THE ROBERT W. WHITAKER ARCHIVE

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Good question, why did Reagan pick that turkey Bush senior for the VP position. Well there are many reasons and one important one may be that a conservative like Reagan could never be elected with out a moderate or sellout like Bush. Now if we remember what BOB taught us about Wallace and the strong showing he had as a third part candidate it would have been obvious that this reasoning was false. But Washinton DC is full of experts on everything and Reagans advisors sold the party out by choosing Bush as the VP. Few people vote for the vice president, Reagan would have defeated peanut head with a conservative as the VP.

Excellent! Right on the money! Let's hear it for the New Right. As you so often say, Bob, what you do WORKS. Then Bush Sr. went on to become president of the USA and, lo, lookeecheer, his son went on to become president also. Probably the best president we've ever had in the USA. Good work, Bob.

By the way, how about a little respect for the elder Bush. He is, after all, one of the Greatest Generation.

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You have to give ol' -W- credit, though. From a Yankee carpet bagging family he may come, but unlike his daddy at least he attempts to mix his deep north whine with a drunken Texan redneck's drawl, Rudolph nose and all. Very unusual.

You'd never guess -W- went to Yale. Or any school for that matter. But he does do the drawl almost as well as a Schwytzer Ttsch exchange student I once knew. Very unusual.

I simply love the way -W- says terrrrrish ('terrorist'). I think he is what Nancy Reagan was thinking when she said "Just say No to drugs."

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1980 was the last year in which the Republican or Democratic ticket was actually decided during the convention. It was decided in the proverbial smoke-filled room, too, just as in the good old days.

As I remember it, the Reagan campaign wanted former President Ford to be Reagan's running mate. It would have been perfectly constitutional, because Ford hadn't served two full terms as president (or even one full term, for that matter.) But Ford's people wanted to bring back Henry Kissinger as Secretary of State, which was unacceptable to Reagan's people.

So the negotiations actually reached the convention floor in Detroit. The New Right, as I recall, wanted anybody BUT Bush. At one point, they staged a floor campaign, with signs for the cameras and everything, trying to draft Representative Jack Kemp (who eventually DID make the Republican ticket in 1996).

Literally in the middle of all this, Reagan appeared in person before the convention. That was UNHEARD of -- tradition dictates that the candidate NEVER appears in the convention hall before he accepts the nomination. But that year he did address the convention a few nights too early, and it was to announce that he had selected Bush as his running mate. This was the same Bush who had run against Reagan in the Republican primaries, calling Reagan too old and his economic policies "voodoo economics." Many in Reagan's campaign couldn't believe their ears. They were devastated.

I've never understood what happened that night. I don't understand enough about how politics at that level works. But in retrospect, it seems to have been one of the most tragic nights in US history.

George W. picked up his Texas accent from the kids he went to school with from kindergarten

through elementary school. As soon as they could, his parents packed him off to one of

the family prep schools in the Northeast.

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Ok, boy was I wrong! Sorry about that, Bob, didn't mean to step on your Southern toes.

I read something humorous this morning. According to the rumor mill (or was that the American news mdia -- I get em confused) I read an account of how President Reagan chose Bush due to astrology. It was almost too funny to read.

I guess we will never know what was going through Mr. Reagan's mind or what power plays were being made. I'm just thankful I lived during President Reagan's term. Call me strange, but I miss the ol' boy. And yes, I keep a picture of him on my office wall to remind me of better, more peaceful times.

"I'm just thankful I lived during President Reagan's term. Call me strange, but I miss

the ol' boy."

Come now, Mark, give us credit. There are better reasons than THAT to call us strange.