Dukakis has been saying this for years, Jason.  It's a well rehearsed line.  You're just hearing it now.   My recollection of 1988 was of Dukakis being hurt by Jesse Jackson, who dramatically outshone him in the charisma department.  Dukakis was the acceptably white guy who benefitted from Hart's and Biden's self-immolations.  It's a bit fuzzy in my memory how Dukakis beat Al Gore in 1988, but once Duke won the nomination, Bush had too much money and just enough love from the afterglow of Reagan that you needed an especially strong Dem to beat him.

Haha, nice post. Maybe TNR could do a special 80s flashback issue-- where were you when, where are they now, what if x y z... Just no pics of Madonna or Milli Vanilli, pls

Wow, I read that US News interview and I've really warmed to the guy now.  Imagine being a punchline for all these years and being smart enough to know it?  And how many other politicians could appraise themselves at such a crucial time of their lives that candidly?

Dukakis/some-even-older-courtly-Texan 2016!

I see Dukakis around Boston on occasion. Riding the T in the evening, I once stood near a bunch of boisterous kids who had no clue that the stooped, graying fellow sitting placidly next to them was very nearly the leader of the free world. I've also seen him driving around the South End in a little maroon compact car that looks to be about fifteen years old. Sic transit gloria mundi.

And Dukakis should never forgive the adivser who said "Yeah Governor, wearing this 3 sizes too large helmet and having your small frame poking out of the hatch of this 60 ton tank will make a great photo op, real presidential and commander-in-chief like."

Okay, this is funny, I have a similar story. Except some blue blood ass grabbers squaring up, imagine this one between two rednecks from the Upcountry of SC.

I was attending a high school kegger in Chester, SC playing asshole when one of the school wrestlers said that if Dukakis got elected we would be invaded by Nicaragua. I died laughing and started asking about logistics: where those 1960 T-34s might refuel, would the Mexicans let them cruise through their country, would their three jets match American airpower and what boy scout troupe we would send out to repel them at the border. If I remember correctly, he was response "What about if I just kick your ass." There were a lot of girls, big teased hair and all, and having to back down was pretty humiliating.

Today the ringleader has a slight meth habit, paints the lines on the District 3 football field and lives with his mommy. I win.

Androscoggin, that made my day, and it's only 10:18 a.m. out here.

Hey Zengerle, that actually sounds like a pretty cool dad; I hope you didn't get the vapors or anything when that incident happened.

Actually, the man I blame is not the Duke, but Mario Cuomo who, for reasons that I still cannot fathom, chose in semi-dramatic, last minute fashion not to run that year, and who, if he had run, would have cleaned Bush sr.'s clock.

Who won the fight?

Andros for post o the day. Even better than WY's Vegas security cameras (btw, good thing I never learned how to count cards).

What's Duke doing in the South End, anyway? Or have the neighborhood's demographics changed in the last couple of decades?

I just ripped a nice Mondale myself.  Ahhhh.

The South End is very, very different than it was in the 80s and early 90s.  It's pretty swank these days.

Handbells.  Haha.  I remember those.  Fortunately I did not play them.

Hey timteeter, you're right on the mark per Cuomo mystery. Somebody must have the 8 by 10

glossies that brought him to a screeching halt.

Jason, you've misquoted Dukakis. Whatever his faults as a candidate in 1988, there's no way he would use a construction like "you'd of never heard of the kid".

I definitely heard him say "you'd have never heard of the kid".

Great, if Dukakis had won, we would have allowed Saddam's invasion of Kuwait to stand as most Democrats in the Congress voted to do in '91.

Saddam would still be in power and supporting Al Qaeda.  We might be in Afghanistan and if so, would have overthrown the Taliban.

But, with Saddam creating vast mischief for us, he having learned valuable lessons of our vulnerability from 9/11, we would be on the defensive in the Middle East.

So, yeah, if only the Duke had beat the first Bush.

"It's a bit fuzzy in my memory how Dukakis beat Al Gore in 1988."

Something about Dukakis being experienced as the chief executive of the Massachusetts Miracle, and Gore being a presumptuous puppy with two years in the Senate and a couple of books, and an Ivy League education.

Boy, and the Democrats sure showed the Republicans by not falling for the supine inexperience silly writer, back then, didn't they!!  Man, all that executive "experience" - how could you pass that up?

Incidentally, Dukakis might be willing to self-flagellate, but let's not forget where it all began, with Lee Atwater, who in fact apologised for his misdeeds on his deathbed.  If there is blame, it lies with Bush pere who, despite his patrician background, decided, like McCain of today, there is no low below which he would not sink.  Once the Willie Horton ads showed up, the end was nigh.

"Saddam would still be in power and supporting Al Qaeda."

Channy: the ability of the Right to rewrite history is amazing, of course, and never ceases to amuse.  And of course when it comes to the history of the "War on Terror", that rewriting ability is almost Shakepearean.  Goebbles was right about the Big Lie.

1. If memory serves, Saddam was left in power by Bush pere.

2. Saddam was actively supported in his war with Iran by the Reagan administration - remember the picture of Rummy with his tongue deeply in Saddam's ass?

3. There has not been an iota of evidence linking Saddam to AQ; AQ in Iraq is a direct result of the bad management of the Iraq War.

4. If Dukakis had been in power, it is likely that he would not have cozied up to Saddam to give the murderous monster the confidence to attack one of the allies of the US; it is also very likely that his State Department would not have sent ambiguous instructions to an inexperienced ambassador out of her depth. "We do not interfere in disputes between Arab countries."  Right.

5. It is also entirely likely - more than likely - that a Dukakis administration would not have been as cozy with President Zia of Pakistan - you know, the same Ape who turned Pakistan's secular leftist government into an Islamic Republic - and would not have allowed the Taliban to take over Afghanistan.

Oh, the fucking list goes on.  Stick to being a shill for McCain, as your "knowledge" of history would embarrass even the chimp you seek to rehabilitate.

I just let loose with a nice moist Obama.

Chan, I suggest you leave the Alternate History business to Harry Turtledove!

Saddam had plenty of warning about his Kuwait mischief.  He had been listening to Democrats long enough to believe that the U.S. was a paper tiger.  

And we almost proved to be one, because the majority of Democrats in the Congress voted against military action to remove Saddam from Kuwait.

We left Saddam in power on the theory that containing him and keeping him bottle up would be sufficient.  9/11 changed our minds about that.  

And even the Democrats were shamed into supporting the invasion of Iraq.  They were steadfast on that until the war bogged down.  Then they wanted to bail, even though it meant defeat for us.

When Bush refused to retreat and found (like Lincoln finally did) a better general and a better strategy, the Democrats first refused to acknowledge they were wrong.  And now try not to talk about Iraq at all.

You've got your make believe history, Ick & Jeff.  I've got the real stuff.

Like pretty much everyone else , I was very impressed with Kerry's speech last night. In trying to