I know the point Beck says he is trying to make that at least partly covers up his own self interest. [As an aside, I like some of what Beck does on the air as with Limbaugh, Hannity, Levin etc.]
As for the Reagan arguement, the American public liked Reagan. He had residual good will with the public from his acting days. He seemed like a good guy. [The public knows that it does not know what issues will arise in the next four years and thus generally goes with the candidate that seems like a good guy with common sense.] Reagan likely would have won in 1980 whether it was against Carter or it was open with Ford retiring. After running a centerist in 1976, the Dims likely would have run a hard lefty in 1980. Reagan would have mopped the floor with whomever it was.
And as a bonus, had the Dims not won with Carter in 1980, they might have been willing to go with another unknown Dim govenor in 1992 and we might have been spared turning the White House being taken over by trailer trash.
Why would Ford have retired? Wouldn’t he have just run again for his 2nd term? I’m pretty sure he would have been allowed to as you’re allowed to run for two terms and since he filled out 1/2 of Nixon’s he still would have been eligible.
Even if he didn’t, I’d think Dole as the VP would have been in good shape.
And while no one knows what would have happened from 77-80 if Ford had won, if we assu,e the same things happened(the Iran hostage crisis, the bad economy, high infaltion, gas lines, etc...)it would have been very difficult for any Republican to win. A win in 1980 would have been 4 straight wins for the GOP, which would have been extremely difficult given all that had happened. Who knows, though.
Maybe after Carter lost in 76 and suffering 3 straight defeats the dems would have turned back to the glory days of Camelot and Teddy would have won in 80 as the public got fed up with a decade of GOP rule.
All interesting things to ponder.