McCain's Mickey Mouse Campaign

First off, let's give John McCain a break; he ran in a nearly impossible year for Republicans. The Democrats pulled out the powerball with the timing of the economic crisis (I'd swear they had a hand in its timing, it was so flawless). Bush's approval  numbers continue to fall and war fatigue has taken over the electorate. Add to that a MSM that was in love with the Obama narrative and dropped their infatuation with McCain even faster than they had Hillary.

Given all these things--the election was still winnable for McCain! He seemed to wallow at times in the idea of running a "noble" campaign. At times we saw the fire that we knew was there--for example in his acceptance speech--but all too often it wasn't displayed. He performed dismally in the debates, allowing one opportunity after another to paint the fragile Obama policies into a corner slip away. He sought a spark for his campaign in the Palin selection, then smothered it by mishandling her time and time again (think about those awful MSM interviews). He failed to coherently spell out a simple startegic message and he allowed his opponent to label him (Bush III). In short, although a fine and honorable man, McCain and his team ran a poor campaign. Where was his Rove? his Atwater?

Republicans have much rebuilding work to do, but if the Left thinks that these results prove some new radical leftward shift, they will not long hold the reins of power. Afterall, McCain came awfullt close to winning.