Ever the optimist I see . She will have some political capital to spend and you don't need a majority of the GOP to accomplish something. The GOP is as fractured as they have been in decades I am not absolving them of responsibility but building legislative consensus and the requisite relationships is not Obama's passion or core competency in my opinion.

What would you like, a speech about how senate Republicans are going to do everything they can to help her check off all the items on her wishlist? You would just say they're implying she can't do it on her own because she's a woman. Go be butthurt about this **** in the comment section somewhere.

Why do partisan cry babies always go back to what McConnel said back then? It was pretty damn pedestrian, if you want to yap about the GOP being so mean to Obama, there are much better examples.

The primary campaign? I guess you could make that argument. Whoever got the Dem nomination was going to destroy in the main election. I guess it was cool that Obama won North Carolina and Indiana.

Ummm... I didn't grow up thinking the point of a party was to simply bring down the president if he was from the opposition party. I actually kind of think there was a time where Congress kind of worked to govern and at least made a show of trying to govern. This included working with the other side, compromising, etc.

I'm sorry if you actually think this is how its supposed to be. If you look for it you can find plenty of stories over the past couple of years where people talk about how this ugly partisan divide is not the way its always been.

Its ironic that you're calling someone a partisan 'crybaby' for lamenting the ugly partisanship that our political system has become.

also:
The point isn't that its the worst thing someone said. The point was it was one of the earliest declaration of what they would then do for the next couple of years. It was an honest statement of the party's agenda which I believe they have been following through on ever since.

It would be so much easier if we just a single party calling the shots wouldn't it?

That is a good point. Maybe I am overvaluing Obama's primary performance by conflating it with his performance in the general.

Obama was not a lock for the general at all. McCain was charging hard until the market dropped and he had a poor reaction.

I know she had one good poll but remotely possible is a better description. Most polls have her down double digits. She will need to concentrate on governing for a few years. She isn't ready.

Any random Dem beats McCain probably 95% of the time, maybe more. This isn't even debatable.

lol no

Were you not alive in 2008? Do you not remember how much the country hated the Republican Party and how milquetoast McCain was? And how awful Palin was?

Christie's poll numbers already starting to rebound in NJ. If every investigation comes to the conclusion he knew nothing about bridgegate, it will simply be an example of him trusting his subordinates too much, bad management, important lesson learned, etc.

lol you don't remember mccain being ahead in the polls in september

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epo...obama-225.html

But whatever you say mr. results oriented.

Ikes remembers McCain getting a post-Palin bounce and a post-convention bounce to close the gap in the polls or take a slight lead. The financial collapse happened shortly after that, so you can't prove wrong the theory that McCain's boosts there were part of an inexorable march towards victory BUT FOR the financial collapse.

McCain was a terrible nominee but as I remember the polling was pretty close and McCain actually got a bump after Palin's first speech, before everyone realized she was a moron.

Certainly wouldn't say "the country hated the Republican Party", lol.

Nevermind that republicans were swept out of the house and senate in 2006 when the economy was still going gangbusters.

As an aside, I still don't really understand that one except for a) stupid wars and b) in the 24-hour news world the public is going to get sick of any 2-term president and his party. Anyone else got any ideas?

Let's definitely leave out the completely different responses the candidates had to the crises.

I don't think McCains wins if he had responded differently but in my view it did do significant damage. McCain's message was clear, hey it is time to panic. Not a great way to convince voters you can handle tough situations. Obama's reaction was much more appropriate and of course more convincing that he was a leader who could handle difficult situations. No Obama drama FTW. Then we get into questioning McCain's judgement after he panicked most notably on the wisdom of having Sarah Palin as his VP running mate.

Bottom line in my view is that Obama probably wins anyway but McCain shot himself in the foot.

Nate believes that he needed to swing for the fences with Palin as he was going to lose if he played it safe. The convention bump was never going to last.

That's essentially a tautology. Regardless, the idea that Obama was 95% plus to win is just not supported by the run up to the election.

Questioning McCain's judgement was completely legitimate including picking Sarah Palin. Taking a calculated risk is one thing, irrational gambling is another.

This is definitely settled history that McCain couldnt just keep on keeping on and he needed Palin to work out.

He made the right move, the problem was Palin wasnt close to as competent as she initially appeared.

If you could run it twice with the economy holding on for another year so it wasnt a factor then Obama still wins. Its just partisan wishcasting that Sandy the economy changed everything.

Hilary is basically a Republican anyway. They ought to love her.

My buddy is about as down the middle of a swing voter as you can get. Sarah Palin was a complete deal-breaker for him.

I get the thinking behind Palin as she wasn't really a known nutbag at that point. But the vetting process was obviously woefully inadequate - and possibly a preview into a what a McCain presidency might have been like.

Hey if you have to go beyond "old white dude" in the GOP your choices are not plentiful. She was an excellent choice for 72 hours or so.

you clearly understand exactly the point. Don't let anyone accuse you of not getting it.