re: why did George HW bush lose his reelection in 1992?

He's the perfect example of why politicians wont make difficult decisions. It will cost them their job.

When economic growth is dependent on deficit spending and you attempt to reverse that trend you will find yourself in a calculated recession initially. But you will set the path for a better fiscal situation in the out years.

quote:

---

why did George HW bush lose his reelection in 1992?

---

1) "Read my lips, no new taxes" - a pledge that he did not keep.

2) Ross Perot siphoned off a margin of victory worth of votes.

3) That was the first election wherein the press became really an activist press for the left to an extent that t had meaningful impact.

Bill Clinton was a sacrificial candidate because at the time of his nomination HW's approvals were sky high.

1.Bush lied about tax increase 2. Ross Perot wanted Clinton to win so he ran as 3rd party candidate to take votes from Bush. 3. The media ran stories every day about the bad economy. Of course, the day after the election the negative stories about the economy stopped. 4. Bush was boring as hell.

quote:

---

Perot certainly had an effect on the popular vote totals, but few experts think that he had an effect upon the EV at all.

---

Then "few experts" are able to do simple math.

States that Clinton won with less than 45% of the vote:

Colorado: Clinton 629,681, Bush+Perot 948,860

Connecticut: Clinton 682,318, Bush+Perot 927,084

Delaware: Clinton 126,054, Bush+Perot 161,526

Georgia: Clinton 1,008,966, Bush+Perot 1,304,909

Iowa: Clinton 586,353, Bush+Perot 758,359

Kentucky: Clinton 665,104, Bush+Perot 821,122

Michigan: Clinton 1,871,182, Bush+Perot 2,379,753

Minnesota: Clinton 1,020,997, Bush+Perot 1,310,347

Missouri: Clinton 1,053,873, Bush+Perot 1,329,900

New Jersey: Clinton 1,436,206, Bush+Perot 1,878,694

Ohio: Clinton 1,984,942, Bush+Perot 2,930,736

Oregon: Clinton 621,314, Bush+Perot 829,848

Washington: Clinton 993,037, Bush+Perot 1,273,014

Wisconsin: Clinton 1,041,066, Bush+Perot 1,475,334

States Clinton won with less than 40% of the vote:

Maine: Clinton 263,420, Bush+Perot 413,324

Montana: Clinton 154,507, Bush+Perot 251,432

Nevada: Clinton 189,148, Bush+Perot 308,408

New Hampshire: Clinton 209,040, Bush+Perot 323,821

Additionally, Clinton only won Arkansas and DC with over 50% of the vote.

If you make the logical assumption that, had Perot not been in the race his voters go 75% Bush and 25% Clinton, you get the following:

Bush - 334
Clinton - 204

He’ll counter with exit polls showing a closer split, however, Perot took a sledgehammer to bush’s coalition early in the race and when the dust settled, many of those early bush voters now Perot voters preferred Clinton over bush.

Finally someone else who gets it. He actually cared about future Americans and tried to ease our national debt by a reasonable tax raise. It was also possible in theory to cut the military budget but for some reason the U.S has to outspend the next 10 nations combined.

-Ross Perot split the vote

-Clinton was an extremely charismatic, center-left, pro-business, Southern Democrat who had broad cross-appeal.

-Nasty recession during election year. "No new taxes" etc. It's the economy stupid.

Perot.

quote:

---

If you make the logical assumption that, had Perot not been in the race his voters go 75% Bush and 25% Clinton, you get the following:

Bush - 334
Clinton - 204

---

The problem with that "logical assumption" is that exit polls show the "second choice" for Perot voters was split between Bush and Clinton almost exactly evenly, not 75:25.

He was a spineless puss - that's why.

He had promised No New Taxes then signed a Democrat tax bill instead of vetoing it to make the Dems own it.

Also, Ross Perot pulled just enough votes away to give the election to Clinton.

Ever since then, Republicans have mistakenly thought that going along to get along is a winning strategy.