I always felt that this country would have been in such a better position if McCain had beaten Bush in the 2000 Republican primary. When he ran in 2000, I felt McCain was extremely principled, even if I didn't agree with some of those principles. He even had a little momentum until the smear campaign in South Carolina, but once that happened, it derailed his campaign. When he ran again in 2008, it felt like he compromised on some of his principles because he felt he needed to "play the game" to have a chance of winning.

Given how much of a disaster Bush's 8 years were (and we shouldn't let the colossal disaster we're currently experiencing shift our perception of those years), it's a real shame that McCain didn't get his chance then instead of Bush.