After reading the Newsweek article, what stood out for you?

[SemiCharmedQuark]

http://www.newsweek.com/id/167581

For me, what stood out most was that McCain appeared to have absolutely no clue what was going on. I still cannot believe that McCain honestly had no idea why John Lewis was angry about the tone of Palin's rallies. Of course, I was surprised that Palin was worse than even I imagined. This passage in particular:

"The day of the third debate, Palin refused to go onstage with New Hampshire GOP Sen. John Sununu and Jeb Bradley, a New Hampshire congressman running for the Senate, because they were pro-choice and because Bradley opposed drilling in Alaska. The McCain campaign ordered her onstage at the next campaign stop, but she refused to acknowledge the two Republican candidates standing behind her. McCain himself rarely spoke to Palin (perhaps once a week when they were not traveling together, estimated one adviser). Aides kept him in the dark about Palin's spending on clothes because they were sure he'd be offended. In his concession speech, McCain praised Palin, but the body language between them onstage was not particularly friendly. (Palin had asked to speak; Schmidt vetoed the request.)"

Even though I feel that McCain gave a good concession speech Tuesday, I think that it is very important that we remember that McCain tried his hardest to put Palin a heartbeat away from the presidency apparently fully aware that she was a divisive ideologue.



On the lighter side, this was one of my absolute favorite parts of the article:

"After the first debate, McCain and his handlers reviewed the videotape. Why, one aide asked him, did you never look at Obama? Because you told me not to! McCain retorted. It was true. McCain's debate coach, Brett O'Donnell, had noted Obama's tendency to look directly at an opponent while attacking, and he had instructed McCain not to get sucked in by meeting his gaze. But McCain had taken the advice a little too literally. "We didn't tell you not to look at him at all," one aide chided him. (Advisers also told McCain to soften his blows by saying "what my opponent doesn't understand"— another trope he overused.) The veteran of a thousand morning talk shows, McCain was accustomed to speaking directly to the camera, not to his inquisitor in the studio. But in this case his experience was a liability."

It seems like something straight out of a sitcom.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. "My fellow prisoners..."

:wow:

[TexasObserver]

16. "And I couldn't agree with them MORE!!"

Grumpy got really funny there at the end!

[Window]

18. That was hysterical.

:rofl:

[polichick]

2. My God, what a bunch of imbeciles! I guess that's what stands out to me.

[NYC_SKP]

3. What stood out for me...

Was that it confirmed most of what I had suspected. That McCain had allowed himself to become transformed to suit the GOP and had thus given up any shred of any redeeming qualities he had before becoming the nominee.

The rest is gravy.

What a train wreck.

[high density]

8. Yep..

McCain's advisers tried to turn him into something he wasn't. They vetoed his top VP picks because they were pro-choice. They micromanaged him in debate preps.

This was my favorite nugget, though I'm only up through chapter 6 so far:

During one of the debate preps, the lights blew, flickering on and off like a strobe light from the 1970s disco craze. Obama stood behind the podium, quietly singing the song "Disco Inferno," last popular in the heyday of "Saturday Night Fever."

[tpi10d]

4. McCain's tendency to act first and think second.

He lives in the present moment..possibly a good skill as a fighter pilot, not so much for long term strategy.

He was initially so excited about the Palin choice he couldn't sleep, called an aide at 1 am to report his excitement.

His behavior during the economic crisis-jumping from one unsuccessful ploy to another-literally flailing-

Other examples in the article-definitely not a skill set suitable for the US presidency.

[ErinBerin84]

thanks for starting this thread, just read most of it.

The fact that McCain was obsessively handled stood out to me too....what was his deal with Mark Salter? The article also seems to focus more on McCain's advisors than McCain...Newsweek characterizes him choosing Palin as "romantic, a bit impulsive"...and his "suspending the campaign" to be "romantic". A BIT impulsive, Newsweek?! I understand that McCain might feel that way, but how come they characterize Obama as cocky in this article , while they seem to claim that McCain was just a dope with good intentions? They seem to gloss over McCain a little and blame a lot of things on his advisors, while claiming that Mccain was simply a good guy who didn't really want to go negative and was clueless. If he didn't want to attack Michelle, why did his wife repeat those comments toward the end of the campaign?! If he didn't want to attack Obama for his military service, then why did he attack Obama for it in his response to the GI bill? There are also a lot references "McCain, the fighter pilot", and "McCain, former victim of torture"...there seems to be an effort in the piece to excuse McCain for his campaign...I do think he was clueless, but they seem to be letting him off the hook here. I also find his outrage over the John Lewis comments hard to believe...they SHOWED HIM what Lewis said, so McCain is a prick to not have any idea what Lewis was really saying. Oh yeah, and McCain thought that joint town halls would be...wait for it...romantic! What a load. I find it hard to believe that McCain didn't buy into his own myth, even though the article claims that he was uncomfortable with the way Salter tried to paint him in a heroic narrative...again, the Mark Salter relationship is so weird.

I am also surprised that they did not cover Vikki Iseman gate or his houses fuck up...I really can't believe that there were no internal worry about McCain's temper (other than his dislike of Obama, he did flip out a couple of times) or whispers of him seeming like an old man who was out of it, within his campaign.

Haha....one of McCain's campaign aides, who didn't know who the VP pick was going to be, thought it would be...Powell behind the door, from the way the camp was excited about it! Hilarious.

Lindsey Graham called McCain and said "Who the hell does this guy think he is" when Obama was making the speech in Berlin. Lindsey was also the one who thought Joe the Plumber would be a smashing success...Lindsey Graham was an idiot.


I also remember Chuck Todd saying that a McCain person, before the VP was announced, said "Obama does not have the guts to pick Biden", in response to a question about him, so I do think that there was some worry about him in the McCain campaign.

Axelrod was never really that worried about Palin, and Obama didn't think that McCain's post-convention bump would last...they said only some people got a bit "Kerry like" during that period. I remember people like Andrea Mitchell saying that the Obama camp "didn't know what to do", which is probably true, but from the sound of it in the Newsweek article, they really were not worried about Palin as some news reports made them out to be. Hehe...One campaign aide to Obama said "game over", meaning "good for us", when Palin was announced.

[monmouth]

12. I knew it was "game over" the minute she opened her mouth and I heard the vapidness..n/t

[Lucky 13]

5. The shocker for me was that on the final day of campaigning, Nov 3rd...

McCain asks staff, "How am I doing in New Hampshire?" When told how far down he was in the polls he was absolutely SHOCKED. He said, "How did this happen?!"

How, the day before the biggest election of your life, do you not know where you stand in EVERY state?? I knew more about McCain's chances than he did!! From what I understand Obama was very hands on. He went over polling numbers daily. He didn't leave tough decisions to staffers or advisors. He took charge and owned the decision-making.

McCain's campaign, and to a lesser extent Hillary's, kept their candidate TOO protected, too much in a bubble. McCain had no idea where he was in the polls. Both seemed baffled when people criticized their methods of campaigning. McCain couldn't understand why Lewis criticized him. (All he needed to do was watch Palin's speeches and ANY of the legitimate criticisms from the press.) Hillary couldn't understand why mentioning RFK's assasination was insensitive or controversial. The only thing keeping candidates in a bubble does for them is 1) potentially reduce stress (which, if you're going to be President, you should be able to handle anyway) and 2) make the candidate appear completely tone deaf and out of touch from reality.

I hope not to see that again from any democratic candidate. The republicans should feel free to continue use of this strategy. ;)

[ErinBerin84]

9. I love the part about NH too!

and McCain had no idea why he wouldn't be doing well there, because he thought the state loved him....he does not seem very self aware at all.

[onager]

10. Compare to Truman...

How, the day before the biggest election of your life, do you not know where you stand in EVERY state?

Sorry for no link, but I remember reading this.

A reporter was talking to President Truman the night before the 1948 election--the famous "Dewey Defeats Truman" election that Truman was supposed to lose by a landslide.

Truman not only told the reporter he expected to win--he told him the number of electoral votes he would get, and then rattled off the names of all 48 states and predicted which ones he would carry.

The next day, the reporter kept tabs and found that Truman had called it exactly right.

[PatSeg]

29. Wow, that is pretty impressive

especially in a time that was so low-tech!

[Monk06]

25. delete

[grace0418]

32. And that protected bubble is just what we DON'T need. Look at Bush and

to a lesser extent (THANK GAWD) Palin. Idiots kept in the dark so their poor widdle feelings wouldn't get hurt. We need a President willing to take good news and bad, and willing to listen to the "focus groups".

[SweetieD]

6. We dodged a huge bullet with this one. Thank god!

[Catshrink]

7. So far, and I'm not all the way through all 6 chapters...

I loved when Obama said something like "What is f.... changing a light bulb gonna do about global warming?"

[ErinBerin84]

11. another thing

after Rick Davis had that angry phone call with Andrea Mitchell on the air about the celebrity ad/him saying that Obama had "played the race card", the campaign gave Davis a standing ovation...what idiots. Very tone deaf.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

13. Yes! I felt that they not only isolated McCain, but isolated themselves.

Whereas I felt that although Plouffe and Axelrod were apparently largely somber, they at least knew where they stood.

[Supersedeas]

19. and where are the standing O's now?

[Born_A_Truman]

14. Haven't read all of the series yet, but

The part about the night before the last debate when his advisers got together and discussed whether to tell McCain it was over, but decided "not as long as he still has a pulse" was quite the revelation.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

15. Between that and the NH flap, I am shocked to find McCain actually believed "we've got em right

where we want 'em"

[ecstatic]

17. I found every paragraph interesting. It's really hard to choose!

I found the split between Salter and Schmidt interesting. If McCain had listened more to Salter, he may have had a better chance. But McCain tossed Salter under the bus, much like he did his other long time friends.

[BronxBoy]

20. Todd Palin

advising the fatcat donors in Alaska to keep their powder dry until 2012.

[Monk06]

24. The Dude is even more dangerous than Barbi and the GOP establishment knows it.

[Iris]

21. What stood out for me is how much I really don't care. I hope this is it for her.

that is all.

[Essene]

23. ive lately started believing she could come back in 8+ years

she is really young.

folks are talking about 2012 but she could be a player for another 20 years, easily.

[Iris]

30. I don't think so. She's clearly not cut out for anything more than what she's doing, unless

the state of Alaska sees fit to send her to Washington as a Senator or Representative.

[XOKCowboy]

31. The GOOP doesn't want a candidate. They want an image.

Someone that will stand there and with a straight face spout the Party Line. They still think we'll buy that shit like we did with Bush. I think people have wised up after being duped for 8 years. At least I hope so.

[Essene]

22. Palin asked to speak at the concession speech.... this article is amazing

So many disturbing revelations.

It actually sounds like Palin really DID go rogue and pushed both the ayers story and the other hate mongering without the campaign's approval.

[galaxy21]

26. Palin would have used the concession speech to promote herself for 2012.

I guarantee it.

[BronxBoy]

33. We dodged a BIG ASS bullet! n/t

[Monk06]

27. Palin turned Mc Cain 2008 into Palin 2012 from the get go. She is ruthlessly ambitious

[galaxy21]

28. Ruthlessly ambitious and completely stupid

I don't have any problem with smart, ruthlessly ambitious people (Hillary), its the clueless ones that worry me.