May 13, 2006 -- The Day that John McCain Lost the Election

Yes, it is a year for change. Yes Barack Obama knew that before most other politicians and capitalized on that with a unique and brilliant campaign that offered inspiration and principle to us in a consistent and explosive manner. We will elect him as our President tomorrow because he offers our country the best chance for the revival we desperately need.

But, May 13, 2006 is the day that John McCain lost the 2008 Presidential Election. My friend Mike Berman reminds me that that is the day he spoke at Liberty University. In my view, that day began the destruction of one of the best brands in American politics. It is the day that Senator McCain went to kiss the ring of Jerry Falwell, a right wing preacher who McCain had called "an agent of intolerance" in 2000. His visit's purpose was to court the evangelical voters and apologize for being the independent maverick he had been over the course of the last 15 years. He minimized the importance of the high visibility issues where he had broken with his party such as immigration, election reform, federal spending and the anti-gay constitutional amendment on marriage and promised that he would be a leader that the right wing could support and trust.

Earlier this year, many Democrats feared running against one candidate in this presidential Election - that candidate was John McCain. He was the one candidate in the Republican primary who everyone hoped wouldn't win. Sure the deeply unpopular Bush Presidency created an atmosphere that favored Democrats this year. But many assumed that given McCain's special brand of independence, he was the one candidate that could distinguish himself from the President.

But May 13, 2006 changed John McCain in two key fundamental ways that have poisoned his campaign and doomed his chances to ever become President. It soured the media on him and it empowered the evangelical right at a time when their overall influence in the country was dwindling.

He minimized his differences on immigration, on election reform, and changed his support in favor of tax cuts for the wealthy. He began to support every anti-gay initiative he could find. On those and so many other issues, he merged into the George Bush and right wing clone that in these closing days of the campaign have choked him beyond breath. In short, he sold his soul to gain the nomination of his party. When he chose Sarah Palin and made the ultimate sacrifice to the right wing choosing a VP candidate who would energize the evangelical base but clearly lacked his standard of quality in public policy, it cemented his changed persona forever.

Many republicans complained that the media has favored Barrack Obama in this election. In effect they are forgetting that it was John McCain who perfected media relations in his last Presidential run in 2000. Yet those same media allies soured on McCain as he became more and more of a political robot in the Republican message machine and the authenticity they had experienced with him was lost as he tumbled into a pool of right wing muck. It was unattractive for him to court those who had previously dissed him and he had rightly rejected as putting their prejudice and narrow-mindedness above a unified and prosperous country. And his campaign handlers knew that he could no longer provide the access t the media that had once been his hallmark because there was just too much to challenge him on. A once guileless politician suddenly had his true beliefs to hide.

Didn't he know that his uniqueness for his friends in the media was that he didn't fit into those stereotypes for a politician? That his original brand of maverick - rather than the empty word it has become - was exactly the kind of candidate the media would have continued to revere? Perhaps they even would have more aggressively challenged the upstart heir to the outsider brand - Barack Obama - if the original was still around?

And didn't he realize that just as he was concluding that he needed the right wing zealots to win the Presidency, the country had already started to reject their falsely premised "values based" agenda?

No, John McCain didn't understand how a trip to Lynchburg, Virginia on May 16, 2006 would doom his presidential dreams forever.

Follow Hilary Rosen on Twitter: www.twitter.com/hilaryr

Comments

[mikemiami]

You live by the southern strategy, you die by the southern strategy. Gross miscalculation by McCain and the GOP. They could've won the election by a landslide and taught the christian right a lesson had McCain stayed true to his moderate conservative roots. But instead he needs to pull a rabbit out of his ass in order to win this election and the GOP has endured more damage than it had to.

Personally, I think the question over Obama's experience, alone, would've won them the election by a healthy margin. The first goof by the McCain campaign was the Palin pick. The nail in the coffin was turning off all of the Hillary democrats and independents by turning into Jesee Helms.

Bye, Bye Rovian politics and RIP the southern strategy. The mistakes this campaign made feel as if there was devine intervention at work here.

[IrishCubsFan]

I couldn't agree more that McCain sold out. I think the lesson he "learned" from 2000 was that to win, one had to fight dirty (after all, look what Karl Rove et al. did to him), and he figured that after he won, he'd be able to resume his better nature. But he forgot a very fundamental lesson: you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.

[neuron]

I get the feeling that the real fireworks will begin tomorrow.
The 'civil war' is coming to the Republican party.

[Wilbur]

And may both sides (of that un-civil war) WIN!!

Wilbur

[Jesster]

Back in 1999/2000 I was a co-founder of a Pro-McCain (Reform Now) website. I put a great deal of time and energy (and frankly money) into this project - even though I knew I would ultimately vote for Al Gore. I did it because I genuinely admired and respected McCain and perhaps, above all, I intuitively and instinctively knew that George W. Bush would be a disaster (though I admit I never dreamed he would be this catastrophic!)

I no longer have any clue as to who "the real" John McCain is - and I pray that we will never have to find out. Get out and vote. Vote as if the very life and furture of our country depended on it, because it does...

[Coinyer101]

love seeing you on CNN hillary! you do great work. thank you!

[rmichael777]

I think this is more evidence of something that we have all 'suspected' but not too many have really stated publicly: republican presidents have become mere figure heads and 'talking heads' for the shadowy unelected power brokers and puppet masters who control the party. I know that all presidents rely on the experience, wisdom and counsel of trusted friends and advisors. But it would appear to have become much more than that for the current republican party. George Bush was the perfect template. It is pretty obvious that George Bush is not a strong leader. He's not even a particularly intelligent or clever person. But he is very likable...­and a good 'face' for the party. But he is NOT the author of his own administration's policies and political philosophy­/ideology. I honestly believe he doesn't have a clue most of the time. We can joke about it (and most of us have) but it's just too serious! Especially now. The fact that someone as 'once honorable' as John McCain has been forced to abdicate his true self and contradict so many of his long-time political principles and beliefs - just to secure the nomination of his party (and the blessing of this shadow/unelected leadership) appears to be further proof of this reality.

Sad...the Maverick has become another Marionette.

[GoCards1978]

McCain was correct in his 2000 characterization of Falwell and his ilk. He joined the ranks of the neaderthals for personal ambition. Anyone who is willing to flip-flop on their core principles as he has done deserves to lose in a landslide.

[Sherryfw]

I love Hilary Rosen's commentaries. I enjoy watching her intelligence shine on Cablevison as well.

This article rings a bell! I think she has the right idea. When McCain began kissing up to the right wing radical evangelicals, that was the beginning of the death knell for moderates.

Thank you for this article.

[billydog]

Are we sure that McCain wasn't a Obamachurian candidate and sacrificed himself for an Obama win?

[MajorKong]

Here's a fun little game called "What would the GOP do to John McCain if he were a Democrat?"

"Flip-Flopper"
"Washington Insider"
"Professional Politician"
"Never held a real job"
"Married an Heiress (Remember Teresa Heinz Kerry)?"
"Adulterer"
"He'll say anything to get elected"

And that's just the stuff that's true. Imagine the kind of things they'd make up!

[lagumbo]

John MCCAIN did any and everything he could to win and become president. He even sold his soul.

[lynjs]

Mrs. Rosen, this was a very good observation. If all goes as I hope it does, your words could be apart of why Senator McCain didn't win. But we're not going to count those chickens yet. Two words: KARL ROVE!!!!

As a Democrat, I really liked John McCain. I saw him as anti-establishment not carrying about the so-called 'family values' crap that the right-wing of the Republican party spews. He was one of the very few Republicans that I thought seriously about voting for because he didn't cater to the religious nuts.

But when he went to Liberty to kiss Jerry Falwell's butt, that's where I saw him as a sell out. He wanted the Presidency so bad that he sold his soul to get it. That isn't country first. That is thinking of ME insted of WE. With some of his handlers being Karl Rove surrogates, this thing isn't over yet.

[1differentdrummer]

Maybe he didn't sell out. Maybe he revealed himself to us. I could have voted for him in2000 because I once thought he was what a president should be but when he let the slime machine run over him without really fighting back he diminished in my eyes, the way Kerry did when he didn't offer to belt someone. The Liberty U, Falwell, and the big Bush hug really did it for me. Winning is everything for John. He lacks honesty and principle. A maverick says, "Here's who I am. Here's what I believe and stand for. If you can't vote for me, tough to be you." Kiss the ring? Hug George? No.

[Retrofuturistic]

I think that's also known as "selling your soul". Many in Christianity have done it. In fact, some people keep their souls by rejecting religion.

And that is why a vote for Barack Obama is also a vote against John McCain, against Sarah Palin, and against fascism.

[dragonlady620]

I used to think that McCain would do the honorable thing and issue a sincere apology for the way his campaign was conducted. I used to think he might still do it after an Obama victory. But as his conduct shows him sinking more deeply into the rightwing sewer, I don't see it happening-he seems to have started to believing his own BS. I am now more concerned that the Rovians who orchestrated all of this will not stop if Obama wins. In another post there was a link to www.velvetrevoution.us/prosecute_rove/
EVERYONE should get this out and see that these thugs are stopped before they send the country the rest of the way down the drain.

[northstar11]

he might be able to salvage some of his maverick image by voting in the senate to convict bush cheney et al should impeachment become a reality.

if the dems get 60 plus 2 independents plus mccain that is 63 of the 67 needed to convict.

bush/cheney should be very worried right about now