a thread where we reminisce about the 1996 presidential election

i have barely ever heard anyone talk about this election in the last decade, and my own memories of it -- i was a freshman in high school -- are cloudy at best. what are your memories of CLINTON VS. DOLE?

simpsons

Building a bridge to the 21st century...Dick Morris behaving badly...Actually liking the Republican candidate.

fukkin bob dole yall

my main memories:

-- my grandma expressing extreme fury on election day that a bunch of ppl were actually, seriously going to vote for 'that crook clinton.'
-- a town-hall-style debate (which i think i saw a clip from on MTV or something) showing both candidates asked about gay rights. clinton gave a warm and positive answer, dole long-windedly ranted about 'morals.'

This being my first chance to vote but then totally not voting because the line was like ten miles long and it was freezing and I knew Clinton was gonna win

I was a sophomore in college

Otherwise I have no memories of this election other than Bob Dole in third person mode and me and the homies laughing that up

I was more interested in Tricky, Sleater Kinney, and whether The English Patient was a good movie than this election.

The Clintons' taste for expensive fundraising at its height too.

the only thing i really remember about this was watching bob dole's convention acceptance speech and being able to tell which bits had been written by mark helprin

i think back when i first tried to get into politics as a high schooler i tried to read the woodward book about this election. didn't quite work.

I remember the parody "ROLE HEMP" bumperstickers, watching the Simpsons episode when it aired, and I don't believe I remember a single other thing about this (even though I was 30) except for Perot losing again.

1996 was the year that Ross Perot regressed to the mean. The economy was cooking along nicely and Dole wasn't nearly nasty or vicious enough to please the 'Vincent Foster was murdered' crowd on his right flank, which is odd in a way, because Dole had an established reputation for being cruel and cutting as Minority Leader. Instead, Dole just ran mostly on being very conservative and nobody got very excited about that. Even Dole wasn't very excited, iirc.

the Oregon Senate race was exciting that year, though, cause Packwood resigned in January due to a sleazy sex scandal. Unfortunately Gordon Smith won.

ha xp w/Aimless who I'm sure remembers all that very well.

Perot seemed lost in '96. Surprisingly, I can remember his running mate without checking: Pat Choate. What I can't remember is who the hell Pat Choate is.

The first thing I thought of was this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T4Vxzo3nQo

My memories: seeing Lamar Alexander and Pat Buchanan speak at my school (I was in Iowa).

Registering Republican so I could vote for Bob Dornan in the caucus.

Alan Keyes.

The Donald Rumsfeld exploratory committee.

The Colin Powell non-candidacy.

How the Jack Kemp pick was going to turn everything around.

Dole falling off the stage.

The Steve Erickson pieces in Rolling Stone.

David Brinkley live on election night: "And it's one reason this group is so terrific. Bill Clinton has none of it. He has not a creative bone in his body. Therefore, he's a bore, and will always be a bore."

Teve Torbes on SNL.

Al Gore, Buddhist Temple!

voting for Nader

Ha, Powell spoke at my school that year

Great list. Forgot all the pleading for Powell to get in. Watched Brinkley's on-air derision--I remember him using even stronger language, but maybe that's an exact quote. Steve Forbes and the flat tax; Buchanan and the cultural-war convention speech.

Dole's campaign was even more inept than McCain's in that Dole at least had a reputation for mordant wit which he squelched for the sake of votes.

Remember Steve Forbes lol?

I'm off by four years on Buchanan--that was '92.

More Brinkley from the same segment: "We all look forward with great pleasure to four years of wonderful, inspiring speeches, full of wit, poetry, music, love and affection - plus more goddamned nonsense." (Was sure I'd find a YouTube clip, but all you can get is Brinkley sheepishly talking about the incident.)

steve forbes man. i was in middle school during this campaign and our new principle looked just like steve forbes. i was just getting into politics at the time and insisted to everyone that he looked. just. like. steve forbes! which they thought was funny because nobody had a fucking idea who i was talking about. i got the poor guy fired after a prank letter i wrote caused a mini riot.

Was a big ole 25-year-old New Republic subscriber, for the cultural writing more than the politics, and loved Michael Lewis's report on the primaries, eventually collected here:
http://books.google.com/books?id=9Y9Cal2eYooC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

The 96 elections might have been the best excuse to date for a coup d'etat.

Old, old thread, buried away.

Election '96: Democracy Comes to the Internet

Did Jack Kemp always wear a camelhair overcoat? That's how I picture the guy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PM9tDtmaaI

the conan o'brien bob dole mouth is my main memory

4th time eligible to vote in prez election, 1st time i skipped it

i remember back in 2004 it occurred to me that if dole'd won back in 1996 he could conceivably still have been president. i wonder what things are like in that universe.

Dole fell off a stage, but it wasn't very tall. Most wounded thing was his dignity. I remember that and Ross Perot doing campaign infomercials. Dana Carvey's career ended cause he couldn't do George H.W. Bush much anymore... leading to the rise of Norm McDonald and his classic Dole impression.

Oh yeah, and Jack Kemp being thought of as "extremely conservative"... pretty LOL considering the current GOP candidate for vice-president.

That's mostly what I remember.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxqP1O1_K4w

revive

Dead

erik loomis has a typically solid, scathing review of dole's life and career, well worth reading:

https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2021/12/dole

My review of dole’s life and career would typically be solid also

Bob Dole sponsored the Americans with Disabilities Act. It is the sole positive thing he did that I can recall, with the possible exception of his running such a dismal campaign in 1996 that it ensured we weren't saddled with him as president.

He also voted for all three major Civil Rights bills in the mid-'60s.

He was the tax collector for the welfare state according to Newt

Michael Lewis had a whole bunch of stories (later collected) from following around low-polling candidates in this election.

Here's a good sample.

I wonder if JEB! hired the same team as Lamar! 20 years later.

odd thing I witnessed back then while living in Iowa--the college republicans hated Dole and were totally supporting Lamar. They also thought Buchanan was an embarrassment. How times have changed.

There was one of those "to be published in the event of my untimely demise" editorials by Dole in the Washington Post today. In it he plays all his 1996-era hits: the Dust Bowl, Eisenhower, the Greatest Generation, and takes credit for winning WW2, curing polio, and walking on the moon. Also some vague guff about bipartisanship.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/12/06/bob-dole-op-ed-what-america-needs/

I wonder if JEB! hired the same team as Lamar! 20 years later.

Way back in the mid-1980s, the blandest, least personable governor Oregon has had in my lifetime ran for re-election with the slogan: Atiyeh! It's always the limpest fish who choose that approach.

Don't blame me - I voted for Kodos.

(xpost) Guaranteed: "Pence!"