I'm not denying the role of the mainstream's (see, liberal media) role in this. What I am saying hurt more is the role of conservative commentators who would've rather bash McCain than do all they could to help him after he got the party's nod. They didn't even hop on the bandwagon until Palin. But, the damage to the base had already been done. He had to turn to shoring up the base rather than going after undecideds because they would have rather attack him than get behind the party's decision.
