Where the Republicans Went Wrong

The only poll McCain is winning right now.

With the last debate coming tonight and McCain behind big on virtually every poll out there, it's time to find out how the Republican party got into this mess.

1. The Republican Party should have nominated Mitt Romney*. (Or he should have at least been nominated VP)

This is probably the biggest mistake they've made so far in this election, they picked the wrong person to run in the first place.

When the economy went into the tank, McCain's chance to become president most likely went along with it. Mitt Romney is very strong on economic issues. How good would this comment had sounded for Republicans when Wall Street crashed a couple weeks ago?

"I had occasions to be in the turnaround business. And I'd like to get my hands on Washington. It needs to be taken completely apart, with every program and agency evaluated for effectiveness and efficiency. Every business does that or goes bankrupt. But Washington seems to get larger and larger every year." (Peter Hecht, "Political Conversion," Sacramento Bee, 3/15/07)

Romney couldn't win the nomination though because it wasn't his political "turn in line." And he wasn't picked by McCain to be VP because of issues between the two, even though any Republican worth their weight in Grey Poupon knew that McCain/Romney would have been the best ticket.

2. John McCain had a bad gameplan from the start.

McCain had the Republican nomination wrapped up about 3 months before the end of the Democratic primary campaign. The time, plus all the mud being slung in the Democratic primary should have been more than enough for McCain to effectively prepare for Hill Dawg or Obama...yet he still didn't have a gameplan.

If he did, he wouldn't have had to pick Sarah Palin to inject false sizzle to his campaign. And that brings me to number 3.

3. The Republicans allowed John McCain to nominate Sarah Palin VP.

This may turn out to be the single biggest mistake to this point.

The idea that jilted Clinton supporters would vote for Palin just because she's a woman is insulting to Republicans and women.

Sure, she got McCain a quick bump in the polls coming off the heels of Obama's nomination, but as the layers peeled away from the onion it made more and more people cry, and not in a good way.

Once she opened her mouth to Katie Couric, the jig was up...now she's a walking, talking version of The Daily Show, except the jokes are real.

If and when McCain gets killed in a couple of weeks, I hope the Republican Party looks at the mistakes they made and comes correct in four years (not really though).