November 06, 2008

It’s Time to Find the Next Generation of Conservative Leaders

CONSIDERING that McCain was a very uninspiring candidate to the Republic base - many of his views were similar to Obama's - and that he ran a terrible campaign - he really did quite well, getting 46% of the popular vote.

Many of McCain's views were as Liberal as Obama's. From Ann Coulter:

How could Republicans go after B. Hussein Obama (as he is now known) on planning to bankrupt the coal companies when McCain supports the exact same cap and trade policies and earnestly believes in global warming?

How could we go after Obama for his illegal alien aunt and for supporting driver's licenses for illegal aliens when McCain fanatically pushed amnesty along with his good friend Teddy Kennedy?

How could we go after Obama for Jeremiah Wright when McCain denounced any Republicans who did so?

How could we go after Obama for planning to hike taxes on the "rich," when McCain was the only Republican to vote against both of Bush's tax cuts on the grounds that they were tax cuts for the rich?

McCain led a poorly-managed campaign. Jennifer Rubin has a list of "Top Thirty Errors that Doomed McCain," including:

1. Not pursuing the Reverend Wright connection, as an issue of judgment and then credibility. Even Jerry Nadler knew it was a sign that Barack Obama lacked political courage, i.e., character.

2. Waiting until September to raise Barack Obama's other troubling connections (e.g., Bill Ayers, Rashid Khalidi).

3. Failing to devise a comprehensive economic message until the final weeks of the campaign.

4. Failure to explain the Democrats' role in the financial meltdown.

5. Not enough talk about "friends of Angelo" and Democratic corruption.

6. Wasting his convention speech on "bipartisanship" and biography instead of pounding home a core economic message.

7. Frittering away time and money in Iowa.

8. Losing time in the spring when McCain had sewn up the nomination but Obama had not. An ideal time to begin defining the contrast in messages.

9. Appallingly deficient "oppo" research and timing. Why didn't the "bankrupt the coal industry" tape come out before the final weekend?

10. Going to war with the MSM without an effective plan to use alternate media to get their message out.

11. Cutting off McCain's daily access to the traveling press corps.

12. The frenetic response to the financial meltdown. (Fire Chris Cox! Cancel the debate - no, hold the debate!) All that was missing was juggling knives on a tightrope above a fire pit.

13. The roll-out of Sarah Palin.

14. The internal trashing of Sarah Palin.

15. The failure to put Sarah Palin on every radio and TV outlet they could find in the final two weeks of the campaign.

16. The failure to find a top-flight economic advisor.

17. Shutting down McCain's regular contact with new media outlets.

Yet McCain still got 46% of the popular vote. From an additional article by Jennifer Rubin:

It is no consolation to Republicans who lost to say it could have been worse. But it really could have. This suggests that if the Republicans manage to get their act together, by recruiting better candidates and coming up with a competitive and distinctive message, they can get back in the game. That's what Republicans did between 1976 and 1980 and between 1964 and 1968. And in each of those cases they were even further in the hole than they are now.

Conservatives: it's time to find the next generation of Conservative leaders.