According to the Associated Press (AP), Vice President Joe Biden has said Republican Tea Party (GOTP) 2008 Presidential footnote John McCain probably would have won the White House had the economy not collapsed.
The Vice President shared his comment about the 2008 election during a dinner the two attended as part of a political forum in Sedona, Arizona.
“The truth of the matter is, Barack knows it, I know, had the economy not collapsed around your ears, John, in the middle of literally – as things were moving – I think you probably would have won,” the Vice President said. “But it would have been incredibly, incredibly, incredibly close. You inherited a really difficult time.”
Well, no, not really. I’m sorry to disagree with the Vice President, but the economy was only one big factor in a room full of big factors as to why he lost.
Any GOTP nominee following the Bush/Cheney debacle would have been very hard pressed to win the 2008 election; between failing to protect Americans from terrorist, failing to get Bin Laden, two very expensive and increasingly unpopular wars (one of which was based on lies), torturing prisoners, and cutting taxes – during a time of war – no one would have looked good from the right.
Then there was how the two candidates looked, McCain looked grumpy, old and stodgy when compared to his opponent’s campaign of hope, youth and vitality. The debate where the two are walking around the stage as they were answering questions was a public relations visual nightmare for McCain (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f4xWorprhM). He seemed to shuffle around the stage, looking like the cantankerous neighbor from down the street who mutters to himself as he goes by; while in comparison Senator Obama moved with ease around the platform speaking energetically about the future. McCain’s campaign should never have agreed to that format.
And who can forget that magic moment when Senator McCain decided the best person for the job of Vice-President was the obtuse Governor of Alaska? Really, Sarah Palin was your choice from all of the people you looked at? Palin wasn’t just a disaster she was a mega-disaster of epic political proportions. Clearly unvetted, she brought a new level of self absorbed ridiculousness to presidential politics. Unable to answer even the simplest questions from Katie Couric she quickly became the butt of all of late night television, and she took McCain’s campaign right along with her. His pick of Palin wasn’t smart, it wasn’t clever, it was a thinly veiled attempt to draw what his campaign thought were disenfranchised women voters from the Obama/Biden ticket; voters the GOTP felt were so angry Hillary Clinton hadn’t been given the number two slot they’d vote against the Democratic nominee. Yeah, didn’t quite work out that way. Tina Fey thanks you though.
While the economy was a factor, it wasn’t the only factor. John McCain was the sacrificial lamb of 2008, just as Gerald Ford was in 76’ and Bob Dole was the same in 96’. Sometimes the cards are stacked against you, and sometimes you help the dealer stack them, for McCain it was both.
The Liberty Tree 