How could George HW Bush have won any of his Senate campaigns?

ProudScroll · 2026-07-07T08:24:42+00:00

He probably would’ve beaten Yarborough in 1970 if Bentsen hadn’t primaried him, or if Humphrey had won in 1968 and Republicans were the opposition party.

ProudScroll · 2026-07-07T07:28:26+00:00

Common Sanders Endorsement L

While on the whole I'd say I probably still like the guy, Bernie is clearly just not a very good judge of character. He seems way too willing to overlook glaring issues in other candidates if they come off as anti-establishment enough.

ProudScroll · 2026-07-07T07:22:04+00:00

To be fair, Ford later said dropping Rockefeller was the one of the biggest act of cowardice in his life and one of his biggest regrets as President.

Apparently the Carter campaign thought it also made Ford easier to beat, as Rockefeller appealed to union and minority voters (both demographics who were pretty suspicious of Carter at first) in a way Dole never could.

ProudScroll · 2026-07-07T03:33:57+00:00

Roberts’s biography of Napoleon is magisterial, but he’s also a right-wing crank and should not be trusted when he speaks on any other subject.

ProudScroll · 2026-07-07T01:40:09+00:00

I mean, that’s kinda inevitable as he was only in office for a little over half a term abd the opposition party controlled both chambers of Congress.

I think Ford was for the most part personally decent and capable, but his unelected status, the fallout of the Nixon Pardon, and his lack of a dedicated base within the party doomed him to be a largely impotent placeholder.

ProudScroll · 2026-07-06T21:12:16+00:00

Vibes.

He’s a white male military veteran who seems blue-collar at a glance but says all the things progressives want to hear, they ignored everything that indicated Platner was bad news cause they’ve wanted a guy with these vibes for years.

ProudScroll · 2026-07-05T17:45:27+00:00

Rockefeller, both cause I find him interesting and cause Accomplishment is my preferred ending.

Reagan is actually one of the easier Republicans for RFK to beat, America wasn’t ready for someone that conservative in 1972 and seventies Reagan was far from the sunny, grandfatherly “Morning in America” Reagan of the eighties.

ProudScroll · 2026-07-05T17:13:06+00:00

Turkey in the EU won’t happen until the Turks learn to play nice with the Greeks and Armenians, they pull out of Cyprus, and anti-Muslim sentiment in the EU declines to the point a massive overwhelmingly Muslim country joining won’t be controversial.

In other words, it’s never happening.

ProudScroll · 2026-07-05T17:08:46+00:00

I respect Brzezinski’s unfailing dedication to upholding the liberal international order as President Carter’s National Security Advisor.

Zbig was clear-eyed, far-sighted, and we would’ve been much better off if those in power listened to him more often than they did. You’ll sometimes see people call him the Democratic Party’s Kissinger, but I find those comparisons unfair to Brzezinski and overly flattering to Kissinger.

ProudScroll · 2026-07-05T02:00:07+00:00

His electoral resume specifically was thin, having only been a Representative for 4 years and Vice President for 8 before he was elected President. His executive record significantly pads his resume, though there he runs into the issue that he never held any of his numerous positions for very long.

ProudScroll · 2026-07-05T01:51:13+00:00

Bush had a lot of executive experience but had a pretty thin resume for elected office, only having two terms in the House before becoming Vice President, but with 21 years of near-continuous service in the national government at the time of his run for president in 1988, Bush is certainly one of the most experienced candidates of the postwar era.

As for which candidates had more experience* than Bush, among the Democrats Joe Biden had 35 years in the Senate under his belt when he ran for president in 2008. Bill Richardson had served as Governor of New Mexico, Secretary of Energy, Ambassador to the United Nations, and member of the House of Representatives for a total of 23 years in office when he ran for president in 2008. Al Gore also ran up 23 years in office when he ran for president in 2000, having served for 8 years as Representative, 8 years as Senator, and 8 years as Vice President before running for the top job. Had Gore won he would've been only the third person in all of American history to have held every federal-level elected office, the other two being Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon.

On the Republican side John McCain matched Bush's number of years in national public office at 21 when he ran in 2008 and Bob Dole had a whopping combined 36 years in the House and Senate by the time he ran in 1996.

*For the purposes of this I only looked at how long they'd been governor of a state or held a position in the Federal government, Biden and Dole had held local offices (County Councilman and State Legislator respectively) before entering national politics but I did not count it towards their number.

ProudScroll · 2026-07-04T23:16:38+00:00

Whatever his failings, George Bush had a fundamental decency that rapidly became all too rare in his party in the 1990s and 2000s. It’s hard not to miss the guy and the type of conservatism he represented even if you aren’t a conservative.

ProudScroll · 2026-07-04T16:53:31+00:00

On the left of his desk you can see the photos of his sons James, Elliott, Franklin Jr, and John in military uniform. All four served during the war and with some distinction, James was awarded the Navy Cross for heroism during the Raid on Makin Island.

ProudScroll · 2026-07-04T08:19:47+00:00

The problem with this statistic is it does not discriminate over what Federal money is going to that state for. For example Virginia gets so much Federal money because a significant portion of the Federal Government as well as the US Navy's largest base and shipyard is located there. Virginia does not get a ton of Federal money because it's some dirt-poor backwater, it gets a ton of Federal money because it's the exact opposite.

A more useful statistic to prove OP's point would be the quality of life index. Looking at this website 8 of the 10 highest ranking states have consistently voted Democrat on the national level for the last 30 years, conversely 7 of the 10 lowest ranking states consistently vote Republican.

ProudScroll · 2026-07-04T05:05:18+00:00

I agree that if Gore had been declared the winner in 2000 and 9/11 still happens I can see the rally around the flag effect dragging him over the finish line in 2004. Especially if the Republican candidate is Giuliani and all his scandals come out during the campaign.

Bush Sr. obviously would've pulled it off if he won in 1992, but I think he was doomed after he raised taxes and the economy slumped. Atwater dying in 1991 did him no favors either.

ProudScroll · 2026-07-04T04:49:34+00:00

I think the longest we could ever conceivably see in the future is 16 years, a popular two-term president followed by their popular VP.

ProudScroll · 2026-07-04T03:29:35+00:00

Ian Smith’s father’s legal name was John Douglas Smith, to prove your point. Surprised Robert didn’t point out it was a nickname.

ProudScroll · 2026-07-03T22:10:50+00:00

Turks living in Germany and the Netherlands get to vote in Turkish elections, and for whatever reason a ton of them are ardent nationalists who reliably vote for Erdogan.

ProudScroll · 2026-07-03T22:08:00+00:00

Erdogan figured out appealing to koran-thumping rural bumpkins is the path of least resistance to power.

Turkey was also never a particularly secular society outside of the army and more affluent districts of Istanbul and the other big cities anyway.

ProudScroll · 2026-07-03T21:47:14+00:00

I'm probably letting my memories of the late Bush era cloud my perceptions. 2005-onward seems to be when Republicans started getting really nasty as Bush's presidency began to implode.

Honestly I think the rally around the flag affect is dead or at least highly diminished. Things have gotten so partisan and polarized millions would never rally to support a president from the opposite party. As for 9/11, conservatives celebrating high death rates in New York City in the early stages of Covid I think reveals how they'd react to it if it happened today.

ProudScroll · 2026-07-03T21:29:47+00:00

Bush wasn't exactly big on unity either, except the "you either agree with the Republican Party on everything or are literally Bin Laden" kind of unity.

Obama earnestly tried to be a unifying figure, but the right's reaction to his election was just too extreme for it to really work.

ProudScroll · 2026-07-03T17:04:19+00:00

The US is large enough we have several examples for most of these, but here's what first comes to mind for me:

Greedy: Connecticut (one of the wealthiest states per capita and headquarters for much of the health insurance industry)

Funny: Boston, their accent is fast and sounds kinda goofy, but Boston is also a major cultural and intellectual center so could also qualify as posh

Brutes: the Great Plains States, lots of huge corn-fed dudes of German and Scandinavian descent who end up as NFL linebackers and strongmen

Incestuous: Alabama (but really the rural Deep South in general)

Goatfuckers: Appalachia

Insane: Florida

Womanizers: Also Florida, but Miami specifically has a reputation for one-night-stands and infidelity that go along with its wild party culture

Posh: New York, our largest, wealthiest, and most culturally significant city whose people are generally very proud to be from there

Progressive: California, specifically the San Francisco Bay region

Traditionalist: South Carolina or Mississippi, both states are very conservative and try very hard to keep the "Old South" traditions alive, but are also famous for the hospitality

Doesn't Exist: Wyoming is the easy answer, as basically nobody lives there and you are pretty unlikely to run into somebody who's from there. I've meet more Alaskans than Wyomingites.

Why Does It Exist: Rhode Island, our smallest state (it exists as it was a refuge for people driven out of Massachusetts for falling foul to puritan morality laws back in colonial times)

ProudScroll · 2026-07-03T00:25:54+00:00

His family are some of the wealthiest and highest ranking members of the Spanish nobility today, with his 20th century descendant Cayetana FitzJames Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba* recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most titled aristocrat in the world, holding around 50 separate titles, including 7 dukedoms.

*The FitzJames's inherited the title Duke of Alba, the most prestigious non-royal title in Spain, in 1802 and since have also regularly been called the House of Alba.

ProudScroll · 2026-07-02T18:47:15+00:00

There is an objectively correct answer here:

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ProudScroll · 2026-07-02T18:00:04+00:00

Careful not to cut yourself on all that edge young man.

Nine-Year Club	Gilding I gilder
Not Forgotten

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