Seriously, do you actually remember LBJ and Nixon? Maybe you're too young, but I remember LBJ as a man who dug us a huge hole in 'Nam and Nixon as a negotiator of a peace treaty that was tantamount to a surrender and who escaped impeachment by the skin of his teeth. I fought in 'Nam when Nixon was Pres.. When I got out, I swore I'd wait until he died and piss on his grave. I would have done so except by the time I got out, I was too tired to wait in any more lines.
All presidents have made mistakes, and since your mentioning Vietnam you can add JFK to that list as it was he that got us involved in that mess from the very beginning.
But your forgetting the GOOD that both men did.
1. LBJ was instrumental in the Civil Rights Movement created Medicare, created "the Great Society" program, the Economic opportunity Act, and various other public good projects on the "war on poverty".
2. Nikon saved Social Security, went toe-to-toe with Khrushchev and won, created the EPA, appointed excellent justices to the USSC, forced the end of segregation in schools, signed SALT I with Brezhnev etc...
Both men did some bad, but they did a lot of good too.
But back to topic...
I abhor social conservatism and everything it entails, so I am not going to favor
any candidate with such a platform. I do think it was a strategistic mistake for McCain to choose such a platform because social conservatives like the far left liberals only represent a small (but vocal) minority. McCain would have been better picking a moderate, because that would have been a much more attractive option for people that are undecided, and those Democrats than have doubts about Obama. McCain cannot win on the far-right base alone. He has got to get votes from somewhere else. Behind the pretty looks and smile of Sarah Palin is the type of extremist that Americans abhor. Remember the backlash when the ultra right attempted to intervere in the Shiavo Affair? The lesson was: Americans don't like people injecting evangelist theology into their lives.
But for the sake of arguement, if I was McCain and was going to choose such a person why not at least pick someone with better political experience like Mike Huckabee? At least Huckabee was a 2 term Governor, or Fred Thompson or Elisabeth Dole who have both served 2 terms as a US senator. I could name a dozen of better qualified social conservatives than Sarah Palin.
It is exactly the same mistake Bush made with Dan Qualyle: Nothing but a pretty face. That error made Bush a laughingstock and her lack of experiance is going to show when she has to debate a political heavyweight like Joe Biden. Biden is going to school her, badly.
The reason McCain chose Palin is because he thinks Hillary supporters are divided. Like on so many other issues, He doesnt get it. Hillary supporters like Hillary's views, not the fact she's a women. Sarah Palin's views and hillarys views are totally opposite. Obama is far closer to Hillary on issues, and the hillary people all know it. You will have more Republicans voting for obama than hillary people voting for McCain.
Its laughable when I hear Palin praise Hillary because its such obvious pandering. I have been listening to the Hillary supporters the last 2 days, most are insulted that McCain thinks they are so patently naive, these are educated people and they know EXACTLY where Palin stands on the issues that matter to them. Palins's attempt to win them over by invoking Hillarys name is just angering them and pushing them toward Obama.
And finally remember that Bush was a social conservative too, picking another social conservative just reinforces the Democratic accusation of: McSAME.
If McCain wanted Hilary voters then he should have picked someone who actually shares her views, not someone whose sole similarity with Hillary is sex.