Should Ford have kept Rockefeller on the 1976 ticket?
Your thoughts? I think he should have. While I do not think he would have won, Ford himself regretted not keeping Rockefeller on the ticket.
This paved the way for Bob Dole to become Bob Dole....
Imagine if Ford-Rockefeller would have won in '76. Think Rockefeller would have died in his sugar baby's apartment? Imagine a VP dying that way!
by Anonymous | reply 18 | May 5, 2021 9:20 PM
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OP, think for a minute on the obscurity of your question: even on a site that tilts older like DL, just how many Dataloungers do you suppose remember the Ford-Carter race to the degree that they particularly remember the impact choosing Dole over Rockefeller had?
I'm 55, which means I was ten years old in 1976, and even I don't remember that.
by Anonymous | reply 1 | May 4, 2021 11:18 PM
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SMH the stuff eldergays come up with after their afternoon naps.
by Anonymous | reply 2 | May 4, 2021 11:24 PM
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OP, Ford would never have been the GOP nominee if he hadn’t given Rocky the hook.
by Anonymous | reply 3 | May 4, 2021 11:27 PM
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At least Rocky won best picture a couple of months later.
by Anonymous | reply 4 | May 4, 2021 11:29 PM
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r5 You may like him, but you prefer Roscoe in the bedroom.
by Anonymous | reply 6 | May 4, 2021 11:56 PM
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I was 29 in 1976 and thought that Ford should have chosen George Romney (Mitt's dad). I voted for Carter and would have no matter what the GOP did, so my opinion didn't matter to anyone.
by Anonymous | reply 7 | May 5, 2021 12:10 AM
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George Romney, R7?! I’m from Michigan & he was governor when he came to speak at the grand opening of my elementary school. His political career was long over by ‘76, after his much-ballyhooed presidential campaign flamed out in ‘68. He resigned as governor the following year to take a backwater cabinet post in Nixon’s administration. He didn’t last long in that position & that was, effectively, the end of his political career.
by Anonymous | reply 8 | May 5, 2021 12:34 AM
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R1 Just because people do not remember it does not mean we cannot discuss historical topics. People talk about King Henry VIII or Joan of Arc all the time.
R3 I'm not so sure about that. I think 1976 was a transitional year, much like todays time. Ford was the last man standing, Rockefeller was a well-respected governor and a little liberal. A smart campaign strategist would have used that leverage as to brand themselves as the not crazy Reagan Republicans, but also they were far from Nixon Republicans. It was the Democratic Congress that was being obtuse. Ford didn't even want to be president, he wanted to be Speaker of the House...
by Anonymous | reply 9 | May 5, 2021 12:37 AM
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After eight years of Ford and Carter, even Reagan looked good by comparison.
by Anonymous | reply 10 | May 5, 2021 12:38 AM
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R8, I'm from Mich too and I liked Romney. Still do -- I don't blame him for his son, just as I forgave him for being Mormon. He was an honest man, which is a drawback in politics.
by Anonymous | reply 11 | May 5, 2021 12:41 AM
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[quote]After eight years of Ford and Carter, even Reagan looked good by comparison.
"EIght years?" Oh, dear.
by Anonymous | reply 12 | May 5, 2021 1:16 PM
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R11, can you give the old man credit for raising a son with the integrity he showed in not once, but twice, voting to convict a president of his own party?! And as far as forgiving him for being a Mormon, you do realize, don't you, that Harry Reid is a Mormon, as is the Udall family?
by Anonymous | reply 13 | May 5, 2021 2:06 PM
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OP/R9, my point is that, even with Shanghaiing Rocky Jerry Ford barely won his nomination battle with Reagan. I highly doubt that would've happened with him running for a full term with him.
by Anonymous | reply 14 | May 5, 2021 2:12 PM
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R13, I do give George Romney credit for everything good he did, which was a lot, including instilling in Mitt whatever good values that poor fool has. And I know that a lot of other people are Mormons too (including all those Osmonds!), just as a lot of people are Catholics (including Stephen Colbert!) -- I forgive them all and just hope that they see the light someday.
by Anonymous | reply 15 | May 5, 2021 8:38 PM
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His death was surrounded by controversy including, if memory serves me, a female intern, a mistress, and family friend Ponchita Pierce who was among the early handful of Black women television journalists...all the makings of a Ryan Murphy production.
by Anonymous | reply 16 | May 5, 2021 8:57 PM
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^editing my R16: ("His death" meaning Nelson Rockefeller's)
by Anonymous | reply 17 | May 5, 2021 9:03 PM
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