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Dukakis and the Tank. . .The inside story of the worst campaign photo op ever.
Politico ^ | November 17, 2013 | By Josh King

Posted on 11/19/2013 12:35:32 PM PST by Brad from Tennessee

Matt Bennett can still hear the reporters laughing, all 90 of them. He can still picture Sam Donaldson doubled over, guffawing, on a riser that looked out over a dusty field in suburban Detroit. Bennett was a 23-year-old political rookie in 1988 when he was sent to a General Dynamics facility in Sterling Heights, Mich., to organize a campaign stop for Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis: a ride in a 68-ton M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank. The visit, meant to bolster the candidate’s credibility as a future commander-in-chief, would go down as one of the worst campaign backfires in history.

Following the event, after the reporters’ laughter subsided and Dukakis’s entourage was preparing to leave, one of the candidate’s traveling aides approached Bennett. “Nice event, Matt” he deadpanned. “It may have cost us the election. But beside that, it was great.”

Dukakis and the tank. The image of the diminutive Massachusetts governor pretending to be something he wasn’t and, in the process, making a fool of himself on Sept. 13, 1988, has haunted me, as it has every other advance person who has been entrusted—for a few hours or even a few minutes—with a candidate’s fate.

Like Bennett, I too worked on the Dukakis campaign, and we went on to serve together in the Clinton White House. I sat in countless meetings in which some smartass warned that a stop on the president’s schedule had the makings of a “Dukakis in the tank moment.” The caution usually came when some type of costume was involved, and the tank ride is still to this day invoked anytime politicians decline to put hats on their heads—as President Obama did earlier this year when he was handed a Navy football helmet but refused to try it on. . .

(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: dukakis; dukakis1988; jumpedtheshark; massachusettsmiracle; smokeandmirrors
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Very lengthy article about political imaging.
1 posted on 11/19/2013 12:35:32 PM PST by Brad from Tennessee
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To: Brad from Tennessee

2 posted on 11/19/2013 12:37:53 PM PST by FReepaholic (Stupidity is not a crime, so you're free to go.)
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To: Brad from Tennessee
 photo Kerryinbunnysuit_zps8a115c05.jpg
3 posted on 11/19/2013 12:38:31 PM PST by Zeneta
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To: FReepaholic

Hah. Beat me to it. GMTA.


4 posted on 11/19/2013 12:38:58 PM PST by Responsibility2nd (NO LIBS. This Means Liberals and (L)libertarians! Same Thing. NO LIBS!!)
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To: Zeneta

Mine’s bigger. :p


5 posted on 11/19/2013 12:39:20 PM PST by FReepaholic (Stupidity is not a crime, so you're free to go.)
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To: Brad from Tennessee; Revolting cat!

Next we’ll learn that Olympia Dukakis only won the Oscar because of political connections.


6 posted on 11/19/2013 12:39:40 PM PST by a fool in paradise (America 2013 - STUCK ON STUPID)
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To: Brad from Tennessee

7 posted on 11/19/2013 12:39:46 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (Who knew that one day professional wrestling would be less fake than professional journalism?)
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To: FReepaholic
Thanks for the memories. Your graphic easily beats the Dukakis/tank image for loonyness.
8 posted on 11/19/2013 12:41:04 PM PST by Brad from Tennessee (A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)
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To: Zeneta

9 posted on 11/19/2013 12:41:17 PM PST by a fool in paradise (America 2013 - STUCK ON STUPID)
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To: Brad from Tennessee
 photo dukakis_tank.jpg
10 posted on 11/19/2013 12:41:31 PM PST by Zeneta
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To: FReepaholic

11 posted on 11/19/2013 12:41:59 PM PST by a fool in paradise (America 2013 - STUCK ON STUPID)
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To: Zeneta

Thanks.


12 posted on 11/19/2013 12:42:14 PM PST by Brad from Tennessee (A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)
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To: Responsibility2nd
Reporting for doodie!


13 posted on 11/19/2013 12:43:49 PM PST by a fool in paradise (America 2013 - STUCK ON STUPID)
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To: Zeneta


You don't get the full ridiculous effect in a still picture. You need to see the giant head wobbling on his pencil neck like a bobblehead doll.
14 posted on 11/19/2013 12:44:06 PM PST by Paine in the Neck (Is John's moustache long enough YET?)
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To: Brad from Tennessee

And The Duke’s nomination acceptance speech punchline was . . “This election’s not (about this, not about that) but about COMPETENCE”

Two months or so later, the stupid grin and wave to the cameras from the Abrams


15 posted on 11/19/2013 12:44:09 PM PST by A_Former_Democrat ("I was all for Obamacare until I found out I was paying for it,")
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To: FReepaholic

I think the one photo that show Kerry of who he is NOT is the one he went supposedly duck hunting with “pals”.

But the photo showing somebody else carried the dead ducks or something, iir.


16 posted on 11/19/2013 12:44:34 PM PST by Sir Napsalot (Pravda + Useful Idiots = CCCP; JournOList + Useful Idiots = DopeyChangey!)
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To: a fool in paradise

17 posted on 11/19/2013 12:45:14 PM PST by massmike (If I like my tagline,I can keep it! Obama said so..........)
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To: Brad from Tennessee
He made it into a Futurama episode. I wish I could get a better pic of "The Fighting Dukaki".


18 posted on 11/19/2013 12:47:35 PM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: Zeneta

“I lost the election because I made a decision not to respond to the Bush attack campaign, and in retrospect it was a pretty dumb decision.” - Mike Dukakis

You lost because your a weak New England liberal who blew smoke about a “Massachusetts Miracle”.


19 posted on 11/19/2013 12:48:06 PM PST by a fool in paradise (America 2013 - STUCK ON STUPID)
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To: Zeneta

20 posted on 11/19/2013 12:48:42 PM PST by Paladin2
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