As the fortunes of the Dodgers and John McCain faded away into the night at the same time yesterday, I kept wondering how McCain would have fared had Hilary been his opponent.  I think he would have been much better off.  He certainly would not have been the sneering, cackling, interrupting d-bag that he has become.  He likely would not have gone balls-to-the-wall negative, bordering on kooky, as with his ridiculous assertion last night that Acorn was "maybe destroying the fabric of democracy."  And McCain certainly would not have been able to pound on Hilary as a tax and spend liberal as easily as he is labeling Obama as such, because Hilary would have more easily associated herself with her husband's supposed economic successes.  

• It's just a bad year to be a Republican.  We all know this.  Horrible economy, bad wars, ruined international standing for America, shredded Constitutional rights, out of control federal spending.  The list goes on and on.  People just see the Republicans, roughly, as the party that wrecked America (Jim Kunstler's term).  New Republican voter registration is down, and the number of people who self-identify as Republicans is shrinking.  It's hard to say if this Republican downturn is simply representative of an off decade or two, or if maybe the party itself is fading away, vulnerable to being replaced by a different type of conservative party that speaks to contemporary issues more thoughtfully.  In any case, McCain just picked the wrong historical time to make a run.  
• McCain's temperament was awful.  Normally, I don't pay too much attention to mood and body language and such.  But McCain was just so obviously irritated by having to debate Obama at all.  Last night, he asserted that he would not have had to go negative in his advertising had Obama just agreed to more town meeting debates.  Really?  That's what McCain wanted, more opportunities for the public to see him uncomfortably prowl stages with open disdain for "that one"?  Perhaps McCain was not seeing the polls that showed Obama trouncing him in every debate, as well as focus groups who clearly were more impressed by Obama's thoughtfulness and sober dimeanor?  In comparison, McCain just came off as an angry old asshole, plain and simple.  He kept touting his experience and willingness to reach across the aisle, but it seemed to only apply to his pre-approved cadre of gray-haired dinosaurs like Lieberman.  McCain held open contempt for Obama, and it came off as elitist, possibly racist, possibly as resentment of the younger generation.  Whatever it was, the overall flavor is that he is stubbornly trying to exorcise the demons of losing to Dubya eight years ago.  Clearly, that was McCain's window of opportunity.  He lost, but he is unwilling to accept that he is now too old and too intellectually under-equipped to face the monumental challenges of the future.  McCain actually scares me more than Dubya, because I think the Maverick has drunk his own kool-aid.  I think he sees himself as destined to be President.  As the son and grandson of admirals, as a fighter pilot, as a POW, as a long-standing Senator -- McCain has bought into the exaggeration of his own hagiography.  He will do whatever it takes to win, because he feels it in his bones that he's meant to lead the country.  Pundits have been surprised and disappointed that McCain has turned his back on the more real McCain of the past, the self-deprecating, shoot-from-the-hip guy who spoke truth to power.  They cannot understand why he has tarnished that reputation and gone negative.  Well, the obvious answer is that McCain was never really that righteous to begin with, and the recent negativity is simply what happens when he gets pushed into a corner.  McCain certainly did the same thing in 2000, using some awful tactics of his own against Bush (Confederate flag lie, anyone?). That's the real McCain: so convinced that he is the man of destiny that he'll do anything to win.  
• In Obama, McCain was just up against a better politician.  Obama has better organizational skills, is more eloquent, and has a more nimble mind for policy nuance.  Obama also proved a much tougher campaigner than anyone thought.  Think about it: a black guy with a Muslim-sounding name, who's father abandoned him in early childhood, who could be directly or indirectly linked with Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, and a few other shady dudes --  has managed to navigate his way through to the brink of victory.  Nothing stuck to him.  There has been no Swift Boat, no ridiculous tank picture, no Willy Horton, no illegitimate black baby accusations.  Despite all efforts to paint Obama as dangerous, foreign, suspicious, or inexperienced, his consummate skill and reassuring manner have triumphed.  And sure, a lot of it can be chalked up to the times being ripe and McCain running a horrible campaign. But you cannot deny the fact that Obama himself had to spearhead this and actually deliver the goods.  And he has.  McCain was no match.
•  Last of all, McCain just ran a bad campaign.  This is not entirely his fault.  He's never really had enough money. He had to expend too much to win the Republican nomination itself, leaving him relatively cash-strapped.  The general declining fortune of the Republican party led literally to his campaign's actual declining fortune.  And the much more robust Obama organizational machine simply pounded McCain into submission on the ground, in the streets and alleyways of voter registration and door-to-door canvassing.  All the straight-shooting in the world can't make up for superior boots on the ground.  So it is not surprising that McCain had to turn to the gimmick pick of Sarah Punchline to try and shake things up.  When you're out of money, you have to try anything.  But even despite all of that, McCain was just not sharp.  How many time in last night's debate did Obama directly and convincingly refute McCain's taglines, only to have McCain repeat the same accusations back despite just being shot down?  You get the feeling that McCain just can't listen to what other people are saying on the fly, that he's just trying to keep his own talking points straight in his head before they drain down the memory hole.

So all in all, McCain was just the wrong candidate at the wrong time.  Maybe he'll do better in 2012, as he Rascals around the stage at age 116, oxygen tank in tow.