GOP Apologists Get It Wrong

The perpetually silly Jeff Jacoby wrote in the Boston Globe that Sarah Palin "...demonstrated star power as she withstood with aplomb and good humor a vicious assault from the left." That is to laugh a hearty laugh, even by winger standards. Exhibiting Dan Quayle-style ignorance and dimness, she got nearly a free ride. Moreover, her treatment was in contrast to the real viciousness against Obama and Biden, by Palin, as well as Sean Hannity and numerous FOXnews professional liars.

We lefties can only hope that the Republican are so unrealistic as to advance her as the 2012 Presidential nominee. Even the dumbest and least educated GOP sorts would see her then as an empty miniskirt.

So, various fundy pundits say or write that the McCain ticket got punched because:

• The financial collapse
• Attacks on Palin (for just one example, see Jacoby above)
• Unfair linking of McCain and Bush policies
• Unfair coverage and advocacy by a liberal media
  

Media note: Pew had a clear wrap up of campaign coverage. McCain started with a free and positive ride, one he managed through campaigning hard to turn negative. For example, conisder his running from the economic collapse and slandering Obama. In contrast, Obama coverage was negative at the onset. As the MSM got to know the candidates, that reversed.

For the loss, how about:

• Fair comparisons of McCain and Bush policies and platforms
• Pretending that being locked up as a POW teaches anything about running our military
• An emotionally unstable head of ticket
• A dumb-as-lettuce, unqualified VP nominee
• Figuring voters are so stupid that they support tax cuts for the rich and trick-down economics after repeated failures
• Willingness even eagerness to spend thousands more lives and a trillion or so more dollars in Iraq
• An economic recovery plan discredited even by winger analysts

Conservatives and apologists would have us believe that if any one factor (most commonly the economic collapse) had not been in play, McCain would have overcome that single-digit popular-vote shortfall. That's akin to pharma companies and doctors saying this drug or that will add five years to your life. With the absurd number of prescriptions we take (highest in the world), Americans should have a lifespan of 200 years or more then.

The assumption underlying most McCain apologies is that some single factor was the key problem. That if only that one were gone, Republicans would have won. Instead, American voters surely were not that granular. In short, we had the time and information to pile Obama and McCain differences on a balance scale.

Mene mene tekel upharsin, as I am sure you are wont to exclaim (handwriting on the wall from Daniel 5). No matter how many times American weighed McCain, he came up wanting.

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Tags: massmarrier, loss, election, reasons, excuses, McCain, Obama