james_nicoll ([info]james_nicoll) wrote,
@ 2008-10-23 10:42:00
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What the Republicans need
The last time the Republicans won the White House without a Bush or a Nixon on the ticket was 1928. I think it's safe to say George W. has forced the Bush brand to spend some time rebuilding its image. Nixon, on the other, was rehabilitated by the 1990s and is not an option now only because of a triffling technicality, that he died in 1994. I know Nixon's daughters took their husbands' names when they married but is there by chance a Nixon cousin or other relative who could be prodded into running for President?

We have an OK Nixon up here named Robert Nixon (son of Harry Nixon) who was leader of the Ontario Liberal Party from 1967 to 1977. He spent a lot of that time being referred to by the press as Bob "No Relation" Nixon....

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[info]affreca
2008-10-23 02:53 pm UTC (link)
Jay Nixon is the Attorney General of Missouri and currently running for Governor. However, he's a democrat.

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[info]galbinus_caeli
2008-10-23 03:04 pm UTC (link)
Nixon as a name has been painted with an overly broad brush here in the states. No Nixon will be on the presidential ticket for at least another generation.

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[info]cantkeepsilent
2008-10-23 03:18 pm UTC (link)
Edward Cox, Tricia's husband, ran for Hillary Clinton's Senate seat in 2006, although he withdrew before the primary. He would probably be counted as a Nixon if he were to run for President, although I frankly don't expect a New Yorker of either party to become President in my lifetime.

I wouldn't rule out Jeb Bush. George H. W. Bush's name wasn't well-regarded after he lost in 1992, but after eight years in the woods the GOP returned to the prestige and organizational powers of the dynasty. And Jeb was a popular, effective, and pragmatic governor who didn't embrace the worst of his brother's inanity. We've never been able to know who is going to be needed or desirable eight years in the future, but Bush 45 is not something that you'd want to bet the farm against.

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[info]mishalak
2008-10-23 04:43 pm UTC (link)
Would you have bet against another president from Illinois eight years ago? And from Chicago at that? Anything could happen depending on who is elected to the position of governor or Senator in New York.

Certainly it is less likely than in a state that looks that it will have turn over in its Senate seats relatively soon, but anything can happen.

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[info]cantkeepsilent
2008-10-23 08:07 pm UTC (link)
I don't know that I have any negative associations with Illinois. If you're part of the Daley machine, then sure, but there's still a bit of the heartland vibe coming out of the state.

On the other hand, I think that the words "pro-gay tax-and-spend New England liberal" is enough to shut you out of the South and Midwest states for either the Republican nomination or the general election. And Massachusetts is at least a progressive experimenting state as opposed to New York which is constitutionally dysfunctional, and I'm not even sure that someone from Massachusetts could do better than John Kerry did. I think the only way to break the curse would be to have a very effective NYC mayor who then went on to have a distinguished term in the Cabinet to gain foreign relation chops.

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[info]jamesenge
2008-10-23 03:24 pm UTC (link)
Maybe Mojo Nixon's hour has struck?

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[info]dcseain
2008-10-23 03:32 pm UTC (link)
The idea of Mojo as president entertains me greatly.

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[info]blackwingbear
2008-10-23 04:43 pm UTC (link)
I'd vote for him!!!! "BURN THE MALL!" would be the first presidential-command...

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[info]casaubon
2008-10-23 03:39 pm UTC (link)
Here's a Republican politician Nixon:
http://www.tobynixon.com/

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[info]eyelessgame
2008-10-23 04:04 pm UTC (link)
Heh. I noticed this a couple years ago, and was saying the early part of this year that the only way McCain could win is if he picked Jeb! as his running mate.

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[info]gehayi
2008-10-23 04:10 pm UTC (link)
Where did you get the idea that Nixon was rehabilitated?

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[info]pauldrye
2008-10-23 04:31 pm UTC (link)
Consider some of the pro-Nixon quotes in this CNN article. Or this 1990 article from Time. Quite a few people were fooled into looking at Nixon in a positive manner by the end of his life.

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[info]gehayi
2008-10-23 04:38 pm UTC (link)
CNN is quite pro-Republican. That doesn't surprise me.

I think that the fact that "-gate" still gets tacked onto American political scandals, the fact that the line "I am not a crook" is still part of the national vocabulary (and is generally said mockingly) and the fact that you can still buy Nixon masks for Halloween all indicate that a fair number of ordinary people aren't going to consider a Nixon or a relative of Nixon for political office for at least another generation.



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[info]ross_teneyck
2008-10-23 04:44 pm UTC (link)
The press when he died was much more "respected elder statesman" than it was "insane crook." I think that's largely because it's customary to say nice things about people who die, and also because it became safe to be nice to him once there was almost no chance of him staging a political comeback.

(I say "almost." I'm not completely ruling out the possibility of Nixon running in '12 on the Zombie ticket. "We'll cut your taxes! We don't want your money! We just want to eat your brains a little!")

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[info]tekalynn
2008-10-24 06:23 am UTC (link)
Great, now I'm getting Futurama flashbacks.

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[info]affreca
2008-10-23 04:46 pm UTC (link)
Futurama.

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[info]ertchin
2008-10-24 04:19 am UTC (link)
Aroo.

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[info]mindstalk
2008-10-23 04:47 pm UTC (link)
"Nixon: our last economically liberal President."

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[info]blackwingbear
2008-10-23 04:45 pm UTC (link)
Personally, from the history of both the Bush & Nixon family, I'd say the only reason anyone would vote for a member of either family would be a HUGE self-destructive, suicidal streak.

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[info]nexstarman
2008-10-23 05:23 pm UTC (link)
1/5 of all elections since 1928 were won by FDR.

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[info]uspresidents
2008-10-23 06:49 pm UTC (link)
The last time the Republicans won the White House without a Bush or a Nixon on the ticket was 1928.

My wife's uncle mentioned that one to us just last night; interesting timing. On the other hand, the Republicans have had the White House 20 of the last 28 years, 28 of the last 40 years, and 36 of the last 48 years. In fact, the span from 1933 to today (from FDR's first inaugural) is the only span of administrations over which the Republicans have not held the White House for a majority of the time.

The one I like is that this is the first election since 1972 without a Bush or Dole on the ballot.

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[info]blpurdom
2008-10-23 07:52 pm UTC (link)
Julie Nixon Eisenhower is listed here as endorsing Barack Obama. So are Susan Eisenhower; the half-sister of John McCain's wife, Cindy, and that half-sister's son; Caroline, Ethel, Joe, Max and Rory Kennedy; Maria Shriver and her daughter, Katherine Schwarzenegger; and Joe Lieberman's step-son, who's a rabbi, among many other politically-connected people.

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[info]austin_dern
2008-10-23 11:50 pm UTC (link)

Wow. I hadn't heard that.

You know, in looking for good news for the McCain campaign these days I think they have to be contented with ``McCain has not been attacked by lemurs this week.''

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[info]dsgood
2008-10-23 08:00 pm UTC (link)
Richard Nixon was elected President twice, which I believe would disqualify him from running again.

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[info]james_nicoll
2008-10-23 08:07 pm UTC (link)
Wouldn't the present Supreme Court agree that that is only intended to apply to Demoncrats?

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[info]tsm_in_toronto
2008-10-24 01:57 am UTC (link)
Hmmm.

"Demoncrats", references to a Nixzombie administration: clearly Hallowe'en approaches ...

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