Why? Afterall, Pataki promised lower taxes too, which in NYS is like promising many voters that they can haul their own trash to the dump each week given how liberal many of them are. They'll try to tell ya that it was lower taxes, but the reason was the speed limit issue that Cuomo refused to move to 65 from 55.
Either way, it helped Pataki win the election easily.
So too can a viable 3PC win this next election. I truly believe that there are more than enough voters that are PO'd enough to tell most of Congress to go screw themselves and to take a chance on a decent 3PC.
Perot, a complete fool, ran and took an enormous portion of the vote in an election with a minute fraction of the serious high-profile issues that will exist in '08. This fall is another matter. I don't think voters are happy with the GOP, but I think they're even less happy with the Dims/libs. It should be interesting.
"Perot, a complete fool, ran and took an enormous portion of the vote in an election with a minute fraction of the serious high-profile issues that will exist in '08."
Perot was a "Complete fool"?
Uh, no, he was not.
Perot came from nothing and nowhere, but he got himself into Annapolis - no mean feat in itself - and then built EDS into a multi-billion dollar company. He was the CEO of General Motors and, from nothing, made himself $4 billion dollars. He still runs successful major businesses. Perot is a smarter businessman than Cheney, Bush, or any of the business elite that surround them. He's no fool.
Additionally, Perot is extremely loyal. Americans were taken hostage by the Iranians, and the American President dithered, then presided over a botched rescue attempt. Perot went and hired his own operatives, sent them into Iran and got his people out. That's bold, and loyal.
Perot is not a fool at all.
He sounded cranky when he was running, but remember that both political machines were after him. He was dangerous to them. Why was he a fool? For pointing out that the government was broken, in debt, and corrupt, and the borders were out of control? That's actually true.
Because he said that Republican operatives threatened to disrupt his daughter's wedding? Well, Republican operatives push polled about McCain's "illegitimate black child" (actually, she was ADOPTED by the McCain's) down in South Carolina, so Perot's allegations that there were threats of nasty revelations are not unbelievable.
Maybe Perot shouldn't have been President of the United States, but FOOL? No, Ross Perot is one of the most brilliant businessmen in the world - that is how a man born poor ends up with $4 billion dollars. Fools don't get into Annapolis and serve honorably as Naval Officers. (Jimmy Carter's also a USNA grad; he was a weak President and has been a worse ex-President, but he's certainly not a fool.) And Perot was more loyal to his employees, and more effective at getting them out, than the United States government and military under Jimmy Carter were towards US personnel.
Ross Perot is an honorable man, a smart man, and one of the greatest businessmen of the 20th Century. You disagree with his politics, and one is permitted to dislike him temperament, but fool? No. Perot is no fool.
"Eagles don't flock. You have to find them one at a time." - Ross Perot.