Mike Dukakis acceptance speech Atlanta 1988

Mike Dukakis, a three time governor of Massachusetts, was born in Brookline MA in 1933. He served in Korea and graduated in 1960 from Harvard Law School.
He won the Democratic nomination for President in 1988, a tough 16 month nomination fight against fellow Democrats, the charismatic Gary Hart and the eloquent Jesse Jackson and lost, against Bush41. It was a dirty campaign. Republican strategist Lee Atwater run the dirty campaign for Bush41. The Willy Horton ad, personal attacks on Mike, his wife and family resulted in his defeat. Susan Estrich fellow Harvard Alum, run his clean and honorable campaign focusing on economic issues. It was not enough.
His father Panos, from Mytilene, arrived in America,in 1913 with $25 dollars in his pocket and graduated from Harvard medical school in 1924.
His mom Euterpe Boukis, was from Zahorohoria in Epirus, arrived in America in 1913, without speaking a word of English and twelve years later she graduated from Bates with a Phi Beta Kappa key.
His wife Kitty Dukakis, married in 1963, got her M.A. from Boston University in 1982.
A lifelong fighter against racism and an ACLU member.
Olympia Dukakis, the Oscar winning actress for "Moonstruck" in 1987, is his cousin.
Excerpts from his nomination speech at the Democratic party convention, in Atlanta GA, on 7.21.1988 follow.
His immortal idealistic words: "Our greatest strength comes not from what we possess but from what we believe" are as true today as they were back then.
Excerpts from the outstanding book "Greek Americans: Struggle and Success" by Charles C. Moskos can be found here: http://books.google.com/books?id=mcTvNg77kp4C&pg=PA177&lpg=PA177&...

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[argentozombi]

Absolutely! Dukakis is a great man, and would have been a great and competent President

[marcostar57]

Boy aren't you RIGHT! I was astonished at the media & the voters for falling for all the sick BS that year. What a better country & world we would be today if Dukakis had been elected,

[nikoz78]

@redletter2008 Report this: you're a ignorant little piss-ant, a know-it-all that doesn't KNOW anything, an inexperienced little bitch with a sense-of-entitlement, a keyboard warrior who acts tough while hiding behind a pc, a racist white BOY who is narcissistic, and you can go FUCK YOURSELF. Olive skin is beautiful, just ask your sister. Report that you punk ass little bitch.

[redletter2008]

@nikoz78 I hope you enjoyed your little tirade here, because I intend to see that it is the last you make on youtube for some time. You violated a number of terms of agreement items in your curse-filled explosion of stupidity and hate, not to mention your outright racist references - no matter how you spin it. Comprende?

[nikoz78]

@redletter2008 God, you're dumb. First off, your comment was clearly racist. "Olive skin" usually only applies to Italians and Greeks (Mediterraneans). Asians would be "yellow," Latino/Arabic would be "brown." Anyway, what you said was bigoted, no matter how you try to spin it. And what are you talking about Obama for, you fucking idiot? Never mentioned him once. In actual fact, I'm a Independent-Libertarian, and support Ron Paul. Now hurry, don't want to miss the bus for school.

[redletter2008]

@nikoz78 No. I have olive skin your saintlyness! Half Asian/half Irish. Swarthy, as I used it (and used hilariously in an SNL skit with John Lovitz portraying Dukakis) is used more to describe someone that is an urban schlemp. But your response is common of "Obama-era" whiners, themselves the most hateful bunch in the country (look at OWS trash) & always chomping at the bit to brand anyone who hurts their feelings or has differing views as a racist. It doesn't work anymore. Sorry.

[nikoz78]

@redletter2008 "swarthy little man" You have a problem with olive skin? Racist idiot.

[smbproduction]

hey guys im not joking on this Kitty Dukakis is my great aunt. Micheal Dukakis is my great uncle. I visit him every here and there.

[redletter2008]

What a bitter, robotic and swarthy little man. His hate-filled tirade at that embarrassing '88 Dem convention in Atlanta proved he was not presidential material. Normally, the party out-of-power wins the White House after 8 years. But in '88, Mike Dukakis managed to lead Dems to a 3rd-straight, humiliating, landslide loss after having a lead as large as 17 points in late August. He offered nothing but hate & vitriol. America rewarded him with only 10 states & total repudiation of his nonsense.

[Wild1995]

This is a very edited version of the speech. The original speech was over twice as long.

[TheGeekyNinjaStudios]

@marcostar57 Have you seen the debate 2000 video? W was charismatic as hell. Dukakis had no enthusiasm in 1988 and it stood out in the debates. Also, if you cannot fight a smear campaign then you are a weak nominee. Obama won in 2008 with full media backing (smearing mccain left and right) and like Dukakis McCain proved noneffective in responding. Politics are about style, not substance.

[marcostar57]

@TheGeekyNinjaStudios As opposed to what? The smirky chimp W or his stuffy daddy GHW ..they sure as hell weren't charsimatic speakers. This was a great speech; and must have been effective since he lead Bush by 20 points after the convention. It was the disgusting Bush smear campaign that brought him down; and the idiot American voter who falls for such garbage.