Presidential Elections - Part 5

George Bush was a very popular president for the first part of his term. The successful Gulf War (with Iraq) helped significantly with that. However, a promise he had made during the 1988 campaign came back to bite him. He had made the statement (in response to a question about raising taxes), “Read my lips, no new taxes!”. The economy took a downturn in the later part of his term. He approved a tax increase in support of trying to control the budget deficit.

When the Presidential Conventions started, his only opposition for the Republican nomination was Pat Buchanan. He brought up Bush’s breaking of his campaign promise. Bush still easily won the Republican nomination. The Democratic Party had a difficult time getting a nominee. Many felt the President was too popular to lose. Finally, a relatively unknown man who was the governor of Arkansas emerged as the nominee. His name was Bill Clinton. Clinton hammered Bush on his broken promise about taxes trying to show he was not a man of his word.

Another key element of the 1992 election was the emergence of a third party candidate. Billionaire businessman Ross Perot threw his hat in the ring. At one point, he was actually ahead in the polls. Then for some reason he pulled out of the race only to get back in about a month before the election. This hurt him and he was well behind Bush and Clinton entering the election.

I remember watching the results as they came in. When I saw Clinton carry Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio, I knew he’d win and I didn’t have to watch any more. I was proven right as Bill Clinton won relatively easily. Perot ended up getting almost 18% of the vote but no electoral votes. It was a surprise to me that Bush lost but his broken promise plus Clinton touting himself as a “Washington outsider” turned the race in his favor. I am convinced also that Perot took votes from Bush (which some argue with me) that helped Clinton.

Clinton took office with accusations of affairs with several women. Republicans took control of the both the House and Senate in the midterm elections of 1994 (for the first time in sixty years). This raised some concern that Clinton could not be re-elected. However, the economy began to recover toward the end of his term. Republicans tried to court former US Army General Colin Powell as their nominee. He said that he would not accept the nomination. Several Republicans vied for the nomination which finally fell to the 1976 failed VP candidate – Bob Dole. Clinton defeated Dole easily to be re-elected. Despite other women steppping forward with accusations against him (including intern Monica Lewinsky) and him being the only the 2nd President of the US to be impeached (but acquitted by the Senate), he remained (and remains) popular. However, he couldn’t run for a third term, so there would be a new president in 2000.

The 2000 Presidential Election would prove to be the most interesting and controversial of my lifetime. I would end up getting tired of hearing of “chads”. I’ll discuss that in my next post.

I Left My Heart in Ballard County (32 years ago)

In honor of the day, I am reposting this (updated a bit)

Thursday September 15th is the 32nd anniversary of a day that set my life (happily) on a drastic change.

I was a fledgling programmer at what was called Martin Marietta then (now Centrus Energy) and living in an apartment in Forest Hills. I had gone over to my buddy Jeff Lawrence's trailer (known to this area as Dr. Jeff on WKYQ). He asked if I had plans for the next evening. I said no thinking we were going to have one of our regular marathon Trivial Pursuit matches. He says "Well, you've got a date". I was aghast. "I've set you up with someone I work with at Trader's Mart" (Trader's Mart is a long defunct want-ad kind of paper). He told me I had to go because I wouldn't be allowed to hang out at his place the next night so I reluctantly agreed.

The next day, I went with my friends Keith "Corky" Johnson and Jim Hill to Massac State Park. I sat on the bank of the Ohio River looking and thinking "What kind of idiot goes out with a girl he's never seen before?".

The hour approached and I headed out to meet her at Trader's Mart in my 1983 Trans-Am. All I knew is her name was Donna Woods and she'd be in a black Olds Cutlass.

I got there and the car was there. I watched the door open with apprehension. Out stepped the most beautiful brown haired brown-eyed girl I'd ever seen. I almost couldn't speak. I finally said "I'm Stuart, do you want to see my driver's license to prove it?". She actually laughed at my bad joke.

She wanted to go to McDonalds and eat so we did. She had a quarter pounder with cheese and I had a Big Mac. I saw some guys I knew and I think they were in shock when they saw me out with this beautiful girl.

She wanted to see Grandview USA at the Paducah Drive-In. I was glad to go there since I worked there for years each summer until I started working full-time at Martin Marietta. My boss Richard Phillips was at the ticket booth. I guess he was so shocked to see with such a pretty date that he let us in free. He also told me to go to the concession stand and get free drinks and popcorn. Donna told me later how impressed she was when I brought out drinks and a large brown bag full of buttered popcorn.

The whole date cost 5.00 (including gasoline). She even shared my frugality beliefs! I was enthralled...

The night went great and she even agreed to see me again.

The next morning as I was getting ready to go to church, my phone rang. The caller introduced himself as the "Ballard County Sheriff" and he needed to talk to me about an incident last night. The girl I had gone out with was from Ballard County. My main experiences with Ballard County were to go to the "Game Preserve" (as my Uncle James called it) to camp with my family and a visit to the "Green Palace" (which was really really Green) to watch Lone Oak play in a district basketball tournament. I remember all the kids there blew duck calls the whole game. Anyway, I thought "Oh man, she didn't make it home and now I am the last one to see her and the main suspect". It turned out that they had picked up a couple of guys I know as they came off the Wickliffe bridge and they wanted me to vouch for their identities.

For reasons I'll never understand, she kept going out with me. We've been married 30 years. She still laughs at my bad jokes. I worked at "Martin Marietta" for over 31 years before retiring. We drove that black Olds Cutlass til it wouldn't run any more. I've lived in Ballard County for 28 years now. I still order a Big Mac when I go to McDonalds. And I couldn't be happier....

Presidential Elections - Part 4

In 1980 when Ronald Reagan won the Republican nomination, there was a lot of speculation of who would be his vice presidential choice. A name that was floated was former President Gerald Ford. There was discussion of something like a co-presidency. This didn't work out and almost as an afterthought Reagan chose former CIA director George Bush as his running mate. After Reagan become president, things began to turn around. The Cold War pretty much vanished when he stood up to the USSR which ultimately ceased to exist as a country. The economy turned around. I honestly think Ronald Reagan ended up being the best president of my lifetime. I also remember how John Hinckley tried to assassinate him in 1981 (to supposedly impress Jodie Foster). Reagan was hit in the chest but survived. His Press Secretary James Brady was left paralyzed by a gunshot to the head. Reagan survived and recovered quickly to resume his duties as President (and ultimately dodge the pattern of all presidents elected twenty years apart dying in office).

Reagan ran for reelection in 1984. The Democratic party nominated Walter Mondale (Jimmy Carter's vice president) for president and Geraldine Ferraro (the first woman vice presidential nominee by a major party). Mondale really had no chance. He tried to make an issue of Reagan being the oldest man ever to be president. In one of the presidential debates, Reagan joked "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience". Even Mondale laughed and later admitted he knew then he was going to lose. He not only lost, he was stomped. He only carried his home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia. This was the last "landslide" presidential victory (up til now).

Since Reagan could not run for a third term, there would be a new Republican nominee in 1988. Vice President George Bush threw his hat into the ring and with Reagan's endorsement (and the promise to continue Reagan's policies) won the Republican nomination. The Democratic nomination was up in the air among numerous candidates. The early front runner was Colorado senator Gary Hart. However, word got out of his involvement with a young lady named Donna Rice and he dropped out of the race. Finally, Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis ended up getting the nomination. The Republicans sought to portray Dukakis as a liberal - which Dukakis embraced. Bush's choice of vice president (Dan Quayle) seemed to be an unwise choice. Much was made of his youth and inexperience. In the Vice Presidential debate, Qualye compared his experience with that of John F Kennedy which prompted the Democratic VP candidate Lloyd Bentsen to quip "Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy." What I remember really hurting Dukakis was a guy named Willie Horton. Horton was a convicted murderer. Under a furlough program in place at that time in Massachusetts, Horton was released as part of a weekend furlough program. He didn't return and committed a violent crime and was ultimately captured in Maryland. Republican ads blamed Dukakis for this (since he was governor, supported the program and had vetoed a change to the bill that have not allowed first-degree murders to be a part of the program). Bush ended up defeating Dukakis relatively easily. However, a promise he made during that campaign (that he ultimately broke) would cost him dearly in 1992 (which I'll talk about in my next post).

Presidential Elections - Part 3

As Jimmy Carter’s term progressed, things just got worse. There was an energy crisis in 1979. Not only did gas prices shoot up (over 1.00 a gallon) but gas just wasn’t available (because of issues in oil production in the Middle East). I remember gas stations closing down during the day because they were either out or trying to conserve their supplies. Also, gas was sold either by the half gallon or liter until gas pumps could be converted to handle three digit gas prices. The USSR continued to flex its muscles and invaded Afghanistan. Because of this, the President had the US Olympic Team boycott the 1980 Olympics in Moscow (the only time we’ve done that I think). I remember Sam Bowie of UK had made the basketball team and wouldn’t be able to play. The biggest thing I remember was in Iran. The Shah of Iran was ousted and the Ayatollah Khomeini took over rule of the country. Then, a group took over the US embassy there and held 52 Americans hostage. At first President Carter tried to negotiate for their release. Then, he sent in an attempt for rescue which failed horribly – they never got even close to the embassy. At this point, public sentiment really turned against him.

All of this led to President Carter doing something I’d never dreamed he’d do. He signed an act that reinstated registration for Selective Service (the draft). Every male born in 1960 and 1961 had to register within a few weeks of his signing. Being born in 1961, I dutifully went to the Avondale Post Office and filled out a card to do this. As the months progressed, I grew more and more concerned. I could tell Ronald Reagan was a no nonsense kind of guy. I feared he would immediately start up the draft if he were elected and send soldiers to Iran and Afghanistan. To be honest, I didn’t want to go overseas and fight. In retrospect, that seems really cowardly. My Papaw fought in France in World War I. My dad was in the Army. I had uncles who served as well as other relatives. My only defense is I was an immature somewhat self-centered 18 year old.

The Presidential election approached. I wasn’t voting for Jimmy Carter because I thought he’d done a poor job as president. As I said above, I was convinced Reagan would have me fighting in a foreign war in the very near future so I didn’t want to vote for him. I ended up voting for a third party candidate. John Anderson had run against Ronald Reagan in the 1980 Republican primary and decided to run as an independent. I decided he would get my vote. As I look back, I didn’t really understand his platform, I just knew he didn’t seem to be the “hawk” Ronald Reagan was. From what I read much later, he was a moderate and I tend to be a conservative. I also remember getting a flyer under my windshield at Paducah Community College promoting Libertarian Ed Clark. A friend of mine happened to see the flyer while riding with me one day and liked him enough to vote for him (I won’t name him, I feel like if he wants to admit it, he can). My ironic answer to him on why I couldn’t vote for Ed Clark was “He doesn’t have a chance to win”.

Pollsters predicted the election would be close. The only poll that didn’t show the election as close was the “Weekly Reader” poll done at schools. It had Reagan winning easily. Guess who was right? They were. Reagan won in a landslide. John Anderson did get 6% of the vote but no Electoral votes. I steeled myself for what would happen when Reagan took office. As he was in the process of being inaugurated, Iran released the hostages to Algeria. Reagan took the approach of supporting Afghanistan troops with military advice, money and weapons. So, all my worry was for nothing (as it often is).

That’s plenty for now. In my next post, I’ll discuss the Reagan years and how that choice of Vice President in 1980 shaped things after he left office.

Presidential Elections - Part 2

Almost immediately after Gerald Ford took office, he gave Richard Nixon a full pardon. My understanding is it was to put the incident to rest so the US could move forward. Many did not like this at all. The media portrayed President Ford as a bumbling oaf even though he’d been a star football player at Michigan who could have played in the NFL. Chevy Chase portrayed him to comedic effect on a new show called Saturday Night Live. I remember also the Swine Flu debacle. Several people ended up with a strain of the flu called the Swine Flu. The government hurriedly rushed out a vaccine (I remember a picture of a smiling President Ford being vaccinated). Multiple people died after receiving it and it was just as quickly pulled back. I remember going to my pediatrician to get one and being told it had been pulled back.

As the year of our bicentennial arrived in 1976, the presidential primaries came along. President Ford withstood a stiff challenge from the former governor of California – Ronald Reagan. Several candidates jockeyed for the Democratic nomination. An unknown guy who’d been a peanut farmer and the governor of Georgia emerged as the candidate – Jimmy Carter. He campaigned as being a Washington outsider and beat out a host of other more well-known Democrats such as Jerry Brown, Henry “Scoop” Jackson and Mo Udall. He took a huge lead in the polls as the start over Ford. The race began to tighten as the months went on. Carter made a major gaffe when he admitted in a Playboy interview that he had “looked on a lot of women with lust” admitting he’d “committed adultery in his heart many times” (Matthew 5:28). By the time the election arrived, the election polls showed a very close race.

I remember my mom taking us to the Republican campaign headquarters to pick up bumper stickers, signs and brochures for President Ford. I also remember this ad he started running. Election day came and I remember staying glued to the TV as the results came in. Jimmy Carter carried just about every southern state (including Kentucky and the last time to date a Democratic would win it - Texas). Ford began to pick up other states including states like Illinois and Michigan. Ford took California to tighten the Electoral Vote count. When I finally went to bed, the race still wasn’t decided. Finally, early that morning, Carter went over the required number of Electoral votes to win. Ford actually won more states, but Carter won the Popular Vote and Electoral Vote. As you’d expect, I was pretty disappointed.

How did Ford lose? One, many people did not approve of the pardon he’d given Richard Nixon. Two, his choice of vice president was Bob Dole (who we’ll hear from again later) who wasn’t the best in my mind. My thought was if he’d chosen a VP candidate from the south, he’d have broken up the “Solid South” that helped propel Carter to victory.

President Carter started his term with an executive order declaring amnesty for Vietnam War draft evaders. As his term went on, more and more problems arose. I’ve talked for a while now, so I’ll talk about that and my previously promised discussion of the 1980 Presidential Election, who I voted for and why in my next post.

Presidential Elections - Part 1

Now that we pretty much officially have our candidates for president and we’re set for several months of rhetoric on all sides, I ‘ve started thinking about the presidential elections and campaigns I’ve lived though. This will be the fourteenth. I thought it might be interesting (or it might not) to share my memories and how they line up with what history actually says about what went on.

The first one was in 1964. I was a little shy of my third birthday, so I remember nothing of LBJ blowing out Barry Goldwater. The first campaign I remember anything about at all is 1968. I was in the 2nd grade at Freemont Elementary. What I can remember is kids talking about who their parents voted for. I remember a lot of kids saying their parents voted for somebody named George Wallace. He was a third party candidate (and governor of Alabama) that year who had broken ranks with Democrats He was the last third party candidate to win a state’s electoral votes – he actually won five states (Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana). Richard Nixon still ended up winning enough electoral votes to beat out Vice President Hubert Humphrey and beaome president. I have read since about President Johnson deciding not to run (he could have since he served less than two years of John Kennedy’s term after his assassination). I have no remembrance of Robert Kennedy’s assassination during the 1968 Democratic primaries. Had he been the nominee, things could have turned out totally differently. What I initially remember about Richard Nixon after his election is his going to China and re-initiating foreign relations with them.

What little I remember about the 1972 presidential election was that George Wallace campaigned again and was shot. He lived but was in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. George McGovern won the Democratic primary and Richard Nixon won over him in a landslide. This is what made the uncovering of the Watergate scandal soon after so bizarre. I still don’t understand why there was a need to spy on the Democrats. I remember the Watergate hearings running seemingly forever and interrupting all the game shows I liked to watch during the day. Nixon’s VP Spiro Agnew resigned over things he’d done while governor of Maryland and Gerald Ford was the first replacement VP ever chosen (which would become important later). It turned out Nixon had taped a lot of his meetings and there was a huge battle to get a hold of those tapes. I actually read the transcripts of those tapes in a book later. They were pretty boring - the thing I remember most was how many times "Expletive Deleted" was in there. The Supreme Court finally ruled the tapes had to be turned over. Soon after, Richard Nixon did what many thought a US President would never do. He resigned the presidency. I remember that day. A bunch of us were playing outside and Troy Wurth’s (Troy Bean as we called him) mom made him come in to watch Nixon resign and leave the White House because it was so historic. Gerald Ford ended up giving Nixon a full pardon – a move which would play out in the upcoming presidential election.

That’s enough for now. If I haven’t totally lost your interest, my next post will be about the 1976 election – the first one I took a real interest in. I’ll also discuss the 1980 election. It was the first one I ever voted in and you’ll find who I voted for and why.

Pokemon Go...

Unless you’ve been under a rock for the past two weeks, you’ve no doubt heard of Pokemon Go. It’s an app for a smartphone which (from what I’ve read) is the most downloaded game ever. Opinions range from “one of the greatest things ever” to “one of the stupidest things ever”. Pokemon reminds me of when my sons were young. They enthusiastically collected Pokemon cards, watched the TV show and even went to several movies. I remember them waiting anxiously for Tuesday when Wal-Mart got their latest shipment of cards and us going there to spend their allowance on packs of cards. I remember how excited they were to get a powerful Pokemon (Pocket Monster) and especially a “holo” (card with holographic background). Like most everything else though, they faded away and something more popular replaced them. Now with the introduction of this app, Pokemon are popular again.

We had gone for a visit to Wisconsin to see Josh. He had downloaded the app. It sounded intriguing so I downloaded the app and started playing it myself. I’ll give you my thoughts on the app. This isn’t any sort of all-inclusive description at all nor do I have much more knowledge than I had back then of how this all works.

There are several parts to the game. First, the game supports augmented reality. You can have the app use your camera to make the Pokemon appear to be actually located in the area you are viewing. I will tell you I turned that off pretty quickly and I see more of a generic background – it still uses your phone’s GPS and shows streets and such. As you move around, you are alerted to the presence of a Pokemon. You then click on it and you are then able to throw Pokeballs at it to try and catch the Pokemon. You can gain experience points doing this (along with other things) to raise the level of your character. There also places called PokeStops. They are generally located around landmarks of various types. You can visit these to gather up items you need – such as Pokeballs. There are also PokeGyms. These seem to be located at large public gathering areas. The most common place I’ve seen these are at religious gathering places. Once you reach level five, you can go to a gym to either fight other Pokemon or defend the gym. This depends on what color team you join. A big part of the game is you have to spend a lot of time walking around to get to/do these things. You cannot just drive past them to do them. You also collect eggs which you can hatch in an incubator. Hatching is done by walking a certain number of kilometers (2,5 or 10). Driving will not do this, it must be walking.

We had a lot of fun just walking around trying to do all these things. On the way from Josh’s apartment to where I get my morning donuts, I managed to catch several Pokemon plus there were multiple PokeStops to replenish my supplies. The company where Josh works was rich in Pokemon, PokeStops and gyms since it’s a large spread out campus. We went to downtown Madison one night to look around and had our phones out doing this (along with a ton of other people). I’m not super good at the game, but I’ve gotten better and caught all sorts of Pokemon. Josh and I even took over a gym for a bit (by the Verona Library) and I had to text Jonathan and Cheyenne and show them what we’d done.

I’ve heard a lot of disparaging things about the game. No doubt some people are thinking “what on earth is an old guy like you wasting time on this”. It’s fun to play. While Josh and I were walking around on a “PokeWalk”, we spent a lot of time talking about all sorts of things. We did extra walking playing the game (Several extra miles a day) so the game can help you get additional exercise. You end up seeing things you didn’t even realize were in an area when you go to a Pokestop, It’s social, which is a big thing among young people. When we stopped for cookies in downtown Madison, a young man saw me playing the game and started excitedly talking to me (he was shocked to see an old guy playing the game I’d guess). The big thing is something I discovered after listening to a radio story about it and talking to Josh (and which I alluded to earlier). It reminds young people of when they were kids and the only thing they really worried about was trying to "Catch ‘em all!”. I think most of us can identify with the feeling of looking back with nostalgia to our youth and remembering simpler times.

My final thoughts are these. It’s a fun game. It’s like most any earthly pursuit though. In moderation, it’s fine (presuming of course it’s legal, moral, and not against the teachings of the Bible) . If you spend too much time playing it to the exclusion of important things in your life (God, Christianity, family, friends), that’s a problem.