By Jennifer Parker

Dec 14, 2008 9:30am

Nobody Likes a Sore Loser, McCain Says

Sen. John McCain told me that despite losing the 2008 presidential election to President-Elect Barack Obama, he won’t be a sore loser.

"I do know that when the Dow went down 700 points, there’s no doubt, you can track that in the — in our polling data," McCain said of the campaign.

"But in a way, that would sound like I am detracting from President-elect Obama’s campaign. I don’t want to do that. There’s no — nobody likes a sore loser. "

"We’ve got to get back to doing business the way Republicans say they used to. We’ve got to restrain spending. We have to be conservative in the best way. We have to concentrate on the national security issues. And very frankly, one of the issues that we’re going to address very seriously is Hispanic participation in the Republican Party," McCain said.

"President Bush got 43 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004. I got 31 percent. Now, we’re going to — we Republicans are going to have to recruit and elect Hispanic candidates to offices, and that — and do a lot of other things, because that’s a growing part of our population," he said.

"We also have to reach out to the African-American community. We have to be — broaden our base, and yet stick to the principles of the party of Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. We can do that. In 2004, as you might recall, Republicans had 55 votes in the Senate and we were going for 60. Things can change. We’ll come back. We’ll come back."

–George Stephanopoulos

User Comments

Good luck but I think the philosophy of the republican party is not mainstream enough to elect any new recruits.

Posted by: t42 | December 14, 2008, 1:47 pm 1:47 pm

It is past time for this political relic to retire.

Posted by: rovernh | December 14, 2008, 3:55 pm 3:55 pm

In denial!! Sen. John McCain seems to be in denial about his sore loser statement. Sore losers usually say they are not sore losers. Perhaps Obama was right; seems JM would have been a third term Bush. Both are in denial!!

Posted by: brownieadog | December 14, 2008, 5:45 pm 5:45 pm

sore loser? How about anyone who worked hard, played by the rules, find that the wall street criminals tanked the entire world, made more in a few weeks than an even well paid citizen can make in a lifetime of dedication and hard work, as “punishment” get billions more of “my” money, and i watch as osama assumes power with pelosi and reid and prepares to turn America into cuba or north Korea! oh i’m sore!

Posted by: fux molder | December 14, 2008, 7:32 pm 7:32 pm

Dear Fux Molder,
I would ignore your almost incomprehensible comment, except I am concerned about your state of mind. You sound paranoid and delusional. If you want people to listen, you should bring your tone out of the rabies zone, and into one of intelligent discussion. I hope you feel better soon.
willj

Posted by: willj | December 14, 2008, 11:35 pm 11:35 pm

In reality, the GOP needs to reach back out to its base.

Posted by: george waring | December 15, 2008, 8:43 am 8:43 am

Poor willj appears to have nothing of substance to say, but he must want to hide the fact that he is ignorant. This must be why willj insults people, using big words like “rabies”, “delusional” or “paranoid”: He’s trying to fool people, poor dear.
It appears that poor willj understands very little of common topics of intelligent debate.
Therefore, if someone of intelligence introduces a topic for discussion that willj knows nothing about, such as Wallstreet or politics, willj finds it incomprehensible and unintelligible.
At least willj admits that higher discussion is incomprehesible and unintelligible to him. We really should give him a small cookie and a pat on the head as a reward for trying.

Posted by: poor willj deserves pity | December 15, 2008, 10:16 am 10:16 am

Last Thursday, McCain and Levin release a bipartisan report detailing how the decisions of George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld led to detainee abuse and homicide. http://levin.senate.gov/newsroom/release.cfm?id=305735
Not even worth a question? Palin still too fun to talk about? When will it become important to go back to being a country that doesn’t torture people?

Posted by: Michael W | December 15, 2008, 4:16 pm 4:16 pm

I think Vince Lombardi stated it best “Show me a good loser, and I’ll show you a loser.” McCain kept refusing to load his gun. Strange campaign.

Posted by: Dave G | December 19, 2008, 11:16 pm 11:16 pm

The Republican party is like a suicide bomber who blows himself up. They aren’t sore losers. They’re dead losers.

Posted by: NineteenRabbit | December 19, 2008, 11:40 pm 11:40 pm

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