Kennedy Had It All - Picking The Wrong Candidate

Lets be Honest - Learn From Our Mistakes - 

The purpose of selecting a candidate for any elected (party) position is two-fold, first is to advance the philosophy and agenda of the party, the second is to be able to win. So why do parties continue to blow this?

What does each of the following presidential candidates have in common?

John McCain, Al Gore, Bob Dole, Walter F. Mondale, George McGovern and Hubert H. Humphrey

Each candidate believed they were “due” a shot, each believed their own press. None of them had any charisma. All were senators. None of them were good looking or could connect to the under 30 crowd. Oh yes, they all lost there bid for the presidency.

So you call me shallow, you may add that I have no sense of political acumen. Fine, I don’t care, all of them lost, non of them forwarded the goals of their party and together in today’s dollars they cost billions of in wasted contributions and had zero shirttails.

The goal of UKnow I Am Right is to win, not loose.

I could go on and on about McCain. So for once I will. Politically speaking he was not brave, he did not reflect the true identity of the party, he did not have the drive, he did not go for the throat, he thought there were rules where no rules existed, he put himself in an immediate financial disadvantage, he was a lousy speaker, he had zero charisma, not good looking and he was old. Tough words, true words.

He would have been a better president for the country.

He was the nominee for one reason.  Yes I know this, and I doubt you have ever heard it, Florida. Oh you heard of Florida, that is where Romney dropped out with Governor Crists last minute endorsement pushing McCain over the edge, right? Wrong.

The reason why McCain won the Florida primary was cast six months prior to the election. He won because he was old, because the electorate trust him, because the electorate knew his name, some even enjoyed his speeches and because of his bravery at the Hanoi Hilton. Yes all the things I said were wrong above. Right? Wrong.

He won the Florida primary because of a state constitutional amendment that was on the ballot, property tax. In my precient 78% of the electoriate turned out. It was going to save them money, it was that pocket-book vote, not primary vote. Yes high turn out, high-high turn out in the #1 state that had a demographic fit for McCain. He could not lose Florida if there was a large turnout. The property tax amendment was more important than the presidential primary, the old people voted for the old man. He won at the right place; right time and his opponents did not understand the reason.

Picking a candidate is also packaging a candidate. As I said before you may call me a shallow, but what is our electorate? Many just voted for one word, many because of race and many because of guilt. Yes shallow. Republicans loved Sarah Palin because she fit the image of what a person should look for in a presidential or vice presidential role. Youth, good looking, great speaker, chrisma...look toward Palin and JFK for your image, in many respects shallow reasons. But, Sarah could be the real deal. She makes a great package.

So now you know. Now lets find winnable candidates.

Comments

[Jeanjp]

I fully agree that we need to find a candidate who actually supports the conservative agenda, who has enough charisma to do the job. I don't agree that age HAS to be important (see Reagan), but it should have some influence.

I did not say Republican agenda because like McCain, there are too many "not really Republicans" who have infiltrated our party. Actually I'm not a Republican any more, because of that, but I could be again if we could take back the party. Don't get me wrong, I'm not "hard right" either. I want reality,sensability, and caring. Reality does not include radical left.

Conservatives care about clean air, clean water, true care of the planet (not the nutty stuff that some leftists put out) and care of each other. We do want freedom and are willing to work for it. We do want to take care of family and friends, but don't want government rammed down our throats.

We CAN, if we will, re-take the leadership in all these things. We need to get involved in school boards so that we can have our children taught what the actually need to learn. We need to get involved and active in politics, but even more we need to exercise our freedom of speech and become active in getting our viewpoint printed and out over the airwaves. We need to be vocal. If the congress passes the current bill that will shut down the radio talkshows, then we need to see to it that the TV and Magazines also have to have equal time for both the right and the left! THAT is the way to fight THAT problem.