A Second Chance - CONCLUSION

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Man, I finally get to Reagan choosing his running-mate, go away for a few hours, and no comments!

[Niemeyerite]

Man, I finally get to Reagan choosing his running-mate, go away for a few hours, and no comments!

That's because I'm sad he choose Hatfield. He seems to be worse than Tower or Buckley in those maps, but he's the perfect running-mate..

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Man, I finally get to Reagan choosing his running-mate, go away for a few hours, and no comments!

That's because I'm sad he choose Hatfield. He seems to be worse than Tower or Buckley in those maps, but he's the perfect running-mate..

It's just a matter of geography. In the general election, Hatfield would be a better choice than Tower if you count the campaign that includes Reagan going into the South and tying down the loose territory. McCarthy could do a lot better with Tower as Reagan's running-mate. It's just a matter of toss-ups and the South's knee jerk reaction to hearing the name Hatfield.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Reagan/Hatfield vs Kennedy/McGovern (if he makes it)..this will be a good one!

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

With Reagan's selection of Hatfield, Gene seemed to lose hope, at least temporarily. With the convention coming up on August 4th, however, he was soon whipped back into campaign mode, having long been trained by his 1968 and 1976 campaigns to be able to fight a losing battle with glee. It was in that period, he finally decided on a running-mate. I got the call two weeks before the convention, him asking me to be his running-mate. While hesitant with my re-election bid proving a tough one, I decided "f##ck it, I'm not going to be re-elected anyway" and my quixotic campaign for Vice-President of the United States began.

The convention itself was as joyous as the Republican National Convention only weeks before. Representatives from the Peace and Freedom Party, the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party, the Alaska Libertarian Party, the Consumer's Party, the People's Party and others were there. A complete list of all the variosu third party affiliates would be too long. However, there were many there. With speeches from Ralph Nader, Fred Harris, Jerry Brown, Mo Udall, La Donna Harris, and even former Congresswoman Bella Abzug, I took the stage as McCarthy's running-mate. The reception was tremendous. It felt that despite polling ranging between 5 and 25%, hardly a plurality, that we really could cause a revolution just by being there.

In the days following the convention, I hit the campaign trail, campaigning in places ranging from Idaho and North Dakota to Arizona to Wisconsin to New York to New Hampshire. We had completely given up on the Deep South outside of Louisiana and Mississippi where our attempts to break into the Black Belt were repudiated by Kennedy's machine. However, I'd like to think that the whirlwind of speeches at colleges, homeless shelters, minority associations, feminist groups, Libertarian Party dinners, and gay rights organizations leading up to the debates made a difference. It had been decided to allow us into the debates, though Kennedy and Reagan alike were reluctant but hoped that we'd attack their opponents rather than themselves.

Author speaking in Boise, Idaho

The Death of the Democrats, Mike Gravel, (c) 1996

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

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[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Interesting to see alot of support for Byrd, I like him alot. This election is fixing to be the best of the whole timeline Very consequential.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Hoping on an update for tonight!

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Sorry y'all. For anyone who cares there's probably not gonna be an update til next week. This weekend is homecoming, and Sunday regardless will probably be taken up by homework or mowing the family lawn.

[Niemeyerite]

=(

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

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[Pingvin]

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[FEMA Camp Administrator]

=(

Three readers! YES!!

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Well, just got back from homecoming. Let's just say there's some music that can make you feel lonely as Hell.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Eh, that sucks.

My homecomings are generally dumb contemporary pop music, with the main good aspects being socializing and...that's mostly it.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Eh, that sucks.

My homecomings are generally dumb contemporary pop music, with the main good aspects being socializing and...that's mostly it.

Basically that was it. The high point was a group including me partyboying two girls' white trash (and coincidentally public school, all apologies to good public school kids) boyfriends. Making that one idiot over-react and then having him and his friend threaten to "jump" the leader when the leader had practically the entire gym on his side was great. Memories in the making. Hopefully they come back next year or for prom or something.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Really? Mine tended to be rather boring.

But great timeline. Reagan vs. Kennedy is a matchup I'd like to have seen.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Really? Mine tended to be rather boring.

But great timeline. Reagan vs. Kennedy is a matchup I'd like to have seen.

Thanks! Don't worry, someday this will be updated. Hopefully soon I can quicken this thing up and finish it before I die or graduate.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Eh, that sucks.

My homecomings are generally dumb contemporary pop music, with the main good aspects being socializing and...that's mostly it.

Basically that was it. The high point was a group including me partyboying two girls' white trash (and coincidentally public school, all apologies to good public school kids) boyfriends. Making that one idiot over-react and then having him and his friend threaten to "jump" the leader when the leader had practically the entire gym on his side was great. Memories in the making. Hopefully they come back next year or for prom or something.

Private School is a necessity if you want to avoid being mugged in certain parts of South Florida (including mine)

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Eh, that sucks.

My homecomings are generally dumb contemporary pop music, with the main good aspects being socializing and...that's mostly it.

Basically that was it. The high point was a group including me partyboying two girls' white trash (and coincidentally public school, all apologies to good public school kids) boyfriends. Making that one idiot over-react and then having him and his friend threaten to "jump" the leader when the leader had practically the entire gym on his side was great. Memories in the making. Hopefully they come back next year or for prom or something.

Private School is a necessity if you want to avoid being mugged in certain parts of South Florida (including mine)

Wow. It's that bad? Around here, most of our scum is runoff from Pontiac (entirely non-racial) plus of course the Clarkston (a town near here) middle class white guys who think they're ghetto.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

October 28th, 1980
The final Presidential debate...
    Heinerfeld: Good evening. I'm Ruth Heinerfeld of the League of Women Voters Education Fund. Next Tuesday is Election Day. Before going to the polls, voters want to understand the issues and know the candidates' positions. Tonight, voters will have an opportunity to see and hear the three major candidates for the Presidency state their views on the issues that affect us all. The League of Women Voters is proud to present this Presidential debate. Our moderater is Howard K Smith.
    Smith: Thank you Mrs. Heinerfeld. The League of Women Voters is pleased to welcome to the Cleveland, Ohio Convention Center Music Hall President Bobby Kennedy, the Democratic Party's candidate for re-election to the Presidency, Governor Ronald Reagan of California, the Republican Party's candidate for the Presidency, and Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota, a third party contender. The candidates will debate questions on domestic, economic, foreign policy and national security issues. The questions are going to be posed by a panel of distinguished journalists who are here with me. They are Marvin Stone, the editor of US News and World Report; Harry Ellis, national correspondent of the Christian Science Monitor; William Hilliard, assistant managing editor of the Portland Oregonian; Barbara Walters, correspondent, ABC News. The ground rules for this, as agreed by you gentlemen, are these. Each panelist down here will ask a question, the same question, to all three of the candidates. After the three candidates will answer, a panelist will ask follow-up questions to try to sharpen the answers. The candidates will then have an opportunity each to um, to make a re-buttle. That will constitute the first half of the debate and I will state the rules for the second half later on. In other rules, the candidates are not permitted to bring prepared notes to the podium, but are permitted to make notes during the debate. If the candidates exceed the alloted time agreed on, I will uh, reluctantly but certainly interrupt. We ask the convention center audience here to abide by one rule: please do not applaud or express approval or disapproval during the debated. Now, based on a random picking, Senator McCarthy will respond to the first question, from Marvin Stone.
    Stone: Now, Senator McCarthy, over the past four years, including issues of the Palestinian War, questions over the actions of the CIA, the  reduction in total military spending, the right foreign policy to use, and how America shall face the issues of war and peace in the future, much has come up. Now, you've been quick to toe the Pacifist line, calling for a lack of American intervention in many areas, most notable actions in the Middle East, emerging in 1972. Some have called you in fact too critical of the use of American force, claiming that a sufficient a mount of military strength and action is needed to keep the Soviet Union at bay. What differences do you have with your two other candidates here today?
    McCarthy: First, I’d like to thank the League of Women Voters for arranging this debate. I’d like to thank its membership, our gracious host Mr. Howard K Smith, our panel of journalists here, and of course my campaign and all its workers and volunteers. Addressing the questions, first off, our actions in the Middle East had nothing to do with the Soviet Union! The claim of fighting communism is as outdated and uncreative as my opponents' platforms! What we did in the Middle East, specifically concerning Isreal and Palestine, has been nothing but what seems to be a personal crusade by Spiro Agnew, George Bush, and Bobby Kennedy. Now, that's not to say I don't believe in the use of the military. The military has a very specific niche in our country, and that is defending the Republic, no the empire, the Republic against foreign threats. However, we have been far too willing to lable any given country or people as a threat and send American troops, not just some mindless number of troops, but each person being an individual with one's own life and one's own hopes and dreams in life, into harm's way, and for what? To track down hostage takers in Munich? To supress Democracy in Vietnam? To commit genocide in Cambodia? To be a hostile force in Palestine? No, that is not the role of our military and I believe it is a slap in the face of our nation's military that they should be doing such work. That is the type of practice that I would like to end should I be elected next week.
    Smith: Thank you Senator McCarthy. Mr. Stone, do you have a follow up question for the Senator?
    Stone: Uh... yes. Senator McCarthy, your proposed plan for military spending has been measured to cost this nation what by estimates would amount to over one million jobs, when factoring in economic affects. How do you, someone who has claimed the government has a role in the nation's economy, respond?
    McCarthy: That is merely taking the cuts in military spending to be measured. A large number of resources would be re-directed at very different goals. I do believe the military has a goal, but that goal should also include works like education, housing, and many different approaches to foreign policy than we currently have in our employ. As for the cuts themselves? That money would not only be used in the re-structure and re-assigning of the military, but also in domestic projects as well as in tax cuts for the middle to lower class and deficit reduction. Do you realize how bloated the military budget has become the last twenty years ago? Republicans have been talking about cutting domestic spending mainly as the solution to our deficit problems, but I believe we can devise a different solution.
    Stone: Thank you Senator McCarthy. Now on to you, President Kennedy. You are in a bit of a different spot than Governor Reagan or Senate McCarthy.  You’ve had much to answer for during your term as President; your continuation of the Palestinian War until only a few months ago, your signing of the Global Humanity Accords, the advance of the Soviet Union, the Goldwater-Rumsfeld Act, and others. How do you defend your record, what are the differences between you and the other candidates, and what are your plans for the future?
    Kennedy: I’d like to thank my family for having been there steadfastly for me all these years. My wife, Ethel, our children, and of course my brothers have been indispensable throughout my Presidency. Secondly, I’d like to thank the League of Women’s Voters as well as the moderate, Howard K Smith, for this honor. As for my record on foreign policy? I hardly think that necessitates defending. The Goldwater-Rumsfeld Act, a successful cut of military spending supported by politicians across the political spectrum, has helped to save this nation from further deficit problems, has created a more efficient chain of command, and has created a better military overall. The Global Humanity Accords are the first of many steps towards defusing this war. Once human rights are recognized in the Soviet Union, have we not won? I’d like to think that this has set the course for a better aimed foreign policy following our era of foreign wars. As for the Palestinian War, did I ever promise immediate end? No. I promised an end and have brought it. Today, we are safer, more secure, more efficient, and a better positioned country. I would contest that there is no so-called advance of the Soviet Union. They have stagnated since they realized that they had lost their game of proxy-wars in the seventies, and we needn’t fear the idea that they somehow come back after this.
    Stone: For a follow-up question, could you explain why this country will be safer under you than under either Governor Reagan or Senator McCarthy?
    Kennedy: That’s a simple answer. Under my Administration there has been a realistic foreign policy. We have won the Palestinian War, we have secured human rights behind the Iron Curtain, and we are signing communism into irrelevancy. Under McCarthy, we would’ve been merely a lap dog for the Soviets to coddle as their arm reached across the globe. He has opposed American intervention in every conflict since his political career began. I can not trust a man who opposed American victory in Korea, American victory in Vietnam, and American victory in Palestine, all of which were achieved, from guiding America on a successful path for the future. As for Governor Reagan, I’m afraid we would’ve been led to war long ago under such ideals as scrapping nuclear reduction treaties, failing to make allies with China, and use of nuclear force in the jungles of Vietnam and the mountains of Palestine.    

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

    Stone: Thank you, President Kennedy. Now onto Governor Reagan. What is your vision for the future of the country’s foreign policy, and how does it differ from those of Senator McCarthy and President Kennedy?
    Reagan: First of all, I’d like to thank the City of Cleveland, Ohio, the proprietors of the Cleveland Convention Center Music Hall, my family which has supported me throughout this run, the League of Women’s Voters which has done good work in attempting to bring the candidates to the voters’ homes, our moderate Howard K Smith, the panel of journalists, and of course my fellow candidates for showing up here tonight. My vision for this country’s foreign policy is one where we’re willing to stand up for this nation and stand up to communism. President Kennedy asserts that there has been no surge of the Soviet Union. Apparently he hasn’t been watching the news the last two years. The Soviet Union has launched incursions into both Afghanistan and Algeria. It was only through luck that we didn’t lose Iran to Socialist Revolutionaries. President Kennedy has claimed that I called for, of all things, use of nuclear weaponry in our conflicts with communist insurgents in Indo-China and terrorists in the Middle East. I have never stated such opinions, nor do I hold such opinions. To claim so is utter libel and to think so is utterly wrong. There are many differences between me and Senator McCarthy and they have been made clear throughout this campaign. He stands against war, being a pacifist and one who believes that our war against the Soviets is not worth fighting. I stand for a strong national defense ready to fight Soviet expansionism at every front. As for the differences between me and President Kennedy? I have no idea due to him changing his position on issues so many times. Signing the Declaration of War against Palestine, opposing the war in the 1976 campaign, defending the war throughout 1977 and 1978, agreeing to end the war in 1978 but defending remaining troop levels until their final withdrawal this year. On the issue of nuclear weapons, he has changed as well, going from a severe hawk during his years as his brother’s advisor, to an opponent of continued proliferation during his days in the Senate, to a budget cutter during his years in the Presidency but still a proponent of a strong national defense, and now to this, a foreign policy realist who views the continued spread of nuclear weapons as a threat. Where does President Kennedy stand? If only he knew, then maybe the rest of us would know as well.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Don't worry, there's more to come on the debates.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Oy. Now four people are saying "Hell No!" Why can't you people identify yourselves for once?

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

" "President Kennedy asserts that there has been no surge of the Soviet Union. Apparently he hasn’t been watching the news the last two years. The Soviet Union has launched incursions into both Afghanistan and Algeria. It was only through luck that we didn’t lose Iran to Socialist Revolutionaries." As Reagan mentioned the Soviet surge in Afghanistan, Bobby was immediately shocked. He had been brief on the situation as a candidate, being in fact told how an insurgency against the Soviets was being funded with use of the Mujahideen. Reagan knew this and still publicly persisted that nothing was being done. He was pulling the same thing that Jack had tried on Nixon in 1960! While Jack hadn't won in 1960, he had hit Nixon hard on the issue of Cuba while both knew that a revolutionary force was being prepared by Eisenhower. It was then that Kennedy began to be scared. He had not gone in assuming he'd be able to debate his way out of what Reagan proposed "foolish, hard-right, aggressive super-Conservatism" and what McCarthy proposed "Hard-Left so-called "solutions" that have doomed the party in the past and would in no way work". He knew that both were formidable opponents and had prepared for them rigorously. His experiences with both men, Reagan in a 1967 debate over Vietnam with a British student, and their days in the Senate, and McCarthy in the Senate and while Kennedy was Attorney General, had made him wary of them. However, he hadn't expected Reagan to play dirty. That was it for Bobby, though. He would not be pulling any punches and obvious neither would Reagan.

Meanwhile, in the Kennedy camp backstage, the team was furious. "Damn it!" shouted Shriver from the Kennedy booth. The mention was a minor one. Reagan in fact barely pursued it at all, though it did come up. However, Kennedy's main campaign points had been on foreign policy: the spreading of human rights, the end of the Palestinian War, the reform of the military. The impression that the Kennedy team had been working for throughout the general had been a sense of security. The economy might be down, but it has definitely improved, it is getting better, and thanks to the last four years we are a safer nation thanks to President Kennedy. That had been the message. Afghanistan had definitely been a source of news, and though news over the CIA scandals had been more publicized, American eyes had seen the images of Soviet tanks rolling into the nation. While throughout mid-1980 it was barely in the news as the race heated up and stations grew bored with the story, Reagan had brought images of Afghans being gunned down by Russian helicopters flooding back into viewers' heads and that was what Kennedy and Jack and Shriver and all the others were worried about.

Jack sat back in his seat as he looked on with near complete apathy. It was obvious to many he was going. "Bobby can do it. He's done it in the past" rasped the former President. [Attorney General] Gary Hart just paced, his gaze shifting between the floor and the monitors. Ethel sat in silence as she usually seemed to do in such situations. As Reagan finished up his response with the words "Where does President Kennedy stand? If only he knew, then maybe the rest of us would know as well.", Jack bolted out of his chair. "Bobby knows exactly where he stands, Mr. Reagan! It's you who doesn't seem to understand foreign policy here!" The former President eased back into his seat with an obviously frustrated look.

In the Reagan booth, [manager William J] Casey, was joyous. Reagan had hit Kennedy hard. Buchanan was giving his typical wicked grin. [Karl} Rove, ever the historian, sat at his chair in the back frantically taking notes. It seemed like Reagan was winning round one. The McCarthy camp seemed content. Gravel sat back in his chair, his expression a mix of anger at what the other candidates said, with a hint of a smile saying that he was pleased with Gene's performance thus far. [campaign manager] La Donna Harris, herself a political activist as well as used to the tension of politics following her years as the wife of Senate Fred Harris, was calm, though she would continually rummage through notes as the debate proceeded. It wasn't going to be a short night."

-Veil: The Presidency of Bobby Kennedy, Bob Woodward, (c) 1988