Carter was much younger than Ford and had a full head of hair at the time. Ford was winning the election until they went on TV together. When Carter was the incumbent he was winning until he went on TV with Reagan, a former actor. Reagan won in a landslide.
Dukakis lost to the first Bush largely because he seemed distant on TV. He was also a hairy Mediterranean immigrant’s son running against a Connecticut WASP from a political dynasty.
The first Clinton was a generation younger than the first Bush and looked a lot better on TV. He was more charming and more articulate. Women wanted to sleep with him. And many did. Nobody wanted to sleep with Bush. Clinton easily won.
Obama looked young, charming, non-threatening, articulate. McCain looked old, crippled, sometimes mean. Who did you expect to win?
Gordon Brown's official Downing Street portrait
6 comments:
Nixon may have looked better than Kennedy on paper, but history showed that the electorate made the right decision. How a paranoid Nixon would have dealt with the Cuban missile crisis just doesn't bear thinking about. Not all communication is verbal.
The whole "bigot" thing would never have been reported if the media had any class. However, it shows a lack of political nous that he was actually allowed to wear a mic from a Murdoch outlet of all places. It's one thing to not realise a desk mic is on (you assume the mic is always on) but to wear a mic at a photo op borders on reckless.
Aside from the embarrassment, I don't know that this will make a huge difference. For every BNP sympathiser he lost, he might have won over a few Lib/Dems. Brown's poll numbers actually went up a little after he was accused of being a bully. People like a nice bloke, but they also like a strong leader.
"But Bush was going to win that election even if he went on TV and sang Yankee Doodle on a washboard." Love it...! :-) So true.
Basically, the process is the same in Canada. I think Stephen Harper won because he's "pretty". It always seems to be that folks elect the wrong person, and then in a few years they again elect the wrong person -- mainly because they never vote for someone, but against someone. The rallying cry never seems to be, "Let's vote them in!" but rather "Let's vote them out!"
I'm not saying the wrong people always won. Obviously Kennedy, Reagan, Clinton were the right choices at the time. But without hindsight Nixon was the better candidate.
Brown has always been behind in the polls. If you believe in that sort of thing. I'm looking forward to the Conservative-Liberal coalition. That should be fun.
Jo, we clearly don't vote for the prettiest candidate around here. But we're as guilty of voting against as anybody.
And now Cameron and Clegg have a coalition. Who could have thought?
English erections are not worth a mention.
Was that a typo?
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