Pretzel Michael Dukakis
No cookie cutters. Poor Mike.
Before Baby Bush birthed the War in Iraq, his father raised taxes.
Before Bush 41 said “READ MY LIPS, NO NEW TAXES!” he had to run for POTUS against Michael Dukakis.
Dukakis was Governor of Massachusetts and Bush was Reagan’s VP.
Dukakis was your no nonsense honest to the core kind of man. In fact he fired his own campaign manager for leaking evidence of plagiarism against fellow party candidate, Joe Biden (yeah, That cup of Joe)
Bush was your party wimp who trailed behind by the double digits in the polls and needed to change those numbers, and change those numbers fast because it was crunch time.
Here we must introduce Lee Atwater, campaign manager to both Reagan and Bush. In short what Lee Atwater did for Bush is what Roger Ailes did for Trump.
A truly gifted political strategist, Atwater knew exactly how to manipulate the conversation and use controversial topics to his advantage to get his point across to.
The man invented the attack ad. He took some nobody rotting in a 6 by 8 and turned him into a platform for his own agenda. Clinton would borrow a page from his book to transform the unknown Goldstar Khan family into overnight celebrities at the 2016 DNC convention. Atwater used this advertisement to say everything that he needed to say but through the very voice he was trying to reach out to, the public.
In its entirety we don’t see anyone speak. Not Bush, not Dukakis, not Atwater. We only hear someone’s voice. The voice of just another average American trying to do his job, just like every other voter.
We have visual cues to draw stark contrasts between the tough candidate and the weak candidate, because nobody wants another wimp for president (coughs Carter) Funny enough Jimmy too ran on the same values Mike was promoting. Imagine an old man using his cane to say “I will not lie to you” Ha in 1976 Reagan lost to Ford for the nomination, who then went on to lose to Carter, who then lost to Reagan in 1980. Goddammit we just couldn’t get rid of Negan, I mean Reagan.
However during that time we couldn’t get rid of crime too. There was the infamous crack epidemic of 80s. Back then, and in some ways to this day, they didn’t treat drug addiction as a health crisis. It was first and foremost a criminal issue that could only be treated with “Law & Order” policies. Either you were guilty or you were innocent, no middle ground and no complications. It was quick and dirty or quick and simple, take your pick.
If he was not tough on crime, he did not care for my well being, for your well being, or for our well being.
Michael Dukakis was suddenly not safe, and definitely not secure. Who cares if he himself was victim to the fatal effects of crime; his brother in a hit and run, and his father in a robbery.
While 1988 didn’t have your typical October surprise, it had brilliant attack ads. Seriously in his five seconds of screen time Bush might as well have said “I am A-OK with our nation executing our own citizens. But hey I’m tough on crime. And that’s what counts. Pew! Pew!” Roughly two weeks after “Weekend Passes” aired “Revolving Door” took its spot the day after it was pulled and caused just as much mayhem.
In some ways Michael Dukakis bought on his own demise. Willie Horton wasn’t the only nail in the coffin, but it was the first of its kind no doubt. Today we tune in to cable TV for whatever reason and we’ll see attack ads left and right during this turbulent election year. At the same time, we don’t even give them a sideways glance now. “Weekend Passes” created a whole new technique for political campaigns and changed an election outcome. Sound familiar?
I recommend watching
13th (Netflix documentary) for more info on USA prison system and racism within
Race to the White House “Bush vs Dukakis”
