# Which Losing Major Party Candidates Would Have Been Good Presidents? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 31, 2012, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-losing-major-party-candidates-would-have-been-good-presidents/629929 "2012-07-31T05:34:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-losing-major-party-candidates-would-have-been-good-presidents/629929/21 "2012-08-01T01:50:10Z")
I respect Bob Dole and John McCain. I think they would have handled many things very well about being President. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-losing-major-party-candidates-would-have-been-good-presidents/629929/22 "2012-08-01T02:09:53Z")
Kerry would have been a fine president honestly. Gore would have been even better (but then we wouldn’t have had all his presence on Futurama, and I’m not sure I’d want to give that up). McCain would have been fine but no where nearly as good as Obama has been. I can’t really comment any earlier than that… I was a freshman in high school when bush v gore was going down. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-losing-major-party-candidates-would-have-been-good-presidents/629929/23 "2012-08-01T03:05:08Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It’s made me wonder. Was he faking it in 2008 or in 2000? Maybe Tea Party McCain 2008 is the real McCain and he was only pretending to be Maverick McCain 2000 because he thought it would get him elected that year. I think the Maverick McCain is the real one considering he recently reiterated his opposition to waterboarding and attacked Bachmann for Green Baiting. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-losing-major-party-candidates-would-have-been-good-presidents/629929/24 "2012-08-01T05:18:19Z")
Mondale would have been FAR preferable to a second helping of Ronnie Reagan. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-losing-major-party-candidates-would-have-been-good-presidents/629929/25 "2012-08-01T05:35:12Z")
Does anyone like Michael Dukakis? I just remember him as portrayed by Jon Lovitz on SNL…bit before my time, but IIRC, he got trounced by Bush the Elder. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-losing-major-party-candidates-would-have-been-good-presidents/629929/26 "2012-08-01T05:36:15Z")
He would have been a better president than GHWB. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-losing-major-party-candidates-would-have-been-good-presidents/629929/27 "2012-08-01T05:44:31Z")
Adlai Stevenson. I’d go back in time for that gentleman. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-losing-major-party-candidates-would-have-been-good-presidents/629929/28 "2012-08-01T05:51:43Z")
If “losing” includes assassination, then I’d say Robert Kennedy. I don’t like everything about him, but he definitely would have been better than Nixon. And Adlai Stevenson, Al Gore And Hillary Clinton. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-losing-major-party-candidates-would-have-been-good-presidents/629929/29 "2012-08-01T08:34:24Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Dole ran against Clinton in 1996. Monicagate didn’t break until January 1998. Thank you for the reminder. Ignorance fought. I got some of the events confused: I was remembering that “Monicagate” was a factor in the 1996 Clinton/Dole election season, with Kenneth Starr’s witch-hunt being a cause of much revulsion, with backlash against Republicans. In fact, that was going on during the 1998 Congressional election season, so there was backlash against Republicans then. Otherwise, my comments still stand. I was lukewarm about Clinton, and lukewarm about Dole (in other words, I thought he would have been an Okay prez), and I thought there were a LOT of voters who felt likewise. But having such a radical Republican Congress was a deal-killer for voters who might have voted for Dole, as I described above. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-losing-major-party-candidates-would-have-been-good-presidents/629929/30 "2012-08-01T11:49:17Z")
I really believe that almost any person who made it through to the nomination would have been at least a competent President. We really don’t know how any of the also-rans would have actually handled any of the events of an administration, or what crises their policies and approaches would have triggered. Those who were elected have the disadvantage of hindsight, where we can’t give them the benefit of the doubt on any specific issue. We know what they did, we can only speculate on what the losers might have done. (For the record, I believe Taft should have allowed Teddy to take the Republican nomination so TR wouldn’t have had to run as a spoiler.) ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-losing-major-party-candidates-would-have-been-good-presidents/629929/31 "2012-08-01T14:26:31Z")
Al Gore the VP and Al Gore the candidate came across as a dull, wooden non-entity. Al Gore the _ex_-candidate began to show us that he had personality, passion, a quick wit, and a sharp intellect. If that guy had shown up earlier things might have gone a lot differently in 2000, and I think he would have made a fine President. At least he surely wouldn’t have screwed the country as badly as W did. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-losing-major-party-candidates-would-have-been-good-presidents/629929/32 "2012-08-01T15:14:14Z")
Teddy Kennedy would have been an awesome president. On the right side of every issue plus having the political savvy to make it happen. Al Gore would have been a fine president, of course it’s my contention that he actually did beat Bush in 2000 but was robbed by the Republican Supreme Court. Al Sharpton would have been a fine president any of the times that he ran. Joe Biden would have been terrific, perhaps better than Obama since there wouldn’t have been the batshit unanimous opposition. Hillary would have rocked, though the Republican oppostion would have been every bit as bigoted, fierce, and irrational as the current Obama hate-fest. Among Republicans, about the only ones that would have been anything but disastrous would be Ford and Dole. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-losing-major-party-candidates-would-have-been-good-presidents/629929/33 "2012-08-01T16:56:47Z")
Let’s see: Clinton 2008, Kerry 2004, Gore 2000, Dole 1988 (but not 1996 - see below), Ted Kennedy 1980, Bobby Kennedy 1968. (Bobby lost to Sirhan Sirhan in the crucial California primary, killing his chances of winning the nomination that year and forever after, alas.) > [@Senegoid](#): > > So: Clinton (incumbent) vs. Dole (Challenger) in 1996: I certainly wanted Clinton to win, but would not have been so terribly upset if Dole had won. From all that I could tell, he would have been an honest, reasonable, and only moderately conservative Repub prez. > > EXCEPT for one utter, total, absolute, non-negotiable DEAL KILLER: To-wit, the out-of-control radical Republican Congress that infested us in 1994 (the so-called Gingrich Revolution). Had Dole won (and assuming, as likely, that Congress wouldn’t change much), that Congress would have gone just ape-shit passing conservative anti-liberal legislation that I just would not have found tolerable. Far worse than anything Dole himself would have cared to see. But still, Dole would probably have signed a lot of it. > > If it weren’t for that, I felt that Dole could probably have been a decent and moderate (for a Republican) president. But with that Congress, NO WAY. Exactly. Dole would have been a fine President if he’d won in 1988. But not in 1996. > [@](#): > > ETA: Now, fast-forward to 2012. (You can see already where I’m going with this.) I was all gung-ho Obama in 2008. Now I think he’s a too, how to say this, UNassertive. Clinton redux? So I’m kinda lukewarm about him. But that Gingrich Congress of 1994 now looks like a paragon of political sensibility, compared to the absolute gonzo ape-shit berserkers there now. So there’s no Repub imaginable that I could find tolerable for Prez today, since any Repub, however reasonable, would be likely to sign many of the horrible bills that today’s Congress would produce. And that’s even if the Repubs had any chance of finding a reasonable candidate for this election, which they don’t. Agreed. The essential fact about a potential Romney Presidency is that he will be pretty much a rubber stamp for whatever a GOP Congress sends him. If you like the sort of stuff the House has been passing over the past year and a half that’s been stymied in the Senate, then by all means vote for Romney. If not, then don’t. There’s really nothing more to be said about the 2012 Presidential election. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-losing-major-party-candidates-would-have-been-good-presidents/629929/34 "2012-08-01T20:31:30Z")
Gore would been have all right. John Kerry could have been a good thing for the country. Bob Dole or John McCain might have been OK, too. In hindsight, Mondale would have been a serious improvement over Reagan. I don’t know enough about Dukakis to say. Oh, Nixon in 1960 would have been–competent but not that great, actually. JFK dying gave us LBJ and the big civil rights push. Many if not most of them? There are a lot of passable candidates who are not so much better or worse than the ones who defeated them. Once in a while, you get a candidate who’s objectively much much worse than his opponent, and then there’s no guarantee the bad one doesn’t win the general. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-losing-major-party-candidates-would-have-been-good-presidents/629929/35 "2012-08-01T20:42:16Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Agreed. The essential fact about a potential Romney Presidency is that he will be pretty much a rubber stamp for whatever a GOP Congress sends him. \*\* If you like the sort of stuff the House has been passing over the past year and a half that’s been stymied in the Senate, then by all means vote for Romney.\*\* If not, then don’t. There’s really nothing more to be said about the 2012 Presidential election. > > emphasis mine – **kd99** No. Not even then. Another Republican in the White House will NEVER again be acceptable. ---
**Author:** ![oreally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ab992/32.png) [@oreally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oreally)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-losing-major-party-candidates-would-have-been-good-presidents/629929/36 "2012-08-01T23:36:27Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Al Sharpton would have been a fine president any of the times that he ran. LMAO You were kidding, I presume. > [@kaylasdad99](#): > > No. Not even then. > > Another Republican in the White House will NEVER again be acceptable. And again - ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-losing-major-party-candidates-would-have-been-good-presidents/629929/37 "2012-08-02T00:59:20Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Agreed. The essential fact about a potential Romney Presidency is that he will be pretty much a rubber stamp for whatever a GOP Congress sends him. If you like the sort of stuff the House has been passing over the past year and a half that’s been stymied in the Senate, then by all means vote for Romney. If not, then don’t. **There’s really nothing more to be said about the 2012 Presidential election.** Well, there’s actually one more equally SERIOUS thing to be said about the 2012 Presidential election, besides this. Supreme Court. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-losing-major-party-candidates-would-have-been-good-presidents/629929/38 "2012-08-02T02:27:08Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Let’s see: Clinton 2008, Kerry 2004, Gore 2000, Dole 1988 (but not 1996 - see below), Ted Kennedy 1980, Bobby Kennedy 1968. (Bobby lost to Sirhan Sirhan in the crucial California primary, killing his chances of winning the nomination that year and forever after, alas.) > > Exactly. Dole would have been a fine President if he’d won in 1988. But not in 1996. > > Agreed. The essential fact about a potential Romney Presidency is that he will be pretty much a rubber stamp for whatever a GOP Congress sends him. If you like the sort of stuff the House has been passing over the past year and a half that’s been stymied in the Senate, then by all means vote for Romney. If not, then don’t. There’s really nothing more to be said about the 2012 Presidential election. Hey, RTFirefly, I don’t want to make you nervous, or anything, but, did you notice that _everyone of your choices was in the same party???_ Pretty spooky coincidence! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-losing-major-party-candidates-would-have-been-good-presidents/629929/39 "2012-08-02T02:30:29Z")
> [@oreally](#): > > LMAO > > You were kidding, I presume. > > > [@kaylasdad99](#): > > > > No. Not even then. > > > > Another Republican in the White House will NEVER again be acceptable. > > And again - Of course not. It’s common knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-losing-major-party-candidates-would-have-been-good-presidents/629929/40 "2012-08-02T02:42:50Z")
I wish John Anderson had gotten the Republican nomination in 1980. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-losing-major-party-candidates-would-have-been-good-presidents/629929.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-losing-major-party-candidates-would-have-been-good-presidents/629929.md?page=3)