Would Lloyd Bentsen Be a Republican Today?
       |           

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
March 29, 2024, 09:46:52 AM
News: Election Simulator 2.0 Released. Senate/Gubernatorial maps, proportional electoral votes, and more - Read more

  Talk Elections
  General Politics
  U.S. General Discussion (Moderators: The Dowager Mod, Chancellor Tanterterg)
  Would Lloyd Bentsen Be a Republican Today?
« previous next »
Pages: [1]
Poll
Question: ?
#1
Yes
 
#2
No
 
Show Pie Chart
Partisan results

Total Voters: 40

Author Topic: Would Lloyd Bentsen Be a Republican Today?  (Read 757 times)
Free Bird
TheHawk
Junior Chimp
*****
Posts: 5,918
United States


Political Matrix
E: 0.84, S: -5.48

Show only this user's posts in this thread
« on: August 17, 2016, 11:16:57 AM »
« edited: August 17, 2016, 11:19:42 AM by FreePhoenix »

If Lloyd Bentsen was just getting into politics today, with the exact same views, would he be a Republican? I am inclined to think maybe so.
Logged
Bismarck
Chancellor
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 3,344


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #1 on: August 17, 2016, 11:48:31 AM »

I think so. I read John Meacham's biography  of Bush 41 recently and he compared Bentsen's primary of Ralph Yarborough to Nixon's southern strategy.
Logged
RINO Tom
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 17,002
United States


Political Matrix
E: 2.45, S: -0.52

Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #2 on: August 17, 2016, 02:40:09 PM »

No.
Logged
Antonio the Sixth
Antonio V
Atlas Institution
*****
Posts: 57,965
United States


Political Matrix
E: -7.87, S: -3.83

P P
Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #3 on: August 17, 2016, 03:54:59 PM »

Logged
RFayette
Junior Chimp
*****
Posts: 9,952
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #4 on: August 17, 2016, 03:56:53 PM »

No, but like most politicians, he may have shifted his views as an opportunist and become a Republican to gain statewide office.
Logged
Maxwell
mah519
Atlas Star
*****
Posts: 28,459
Germany


Political Matrix
E: -6.45, S: -6.96

Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #5 on: August 17, 2016, 04:25:31 PM »

of course not
Logged
TDAS04
Atlas Star
*****
Posts: 23,475
Bhutan


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #6 on: August 17, 2016, 05:20:55 PM »

Nope.
Logged
angus
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 17,423
Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #7 on: August 17, 2016, 07:12:20 PM »
« Edited: August 17, 2016, 07:40:52 PM by angus »

If Lloyd Bentsen was just getting into politics today, with the exact same views, would he be a Republican?

I met Lloyd Bentsen, back in 1988.  I shook his hand--he had the softest hands I had ever felt in my life--and I had lunch with him and an actor named Rob Lowe, who was very popular at the time.  Rob Lowe was clearly high on cocaine, but then so was I so I shouldn't complain.  They were campaigning for Michael Dukakis and in the evening I introduced him at a student rally to about 500 students.  Very exciting, it was.  Bentsen and Lowe both talked quite a bit about middle class values and opposition to the trickle-down policy that was called "reaganomics" at that time.

I think Lloyd Bentsen was tired already by 1988, and certainly by 1993 when he volunteered to resign as T-man-in-chief after the David Koresh cult fiasco, which not his fault.  He may not have had a genuine interest in serving as Dukakis' VP in 1988--none of us expected Bush to lose--but he did not disagree with his party's platform at that time, and I don't think he would generally disagree with it now.  He was in opposition to Bush's agenda, or so he told us, and I assume that he disagreed with Bush's son in later years.  I do not know what he might make of The Donald.  Not much, probably.  

Just before the vote to authorize the use of force against Iraq in 1991, I wrote him a letter asking him to oppose it.  He wrote me back and said that he did oppose it.  Unlike the 2003 operation in Iraq, the 1991 operation was highly controversial.  It passed in the senate, but it passed by 52-48, so it wasn't so lopsided as it was in 2003.  Bentsen was one of those who opposed the operation.  (FWIW, I wrote to Dianne Feinstein in 2003 about that second Iraq war, but unlike Bentsen in 1988, she was perfectly okay with the Iraq invasion.  At least she wrote me back, which is more than I can say for my other senator at the time, Barbara Boxer, who did vote the way I would have, but whose discourtesy of ignoring my letter really put me off.  To this day I respect Feinstein more than Boxer, for that reason.) 

Anyway, I voted no in this poll.  I don't have much respect for the Democrats or the Republicans, but I do respect some of the members of those parties, and Bentsen genuinely struck me as fairly ideologically consistent.  He was a Democrat in 1988.  I don't know what he'd be now, but my suspicion is that an old man is already pretty set in his ways, so the values he held in 1988 would likely be the values he would hold today, so it's really hard to imagine him being a Republican now.

Logged
Santander
Atlas Star
*****
Posts: 27,854
United Kingdom


Political Matrix
E: 4.00, S: 2.61


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #8 on: August 17, 2016, 07:16:19 PM »

Possibly.
Logged
Heisenberg
SecureAmerica
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 3,110
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #9 on: August 17, 2016, 10:23:49 PM »

From what I heard he moved to the left on economics throughout his career. The long post by Angus sums it up well. He was also strongly pro choice and voted against both Bork and Thomas. So no.
Logged
Pages: [1]  
« previous next »
Jump to:  


Login with username, password and session length

Terms of Service - DMCA Agent and Policy - Privacy Policy and Cookies

Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines

Page created in 0.03 seconds with 14 queries.