primitives discuss Democrat non-presidents

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002699347

Oh my.

MarianJack (6,298 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

Which Democratic non president do you most regret and why?

In this poll I'm limiting the question to those Democrat nominees or those who came very close to the nomination and either lost, had the election stolen or died. I am also not including past candidates who may run again in the future, such as Hillary Clinton.

I have many choices. I believe that John Kerry, Al Gore, Hubert Humphrey, Ted Kennedy or many of the others would have been great (or at least very good) presidents.

For me, I think that I have to say Bobby Kennedy. I say this not only because I believe he'd have been a great president but because he was also the first candidate for whom I volunteered. I was 12. I stuffed envelopes and ran coffee errands. I helped o close the office down after Bobby was assasinated just 2 weeks before my 13th birthday. Seeing a candidate you admire lose is awful. Seeing a candidate you admire murdered is worse.

BTW, I'm going chronologically.

Also BTW, Boy Howdy have I ever missed the polls and am I ever glad to see them back!

If you say that this poll/thread is somewhat depressing given whom we didn't have as presidents and given whom we did, I'll say that you're right.

Thank you for participating.

PEACE!

93 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
   Adlai Stevenson 1 (1%)
   Bobby Kennedy 34 (37%)
   Hubert Humphrey 2 (2%)
   George McGovern 6 (6%)
   Ted Kennedy 1 (1%)
   Fritz Mondale 2 (2%)
   Mike Dukakis 0 (0%)
   Al Gore 35 (38%)
   John Kerry 6 (6%)
   Other 6 (6%)
0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.

bupkus (88 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

1. I voted Gore because he was robbed

And his rightful presidency would have avoided the Bush madness. But my heart is with Bobby Kennedy because I believe he could have changed the course of the nation.

spartan61 (1,661 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

3. I voted "Other" because I felt that

Edmund Muskie from Maine should have been on the list. His campaign fell apart in NH as he defended his wife in NH when it was alleged she told off color jokes and was guilty of drunkeness. He tried to challenge William Loeb, the publisher of the Manchester newspaper, but emotions took over, he choked, and shed some tears.

The Nixon White House felt Muskie would be the most formidable Dem nominee. It was felt that Muskie's tears were attributable to McGovern winning the NH primary.

I feel that Ed Muskie would have been a great president.

coalition_unwilling (9,555 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

4. Much as I wanted to vote for Bobby Kennedy, I voted for

George McGovern.

Had McGovern won with a Dem Congress and Senate, we might have gotten a Guaranteed Annual Income program that provided a real safety net for all citizens regardless of their employment status. That would have marked our maturation as a liberal democracy.

Now that I've cast my vote for McGovern, though, I'm realizing that Bobby Kennedy would have probably ended the war in Vietnam in 1969. That would have been good for a whole lot of Vietnamese, Cambodians and other southeast Asians, not to mention the 1000s of American soldiers who died and were wounded after January 1969.

Great poll, by the way. Maybe the best one I've ever seen on DU.

Yeah, yeah, Bobby would've done all that.

Sure, sure.

BlueIris (28,746 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

10. That would be my (formerly) beloved John Kerry.

We had a chance to take it back with him and we didn't. We failed. Miserably.

ScreamingMeemie (59,743 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

15. Since you said "came close to the nomination" I've gotta go with people powered Howard.

A President Dean would have been amazing. I am kind of partial to Governors as Presidents, over senators.

On edit: At least Democratic Governors.

RFKHumphreyObama (14,853 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

29. Bobby is the obvious answer and that's how I voted

But I think Al Gore would come a close second. I remember the peace and prosperity of the Clinton years and I think Gore could have done a lot to continue that legacy and also pursue a visionary and innovative domestic and foreign policy agenda that would have gone a long way to making the world a better place in the 21st century. Instead the consequences and legacy of the horrific mess that Dubya and his crew made will I think haunt America and the world for most of my lifetime and it's gotten the 21st century off to a very bad start which I think it will be hard to recover from (although President Obama has done and I think will do enormous good in terms of rebuilding after the disaster and perhaps recovering some of what we've lost)

Wesley Clark probably counts as a candidate "who might run again in the future" but I think he would have made an awesome President and would have beaten Bush in 2004.

Bill Bradley was another one who could have made a great President. Same for Paul Simon (the Senator not the singer obviously, although the latter would have probably done a good job too!).

[JohnnyReb]

DUmmie mentioned.....

Guaranteed Annual Income program that provided a real safety net for all citizens

I pinched pennies most of my life.....so, with this plan I probably could have lived comfortably without being tired. IOW's I could have been a DUmmie.

Think Marlon Brando and, "I couldda been a contender." 

[Ballygrl]

I think they left Hillary off the list because they were afraid she would win in a landslide thus making the fool we have in the White House now look bad.

[Mr Mannn]

DUmmie mentioned.....

Guaranteed Annual Income program that provided a real safety net for all citizens

I pinched pennies most of my life.....so, with this plan I probably could have lived comfortably without being tired. IOW's I could have been a DUmmie.

Think Marlon Brando and, "I couldda been a contender." 

Boiled down to the bare essentials...thats the DUmmie dream. Money for nothing. Living off the taxpayers blood.
DUmmies are not vampires but parasites, ticks. Vampires have class, but DUmmies are just vermin.

[JohnnyReb]

Boiled down to the bare essentials...thats the DUmmie dream. Money for nothing. Living off the taxpayers blood.
DUmmies are not vampires but parasites, ticks. Vampires have class, but DUmmies are just vermin.

EGG-zactly!!!!!!!!!!

They want to live as well as you do without putting forth any effort.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Wow, that's quite a list of people who would have made stunningly-horrible Presidents, from the Obama-like Adlai to the end-justifies-the-means RFK.  Humphrey is probably the only one who wouldn't have been a disaster, and then only if he told LBJ to never, ever call him under any conditions whatsoever.

[Skul]

Idiots still don't have a clue what the reason was behind the courts decision was.

Response to Life Long Dem (Reply #9)
Thu May 17, 2012, 09:48 PM
 MarianJack (6,298 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

11. That stolen election was downright criminal. no it wasn't

Those f'in hanging chads. your boy started that crap

I always felt that he should have put the effort that he put into Florida into TN, OH & NH! still would have lost

The media also CLEARLY wanted george w moron in the White House, too. silly liberal

PEACE! whiner

Do they even understand why, it was taken up by the court? Probably not.

[Ballygrl]

Idiots still don't have a clue what the reason was behind the courts decision was.Do they even understand why, it was taken up by the court? Probably not.

They also ignore the NY Times spending 3 months in Florida counting the votes and Bush winning the recount.

[obumazombie]

One primitive said "peace and prosperity of the Clinton years"
This is when clinnochio allowed the religion of peace to make and consolidate advances in their ability to easily attack the U.S.
This is the time clinnochio could have had Osama on a silver platter multiple times.
This is also the period the stock market took their direction from the leader of the country who was playing fast and loose with the truth, and so did they building up a massive phony prosperity that ended up costing many middle class stock owners destitute.
The "peace and prosperity of the Clinton years" was a complete farce.

[Aristotelian]

BlueIris (28,746 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

10. That would be my (formerly) beloved John Kerry.

We had a chance to take it back with him and we didn't. We failed. Miserably.

With those three words the whole of the left can be summed up, not just Effing's candidacy.

[dandi]

I have my own Guaranteed Annual Income program. It's called, "Learn A Marketable Skill, Work, And Save For Retirement".

For any lurking DUmmies: I can teach you my method, but there's a hefty consultation fee.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Wow, that's quite a list of people who would have made stunningly-horrible Presidents, from the Obama-like Adlai to the end-justifies-the-means RFK.  Humphrey is probably the only one who wouldn't have been a disaster, and then only if he told LBJ to never, ever call him under any conditions whatsoever.

Stunningly horrible, very good description DAT.