McCain’s Concession

Do you realize, Michael, that the only thing that McCain ever *had* going for him was “a relatively modest crowd, hundreds of Republican activists,” and you?

He parlayed that into a helluva run, didn’t he?

I wish Senator McCain the best. I wish his running mate will go away forever. Let me tell you this. The Republicans have fostered free floating hatred throughut our country. Queers, pregnent women who wish to control their body, scientists who teach Darwinism, or who wish to research stem cell research, all of the regligious issues which are no different from the fundamentalist muslims who they direct mindless hatred toward, even our President is a muslim. Anyway, this free floating hatred is not what our country is about. As much as you may be devoted to your religion, please keep it to yourself.

Your comment is awaiting moderation. Story of my life here since Time went with this stupid thing. Whatever.

You say it but you don’t mean it. Why do you always bother me? Why are you always on my back!pass4sure / 642-825 / 920-221 / 640-863 / MB2-633

One thing you people are going to have to get over is this notion that McCain somehow ran into bad breaks. In your article, you make it seem like the immigration debate and the financial crisis the U.S. is facing appeared out of thin air.
They are Republicanism.
To pretend like Republican xenophobia and deregulation blowing up in their face was some act of God is pure journalistic malfeasance. Write this story when a freak asteroid strike wipes out Texas and all its electoral votes and I might have a little sympathy for your argument. But to say that it is “bad luck” that caused Republicans to be loathed by much of America is ignorant.

Moderation, please go, fuck youself. Sorry, KT, my potty mouth got the better of me.

Yeah, pafro. Since moderation doesn’t allow me to post my own comments, I will go with fellow travelers. Go man.

McCain has tried to do the right thing only after doing very wrong things for months. The tone of his campaign gave permission to, and even encouraged, the reaction of the crowd and of the single ragehead. The boos and the curses arew foreseeable and unavoidable consequences of the division and negativity McCain chose as his campaign theme.

I suppose one can commend McCain for his tone tonight, but in reality that tone falls far short of a remedy for the serious harm he and his forces have generated and aggravated. The country McCain purported to put first has a more difficult path due to his ambition.

I changed my mind. Let’s hear it.pass4sure / 70-297 / 642-825 / 642-503 / ex0-101

It was a classy speech.
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Also, I second what pafro said. And what FlownOver said.

It was a cl@ssy speech.
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Also, I second what pafro said. And what FlownOver said.
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(Yeah, this took me two tries, apparently you can’t just go around saing “cl@ssy” without the @, otherwise people might find out where all that poop’s coming from.)

I’d like to have some sympathy for Grumpy, but I can’t. Reap/sow/kthxbi.

Since my last post was modded on another thread, might as well try again here (sigh):

Enjoyed:
-Obama
-The fact that “44″ can read as “4+4=8″, of which “8″ is a sainted number at least in Asian circles.
-Hagan’s win
-my bottle of malbec
-McCain FINALLY telling the hooting scum amongst his audience to pipe down (but only when you have nothing left to lose, right Johnny? Right.)
-Karl Rove whining on Faux Noise: “We’re in trouble. We’re in trouble.”

Did not enjoy:
-Don Young’s win
-Prop 8 in Cali passing
-Tweety’s ability to grate on Eugene’s and mine’s nerves
-It’s Pat insisting the economy is what did McCain in (old habits die hard, eh Pat)
-Shrek still pimpin’ (Seriously dude, the ship sank. What’s it like underwater, any cool fishies?)

I think it was a noble effort on McCain’s part but after the past few months I can’t help but read between the lines when he’s talking about what an important election this has been. Maybe I’ve been brainwashed, maybe I’m too firmly in the tank for Obama… whatever it is, I couldn’t help but wince at several things he said even if his sincerity occasionally made an appearance. His crowd didn’t help matters any either.

And Michael – congratulations on outlasting the election! I know this has been a tough crowd for you but as a longtime lurker I just wanted to let you know that I appreciated listening to your voice from the other side of the aisle.

Hey, if Mac wants to play along on immigration and climate change, welcome to Barack’s party. Short of 60 and not so secretly hoping Lieberman’s redacted, we’ll need as many moderates as we can get, if any are left in the GOP’s shrinking tent.

In victory, it’s possible to be magnanimous. With the exception of our beloved Michael, the apologist fan-boy. Your rehabilitation, sir, will prove long and arduous.

McCain did the right thing. Whether you choose to qualify it with your interpretation of his tactics over the past month or so, or whether you take it at basically face value like me, the color of lens used does not change the fact that he stepped to the podium and said exactly what needed to be said.

“The lawn at the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa never filled to capacity. A space that might have held 2,000 or more stood about one quarter empty. And many of those present took poorly to McCain’s praise of Obama’s achievement. They booed at times, and one loud man swore at the stage, evoking the excretions of various farm animals”
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The republicans took the high road from the start to the end. That is why they did so well.

When you deal in hate you get the cards you deserve. Nice speech at the end for McCain, but the audience’s reactions said everything one needs to know about the Republican Party. It is the party of hate and division.

The Republican party has branded themselves as the Party of Joe the Plumber. Ingnorant, uneducated people who have trouble expressing themselves…. who live in a dream world that they too can make $250,000 a year if they just vote Republican. People who have little regard for the truth, who praise the unlicensed and unethical people who avoid paying their taxes and hospital bills as their heroes. Sarah Palin will be a wonderful standard bearer for the Republican Party in 2012 because she too has all the fine qualities of Joe the Plumber and her party’s faithful.

McCain’s speech was gracious, but the reaction of many of his supporters, not so much.

I thought Mike Murphy’s comments on MSNBC about Obama running like a Democrat and getting the vote mix of a Democrat (but with a better turnout and a slightly higher pull of important white demographics — much higher in the case of college educated whites) was very sharp and important to emphasize. I thought a lot of the TV commentary got too wrapped up in the importance of the racial element as a political component (as opposed to the historical and emotional component we should attach to the accomplishment, which is very real and which brings tears to my eyes) — Obama ran like a Democrat and won like a Democrat. Murphy made this point well and it’s a point that no one else was really making.

One thing I’d like to see is for someone to show Pat Buchanan the electoral map from yesterday and ask him to talk about the Nixon Southern Strategy and its consequences. (by the way, Rove called the map pretty well)

One thing I am hopeful about is that a lot of the reasons people gave for voting against Obama — he’s a socialist, he’s not one of us — are clearly untrue, and hopefully Obama can reverse some of these ridiculous rationales.

# yoshiattack Says:
Wednesday, November 5, 2008 at 3:44 am
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McCain did the right thing. Whether you choose to qualify it with your interpretation of his tactics over the past month or so, or whether you take it at basically face value like me, the color of lens used does not change the fact that he stepped to the podium and said exactly what needed to be said.
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Good point, Yoshi. I’ll grant you that he stood there and mouthed the words. Nice piece of theater. But the problem is, as others alluded to, the lizard-brain reaction of (some of) his supporters. Yes, McCain can’t control those individual jerks with no class, but to a large extent, he is 100% responsible for those boos and jeers and cries of male bovine excrement. After the all the race-baiting and fear-mongering and McCarthy-esque characterizations of Obama as not only a casual acquaintance, but as an actual intimate of terrorists and socialists alike, it’s no surprise that some of McCain’s supporters couldn’t stop and accept reality. It made me feel even angrier towards McCain – for a few minutes. I’m over it (like it matters) but it just underscored how pathetic his entire candidacy won. To hear McCain and the Schmidts and Salters and Davises of his staff talking about how they didn’t know how they could have run the race any better or what else they could have done was insulting to every American voter with a modicum of intelligence.
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Good riddance to the McCain presidential campaign, and may we please have the supposedly “real” McCain back in the Senate, now?

newfloridian:

Enough with your stereotypes. Was it disappointing that some of the supporters at the McCain speech booed? Yes. Were they the majority of those in attendance? No. Do they represent the majority of Republicans who voted for McCain? No. Certainly not the ones I know.
The biggest hurdle Obama has to becoming a truly great president (something this selfish, unpatriotic republican thinks he has the potential to be) are extremists in his own party, like yourself, who demand their pound of flesh and want to continue the division. Please check your memory card and remember Hillary Clinton’s campaign and, for that matter, the Clinton presidency — marked by division, rancor and partisanship (and in the case of Hillary’s campaign — racisism)

Obama has the discipline and the temperment, in all things, that Clinton never had. If he truly means to govern in a way that benefits all americans, he will move to the center, as Bill Clinton did, and america will once again move forward. If he allows his big money donors and the far left wing of his party to co-opt his presidency, he will struggle. I hope and pray for the former.

Michael,
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We pounded you into the ground on this blog. Some of us even gave up on you. But you never gave up on us

dancingoutlaw — the GOP talking points and claims about Obama that newfloridian mentions are the ones I heard incessantly from McCain, Palin (from her, squared) and their minions. There are important and difficult national issues that have to be dealt with in a collaborative way, but I think you are running away from the campaign the GOP tried to win with (and rather arrogantly trying to dictate to the winner how he should govern if he is to make you and your confederates (pun intended) happy).

It may be that what seems to be the center has moved. you might need to move with it.

I see I’m later to the party and what I feel needs to be said has already been tackled but here goes. McCains’ experience on the lawn there was exactyly a case of reaping what he sowed. He was exceedingly gracious and except for the fact that in my view he overemphasized the significance of Obama’s race, he spoke very well with a message that his supporters needed to hear. Unfortunately the message he had was utterly foreign to his supporters and it showed loudly and clearly in the crowd’s reaction.

I’m still convinced that if he had run half as honorable a campaign as he said he intended to and that his fans (Michael…) insisted against all evidence that he was doing, he could have won. Every drop in the polls that he experienced was directly related to some tactical move designed to appeal to the Hate-R-Us right at the expense of the “please don’t raise my taxes” Center.

Even more important than my satisfaction of knowing that Barack Obama will be the next President, is my satisfaction of knowing that campaigning on the assupmtion that only 30% of Americans are real Americans and that patriotism is reserved for a small subset of our nation’s citizens ios an exercise in self destruction.

I see I’m later to the party and what I feel needs to be said has already been tackled but here goes. McCains’ experience on the lawn there was exactyly a case of reaping what he sowed. He was exceedingly gracious and except for the fact that in my view he overemphasized the significance of Obama’s race, he spoke very well with a message that his supporters needed to hear. Unfortunately the message he had was utterly foreign to his supporters and it showed loudly and clearly in the crowd’s reaction.

I’m still convinced that if he had run half as honorable a campaign as he said he intended to and that his fans (Michael…) insisted against all evidence that he was doing, he could have won. Every drop in the polls that he experienced was directly related to some tactical move designed to appeal to the Hate-R-Us right at the expense of the “please don’t raise my taxes” Center.

Even more important than my satisfaction of knowing that Barack Obama will be the next President, is my satisfaction of knowing that campaigning on the a$$upmtion that only 30% of Americans are real Americans and that patriotism is reserved for a small subset of our nation’s citizens is an exercise in self destruction

It was an excellent, gracious speech.

But it does not negate the fact that McCain chose to run a nasty campaign. Because of his history, I suspect Dems (including me) will “forgive” him and eventually respect him again because as a whole he is a good man.

However, his campaign was ugly.

As for Palin….

The center may have moved a bit. But it hasn’t moved as far as Reid and Pelosi are going to say it has. Please remember that many of those new senators and representatives come from places like North Carolina and Virginia and the majority of their constituents remain right of center at their core.

Again, I truly hope Obama is one of the great ones. The people have spoken, so give up your hate and let’s get on with it.

The real truth of McCain’s campaign was seen during his concession speech. Every time he said Obama’s name, people booed. What Obama said McCain’s name, his supporters were respectful. Kinda says it all, doesnt it?

Its a new day and a new world out there folks. Drop your negativity and cynicism at the door and join us

YES WE CAN!

I followed two blogs on a daily basis during this campaign: fivethirtyeight.com and this one. Thanks to all the Swampland bloggers and commenters for all the information and insights. Now excuse me while I take my turn at the oars to help turn this ship around.

McCain is a man whose time came and went in 2000. Too old, too willing to say anything, do anything, to win. He made poor decisions, and had two, count ‘em, two difference campaign staffs in this election cycle and failed twice at leading them.
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The Republican message was like selling ice to Inuits. No thanks, I have plenty.
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As for you Mr. Scherer, perhaps you can pick up your reporter’s objectivity in the parcel room, where you left it at the beginning of this campaign.
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I thought you regained it after you and Carney had your ill-fated interview with McCain in the late summer. You got too close and too emotionally attached to a candidate who used you. Maybe there’s a lesson learned for you; as you still have more journalism in front of you than behind you.
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Grieve as you will for the Senator from Sedona, with his trophy wife, 7 homes, and $500 shoes.
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I will grieve for the failure of journalism and for journalists such as you who have failed the profession. Go and do some deep introspection. Remember that humility trumps hubris every time, as it did in this election.
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You’re a pretty good writer. Maybe there’s still time for you to become a pretty good journalist. They are not synonomous.

McCain couldn’t get through the speech without a stump for Palin 2012 and more digs at the media. Still, he was gracious and appropriate; more than can be said about the unruly supporters gathered before him…

http://www.political-buzz.com/

The people have spoken, so give up your hate and let’s get on with it…..

Good advice.

As always, hate is in the eye of the beholder and we can rest assured that it’s recipient is always more aware of it than it’s source. As I said, and I;ll keep saying, it’s been officially discredited as a campaign tactic.

McCain gave into his worst self in this campaign. He more than deserved to lose. Speech was okay, but his campaign was so execrable I think he’s utterly destroyed his reputation.

And isn’t it just signal that on this momentous occasion, MS can only think about McCain. Just can’t quit him, I guess.

Glad the rest of the country can!!!

sorry, outlaw, the campaign hate and fear mongering came from the side that you appear to have supported. I’m sure your generous advice is well intended, but just now it’s a bit comical, especially the “give up your hate” suggestion, which is largely misdirected, I think.

“The people have spoken, so give up your hate and let’s get on with it.”
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Absolutely, leave the hate to the party who has perfected it. Brown, black, gay, middle eastern, women, gays, and of course the most frightening of all..
liberals.

I’m hopeful that we will see a new national consensus emerge in the next few years, but before we all gather in a circle and sing Kumbaya, some things need to be said.
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Yes, McCain’s speech did hit the usual tropes for a concession speech of pledging to help his former rival, and may have even been more effusive in that regard than normal. But the ugly crowd that booed his praise for Obama and cheered wildly at praise for the repulsive Palin demonstrated why this was necessary.
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John McCain spent the last six months sowing division and smearing his opponent, encouraging the ugliest kind of partisanship I can recall seeing, and I lived through the Nixon years. One speech, no matter how “gracious”, can not atone for that. What we saw here was the first step on the “Straight Apology Express,” and I expect much more. But as Joe Klein said long ago, apology not accepted. The hatchet may be buried, but it isn’t forgotten.
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We now return you to your regularly scheduled tire swinging.

pnnto: “The republicans took the high road from the start to the end. That is why they did so well.” I noticed that too. Classy bunch.

Matt said: “McCain couldn’t get through the speech without a stump for Palin 2012 and more digs at the media.” What I noticed was the warm handshake and embrace he gave Palin at the end. Tremendous warmth between those two. /snark

dancingoutlaw,
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I was watching Morning Joe today and of course instead of celebrating a historic election Joe Scarborough turned it into an obituary for republicans and an opportunity to attack liberals/progressives because they spoke the truth about the meaning of this election. Thats the same thing you are doing right now dancingoutlaw. Its like when we were all growing up and we saw one kid picking on another kid and then finally the kid getting bullied gets up the courage to fight back. But the teacher acts as if there was no aggressor, no bully and she punishes them both equally. And we all came away thinking how wrong that was. Well this is the same thing. John McCain decided to run as negative a campaign that was humanly possible and the attacks were not on Obama’s record but on his character. McCain allowed Sarah Palin who didn’t have a clue what she was talking about to go out and stir up as much race baiting and general hate as she could all the while knowing that her own record was comical. Even in these last few days when people like Michael Scherer are trying to sell the fantasy that he somehow changed his tone and became more positive, John McCain decided to deliberately distort Obama’s words in an effort to portray him as un American and unfit to serve as our President. There was no doubt what HIS crowd would do last night when he mentioned Obama. THEY would do the same thing that they have been doing the last 3 months of McCain’s campaign. They would boo lustily and yell out vile invectives because thats exactly what McCain had been encouraging as recently as the day before the election. It is not hate to point out the absolute truth that John McCain made every effort to divide this country in order to win this election, its calling a spade a spade. And as has been said already on this thread last night he absolutely reaped what he sowed. He didnt just lose, he got DEMOLISHED. And it was a total repudiation of the politics of fear and smear that he engaged in and the cynical politics that motivated him to pick Sarah Palin thinking that just because she was a woman that Hillary Clinton voters would embrace her.
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Now on a side note I agree with Paul Dirks that McCain seemed to focus solely on Obama’s race in his concession speech, still unwilling to acknowledge any of the accomplishments that Obama has had in his life that led him to attaining the highest elected office in this country. So I wasn’t all that impressed quite honestly.
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This country voted to the left in the last two elections so no matter how many times you dancingoutlaw or Joe Scarborough or the entire cast of FoxNews or Pat Buchanan try to say its a center right country. Evidently this country is only center right in the minds of conservatives. You can try to explain it away that the Democrats voted in were from conservative areas of the country but that still belies your problem, if the country is center right then why werent their right wing opponents voted in? I know you conservatives just hate being asked questions that you dont have a good answer for. Obama will govern in the same manner as he campaigned and what you and all of your ilk fail to realize is that Obama’s views more accurately reflect what the center of this great country is now than any ideology that you profess to follow. When conservatives figure out that the more they cling to their dogmatic ideology with out having any flexibility the more the majority of the country will move away from them, maybe then the light will come on and they will have a shot at running the country again. But if you/they never come to that realization you/they will be stuck in the wilderness for a long time.

Hmmmm. My comment is in moderation. Let’s try it with an cl@ssy.

pnnto: “The republicans took the high road from the start to the end. That is why they did so well.” I noticed that too. Cl@ssy bunch.

Matt said: “McCain couldn’t get through the speech without a stump for Palin 2012 and more digs at the media.” What I noticed was the warm handshake and embrace he gave Palin at the end. Tremendous warmth between those two. /snark

Hey, moderatoratron. Cl@ssy isn’t a bad word in any universe I am aware of.

As a supporter of the winning side I could be gracious. I choose not to be. Too many vile smears were spewed by McCain and Palin and I haven’t heard proper apologies yet.

The gopers promised that Palin’s $150,000 hockey-mom wardrobe would be donated. Michael, please keep us up to date on this important issue. I’ve got my eye on that designer red leather jacket for my wife and I’d like to know when and where I get to bid on it. You betcha!

It’s laughable for the loyal opposition to suggest the country is “center right” when that same country overwhelmingly elects someone who, just the day before that same loyal opposition was calling a “socialist.”

I was not as impressed with McCain’s speech as most pundits seemed to be. Perhaps it is because I live in PA and was treated to months of very nasty commercials and mailers. I got irritated with those who said, Obama did it to. Actually, I kept yelling for the Obama people (at least some surrogates) to point out the lies that were being told and to bring up some examples from McCain’s experience that would negate what they were saying about Obama. Finally I had to give that up and realize that he was running a different campaign.
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McCain said what had to be said, the beginning of his attempts to rehab his character, but no sale for me.
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As wvng did, I noted his warm handshake and embrace of Palin and that he started to walk right by Cindy, but then took her arm. The deep love between Barack and Michelle was then an even more dramatic contrast.

I’m thrilled that McCain was thwarted. He let the worst elements in his nature take over his campaign, and he heartily deserved to lose. He is a tragic King Lear figure, never attaining the office that he spent a lifetime craving and realizing in his last years the terrible mistakes he’s made. I hope he stews in his regrets.
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If Sarah Palin has a future in national politics, it’s on McCain’s head for vaulting this moron into the public limelight. She is a danger to our nation’s safety, and I will treat her as such. Likely in the coming days, the McCain operatives will destroy her as recompense for elevating her. Steve Schmidt seemed to hint at this. If they can’t do the job, we who care about our country will finish her career. She can live a happy life in the boondocks of Alaska’s crystal meth capital. But if she seeks to run this country, she’s got another think coming.

Remember, remember, the 4th of November,
The rout of the wingnut lot.
I can see no reason
Why a rout so pleasing
Should ever be forgot.

I have to say, one of the more enjoyable bits of last night was watching the Fox News gaggle (Hume, Williams, Kristol, someone else and the grumpier and grumpier parody, Barnes) try to juggle as the minutes crept up to Obama’s speech in Chicago at midnight. Listening to them try to explain away what was plainly in their face, I was reminded of the witch in Wizard of Oz — “I’m melting! I’m melting!”

McCain’s speech was directed more at his supporters than at the nation, and I think much of his rhetoric (which seems disappointing and miscast from a national perspective) has to be understood in that light. If he can do anything to close down some revanchist and bitter views amongst his supporters that is a good thing. Clearly he won’t get everyone to think well of the actual nation we live in (rather than the imaginary nation they long for). Frankly, McCain has nothing useful to say to the nation. The only good he can do is defuse some of what he helped stir.

dumdedumdum,
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The problem is he has spent months telling his supporters that Obama is dangerous for America, that he is a Socialist, that he is a Liar, that he is dishonorable, that he is un American, that he is not patriotic, that he is a radical. His speech last night repudiated NONE of those sentiments. Quite honestly I saw it live and havent read the transcript but as I was hearing it the only thing I came away with was John McCain was telling his supporter to back Obama because he is the first black president. I didnt hear much in the way of him giving Obama credit for anything other than his race. So if he WAS talking to is supporters he did a Pi$$ Poor job of trying to bridge the divide

Penny for the old jennofark!

Michael, how would you self-evaluate your coverage of the McCain campaign?

McCain was supposed to be the “national greatness” candidate; I can’t help suspecting (reinforced by the concession speech) that he was envious of the uplifting and dignified campaign that Obama run. So I’ll drop a sigh for the old guy. Unfortunately, you go into a campaign with the base you have, not with the base you wish you had.

More on Palin:

http://www.politico.com/playbook/

— “NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin’s shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain’s top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy. One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family — clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards. The McCain campaign found out last week when the aides sought reimbursement. One aide estimated that she spent ‘tens of thousands’ more than the reported $150,000, and that $20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of clothing have apparently been lost. An angry aide … said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books.”

— “McCain himself rarely spoke to Palin during the campaign, and aides kept him in the dark about the details of her spending on clothes because they were sure he would be offended. Palin asked to speak along with McCain at his Arizona concession speech Tuesday night, but campaign strategist Steve Schmidt vetoed the request.”

Obama will govern from the center and the pundits will try to call that the “far left.” Bill Bennett was already trying yesterday.
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I thought McCain’s concession speech was gracious. Not to sound like Scherer, but he seemed happier losing than he has campaigning.
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But I still reject the idea that there is a “real McCain.” McCain is both a political opportunist and a charming guy. That’s not such an unusual combination in politics, when you think about it. The only unusual thing is how he ping-pongs between the two extremes – cynically opportunist one moment, and charming the next.

wvng,
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Remember when I said McCain would bury Palin and we wouldnt know who she was in 4 years? It has begun.

No gracious concessions around me. Obama has a hard road ahead. Oh, and by the way, he “owns” any and all economic problems (and any falling asteroids) that exist at this moment… so say the vanquished. Fair and balanced.

centfan: I’ll be curious to see if the Senate minority party now tries to block all business for the next 4 years.
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If so, I hope the Dems force them to physically fillibuster, as Glenn Greenwald has been advocating. Country over party, right?

sgwhite, I agree that McCain conducted a hateful and disreputable campaign; I’ve said as much often (using a pre-Timeblog crash moniker, bdbd). As to McCain’s concession speech, what was true before the election is true after it: we have to deal with the McCain (and McCain campaign) we have, not the one we’d like to have (or the one we’re nostalgic for). Given that, I thought McCain’s concession was as good as can be expected. Some of the McCain supporters’ bile comes from racial resentments, and McCain was speaking to that (and not so much to the particularities of Obama’s race), in my view.

Whether Palin (and those who seem to find her nifty) goes down quietly, we shall see. Given the events of Tuesday, do McCain and his staff have the juice to bring anyone down at all? Why would anyone listen to them, except for old times’ sake?

dumde
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As for burying Palin, McCain has almost 30 years in Congress and over 20 years in the military. He has ALL the juice he needs to bury her. Especially because she has a habit of st@bbing people in the back to make herself look better

sgwhite — but she has the time, which will tell. it’s an empirical question. If she can find a way to slide into the Alaska Senate seat, McCain is (eventually) irrelevant to her prospects.

Interesting story about the Palin clothes wvng. I think that is taxable income to them, even if she gives them away. She can’t donate them at full value. I trust the IRS is watching.

I got the same feeling from McCain’s concession speech that I got from Kerry and Gore’s concessions…without the burden of being a tough guy, he gave the best speech of his whole campaign.

If he had been this reasoned and thoughtful in all his speeches instead of waving his arms around and screeching about Obama this and Obama that, he might have won this baby.

In repsonse to dancingoutlaw:

Thank you for assuming I am an extremist. I volunteered to work for John McCain in 2000. I have actually worked for more Republican candiates than Democratic candidates over the past 20 years. I did not work for anyone in this election, too busy running a company in a crappy economy. So much for your extremist argument.

This campaign shows how far John McCain has veered from his former self, and how he sold himself to the devil of hate and fear mongering to try and become President.

You can make all the excuses you want for the racism and hate mongering shown by Republicans attending your rallys, especially Gov. Palin’s rallys. But the fact remains this was a campaign based on divisiveness, not on inclusion and working for the best in America.

Michael, I’m sure this is a disappointment to you, to have your candidate lose.

While watching the Senator’s concession speech, I asked myself “Where was this calm, rational, gracious and temperate man during the entire campaign? This is the John McCain I remember from years ago.”

Which prompts me to, not unkindly, take issue with you on your phrase, “On his own terms.”

I believe with all sincerity that had the Senator truly run the campaign on his own terms, instead of playing Rovian low ball at the behest of his misguided advisers, we would have had a far different result last night.

I’m an Obama supporter and I’m very happy for what this promises for our country. In time I hope you will come to believe yourself.

Meanwhile, we can all wonder why Sen. McCain failed to grasp that the campaign style errors of Hillary, that he adopted almost point by point (attacking on experience, eloquence, character, name, Ayers, Wright, middle name and the rest of it,) hadn’t worked for her, so how could he have thought for a minute it would work for him?

It’s a colossal miscalculation that, taken in sum, told me more about John McCain’s overall judgement and decision making process than anything else he did during the long season.

I wish we’d seen the John McCain of last night. That was a man I could have at least considered voting for.

The nattering, mud-slinging, snickering, Palin-choosing McCain of the last several months was never ever a man I wanted to have within a hundred miles of the White House.

You don’t get

@wvng:
The more damaging factoid in that Newsweek article is this:
“The Obama campaign was provided with reports from the Secret Service showing a sharp and disturbing increase in threats to Obama in September and early October, at the same time that many crowds at Palin rallies became more frenzied. Michelle Obama was shaken by the vituperative crowds and the hot rhetoric from the GOP candidates. “Why would they try to make people hate us?” Michelle asked a top campaign aide.”
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Which is why I will never forgive McCain for the dishonorable methods he employed in this campaign. Palin is dirt. If she ever shows her face in national politics again, I will devote every effort to destroy her.

I’m hearing it first hand Nibblybits… and from technical professionals. The fried chicken jokes and speculation on what terrorists Obama is going to get in bed with are flying.

What I don’t understand is why they don’t try to even seriously speculate on why they lost. They just shake their heads and say the country went nuts. They can’t believe that anyone could have a world view that’s not theirs… and isn’t a terrorist.

centfan, I agree, but rabid dogs don’t answer calls to dinner or fetch thrown sticks.

That’s meant to be a non-political statement:
fanatics, and I include the Rush Limbaughs and Bill O’Reillys and yes, at times, the Keith Olbermanns too (although he’s at least brilliant and entertaining) will always have difficulty with balance and considering anyone else’s worldview.

That blind ability to hate is why we still have wars, and will always be perhaps the most difficult thing to accept about the darker nature of homo sapiens.

@centfan: A good friend of mine tried to send me one of those crazy viral “he’s a Muslim terrorist” email. I went off and read her the riot act. I didn’t hold anything back. This is someone I’ve known for many years.
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I did it not because I’m ‘in the tank’ for Obama. I did it because it was hateful and bigoted, and I’m just not going to tolerate it. I think a lot of people are reacting similarly. We are no longer going to tolerate what in the past we might have let go, chalking it up to ignorance. Enough.

Help my 12:06 rebuttal to dancing out law is still in moderation.

Help my 12:06 rebuttasl to danc..in..g..out..law is still being mulled by the high sheriffs.

In moderation heck

try it this way:

dancingoutlaw:

Thank you for assuming I am an extremist. I volunteered to work for John McCain in 2000. I have actually worked for more Republican candiates than Democratic candidates over the past 20 years. I did not work for anyone in this election, too busy running a company in a crappy economy. So much for your extremist argument.

This campaign shows how far John McCain has veered from his former self, and how he sold himself to the flames of hate and fear mongering to try and become President.

You can make all the excuses you want for the racism and hate mongering shown by Republicans attending your rallys, especially Gov. Palin’s rallys. But the fact remains this was a campaign based on divisiveness, not on inclusion and working for the best in America.

Time magazine:

You allow someone else to label me an extremist and then you deny me the right to respond with your stupid moderation.

I seem to be the only person who took this: “Let there be no reason now for any American to fail to cherish their citizenship in this the greatest nation on earth” as a dig at blacks, liberals in general and the Obamas in specific (the whole “proud of my country” flap). It jarred me when I heard it, and it still does. As if people weren’t cherishing their citizenship even as they abhorred racism and injustice in the land. McCain truly did give us, once again, the “old” McCain of 2000 that apologists for him love and I continue to despise – the guy who thinks he can play the right with a salute the Confederate flag and then play the left with an abject mea culpa. He can get as abject as he wants now. Apology not accepted.

lol newfloridian
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As you can see we had your back anyway!!!

calkate
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You are not alone. that wasnt the only dig he had in his speech. We just all started jumping on dancingoutlaw instead of critiquing the whole speech. But I am still trying to figure out why so many people including whoopi goldberg on the View called his speech “classy”. It was far from that

calkate
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You are not alone. that wasnt the only dig he had in his speech. We just all started jumping on dancingoutlaw instead of critiquing the whole speech. But I am still trying to figure out why so many people including whoopi goldberg on the View called his speech “cla$$y”. It was far from that

“Certainly not the ones I know.
The biggest hurdle Obama has to becoming a truly great president (something this selfish, unpatriotic republican thinks he has the potential to be) are extremists in his own party, like yourself, who demand their pound of flesh and want to continue the division.”
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There you wingers go again…you push things so far to the right that when anyone hews to the center you cry ‘socialist!’. It’s not so much that the GOP needs to be crushed, it is just a minority, southern, all white party, it’s that they need to be ignored if they won’t play ball. We know their ideas, all too well. They don’t work. They lead to disaster. That’s where we are now.
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The speech was semi classy, but there’s been too much damage to his reputation to ever come close to the luster he once had on both sides of the aisle. McCain will be hated on the right for losing, and hated by many on the left for the campaign he ran. His first appearance on the Daily Show will be fascinating.
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The pendulum has swung. We may not be a center-left nation YET, but we are certainly no longer a center-right country. The policies that define the right have been proven wrong and there aren’t enough white-bread Americans to maintain the fight for racial/cultural purity with any success anymore it would seem.
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Ed Rollins on CNN: Obama doesn’t need us(the GOP). Amen.

“Certainly not the ones I know.
The biggest hurdle Obama has to becoming a truly great president (something this selfish, unpatriotic republican thinks he has the potential to be) are extremists in his own party, like yourself, who demand their pound of flesh and want to continue the division.”
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There you wingers go again…you push things so far to the right that when anyone hews to the center you cry ‘socialist!’. It’s not so much that the GOP needs to be crushed, it is just a minority, southern, all white party, it’s that they need to be ignored if they won’t play ball. We know their ideas, all too well. They don’t work. They lead to disaster. That’s where we are now.
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The speech was semi cl@ssy, but there’s been too much damage to his reputation to ever come close to the luster he once had on both sides of the aisle. McCain will be hated on the right for losing, and hated by many on the left for the campaign he ran. His first appearance on the Daily Show will be fascinating.
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The pendulum has swung. We may not be a center-left nation YET, but we are certainly no longer a center-right country. The policies that define the right have been proven wrong and there aren’t enough white-bread Americans to maintain the fight for racial/cultural purity with any success anymore it would seem.
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Ed Rollins on CNN: Obama doesn’t need us(the GOP). Amen.

sgwhiteinfla

Thanks for the cover.

sgwhiteinfla: me too – I don’t get the praise. Thanks for letting me know you see it too! All I can think is it is our (ok, not mine, but all those liberals who were afraid to use that term in reference to themselves) normal beaten dog syndrome, fawning over the biscuit we are tossed from the master that beats us. I guess it counts as cla$$y if you aren’t actually calling someone a terrorist. And hey, he didn’t mention Joe the Plumber, did he?

calkate — Overall I thought McCain’s speech was gracious, but I reacted the same way that particular phrase. (WTH? I thought, but I shrugged & moved on until you mentioned it.)
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And thanks (wvng?) for posting above about the Newsweek article and the effect of the McCain/Palin rhetoric on threat levels. Scary, scary stuff. It doesn’t take much to incite the nut-wing fringe, and identifying your opponent as a traitor and/or a terrorist is just the right thing to do it. It reminds me of when, during the 9/11 commission hearings, John Ashcroft (in an apparent CYA move) called out the former Clinton official as the author of a memorandum that tied the hands of justice, etc., etc., and she began getting death threats. And I remember GWB apologized to her for what Ashcroft said, but did nothing to publicly exonerate her. I won’t forget that, what either of them did.

One last thing — Michael. At one point I swore off reading any more of your posts, but I broke that promise & kept reading. Thank you for persevering. In one way, I admire the fact that you don’t seem to care what we say or think or feel (and I wish you’d adopt that same attitude towards your journalistic subjects). On the other hand, I think you may be too quick to dismiss not the fact, but the substance, of the criticism expressed here. Sure, we’re all (or most of us) partisans, and you’re never going to make everyone happy, particularly if you’re filing a report that is critical of our particular side in the ball game. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read & evaluate/listen to the criticism, though — because, you know, the “other side” might (sometimes) have some valid points to make about what you’ve said, or haven’t said. No, really.
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Finally, I certainly hope you defended KT when Mark Salter attacked her as the root of all press evil for her criticism of the Raines ad.

They booed at times, and one loud man swore at the stage, evoking the excretions of various farm animals.

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What was John McCain’s response? He ignored it and moved on with his speech.
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Based on that, I submit he ended his campaign the way he ran it; his hateful (in)action spoke louder than his (admittedly) classy words.

McCain’s concession
He fell short, failure is his
Wrong choice of Palin

[...] McCain’s Concession From my story just posted on Time.com: John McCain ended his campaign as he began it: On his own terms, in front of a [...] [...]