User blog comment:LurkerLordB/If Obama lost in 2008/@comment-4727448-20120812234512/@comment-1630894-20120813213058

McCain was sometimes on the liberal side, sometimes he was on the far conservative side. He fluctuated quite a bit. For 2008, he decided to present a more conservative image.

I wouldn't say it was impossible, the election was not a landslide. A better running mate could have given him a lot of support.