[Old School Hound]

Mr. Gibson and I were discussing this in another thread and I thought it would make for an interesting topic of discussion. Goodness knows, there's no shortage of dumb politicians. What are some of the biggest blunders in American history that you can recall helping to embarrass or sink a political figure?

Here's one that I mentioned in the other thread. Mike Dukakis, in a tight race for the presidency with George H.W. Bush, decided it was a good time to play G.I. Dope.   He gets aboard a tank, wearing a tie under his camouflage,  and a helmet that would fit King Kong's head. Dukakis was , like, 4 ft. 11 inches tall. LOL  It looked ridiculous.  This, along with Bush's Willie Horton ads, sunk Mini Mike.


[Image: https://fivethirtyeight.com/wp-content/u....jpg?w=712]

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What politician with any political savvy at all would spend even one second of time in your acceptance speech for your party's presidential nomination telling the American public that he will raise your taxes? I can't think of anything dumber.  Honest...okay, I'll give him a A+ for honesty but a F - for smarts. 


“Let's tell the truth. Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did.”

― Walter Mondale


That's how you lose 49 states.  Yes, he told the truth. O course, he never got the chance to raise your taxes. But Reagan did, to the tune of more than a dozen tax increases.

The moral of this story : If you want to raise taxes , don't tell the taxpayers. Lie to them . Read my lips, Walter: "NO NEW TAXES!!! "

[Hoot Gibson]

The George H. W. Bush "Read my lips. No new taxes." line was not a blunder, but letting Bob Dole convince him to agree to a tax hike after he promised not to raise taxes was a huge blunder. I believe that it cost him the election. It's hard to imagine in today's environment that one broken promise could cost a candidate the presidency, but Bush spent the entire campaign on the defensive. IIRC, Bush's job approval rating was over 80 percent at one point.

[Old School Hound]

Hoot alluded to this one in another thread. The moral of this story is: If you're the leading candidate for your party's presidential nomination and you're one of the rising stars in national politics, DON'T MONKEY AROUND!!!  

Gary Hart, a US Senator from Colorado for 12 years, ran for president in 1988, and was topping the polls in Democratic primaries. However, amid swirling rumors of extramarital affairs,  Hart challenged reporters to follow him around, saying that they would be bored. John Chancellor's response:  "We did, and we weren't."

Hart was photographed on a 83 ft. luxury yacht, named "Monkey Business"(couldn't make this stuff up), with a lovely woman by the name of Donna Rice sitting in his lap. The Monkey was out of the bag. Hart withdrew from the race a few days later.

[Image: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/image...I&usqp=CAU]                                                  [Image: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/image...U&usqp=CAU]

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The George H. W. Bush "Read my lips. No new taxes." line was not a blunder, but letting Bob Dole convince him to agree to a tax hike after he promised not to raise taxes was a huge blunder. I believe that it cost him the election. It's hard to imagine in today's environment that one broken promise could cost a candidate the presidency, but Bush spent the entire campaign on the defensive. IIRC, Bush's job approval rating was over 80 percent at one point.

Yep. Peaked at 92% . Was steady in the 80-90% range in the months following 9/11.

[Hoot Gibson]

Hoot alluded to this one in another thread. The moral of this story is: If you're the leading candidate for your party's presidential nomination and you're one of the rising stars in national politics, DON'T MONKEY AROUND!!!  

Gary Hart, a US Senator from Colorado for 12 years, ran for president in 1988, and was topping the polls in Democratic primaries. However, amid swirling rumors of extramarital affairs,  Hart challenged reporters to follow him around, saying that they would be bored. John Chancellor's response:  "We did, and we weren't."

Hart was photographed on a 83 ft. luxury yacht, named "Monkey Business"(couldn't make this stuff up), with a lovely woman by the name of Donna Rice sitting in his lap. The Monkey was out of the bag. Hart withdrew from the race a few days later.

[Image: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/image...I&usqp=CAU]                                                  [Image: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/image...U&usqp=CAU]

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The George H. W. Bush "Read my lips. No new taxes." line was not a blunder, but letting Bob Dole convince him to agree to a tax hike after he promised not to raise taxes was a huge blunder. I believe that it cost him the election. It's hard to imagine in today's environment that one broken promise could cost a candidate the presidency, but Bush spent the entire campaign on the defensive. IIRC, Bush's job approval rating was over 80 percent at one point.

Yep. Peaked at 92% . Was steady in the 80-90% range in the months following 9/11.

George H. W. Bush's popularity spiked after the successful first Gulf War. He peaked too soon at an 89% job approval rating and then torpedoed himself with Dole's help.

That photo of Gary Hart and Donna Rice looks like they were posing for the camera.

[Hoot Gibson]

John Kerry may be my least favorite Democrat presidential candidate of all time. The reason that the photos hurt him was that they suited his elitist, arrogant persona. A couple of his more unfortunate quotes were:

"I can’t believe I’m losing to this idiot"

“I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it.”

[Image: https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/...34x631.jpg]

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[Hoot Gibson]

The Dean Scream.

[Video: http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6i-gYRAwM0]

[Hoot Gibson]

Gerald Ford in a presidential campaign debate with Jimmy Carter:

"There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe,” he assured the voters, “and there never will be under a Ford administration."

[Old School Hound]

Gerald Ford in a presidential campaign debate with Jimmy Carter:

"There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe,” he assured the voters, “and there never will be under a Ford administration."

You beat to that one , Hoot . I was gonna post that one earlier but ran out of time.  I had forgotten about the Dean scream. That was hilarious(not for Howard, though...lol He was pretty much toast after that).

[Maga Nuts]

And now we got a MAGA(Used to be Republican) who has said and on video grabbing women by the crotch, taking Putin side over own American intelligence, having affair with porn star and paying her off to keep her quiet while in office. Because people like Hoot.

[Hoot Gibson]

And now we got a MAGA(Used to be Republican) who has said and on video grabbing women by the crotch, taking Putin side over own American intelligence, having affair with porn star and paying her off to keep her quiet while in office. Because people like Hoot.

What language is this? I did manage to understand that people like me. Thanks for that. Do you just not understand thread titles?

[King Kong]

Idk if this would be a political blunder, as the candidate in question went on to win 2 terms. I did find it funny though 

When it come up that Bill Clinton had experimented with Marijuana,  when he was younger. 

He said,  I puffed,  I didn't inhale!

Me and my friends had a field day with this.  So did Saturday Night Live! I'll never forget the skits they done from that 

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Idk if this would be a political blunder, as the candidate in question went on to win 2 terms. I did find it funny though 

When it come up that Bill Clinton had experimented with Marijuana,  when he was younger. 

He said,  I puffed,  I didn't inhale!

Me and my friends had a field day with this.  So did Saturday Night Live! I'll never forget the skits they done from that 

My favorite SNL skits when Will Ferrell was George W Bush. They asked him to sum up his candidacy in one word: "strategery", and Al Gore's one word "lockbox" 

Seen the Howard Dean scream video on here, that was the first one come to my mind, Chappelle show done a bit about it and it's hilarious!

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