Live by the sword

The presidential campaign is going to be the death of me. I must say, I was not that excited about McCain in the beginning. He was my second to last choice in the primary (I could not vote for Rudy under any circumstances). McCain? He is definitely WAY better then Obama and I have no white guilt so, OK, if I must.

At first I thought it was going to be an uphill battle if not "up cliff".

Then McCain picked Palin.

Great move politically. She probably stole some of the female/Hillary vote. Nice. It excited the base who wins elections and they were dead in the water till then. Good. The inexperience in office highlighted Obamas inexperience in many areas. I doubt anyone thinks McCain will run twice so she would be a shoe in for the nomination in 4 years. A conservative, strong female who is not bad looking. She got the buzz going with conservatives. They buy in. We have hope.

McCain jumps up in the polls. The wheels were coming off the Obama train. Gaff after gaff we got stronger. Our base is still soft on McCain but is cranking it into gear with Palin passion. Looking good!

When we talked energy, we were winning. When we talked about the war and the progress made, we were winning. When we talked about the free market, we were winning. When we talked about ending earmarks and waste, we were winning. When we talked of ending corruption and the influence of big money in the political process, we were winning.

Then the financial crunch hit.

I have always felt the economy is cyclical. Although I think the economy will always be positive for America (in the long run) because of its resources, it will still have dips, slowdowns and adjustments (in the short run). The last eight years I have been waiting for the housing and credit bubble to pop or at least spring a leak. I knew there would be a problem due to some social engineering in the housing market. I thought it would happen at the beginning of Bush's first term but the fed made some moves to keep America up and rolling after 9/11 and oversight in the stock market was being pushed under the rug. America grew and grew. At some point I knew it would stall.

Now it has.

You can say what you want about the bail out. We didn't need it or we did. Either way the conservative base does not like it at all. The moderate/slightly conservatives don't care or some may even be for it but McCain already had all the moderate/slightly conservative voters he was going to get. That is what he built his career on.

What did McCain do? He did what he always does. He jumps head first to the media by taking bold steps against the beliefs of his party's base and he takes Palin with him. He champions the moderate position. He not only supports the bail out of private business but he leads the charge for it. He turns the bailout into his issue by taking time out of his campaign to work it. He makes it his own. It is his baby. $700 billion turns into $800 billion plus with earmarks and he is still with it. Politically McCain took the same position as his opponent on the issue but Obamas base is in favor of more government involvement and Obama did not make the bailout a big issue so he will lose nothing.

What does McCain gain? Nothing.

What happens to McCain's mo'? Gone.

Talking points on free market? Gone.

Talking points on earmarks? Gone.

Talking points on big business influence? Gone.

The base? Cut in half.

Polling lead? Gone.

Over time, people may soften and see his reasoning as well thought out but time is not an option in elections. The issue needs to change in a big way and soon. The base is ambivalent to him again. What he got when he picked Palin is gone. McCain hates talking social conservative issues but the economy is lost to him for a while anyway and "Change" is already taken. Is it over? Not yet but the fat lady is definitely warming up her voice.