by Tammy Stoner

Created on: November 07, 2008   Last Updated: December 05, 2010

The top ten reasons I did not vote for John McCain were:

1. He ran a sloppy and disorganized campaign. When the slogans have disappeared, the attacks have waned and the campaign is over, the candidate must be able to lead. How do we know somebody is ready to lead? The only real clue we have is how they have voted on issues in the past, and how they manage the campaign in the present. John McCain demonstrated wishy washy behavior in this campaign with no clear message.

2. Sarah Palin was a poor vice presidential pick. Don't get me wrong, as a female, I would love to see a female in office, but Sarah Palin was a poor choice for many reasons. She lacked experience as a one term governor and mayor of a small town. Lacking experience she did not convince me that she could quickly get up to speed. A presidential candidate needs to select a running mate that is strong where he is weak. McCain was strong in foreign policy, and he did not choose a running mate that would be strong on the economy, or in foreign affairs. He chose a candidate with no national experience on foreign policy issues, or the domestic ones. He insulted women believing that Hillary Clinton supporters would choose Palin just because she was a woman. He underestimated the female voter. Palin, a heartbeat away from the president scared me from voting for McCain, a 72 year old man.

3. McCain campaigned with attacks. John McCain did not attack issues, he attacked character. While he disagreed with Obama on issues, he fought him on the associations he has had in his personal life. Most of his campaign ads were negative. They focused on what Obama was not, rather than what McCain would accomplish.

4. McCain did not convince me that he had a vision for the United States. Most of his speeches focused on his past personal story, and lacked a clear direction for how to move the country out of this economic mess.

5. McCain and George W Bush are not the same people, but McCain wanted to continue spending money on the war in Iraq while Americans faced struggles about how to keep their homes, put food on the table, and stay employed. We need to end this war, and John McCain wanted to "win this war". The billions of dollars spent in Iraq, while jobs disappeared were inconsequential to McCain.

6. McCain focused on the past and ignored present realities. While he had a compelling personal story, it was about the past, and America needed a president that would focus on the present, with a vision for the future.

7. McCain lacked vision. I had no idea outside of wanting to win the war in Iraq what McCain stood for today. At the end of the campaign rhetoric, I had no idea how he would get us going again economically.

8. McCain supported "trickle down economics", which I call "tinkle down economics". Give more money to those who need it the least and hope they spend some of it on creating jobs. That philosophy has guided us since Ronald Reagan, and it doesn't work. We face greater job loss today then ever before. It is an economic theory that has "tinkled" down on the middle class. It was time for a change.

9. McCain ran his campaign from the hip. He focused on "Joe the Plumber", employing him to appear at a rally, yet coudn't even find him at the rally.

10. He is a republican, and after 8 years of a failed republican administration it was time for change.

John McCain preached bipartisanship policy, yet the campaign consisted of one attack after another. It struck me as more of the same. All of these reasons and a few more, convinced me that he just wasn't the right person for the job at this time.

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