I repectfully disagree. McCain was never popular with the base. He tried to out Democrat the Democrats - a losing proposition every time. The Republicans just don't get it. They have been AWOL in representing the American people. The bailut is only the latest example.

Note to the GOP: nominate centrist small-government technocrats if you want to win. "Values" voters are a minority and you're supposed to be above pandering to minorities.

In all honesty these next four years will be good for your party, only so long as you prop up the smart ones among you who understand economics and not the Sarah Palins who will fail to connect with a majority of voters in crucial states with their anti-intellectualism and 'folksiness' that comes across as naivete and backwardness to a large number of people who care more about their 401ks than other people's personal beliefs.

I agree with Jeff.
Hyperbolist, most people voe for the top of the ticket, not the bottom.

Nobody liked McCain except for the washington elites. That is until They all fled the coop for Obama. They GOP got tricked pretty good by the elites this election cylce. It's still pretty mind-numbing that this kind of an individual can get elected president. Hold onto your wallets folks. It's gonna be a rough 4 years.

Here's another memo for ya. The party powers that be better get in gear right now and start promoting a conservative for 2012. If I wanted to vote for an old commie, I'd have just written in Jimmy mohommud Carter. McCain got the nomination because a bunch of socialists from the other party crossed party lines and voted for him in the primary. The GOP had better start being more devious and nasty, or we're all headed to that asshole muslims' "reeducation" camps.

Lost the entire north. Not a single Republican member of the house from New England. The key is to stop lowering the national debate. Americans are smarter than the GOP gives them credit for.

hyperbolist:

Anti-intellectual?

Your wizard of smart obama is going to tax this place into a depression. Sitting around in a coffee shop with your che tshirt and thinking you are smart because you just voted in a want to be tyrant doesn't make you smart. The funny thing is, all the losers who voted for him are the worst prepared for economic chaos! As soon as you leave your cities, you are clueless!

That's your reasoning, captain? Here's mine, as hyperbolic and unfounded as your won: Obama won because a lot of people don't want to vote for the same person as all the "Obama is a Muslim" assholes were voting for. The character smears and guilt-by-association/middle-name garbage did not work. If you haven't realized the following, you are willfully ignorant: the Republicans (specifically John McCain and Sarah Palin) lost on the issues, because they failed to run on the issues. The economy sucks; the war is unpopular; Obama recognized these facts, and spoke to them; and now he is the President.

Oops, we cross posted. And I said "your won" instead of "your own"! Martinis make typing hard. Sorry, cap'n!

Che t-shirt? I wear French-cuffed dress shirts five days a week and I don't buy off the rack, friendo. Not everybody who prefers Obama to McCain is a dreadlocked hippie moron, just as not every McCain supporter is an Islamophobic moron. You misunderstand the majority of people who strongly disagree with you, it would seem.

And why, pray tell, would someone want to leave a city if they enjoy living there? So that they can own a lawn? Yawn.

A lot of people misunderstand the average American. McCain made a lot of mistakes. In all 3 debates, but especially the last one, all he wanted to talk about was Joe the Plumber. That is not average American. Joe is a deadbeat delinquent taxpayer, most Americans aren't.

Sarah was the final nail in his coffin. Yes, she is intelligent in some things, but she wasn't ready for the National scene. But she will be back, and hopefully she will keep her religious beliefs within her family and church. And join the group of GOP members who will be trying to make the GOP the party it used to be.

I, like a lot of people, didn't leave the GOP, the GOP left me. Just like the Demo's have done to other people. Hopefully saner people will take control of each party. But don't hold your breath.

I didn't know there was much left in the GOP except old men of a certain ethnic persuasion. What a surprise.

JFO: Michelle Malkin is not an old white man. She just plays one on the internet. Oh SNAP!

"What a surprise."

That's not the surprise.

Hey, JFO. The media did "call it" for Obama. You should be quite happy with that. Whatever or whomever you really believe in, I hope it's worth it to you.

It was not his age it was McCain. He spent so long courting the Media that he was surprised when they left him and supported a true Democrat. McCain and the talking head spent more time courting the fence sitters than their own base. Which is why he lost if you do not have a solid foundation you can not win? Obama courted his base and got them to turn out.

It is going to be very interesting to see what happens as the curtain falls around the image of Obama

Indeed, choosing a standard bearer to lead the party, where the eldest statesman is given the opportunity to lead merely because they have outlived their rivals isn't the best way to choose leaders. The old Soviet Politburo worked much that way, where elderly leaders way past their best years were given the keys to the government.

But another major problem was the McCain Campaign itself. It harped on silly themes like Bill Ayers, "socialist" name calling, questioning the patriotism of others, etc. when serious middle of road voters wanted to hear some solutions to the economy, etc., while the Obama Campaign seamlessly chore-graphed a pathway to victory.

In 1994, it was Speaker Of The House Newt Gingrich who offered forth a moderate and workable platform of issues called, "A Contract With America". The McCain Campaign would have been far better off with a similar platform of issues to run on. But another problem was that Obama was a special sort of candidate, who is a fast rising star, and that was an intangible quality very difficult to beat. He may be the closest thing to a Democratic Ronald Reagan as they come.

I suggest next time nominating a youthful, white woman from Alaska.

The problem was not McCain's age or anything he did or said. There were just too many obstacles in his path. No one the Republicans would have nominated would have done any better this time around right now.

One thing Republicans need to do, stop tearing down your own people. That is what Democrats are for. I have never understood why Republicans abandon, wound and vilify their own and then complain about weakened leaders.

BTW, Obama still has not as many votes as Bush did in 2004.

Islamophobic! That's precious. The new leftist marginalization tool for 2009. Thanks for the heads up.

I cannot believe that we just elected a president who expresses open disdain for the constitution. Constituphobics?

Jeff: I refer to those people who said in front of television cameras that they wouldn't vote for Obama because he might be a Muslim. That is Islamophobia. It exists, and it's disgusting. All I meant is that Obama has his nutty supporters, and McCain had his.

A victory for McCain would have been a victory for the complacent, self-serving, corporatist gerontocracy which has thrown the last 8 years away in paranoid Islamophobic fantasies. He did bumble his way through the campaign, staring at the camera like a deer caught in headlights, continually wrong footed by his rival. It wasn't so much a contest as a massacre. But in the end it was a vote against Bush rather than a vote for Obama. Really, if the Republican nominee couldn't win even against an inexperienced, minority candidate, he should never have been put on the ticket.