1980 DNC: Divided party limps toward the fall

[Allocator2008]

President Obama, in all due respect, has made at least two serious errors. First he bailed out Detroit, furthering the addiction to oil instead of shifting to clean energy. Secondly, he is now wanting to build a pipeline from the Canadian tar sands, which is much more expensive to get oil out of, compared to Saudi Arabia (it is lower quality, so you get less bang for your buck, basically).

RFK JR should mount a nomination fight in 2012 to get us off the oil addiction. "The cause endures."

[Derekrife1]

@Allocator2008 I disagree on Detroit strongly. I'm not a fan of Obama, but he did get a good victory on sharply increasing the Fuel Efficiency standards which will help us get off oil. We see this with the Chevy volt using an ion plasma battery

The tar-sands oil pipe line is still in question, and I'm actually on the fence, though it looks like he'll buckle on that.

Ass for RFK jr. I don't think he could win. He suffers from a really bad speech impediment which is unfortunate.

[SkullOfYorick]

Why are political parties so God-damn cowardly sometimes? It was obvious the Democrats couldn't win with Carter. With Ted Kennedy, they would've had a fighting chance.

[Derekrife1]

@SkullOfYorick Kennedy lost badly in the 1980 primaries. I'm pretty sure he would have killed Carter if it wasn't for Chappaquiddick, or the really bad drinking habit he fell into after his brothers were killed. He ended up with a lot of personal baggage, which really smothered his rhetoric and Congressional record which is top notch.

[FRSFreeState]

"United we Stand, Divided we Fall", should've been the message that democrats took from the 1980 General Elections.

[mr19932001]

Teddy divided the party. If he didn't run and supported Carter, we could've gotten more than 6 states!!!

[Siskonx01]

Did he say Hubert Hornblower?? LOL

[hoosierlooker]

Never thought we would have a worse president than Carter but W took that honor and retired it.

[FrsBigeasy]

"United we stand divided we fall" is what the Democratic Party learned in 1980.

[MeritisDE]

Ted Kennedy's elitist attitude showed badly that year.

He believed he was entitled to the Presidency and

could not accept that the party twice chose a

rural person of humble means.

Hillary was much more gracious towards Obama

(seeing the split in the votes in the 08' primary)

than Ted Kennedy could ever be.

[Boredonthejob]

@MeritisDE

I think you've taken things the wrong way. Almost no one liked Carter in 1979. Its widely assumed Kennedy never wanted the Office of the President in the first place.

[suwanee4712]

@Boredonthejob That's not true at all. Kennedy always wanted the White House. He would have been the front runner in 1976 had he chosen to run. But the specter of Mary Jo Kopechne's death prevented him from running. He decided after Carter was elected that he would run in 1980 and then set about trying to bottle up and defeat Carter's initiatives such as comprehensive health care to prevent Carter from having too many tangible achievements to run on.

[NuJoiseyMAN]

@MeritisDE Hillary is all about Hillary. She made sure she got what was "owed" to her by being appointed Secretary of State.

[mindspring57]

The dream died for Mary Jo Kopechne. Edward Kennedy should have been thrown in jail. Anyone else would have been. Later on at the 1980 convention, the pompous arrogant SOB would not even shake hands with the President of the United States.

[NOTGLENNBECK]

The 'dream' shall never die, but you did, Deaddy Kennedy! RIP, if you can, in being a demon's girlfriend! When you stood before Almighty God, you didn't have the backing of the liberal press nor the cover of a powerful family. You must have been squirming, Deaddy! There are no appeals at the court of God. You lost out! JUSTICE FINALLY! MaryJo Kopechne now can RIP.  Dead Kennedy, I'm not so sure.

[belltownboy2012]

I'm a Republican, but I have to admit, that was an awesome speech Ted Kennedy gave!

[ImanJones22]

What an amazing speech.... RIp....EMK

[damron13]

Clinton looked funny with darker hair. lol

[woodyt56]

Poor Jimmy. He stood there beaming, desperately needing the support of the #1 Democrat in the country, and Teddy just looked disgusted to be there and barely even shook Carter's hand.

[marcostar57]

Another American icon, a great statesman is gone; as Ted Kennedy has just passed away.

Now you're together with your brothers Jack & Bobbie and other family members who have passed on.

R. I. P. Ted -- we'll miss your passion, energy, humanity and devotion to achieving justice.

[bigboyjerome]

u think teddy can read this? haha! hilarious! wipe ur tears! toughen up, democrat!

[gopconservative78]

Ted Kennedy was snorting so much coke....Clinton banging every chick in sight

[ZEROEVILDARKCOOL]

THE PRESIDENT COULD BE IN IN A PORN FOR ALL l CARE

AS LONG AS THEYRE THE BEST PERSON TO FOR THE JOB

[TOPOFFMAN]

That would be just for a democrat president right?

[hoosierlooker]

Carter got booed during his acceptance speech.....draft registration did not sit well with the Kennedy people.

[suwanee4712]

@hoosierlooker Carter was not booed. Carter won the nomination overwhelmingly and Kennedy and his relatively few delegates chose to show their collective ass. They ushered in the Reagan era. Reagan was not overwhelmingly popular despite his landslide victory. The numbers only broke his way in the last 2 days before the election when it appeared that Carter would not get the hostages ouf of Iran. Had Kennedy done the honorable thing and supported the president it would have helped.

[Oubound898]

Bill clinton had hair

[RuflessRecords]

One of the top 10 Funniest Things ever on Youtube 0:15-0:21. Talking about fat, bulbnosed sleazebag Bill Clinton, the old announcer says "Democrats trying to show young people what's possible if you follow a policy of CLEAN LIVING and hard work...you can be a governor very young." Hahahhahah Bill Clinton, clean living. Good one. I can't remember which cow he was mounting during this period, but his faithfulness to Hillary lasted about 3 seconds, tons of affairs all thru the 80's.

[stashnut73]

well at least he was not caught in an airport rest room soliciting gay sex, or flying to Argentina to see his mistress.

[clickcijum]

I also think it's funny how Jimmy Carter raised his hand in fighting victory with that grin on his face on 1:07 XD

[clickcijum]

Did any of you hear Jimmy Carter call Hubert Humphrey ''Hubert Horatio Hornblower?'' On 0:58? My Dad saw this and pointed it out! And then Carter shouts ''HUMPHREY!!!'' Which I thought he said ''COUNTRY!!!'' My Dad and I found that funny XD Haha

[1prouddemocrat]

clickcijum, yep he called former VP Humphrey "Hornblower" and it was absolutely embarrasing for him. He had NO business running for reelection in 1980. A great ex-President, a LOUSY President.

[Michthemitch]

OBAMA!!!

[Richardhedditch261]

Perhaps what Jimmy Carter and the Democrats were lacking for the 1980 Convention was Billy Carter ranting and raving on the speaker's podium for twenty minutes about the foreign policy merits which he himself proved were realizable; and to then end at least one Convention Day with a Country and Western male performer on acoustic guitar singing "Reagan is a bloody fool doo-da doo-da; Reagan is a bloody fool,what a bloody twit!"

[Thvndar]

It's too bad that because of disloyal democrats we got the devil incarnate a.k.a. Ronald REagan

[suwanee4712]

So true. Ted Kennedy forgot what his brother said in his inauguration speech. He didn't do what was best for his country. He tried to do what was best for himself. He never should have ran. But since he did he at least should have bowed out when Carter was routing him all over the map.

[DoubleTalkingJive]

Exactly. A very selfish move on Kennedy's fault. And remember that even though Carter lost the election, Reagan still got less than 51%. It probably would've been much higher if he was running against Kennedy.

[2112GeddyLee]

Actually if you round it Reagan did earn 51% of the popular vote. But Reagan won 90.9% of the electoral vote. Ha

[1prouddemocrat]

Thvndar, Carter was NOT going to be reelected President in 1980. I am as partisan a Democrat as they come, but Carter had NO chance at reelection. The economy was tanking, the Iranian hostage crisis was going on, and Carter had basically pissed off everyone on both left and right. He had NO business running for reelection.

[Thvndar]

If we learn one thing from 2004 it's that politics can sometimes override reality. Bush fucked up 10 times worse, and got reelected why?: because he had a repetitive message & a united party

So if all Democrats had depicted Reagan to be a loon who would blow up the world (like Johnson & Goldwater) he would have scared America against voting for that douche bag

[1prouddemocrat]

Thvndar, that is true to some extent. The problem with your theory, however is that in Goldwater's case, there were MANY (like Nelson Rockefeller and Jacob Javits) who refused to support Goldwater. Also, Carter tried to use several of the same tactics that Johnson had used in '64. They failed because Reagan unlike Goldwater was able to dispel the image of a mad western bomber and because Reagan controlled the base of the GOP by then.

[1prouddemocrat]

Thvndar, in addition, in 2004 we were (as we are now) in a wartime situation and generally wartime incumbents win reelection. Besides, Bush UNLIKE Carter was ALWAYS popular with the GOP base. Carter NEVER was. He was a moderate to conservative Democrat who was mistrusted by the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. When the evangelical voters supported Reagan in '80, Carter was doomed because they were a KEY group that elected him in '76.

[Thvndar]

there were alot of things carter could have used against Reagan, i.e. being racist, flip flopping on abortion and the death penalty. black ops (anonymous calls saying that Reagan had a gay relationship)

I guess i get frustrated when i see elections we could have won but didn't '72 '88 '00 '04

[stashnut73]

yes when they were not stolen from us 00 04 we played to nice and did not fight back at crazy attacks 88

[Thvndar]

i know exactly what you mean, Hubert Humphrey knew that Nixon was interfering with the peace process in Vietnam and yet chose not to use that information to his advantage

[suwanee4712]

@1prouddemocrat Very good point about evangelicals. Reagan made a deal with Falwell and crew and they turned their backs on the man who was most like them. They villified Carter and tried to make him look like an evil person. When in fact Carter was like most Americans, somewhere in the middle on most issues. The other thing that hurt Carter was that he ran as an outsider and he governed as an outsider. He didn't cozy up to Washington elite on either side.

[uyd]

His repetive message was one of fear and- division

[stashnut73]

Could not have said it better, Raygun a piece of crap turn coat democrat who went to the gop for his own political gain. And Raygun did the same thing to Ford in 76 and tried to take nomination from him. And they wanted to put that scumbag on Mt Rushmore.

[suwanee4712]

@1prouddemocrat I disagree with this. Whatever else was happening the American people still had favorable personal feelings about Carter. They wanted to believe him and trust him. Which is why the huge amount of undecided voters waited until the last 2 days of the election to see if he would get the hostages released before siding with Reagan. They literally waited for Carter to give them a reason to re-elect him.

[b5kalad]

And if America knew the truth about obama, he would have only carried six states!!!! Thank you CNN to selling out America!!!