Posted on 11/20/2003 1:18:46 PM PST by .cnI redruM
DURHAM - Always an advocate for public transportation, Michael Dukakis rode a bus to the state for his address to a political science class at the University of New Hampshire.
"I’m a somewhat obsessively transit-oriented guy," Dukakis said. "I wish the Amtrak ran faster and more frequently."
Dukakis, who won the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 1988, gave the class a personal account of his campaign more than a decade ago.
"If I knew anything about presidential politics, I’d be here in a different capacity," Dukakis joked.
His talk capped a semester of speakers who have addressed the class on political issues surrounding the New Hampshire Primary.
"It’s a been a unique experience to the students," said assistant professor Mark Wrighton. "We’ve done very little lecturing. We’ve put our efforts into bringing to class firsthand experiences with the primary."
Dukakis said he never considered running for the presidency while serving as governor of Massachusetts. Not until the Iran-Contra scandal, which sent him off and running.
He said he asked himself if he were elected president, could he do the job?
"Anyone who doesn’t ask themselves that question is a fool," Dukakis said. "Either that or you have to have a supreme ego or something."
Dukakis discussed the grassroots network he believes was an integral part of his winning the nomination.
He had more than 70,000 contributors who knocked on doors and helped drum up support. Dukakis said those people "put a face on my campaign."
Now, he said, there’s not enough time for the people to get to know candidates. He asked the class to take responsibility and become involved.
"I hope every single one of you do your damnedest to be deeply involved in this business at the local, state and national level or all three," Dukakis said. "Don’t let anyone tell you can’t do it. I don’t know if there’s anything more important than helping fellow citizens."
The former governor was not shy about sharing why he thinks he lost the election. He said he had not developed a strategy to deal with attacks from the Bush campaign.
"I ran into a bit of a buzz saw," Dukakis said.
He said he dropped eight points in one week after Bush allegedly had President Reagan refer to Dukakis as an "invalid." Dukakis said he hopes the current Democratic candidates are ready for similar encounters.
"Whoever the Democratic nominee will, in my judgment, be subjected to a brutal attack campaign by Bush," Dukakis said. "This is the worst national administration I’ve ever lived under, bar none. I want this guy out of there."
Dukakis discussed the ins and outs of being in the national spotlight.
"It gets a little crazy," Dukakis said. "(The Democratic hopefuls) have already said every speech they’re ever going to say. They have to come up with interesting ways to say the same stuff. And then, how about a year from now?"
Dukakis said the tight security made him feel as though he were "in a box he couldn’t get out of." As governor, he was able to drive his car to work and shop down the street.
"Once you sign up with the Secret Service, you’re suddenly surrounded," Dukakis said. "I’d bring (the Secret Service) in the grocery store aisles. I’m looking for the specials and they don’t know what’s going on."
Dukakis shook hands with many students before heading back to Massachusetts, where he teaches at Northeastern University.
That's only because YOU were never elected.
If you want to know why Dukakis lost the election, then read The Quest for the Presidency: The 1988 Campaign by Newsweek reporters Peter Goldman and Tom Matthews. They document what must have been the most inept major party presidential campaign in recent history. It's really striking how poorly the Dukakis campaign was run.
He said he dropped eight points in one week after Bush allegedly had President Reagan refer to Dukakis as an "invalid."
Oddly enough, the aforementioned book made no mention of this comment that supposedly caused Dukakis to drop 8 points in a week.
Tanks for the memories.
Was that his boast about how he was a "card-carrying memeber of the ACLU"?
The first and only true thing he's said in years. Gratefully, he didn't.
Dukakis said he never considered running for the presidency while serving as governor of Massachusetts.
And then back to the lies. Check his record, every move he made was towards mainstreaming his image. Back when Gillette wanted to build in the Blue Hills, he had lost the Governorship and wanted back in, so he promised those opposing the Gillette plant if they'd help get him elected again, he'd declare it a state Historic Landmark. They did. And he signed off on Gillette building. When asked why he betrayed those who helped support him and get him in office, he said he had no choice, because he couldn't afford to have an image of opposing business if he wanted to be elected. But you've already been elected they said. He ducked out of the room when someone asked if he was referring to the Presidency.
"Whoever the Democratic nominee will, in my judgment, be subjected to a brutal attack campaign by Bush."
Don't bring a banana to a knife fight, PeeWee. Dukakis is a lying sad sack of sh**, IMHO.
No, that one was discussed in the book. But in this article, Dukakis says he dropped 8 points in one week after Bush had Reagan refer to Dukakis as an invalid. If that comment was so momentous as to cause Dukakis to drop in the polls, I think it would have been discussed in the Newsweek book about the campaign that I mentioned in post #3(the book is pretty detailed, especially with regards to poll movements). The "invalid" comment is not even mentioned in its 430 pages. Seems like revisionist history on the part of Mr. Dukakis to me.
"I mean, Bush's giving people their tax money back and everything", Dukakis whined.
It's a big reason why he lost by over 290,000 in Michigan.
Interestingly, if you read about and follow campaigns, you find that maybe 1 out of every 20 campaigns (if that) are actually well run. Even winners don't always run a good campaign. Presidential campaigns are almost always run ineptly. It is just very difficult to get the right set of personalities together to fashion the message, raise the money, and plan the events. And often the candidate for a given office has no idea why they want to run, other than they think they are swell, and figure everyone else should get the chance to enjoy them too.
Are you sure he hasn't done that already? ;)
Crazy
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