How much would Dukakis have won by if not for the media's bias?

[Bandit3 the Worker]

I've agonized about this since the day of the 1988 election.

I don't feel like making a map, but I think he would have won by even more than Clinton did. He did have an 18-point lead during the summer, before the Repub Noise Machine kicked in.

Strange how the media seldom reported the fact that the furlough program was begun by a Republican, and Dukakis was the one who abolished it. These facts run completely contrary to the "official" version of things that was spread around so effectively.

I think if the media had played fair, he would have won Kentucky and Ohio surely, plus most other states that Clinton won in '92, and quite possibly even a state like South Dakota. Locally, though, I don't think he would have won my home county (Campbell, KY). (Campbell County was kind of like Bushbot Central back then.)

Dukakis. A decent guy.

[Alcon]

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

[memphis]

Dukakis should have emphasized Iran-Contra more.  The Democrats never go for the throat the way the Republicans do.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Dukakis should have emphasized Iran-Contra more.  The Democrats never go for the throat the way the Republicans do.

Exactly. They need to wake up to the fact that negative campaigns win. And, unlike the Republicans, the Democrats have the facts on their side.

[J. J.]

IIRC, this was Dukakis Campaign photo opportunity.

[Alcon]

IIRC, this was Dukakis Campaign photo opportunity.

Exactly.

He made his own news.

[muon2]

Campaign management is critical for both the primary and general election, as jfern's Doonesbury sequence points out. Dukakis spent a great deal of organzation to win the Democratic nomination in a large field, but didn't make the same investment in the general, which is a very different race.

As a resident of MA through much of the 80's, I have found it interesting that the more convservative of the MA governing pair (Dukakis) was paineted as more liberal than his ostensibly more liberal Lt Gov (Kerry) in 2004. Again, this goes directly to campaign management.

[PBrunsel]

Nothing could have saved Dukakis from himself.

[minionofmidas]

Dukakis should have emphasized Iran-Contra more.  The Democrats never go for the throat the way the Republicans do.

Exactly. They need to wake up to the fact that negative campaigns win. And, unlike the Republicans, the Democrats have the facts on their side.

Negative campaigns don't work when you have the facts on your side.

[Storebought]

The fact that he told Bernard Shaw that he wouldn't retaliate if a thug raped his own wife pretty much sealed his fate.

[© tweed]

The fact that he told Bernard Shaw that he wouldn't retaliate if a thug raped his own wife pretty much sealed his fate.

Life in prison without parole isn't 'retaliation'?

[Bandit3 the Worker]

The fact that he told Bernard Shaw that he wouldn't retaliate if a thug raped his own wife pretty much sealed his fate.

He never said this!

[J. J.]

The fact that he told Bernard Shaw that he wouldn't retaliate if a thug raped his own wife pretty much sealed his fate.

He never said this!

To paraphrase the question, he responded, passionless, that he would not favor the death penalty for someone who raped and killed his wife. 

[Gabu]

The fact that he told Bernard Shaw that he wouldn't retaliate if a thug raped his own wife pretty much sealed his fate.

He never said this!

To paraphrase the question, he responded, passionless, that he would not favor the death penalty for someone who raped and killed his wife. 

That's kind of different than saying that he wouldn't retaliate.

It was an extremely unfair question, in my mind.  Any candidate who didn't look shocked and then exclaim "I would have killed the bastard right there myself!" would have inevitably looked bad.  Granted, Dukakis looked about as bad as anyone possibly could have in his response to the question, but I still maintain that it was extremely unfair.  It would have been, quite simply, impossible for an anti-death penalty candidate to answer the question in a way that would not make him appear either as an uncompassionate monster or as an inconsistent waffler.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

To paraphrase the question, he responded, passionless, that he would not favor the death penalty for someone who raped and killed his wife. 

That's called integrity.

[J. J.]

To paraphrase the question, he responded, passionless, that he would not favor the death penalty for someone who raped and killed his wife. 

That's called integrity.

That's called being a robot.  He didn't say, "I'd like to strangle the guy, but wouldn't."  He came off, as described at the time, as "the Ice Man."  GHW Bush came off as being normal.

The Dukakis campaign of 1988 was possibly one of three worse campaigns since 1940.  Even Dewey's 1948 campaign was better. 

[dazzleman]

Dukakis played right into the hands of the Bush campaign.

It's true he didn't initiate that idiotic furlough program.   A previous RINO governor did that.  But he defended it initially, and that's all that was required.  It played into many people's pre-conceived, and largely accurate, notions about Massachusetts liberals who favor the rights of violent criminals over those of innocent law-abiding citizens.

What sense does it make to have an UNSUPERVISED furlough program for prisoners who are supposed to be serving life sentences?  If that isn't hare-brained, I don't know what is.

Dukakis didn't really want to be president.  That was the bottom line.  I imagine that a lot of personal problems popped up during the campaign (witness what happened shortly afterwards with his wife Kitty) and his heart just wasn't in it.  I wonder how much of an impact his wife's problems had on his state of mind during the campaign.  This is something that hasn't really been talked about.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

What sense does it make to have an UNSUPERVISED furlough program for prisoners who are supposed to be serving life sentences?  If that isn't hare-brained, I don't know what is.

To repeat, it was Dukakis who got rid of the furlough program.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Granted, Dukakis looked about as bad as anyone possibly could have in his response to the question, but I still maintain that it was extremely unfair.

It was such an incredibly idiotic question that I could hardly even pay any attention to what his answer was.

[dazzleman]

What sense does it make to have an UNSUPERVISED furlough program for prisoners who are supposed to be serving life sentences?  If that isn't hare-brained, I don't know what is.

To repeat, it was Dukakis who got rid of the furlough program.

Then why didn't he say, "VP Bush, you are absolutely correct regarding the absurdity of the furlough program, the was put in place by my Republican predecessor.  As soon as I realized what a ridiculous policy we had in place, I got rid of it."  Instead, he defended the furlough program.

[MasterJedi]

What sense does it make to have an UNSUPERVISED furlough program for prisoners who are supposed to be serving life sentences?  If that isn't hare-brained, I don't know what is.

To repeat, it was Dukakis who got rid of the furlough program.

Then why didn't he say, "VP Bush, you are absolutely correct regarding the absurdity of the furlough program, the was put in place by my Republican predecessor.  As soon as I realized what a ridiculous policy we had in place, I got rid of it."  Instead, he defended the furlough program.

Because it's bandit logic.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Because it's bandit logic.

At least it's not TOMMY THOMPSON logic.

[MasterJedi]

Because it's bandit logic.

At least it's not TOMMY THOMPSON logic.

Was that supposed to make me mad?

[Alcon]

Granted, Dukakis looked about as bad as anyone possibly could have in his response to the question, but I still maintain that it was extremely unfair.

It was such an incredibly idiotic question that I could hardly even pay any attention to what his answer was.

Sorry, Bandit, but in politics, issues aren't always what win.  Both parties have skated solely on personality and the other party's bumbling.