# Dopers who remember pre-Clinton elections **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 9, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-remember-pre-clinton-elections/627732 "2012-07-09T20:44:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-remember-pre-clinton-elections/627732/41 "2012-07-10T20:27:54Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > Stockdale felt that most Americans didn’t know who he was or why he was running for the Vice Presidency, so he attempted to open up by asking the question “Who am I? Why am I here?” his attention wasn’t to sound lost and confused, but to set the stage for explaining exactly why he was on the ticket and why he felt it was the right thing to do and etc. Unfortunately the way he opened up, and the fact that he never really got back to making the full circle on his point, he was doomed to look like a senile old man. (In truth he was perfectly competent mentally at that point, albeit he was old.) Now, I purposely didn’t mention his opener because I knew (later) the reason behind it. But the hearing aid thing - assuming the source is correct, as I don’t have a memory of it any longer - certainly did not help. We were still thinking about Reagan’s age and were concerned about advanced age and/or memory issues in older candidates. Nixon looked haggard and sick after refusing makeup (and just getting out of the hospital) for the televised debate against Kennedy, while JFK was the proverbial “tan, rested, and ready”. This was a dramatic gaffe that Nixon wisely learned from. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-remember-pre-clinton-elections/627732/42 "2012-07-10T23:53:16Z")
> [@Ruby\_Slippers](#): > > Perhaps one of the greatest fiascos was McGovern’s selection of Tom Eagleton as his running mate and then his subsequent decision to encourage him to step aside (to be replaced by Sargent Shriver) when his history of electroshock treatment came out. “One man, one volt!” ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2012, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-remember-pre-clinton-elections/627732/43 "2012-07-11T00:44:08Z")
> [@lavenderviolet](#): > > Keep in mind that a politician’s public image is 95% media spin, not reality. Whatever the media chooses to focus on or play up will become that politician’s image even if the truth is far different. > I never intended to vote for Howard Dean, but it was SO obvious to me (despite not being a Dean fan) that the whole “controversy” created around that was manufactured by the media. The media singlehandedly sunk his campaign. > I’ve seen enough cases of this kind of stuff happening that I always take these attempts to create certain images of candidates with a grain of salt. Actually, Dean was a goner by the time of his scream. His scream was basically an emphasis on his speech that even though he had received his almost total obituary, he was going on, in spite of the severe defeats, and would win, win win! YAAAAAHHHHHH! Of course, you are correct that the media makes the winner, not the winner. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-remember-pre-clinton-elections/627732/44 "2012-07-13T19:07:18Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Dan Quayle was a gaffe waiting to happen, except he never waited long. I always thought Quayle was the Republican party’s strategic tool. Bush senior blockaded the Iran/Contra investigations and pissed off the constituency? Within a week, Quayle said something ridiculous and the media jumped all over it. Bush senior stomped on the Drexel junk bond investigations? Within a week, Quayle said something ridiculous and the media jumped all over it. It just seemed like he was always uttering some gaffe just in time to divert attention from the real issues. > [@kunilou](#): > > At some point during a campaign, every candidate does something clueless, inept or just plain dumb-ass. We tend to remember it more if we don’t like the candidate, and even more if that candidate loses. Seems to me we remember it more when the candidate wins – because then he continues to get attention while holding office. And I’ll note (in a rare bit of generosity to W) that many of the horrible sound-bites attributed to Bush junior just after he left office were actually gaffes made by Quayle. —G! They’re trying to divide The indivisible Because they think we’re fools So foolable I’m tryin’ not to laugh But man it’s laughable Boom times for Wall Street dreamers . --Dennis DeYoung (Styx) . _High Crimes and Misdemeanors_ . Brave New World [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-who-remember-pre-clinton-elections/627732.md?page=2)