Political cartoons are great, there's something about them that is just so American!
Posted on 09/25/2010 10:28:49 PM PDT by smoothsailing
September 26, 2010
By Michael M. Bates
On September 26, 1960, Senator John Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon appeared in the first of what came to be called the Great Debates. How great they truly were is subject to dispute. But there's no doubt they altered American politics permanently.
Kennedy looked tanned and rested, while Nixon had been ill and appeared fatigued. The Republican turned down an offer of stage makeup. That may have determined the future of the Nation.
Out of about 180 million citizens, 70 million watched that debate. Many believed Kennedy won decisively. It didn't matter that sometimes JFK's words made little sense:
"Well, I would say in the latter that the — and that's what I found uh — somewhat unsatisfactory about the figures uh — Mr. Nixon, that you used in your previous speech, when you talked about the Truman Administration. You — Mr. Truman came to office in nineteen uh — forty-four and at the end of the war, and uh — difficulties that were facing the United States during that period of transition — 1946 when price controls were lifted — so it's rather difficult to use an overall figure taking those seven and a half years and comparing them to the last eight years. I prefer to take the overall percentage record of the last twenty years of the Democrats and the eight years of the Republicans to show an overall period of growth. . . I am chairman of the subcommittee on Africa and I think that one of the most unfortunate phases of our policy towards that country was the very minute number of exchanges that we had. I think it's true of Latin America also. We did come forward with a program of students for the Congo of over three hundred which was more than the federal government had for all of Africa the previous year, so that I don't think that uh — we have moved at least in those two areas with sufficient vigor."
This meandering mess has at least two factual errors. Truman became president in 1945, not 1944, and Africa isn't a country.
Yet it made little difference. John Kennedy looked like he knew what he was talking about, and that was adequate. Historian Daniel J. Boorstin likened the 1960 debates to the quiz shows that were popular at the time:
"These four programs, pompously and self-righteously advertised by the broadcast networks, were remarkably successful in reducing great national issues to trivial dimensions. With appropriate vulgarity, they might have been called the $400,000 Question (Prize: a $100,000-a-year job for four years)."
The next presidential debates happened when, far behind in the polls, President Ford challenged Jimmy Carter to them in 1976. At one meeting, Ford claimed: "There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe . . ." That patently inaccurate statement would haunt him as he lost an extremely tight contest.
Carter avoided serious mistakes with 1980 opponent Ronald Reagan. Still, even the president's partisans must have scratched their heads when he talked about nuclear weapons and ended with, "I had a discussion with my daughter, Amy, the other day, before I came here, to ask her what the most important issue was . . ."
Four years later Democrats hoped for a major Reagan gaffe in his two encounters with Walter Mondale, but it didn't happen. President Reagan edged out the Minnesotan 49 states to one.
In 1988, a turning point in Democrat Michael Dukakis's campaign came during a debate with George Bush. CNN's Bernard Shaw asked, "Governor, if Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?"
Showing no emotion, Dukakis answered: "No, I don't, Bernard, and I think you know that I've opposed the death penalty during all of my life. I don't see any evidence that it's a deterrent, and I think there are better and more effective ways to deal with violent crime." Oops. Bye, bye, Mikey.
Candidates in 1992's debates steered clear of major blunders. One memorable instance occurred when a thirty-something man in the audience inquired of the candidates: "And I ask the three of you, how can we, as symbolically the children of the future president, expect the two of you, the three of you, to meet our needs . . ."
We have indeed been reduced to a people needing to be coddled, protected, taken care of, patronized and patted on the butt. In a country in which a third of us can't identify even one of the three Federal branches, it's no wonder presidential debates take on significance far beyond their genuine worth.
So now we sit there, watching presidential debates, waiting to see who can promise us the most as candidates regurgitate their best sound bites. Get out the popcorn for sixty or ninety minutes of scripted theatrics appealing to greed and stupidity, not necessarily in that order. Then the talking heads are trotted out to tell us what we just heard and if any of the candidates made a big mistake.
It's superficial, shallow and foolish. It's what we expect in presidential debates; the contenders don't disappoint. And Kennedy and Nixon started it all, 50 years ago.
© Michael M. Bates
Those were great debates. There was no minute and a half, minute to rebut crap. They’re opening statements were each eight minutes long and both were very articulate. No notes, no teleprompters.
The Six Day War occurred in 1967- Nixon wasn’t sworn in as POTUS until 1/69.
But you can’t have a debate with a Liberal Democrat today. They don’t even know what issues and ideas are. All they know is character assassination.
Bull. Instead of minor strife, he allowed the cancer to progress until removal will be fatal (which is where we are now).
Yom Kippur..all I can attribute that error to is late evening. So sorry.
Yes..thank you. Embarrassed here. It was late and I was focused on the philosphy of both Kennedy & Nixon.
Nixon also knew that the uninformed American people don’t like being “second guessed”, would call him a “sore loser”, and he could not again be nominated had he tried to challenge the outcome. Plus, Austin, Springfield, and Jefferson City would have rebuffed Nixon’s attempts to get a correct total in those three corrupt states.
Good point, and Julie Nixon Eisenhower “came out” with the real Nixon views in her 2008 endorsement of the Democratic ticket. After all the Repub lican Party had done for her family for so long
I wish that I had voted for Lester Maddox in 1976 instead of Gerald Rudolph.
Of course, Maddox was tainted with the racist tag, but he claimed to have been a defender of private property, and he did tell the truth about GA Jimmuh.
Anyone who is a fan of the Kennedy Klan needs to have their head examined...just make sure Papa Joe isn't around or you'll end up a lobotomized vegetable. Assuming, that is, that Papa Joe isn't busy sucking up to the Third Reich or running the family bootlegging business...
And that's just the tip of the iceberg only for the father.
Tell me again how this collection of trash hasn't been tried, convicted and summarily executed, with their illegally obtained assets reverting back to the people?
Honestly, I have more respect for the common crack dealer or pimp than a Kennedy.
***70 million watched that debate. Many believed Kennedy won decisively.***
Only on TV! Those who heard the debate on radio said Nixon won hands down! On TV, Nixon LOOKED TERRIBLE and that is what influenced the voters!
***”I had a discussion with my daughter, Amy, the other day, before I came here,...”***
When Carter said this, I knew he had lost it!
Years later it was said Reagan managed to get a copy of Carter’s debate points before the debate. A political cartoon showed the debate with Reagan saying...”I had a discussion with my daughter, Amy...” and Carter saying...”HEY! THAT’S MY LINE!”
That year was a write in for me: Ronald Reagan for pres, Jesse Helms for VP.
Yes, he was prez during the Yom Kippur War, you’re right about that.
Political cartoons are great, there's something about them that is just so American!
I would disagree strongly with that.
The first Kennedy-Nixon debate video is available on YouTube in its entirety (concentrating on domestic policy) and I watched it yesterday. You can see that Kennedy made no bones about the fact that he was a Democrat in the tradition of Wilson, FDR, and Truman. The domestic debate included federal aid to education, where Kennedy favored federal subsidizing of teachers' salaries, which Nixon opposed on the ground that would lead to government control of students' thinking. Nixon emphasized that there would be significantly less total federal spending under himself than under Kennedy. Then there were differences on health insurance for "old people" (the terms "seniors" and "senior citizens" had not yet entered the political vocabulary): Kennedy touted what eventually became Medicare and claimed that it would be funded by increasing the Social Security tax, while Nixon favored a voluntary health insurance plan with more choices.
Kennedy mentioned nothing about the tax cuts that his administration later pushed to revive the economy.
The main theme was whether or not the country was doing well enough under the Eisenhower administration in which Nixon was the VP for two terms.
If any of you have an hour to spare, I'd recommend watching it. What's striking is that quite a bit of the discussion still has relevance today.
I agree, the stolen election changed America forever for the worst. Besides the immense damage the Kennedys have wrought on us, Clinton got his inspiration for politics from JFK. And didn’t the Kennedys help usher Obama’s alleged father as an exchange student from Africa?
If there had been one guy who should’ve been sterilized, it was old man Joe Kennedy.
Why don’t you look at the facts, not the marketing mumbo jumbo. Nixon was a commie-cuddling, pinko-lover, while JFK was tough on communism. JFK cut taxes, while Nixon never met a social program he couldn’t grow exponentially. Nixon also love government regulation to an unprecedented amount. If this sounds like conservatism to you, you’ve been reading too many David Brooks columns.
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