

[democrattotheend]

10. I kind of agree with you

I feel a little bit bad for him, and I do respect that he set some boundaries, like not attacking Michelle or bringing Reverend Wright into it directly. At the very least, I've let go of my anger. There's no need to be angry - we won. And I am way more excited about the fact that Obama won than the fact that McCain lost. Unlike 2004, my passion was driven by getting our candidate elected, not defeating the other guy (and this is not a knock on Kerry, whom I had no problem voting for, albeit with less excitement than with Obama, and who is my first choice for SOS).

[Sebass1271]

11. what article on newsweek?

[Dem2theMax]

28. This one:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/167582

It is seven chapters long. You will see the chapter headings at the top of the page.

Enjoy. Fascinating read.

[justgamma]

13. I, too, feel a little sorry for him, but

he wanted to be the leader of the free world. It was clear that he couldn't and didn't lead his own campaign. If he couldn't deal with Palin, there is no way he could have dealt with other world leaders.

[Zombie2]

23. I will second everything you just posted.....

except for one part.... I don't feel even a little sorry for him. :evilgrin:

[Hamlette]

14. I do not feel sorry for him after what he did in 2000

he took a stand on the confederate flag saying it is a great and glorious symbol and not racist at all.

After the election was over he said he didn't believe that and was sorry he said it and he'd said it because he thought he had to to win and he should never have sold out like that.

8 years later he is selling out again and expects us to forgive him when he does a mea culpa?

As Joe Klein said a month or so ago "I won't accept his apology this time, he went to far."

[gravity]

15. McCain would probably lost more if he ran a clean campaign

Obama is much better at giving a positive message than any other politician, and the only way to run against him is going negative. Hillary learned that in the primaries. You can't beat the message of change, when you are more of the same.

McCain was out of character going negative and it is why he never looked comfortable doing it, but he was in it to win. I hate to be cynical, but that it is the way it is. Unfortunately, he damaged his integrity in the process.

[AlCzervik]

16. He's a cautionary tale imo, make a Faustian deal and you pay the price.

I do feel a teeny bit sad for him but i'm also pissed about what went on at those rallies, he could have stepped in after the first time but he did not, he also ruined himself when he spoke at Liberty University a few years ago, that's when i knew for sure he was dead to me.

[stillcool]

17. I have a lot of empathy for human beings..

but I will not forget the environment of hate that he and his campaign created to win an election. The idea that he didn't know is preposterous. Even if he did not instigate the lies of attack, he was certainly made aware of them and the fervor that was being created. It was within his power to stop it at any time, if he were concerned in any way. The closing act of playing Reverend Wright ads every 10 minutes in the last days, make it a piss poor joke that he had any intention of running anything but a campaign to win in any way possible, and at any cost.

[Blue For You]

18. Can't muster any feelings for that guy. He's an ugly man inside

for being associated with the GOP. They're despicable people.

[progressivebydesign]

19. I just don't. He could have run an honorable campaign. it was HIS names on the signs.

He had control over what was happening. he could have fired Palin from the VP slot if he had to... but he sat there and was a party to all of the ugliness. He gets nothing from me.

[RollWithIt]

20. I found it interesting that his own staff was hiding the truth from their candidate...

Which means he wasn't being fully briefed. Which means his own staff were completely incompetent. His staff seemed most comfortable in bars and drunk. Says a lot.

[quaker bill]

21. McCain

is not a particularly bright man, and was doomed to lose this race before he entered it. Being not particularly bright, he surrounded himself with the same and alot of ugliness ensued. It would have been nice for him to choose to lose with dignity, but it was never in the cards.

No republican candidate had the slightest chance to win this year on principle and ideas. It was always going to be a dirty campaign. McCain was not bright enough to understand this early enough to have stepped aside, as he might well have, had he known. Once he was the nominee, the party infrastructure took over and ran the only campaign that they had a clue how to run in this environment. It would not have mattered who they picked, the campaign was always going to be this way.

Obama got this early on and was very methodical at insulating himself from it. He told everyone from the start that they were going to throw mud and that we should get used to it and motor on. The line "they have called me everythng but a child of god" was intended for this purpose. It was used to turn the only tool they had (trash) into a weapon to diminish them for the fact that they were using it at all.

McCain was doomed to lose, he had no opportunity to run in any other fashion, and Bush made this so. This is the last beating he will ever take for or from George W. Bush, I am thankful for this, as I am thankful whenever we extract anyone from the claws of that beast.

I hope John retires soon and lives at peace.

[TexasObserver]

22. The candidate can never blame anyone but him or herself.

He chose this path. He chose the people.

The simple fact is John McCain was not even up to the job of running a campaign, muchless a country. He proved he couldn't even drive a simple campaign competently. He was crazy, and erratic, and given to stupid stunts that accomplished nothing.

[eshfemme]

24. Yeah, I kinda felt sorry for him too.

[JimDandy]

25. The problem is: McCain would do it ALL again, in a nanosec, if he thought it would give him the win.

Sorry, no sympathy here.

[Pithlet]

26. If I felt sorry for anyone, it was Salter.

I don't think McCain was ever the honorable hero that Salter thought he was, and that probably became more evident to him as the campaign wore on and he followed Schmidt's lead more and more with little hesitation. It seemed like Salter actually has a decent bone in his body, and he tried to turn McCain away from Schmidt's low road, to no avail. McCain is just a nasty person. That bit where he mocked that poor woman with the martini shirt just shows what a mean-spirited shit he is.

[VPStoltz]

27. Not me, not of one second.

McCain made the choice to renounce everything he stood for in order to appeal to "the base."
Those are the knuckledraggers who were yelling all those horrible things at Palin's rallies.
Had he been true to himself and been a true maverick and bucked the evil part of his party, he probably would be President-elect today.
And then to go and choose Palin! That's nobodies fault but his own.

[grantcart]

29. He didn't just make his bed he chased after that bed for 10 years

what compels a man to put such energy into grasping for power against almost impossible odds knowing the damage that it would do to his family and his own health. How did he know that his adultery and his wife's drug addiction and theft would not become central factors in a campaign? He was willing to risk public humiliation of his family in an unlikely quest for power.

Why?


Another attempt to prove that he was going to over achieve his father's expectations.


Really these guys need to get analysts.

[ROh70]

30. McCain "pals" around with wingnuts. And look where it got him.

He picked Rick Davis and Steve Schmidt to run his campaign.

He picked Sarah Palin as his VP running mate.

He signed off on all those racist ads.

He chose to lie, lie, lie, and lie some more.

I feel sorry for him, alright. I feel sorry that he thought he was qualified to be president in the first place.