The Fraters Libertas consider a highly relevant question:
In hindsight, if the 2004 election were indeed so important, what would things look like if the result had been different? More specifically, would the political fortunes of the Republican Party be better or worse today if John F. Kerry had defeated George W. Bush in 2004?
I don’t think there’s any question that the Republican Party would be much better off had Bush lost in 2004. Given this, it’s hard to argue that it wouldn’t also be better off losing in 2008 as well. McCain has already shown that he can’t handle the economic situation, so even from the pragmatic perspective, it would be better to let Obama and the Democrats take the blame for the Fed’s future failures.