Thread: I have changed my view.

Originally Posted by JMS

I wondered why our previous president and vice president didn't defend themselves like this when they were in office

I asked myself the same question constantly all through their time in office. I think a great many things could have turned out very differently if they had, including the last election.

Originally Posted by VeeDubb65

I asked myself the same question constantly all through their time in office. I think a great many things could have turned out very differently if they had, including the last election.

At the risk of opening up a whole can of worms... McCain shot himself in the neck when he picked Palin. Nothing would have changed that. Nor would the economy have kept chugging along after he said the US economy was healthy. And the fact that most of the negative campaigning came from the McCain camp was not a big win either.

Regardless of political opinion, I think it is safe to say that for Obama's campaign, evertyhing clicked together, while McCain's campaign fell apart at every possible joint.
Some of it was 'luck' (the economy, the press going to town on Palin, ...), some of it was skill (his speeches), but I don't think Bush and Cheney could have changed the outcome by defending themselves.

Sorry to disappoint, Bruno, but I don't see much a can of worms there.

I actually agree with you right down the line.

What I would point out, is that if Bush/Cheney had recognized that their position was stronger than they seemed to think it was, and had vigorously defended it, McCain would have either never won in the primaries with his anti-Bush campaign, or he would have run a completely different campaign.

As for shooting himself in the foot with Palin, I'm not sure that she would have been enough to cost him the election, if it wasn't for the fact he'd already run a pretty lame campaign, and done just as poor a job of defending his running mate as Bush and Cheney did defending themselves.

Just imagine how things might have turned out if Bush/Cheney had vigorously defended themselves. The republican party would have gone into the primaries not only stronger in general, but with a stronger conservative base. Romney would probably have won the primaries, despite being mormon. (No offense to mormons there, it's just that the more, "traditional" denominations are more likely to get a man in the White House)

With the backing of much higher satisfaction ratings for the sitting republican president, Romney would have crushed Obama or Clinton in the election (whichever one got the nomination in this alternate history) because let's face it, they were both soft candidates who had no chance against a strong opponent.

Romney, being a true conservative, would probably have handled this whole bail-out/recession issue completely differently. Things just keep getting better from there.

I also agree about Obama's campaign. I don't agree with most of his politics, but the guy is one heck of a speaker as long as he stays on the cue cards.

Thanks vee. Your analysis is the same as mine. Romney was my favorite republican candidate btw.

Originally Posted by Bruno

Romney was my favorite republican candidate btw.

Mine too. Just once in my life I'd like to vote FOR a president, rather than against one. Between Obama's vagueness and McCain's plan to tax employer paid health insurance (which is in congress now anyway) I had a really hard times deciding who it was most important to vote against.

AMEN! This "lesser of 2 evils" stuff is annoying me. I tend to be pretty conservative, and McCain was no dream candidate. Actually contrary to apparently most I only voted for McCain *because* of Palin. I probably would have voted for Barr or some other 3rd party otherwise. I don't think the McCain handling of Palin was good, not to mention in general the Republican party is afraid of her since "back home" she had this strange tendency to be a responsible politician without regard to party.

And regarding the original post, I always felt if GW had the communications ability of Clinton or Oba that everyone would have loved him. As it was, he chugged along doing whatever he thought was best but pretty much kept everyone else guessing.

Now we have a congress and president who decide to spend almost $800billion without even reading the bill or knowing where the $$ is going.. Very consistent with the political theory that if you just throw money up in the air problems will solve themselves.

Originally Posted by VeeDubb65

Mine too. Just once in my life I'd like to vote FOR a president, rather than against one. Between Obama's vagueness and McCain's plan to tax employer paid health insurance (which is in congress now anyway) I had a really hard times deciding who it was most important to vote against.

I honestly wish there was a lever for:

None of the Above.

to anyone who has watched Obama and Cheneys speeches it should have become clear that we have made a huge mistake