The only mistake with choosing Palin was changing horses in mod race. McCain was running as the experience candidate and then tired to be the change candidate. He should have ran as an alternative to Bush and Obama instead of just the Change guy, because Obama had been selling that for awhile(which he now has said will take 8 years).
Palin surely energized the base so he may have very well lost by a wider margin without her. The questions of what kind of change Obama was going to bring should have been played by McCains campaign from the beginning.
Palin's Achilles as well as McCain's I believe is trying to go by a campaign strategy, they both do exceedingly well shooting from the hip. As seen in Palin;s post election interviews she comes off as smart and confident when she is speaking directly from her beliefs rather than the campaign/party line.
If they would have just been themselves they may have closed the deal. But in the end the economy and Bush's popularity beat them, not Obama.
I like Sarah Palin a lot, and hope she continues to rise. Uschi stated her butchering of the language as a reason she dislikes her, to me it's the opposite. I live in the Appalachian foothills, I know many wise people who don't speak "proper" English. Somehow around here we get past how many "rules" are broken when you speak and just care about the substance of your words. I could give a crap if someone split an infinitive or not. Palin is not only a strong woman, but from her not so articulate words a great American.
I think like Obama's color did scare some people, the fact that there was a strong woman who succeeded not by playing the victim in social issues but by standing by her guns(literally and figuratively), scared the hell out of a lot of liberals who worried that they didn't have the market cornered on what women considered rights.
I totally agree with the conclusion, McCain is likely the greatest American candidate ever denied the Presidency.
