Who was the best of recent failed Republican presidential nominees?
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  Who was the best of recent failed Republican presidential nominees?
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Poll
Question: Who was the best of recent failed Republican presidential nominees?
#1
Mitt Romney
#2
John McCain
#3
Bob Dole
#4
Barry Goldwater
#5
Thomas Dewey
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Author Topic: Who was the best of recent failed Republican presidential nominees?  (Read 3840 times)
Mister Mets
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« Reply #25 on: August 03, 2014, 10:08:31 PM »

I legitimately believe that McCain is the best presidential candidate of either major party since Eisenhower. He had the ideal philosophy (a Republican who sometimes disagreed with the party) and a decent understanding of Washington.

I don't know if Goldwater would have been able to govern, but the rest would likely have been solid Presidents.

Hah!
It's process of elimination.

I'm a Republican, so I'm not inclined to believe the best presidential candidate in the last 50+ years has been one of the eleven Democrats.

Nixon's character flaws are well-known. Goldwater never had to govern, and gets a lot of credit for the work of cowriter L. Brent Bozell Jr. Ford was kinda bland. The Bushes had their problems. Dole cried at Nixon's funeral. Romney was out of touch.

That leaves Reagan, a fine President but still a man with serious flaws (Iran-Contra.)

In that crowd, McCain's problems aren't as significant. And I'm more simpatico with his generally conservative but sometimes independent political positions than with any other President/ candidate.
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Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas
Ray Goldfield
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« Reply #26 on: August 03, 2014, 10:18:32 PM »

I legitimately believe that McCain is the best presidential candidate of either major party since Eisenhower. He had the ideal philosophy (a Republican who sometimes disagreed with the party) and a decent understanding of Washington.

I don't know if Goldwater would have been able to govern, but the rest would likely have been solid Presidents.

Yep. He was a fantastic candidate who ran in the wrong year and then made some serious blunders as things went against him. But he's far better than Romney (blew it due to his personality problems, never really seemed to want it) and Goldwater (never really in the mix). Dole was a great Senator and a mediocre candidate.

I don't know enough about Dewey to say.
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Blue3
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« Reply #27 on: August 04, 2014, 12:34:21 PM »

Have to ask: what's so appealing about Dewey? He was an empty suit candidate.

A little surprised Dole is second too.
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HagridOfTheDeep
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« Reply #28 on: August 06, 2014, 04:12:27 AM »

I don't know how anyone who lived through the 2008 presidential campaign could argue that McCain wasn't one of the worst major party presidential nominees in modern American history.

Romney's campaign is rightly criticized, too, but at least the candidate didn't come across as unhinged and incapable.

You're judging how good they are at politics. I'm judging how good they are, period.
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Paul Kemp
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« Reply #29 on: August 06, 2014, 09:49:29 AM »

The above debate is proof that these polls are very dumb.
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pbrower2a
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« Reply #30 on: August 06, 2014, 04:45:55 PM »

Bob Dole was simply past-prime when he was finally nominated.

Would he have been a better President than Nixon, Ford, Carter, or Reagan? Maybe. He did have a pugnacious streak, but he could probably modulate that when such was necessary. I can only imagine what promises he made to Mikhail Gorbachev after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.



     
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