tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post8110427617866231774..comments2023-10-16T07:13:12.123-05:00Comments on A plain blog about politics: Vicious TV Attacks on 1960s PoliticiansJonathan Bernsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15931039630306253241noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-38272546269418276072012-04-03T08:57:12.534-05:002012-04-03T08:57:12.534-05:00Owww! Indeed they don't!Owww! Indeed they don't!Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16932015378213238346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-17805997476262340482012-04-03T08:14:47.823-05:002012-04-03T08:14:47.823-05:00Really? at 26, I know Linsey from reading Buckley&...Really? at 26, I know Linsey from reading Buckley's "the Unmaking of a Mayor".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-84640844418438507422012-04-03T07:58:00.050-05:002012-04-03T07:58:00.050-05:00Eugene McCarthy responded to Romney's gaffe by...Eugene McCarthy responded to Romney's gaffe by saying that a full brainwashing was overkill, and that in Romney's case 'a light rinse should have been sufficient.'<br /><br />Insults that good don't come from nowhere.Tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15582136184196524214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-24234048539100290692012-04-02T22:57:28.560-05:002012-04-02T22:57:28.560-05:00I think the comment makes most sense if we remembe...I think the comment makes most sense if we remember Henry Francis' Rockefeller connections and the 1964 race. Romney was one of the moderates floated as an anti-Goldwater candidate as it became clear that Rockefeller wouldn't succeed. In that context his comment may reflect more of a personal animus than Lindsay's political position. Even if Rockefeller did back Romney in '68, that doesn't mean a former campaign aid would have gotten over it by '66.Jasonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11671050987524165406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-41435633893864167062012-04-02T21:09:57.403-05:002012-04-02T21:09:57.403-05:00In a hundred years, sure -- but right now, is Lind...In a hundred years, sure -- but right now, is Lindsay all that forgotten? Didn't a book defending his reputation (on all the issues that were not the skyrocketing crime rate during his tenure as mayor) just come out last year?the classicisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08691196845661570282noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-16596937514645271032012-04-02T18:39:21.790-05:002012-04-02T18:39:21.790-05:00The 'moron' reputation, if true, explains ...The 'moron' reputation, if true, explains something I've wondered about for many years - why George Romney got so hammered for the 'brainwashing' remark. <br /><br />The conventional wisdom that the remark itself did him in has never rung true. After all, a lot of people at that time were feeling they'd been taken in by official happy talk about the Vietnam war. But if the people who knew him already thought he was a doofus, they would see the remark in a very different light.<br /><br />History explained! (Maybe.)Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16932015378213238346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-37598756174936082312012-04-02T17:40:53.741-05:002012-04-02T17:40:53.741-05:00Are we really not supposed to like Henry Francis? ...Are we really not supposed to like Henry Francis? He's a far better husband to Betty than Don was, and he's far nicer than she deserves half the time. He doesn't seem to be a drunk or a brute or a philanderer, putting him well ahead of basically every other male character on the show. I suppose his two alleged faults would be that he's politically ambitious (I don't see that as a fault) and that he met Betty when she was married and made his intentions known even then, although, to both their credit, they didn't do anything until she was divorced.Seth Maskethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17178036016555722068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-80699527283908085452012-04-02T15:36:09.157-05:002012-04-02T15:36:09.157-05:00Of course, Francis is working for Lindsay, not Roc...Of course, Francis is working for Lindsay, not Rockefeller, by the time he calls Romney a "clown.". While Rockefeller initially backed Romney for the '68 nomination (with many seeing the Michigan governor as his stalking horse), I have no idea what Lindsay's attitude was. Rockefeller and Lindsay didn't always see eye-to-eye, and eventually fell out big time.Richard Skinnernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-61173717424569799332012-04-02T15:25:57.265-05:002012-04-02T15:25:57.265-05:00This is an excellent question. My own wild guess i...This is an excellent question. My own wild guess is that in that era, getting nominated for a big-state governorship meant you were already a national political player to some degree: Rockefeller was a Rockefeller, Romney the head of a major corporation, Reagan a well-known figure who had already spoken at a GOP convention, Scranton the son of a grand family whose relatives were already politically prominent (his mother was a longtime member of the GOP national committee), etc. The age of the Jesse Venturas and Jan Brewers and Sarah Palins was not yet upon us.Jeffnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-53702604421840011052012-04-02T15:18:51.124-05:002012-04-02T15:18:51.124-05:00Unsure about that, Chris. But, don't forget th...Unsure about that, Chris. But, don't forget that Cleveland was barely in politics for a few years before he became president.<br /><br />Oh, and governors for half-terms? I don't think their presence in the GOP has come to an end, yet (*cough* Palin *cough*)Matt Jarvisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-580443281878078562012-04-02T15:08:40.348-05:002012-04-02T15:08:40.348-05:00And as regards Henry Francis, I don't know tha...And as regards Henry Francis, I don't know that the issue of his political judgment has ever been raised. Mad Men is only scantly interested in the electoral politics of the era, so I doubt that Matt Weiner included the line because he wanted to take a shot on George Romney. It's more likely that Henry Francis is a moderate Republican strategist to show that he, like a lot of the characters on the show, is part of an old guard that will struggle as the sixties progress.S. Tarzannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-37834890723940661662012-04-02T15:07:37.054-05:002012-04-02T15:07:37.054-05:00I'm always struck, in looking at presidential ...I'm always struck, in looking at presidential politics of the 60s, by how people who'd been governors for maybe a year and a half were considered perfectly viable presidential candidates (Rockefeller in '60, Scranton and Romney in '64, Reagan in '68). Did the post-68 reforms end these sorts of candidacies, deliberately or unintentionally?Chris Gnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-90038055984217871612012-04-02T15:02:37.186-05:002012-04-02T15:02:37.186-05:00In Rule and Ruin, Geoffery Kabaservice writes that...In Rule and Ruin, Geoffery Kabaservice writes that Romney's reputation pre-dated the brainwashing interview. Apparently a lot of prominent moderates thought that his speeches were garbled and confusing; and Romney had a tendency to talk about God's plan for America in an era when that was a lot less common. (Plus he was a Mormon.) And generally, it seems as if moderate support for his presidential candidacy was lukewarm at best.S. Tarzannoreply@blogger.com