# What if McCain had won the election in 2008? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 16, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-mccain-had-won-the-election-in-2008/525221 "2010-01-16T19:29:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-mccain-had-won-the-election-in-2008/525221/1 "2010-01-16T19:29:11Z")
Obvious spinoff from [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=547964) thread. If McCain/Palin had won the WH, how would McCain have handled America’s financial crisis, industrial crisis, etc? How would he have handled Iraq and Afghanistan and Iran and the GWOT? How would his approaches have been different from Obama’s, and how similar? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-mccain-had-won-the-election-in-2008/525221/2 "2010-01-17T20:02:46Z")
Perhaps we can judge, to some extent, by his [post-2008 Senate record:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_mccain#Senate_career_after_2008) > [@](#): > > Following his defeat, McCain returned to the Senate amid varying views about what role he might play there.[253] In mid-November 2008 he met with President-elect Obama, and the two discussed issues they had commonality on.[254] Around the same time, McCain indicated that he intended to run for re-election to his Senate seat in 2010.[255] As the inauguration neared, Obama consulted with McCain on a variety of matters, to an extent rarely seen between a president-elect and his defeated rival,[256] and President Obama’s inauguration speech contained an allusion to McCain’s theme of finding a purpose greater than oneself.[257] > > Nevertheless, McCain emerged as a leader of the Republican opposition to the Obama economic stimulus package of 2009, saying it had too much spending for too little stimulative effect.[258] McCain also voted against Obama’s Supreme Court nomination of Sonia Sotomayor – saying that while undeniably qualified, “I do not believe that she shares my belief in judicial restraint”[259] – and by August 2009 was siding more often with his Republican Party on closely divided votes than ever before in his senatorial career.[260] McCain reasserted that the Afghanistan War was winnable[261] and criticized Obama for a slow process in deciding whether to send additional U.S. troops there.[262] McCain also harshly criticized Obama for scrapping construction of the U.S. missile defense complex in Poland, declined to enter negotiations over climate change legislation similar to what he had proposed in the past, and strongly opposed the Obama health care plan.[262][263] Factors involved in McCain’s new direction included Senate staffers leaving, a renewed concern over national debt levels and the scope of federal government, a possible Republican primary challenge from conservatives in 2010, and McCain’s campaign edge being slow to wear off.[262][263] As one longtime McCain advisor said, “A lot of people, including me, thought he might be the Republican building bridges to the Obama Administration. But he’s been more like the guy blowing up the bridges.”[262] ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-mccain-had-won-the-election-in-2008/525221/3 "2010-01-17T20:11:31Z")
The fringe conspiracy du jour would be Recounters instead of Birthers. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-mccain-had-won-the-election-in-2008/525221/4 "2010-01-17T22:08:01Z")
We’d have had the maverickiest administration in recent history. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-mccain-had-won-the-election-in-2008/525221/5 "2010-01-17T22:23:58Z")
Health care would either not be an issue, or more an issue of cost reduction than expansion. The stimulus probably would have been smaller. We’d be talking about Iraq rather than Afghanistan. Torture and other such issues of civil liberties would probably have been solved decisively, being ended and foresworn. Or, in my estimation, better, better, same, better. Not _majorly_ better, it’s worth pointing out, but a wee smidgen better. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-mccain-had-won-the-election-in-2008/525221/6 "2010-01-17T23:02:32Z")
SNL would have continued to be worth watching again. ---
**Author:** ![2ply](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/b2d939/32.png) [@2ply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ply)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-mccain-had-won-the-election-in-2008/525221/7 "2010-01-17T23:05:53Z")
His handling of the Iraq, Afghanistan, torture, civil liberties, and Guantanamo Bay would be a continuation of Bush, which hasn’t so far been much different than Obama. I bet his big project for his first year would be immigration reform instead of health insurance. He’s always been a big proponent of amnesty for illegal immigrants and setting up a guest worker program. It almost cost him the GOP nomination, but he’d bet that a strong Democratic Congress and his first year momentum would make it a viable program in 2009. The bill would never make it out of Congress in this economy. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-mccain-had-won-the-election-in-2008/525221/8 "2010-01-17T23:12:34Z")
I don’t think Iraq and Afghanistan would be all that much different. There would be nothing at all happening on healthcare, of course. The major impact is that Chrysler and GM would be dead, with factories closing and even more massive layoffs, the states would be even in worse shape than now, unemployment would be heading even higher than now, and the Dow would be bumping around 7,000 or so. Oh, and even atheists would be saying prayers for his health, to keep Her Mooseness far from the Oval Office. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-mccain-had-won-the-election-in-2008/525221/9 "2010-01-17T23:28:08Z")
There was no way McCain was going to win the election unless the country was in a much different situation than the one that developed during the campaign. The only plausible difference is imagining the financial crisis had exploded in November or December instead of September. I know what candidate McCain proposed to do in response to the Lehman bankruptcy, the housing crisis and other issues, but I am not sure what a President McCain would have done. ---
**Author:** ![2ply](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/b2d939/32.png) [@2ply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ply)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-mccain-had-won-the-election-in-2008/525221/10 "2010-01-17T23:42:42Z")
McCain wouldn’t have let GM and Chrysler fail. After the election, even Cheney warned the GOP that they’d be finished if they stood in the way of saving the hundreds of thousands of people who’d be out of the work if the auto makers failed. After the government had saved the large banks, McCain couldn’t say no to GM and Chrysler. It would have been too big an issue for McCain not to step in. The difference between McCain and Obama’s bailout would have been that instead of allowing the unions yo have ownership of the post-bankruptcy GM and Chrysler as Obama did, McCain would have used the crisis as an opportunity to destroy the auto unions once and for all, and maybe done more for bondholders and other creditors. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-mccain-had-won-the-election-in-2008/525221/11 "2010-01-17T23:44:56Z")
> [@2ply](#): > > McCain wouldn’t have let GM and Chrysler fail. After the election, even Cheney warned the GOP that they’d be finished if they stood in the way of saving those companies due to the thousands of people who’d be out of the work. It would have been too big an issue for McCain to not step in after the government had saved the large banks. > > The difference between McCain and Obama’s bailout would have been that instead of allowing the unions have ownership of the post-bankruptcy GM and Chrysler as Obama did, McCain would have used the opportunity to destroy the auto unions once and for all and maybe done more for bondholders and other creditors. There were a lot of Republicans against the bailout, and I’m not sure the Dems would spend political capital to make McCain look good. However, I think you got the union thing nailed. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-mccain-had-won-the-election-in-2008/525221/12 "2010-01-18T20:53:11Z")
McCain would have died soon after taking office giving us the last president in the US’s history, President Palin. Soon after, the aliens who created humans decided that their experiment has finally gone to the point of no return, and destroyed the planet with their anti-proton beams