As far as I can tell, her presence on the ticket gave him at least 5% points. The number one mistake made was in abandoning the base, and ass kissing in the name of bipartisanship.

With a vengeance is right!

They won it, let them enjoy the feeling of victory before the promises start to be broken.

One of the reasons I read Babalu is the passion of the editors and contributors, but recently the amount of profanity on the blog is really disturbing. Go after (f)idel and nobama all you want, but can't that be done without using "f*ck" in every paragraph?

And why has "penile implant" been used here so often lately?

I used to have my kids read this blog, especially Val's beautiful posts about his dad and family. Now, I don't want them to see all the profanity here. I was taught not to use such language, and try to teach my kids the same.

Con todo respeto. BarrioChino

She's who I voted for. If McCain had picked Bloomberg, as the libs say he should have, I would have voted for Bob Barr.

As probably one of the few center-left commenters on this fine blog (I mean that), I even know that Sarah Palin is what stopped a Reagan-like blowout of John McCain. She did her job. McCain didn't.

In all fairness, say what you want about not picking a conservative presidential candidate. But, my friends, Sarah Heath is an idiot.

She will never go anywhere. Sorry.

As sickened as I am by the election results I can't say that I cried myself to sleep. I have never liked McCain. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER! He is a RINO pure and simple. He is everything that is wrong with the current incarnation of the Republican Party. I was, and remain, a Fredhead because of Fred's unabandoned conservatism. He dropped out before I could even vote for him in the primaries. When McCain firmed up the nomination I swore that I was going to vote for Bob Barr. Let the nation suffer. You need a Carter to get a Reagan.

Then McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate. That changed it for me. She was precisely the candidate for me. She's smart, speaks plainly and, above all, is a good solid conservative who does as she says. How refreshing!

I look at this loss as a great opportunity. There are few who come to this blog who are friends of liberalism. Most of us can agree that this is going to be a disastrous 4 years. This gives us time to kick the GOP back into shape. We can take back our party and will hopefully have Sarah, and maybe Fred to lead the charge. But we all have start kicking asses and taking names.

We're in for a long 4 years but we could come out ahead in the end.

Alfonso, the only idiot is you.

Dittos, George. Palin was THE ONLY reason for me to go out and getting involved. Holding my nose, I didn't vote for McCain, I voted for Palin.

If she keeps it up, she can be our Maggie Thatcher - she had more smarts than any of those true idiots on the stage. McCain's handlers made a huge blunder by holding her back and preventing the bulldog from doing what the bulldog does best.

Get real.

George, how do you really feel about this?