Word: mainstream
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...truth, Dukakis lost not because he was "out of the mainstream" as Vice President George Bush contends, but because he failed to explain why liberalism is part of the mainstream. To make matters worse, he refused until almost the very end to energize those voters sympathetic to his cause...
Jackson understands that liberalism is still relevant to American politics. One of the greatest ironies of this election has been that while George Bush was bashing and mischaracterizing liberal principles, he kidnapped the mainstream liberal positions of the Democratic Party--daycare, education, the environment and defense of the middle class. Bush said he wanted a "kindler, gentler" nation and he realized his more conservative side--which grants tax breaks to the rich and wages negative campaigns--couldn't bring that about...
...stay on under Carter as CIA director. The most important unanswered question in this campaign: Who would shape Bush's values and priorities if he became President? The near indefensible choice of Dan Quayle aside, the contours of Bush's projected Administration suggest that he would govern as a mainstream Republican -- sort of Gerald Ford plus pork rinds...
...sound bites stop at the Oval Office door. The ease with which Bush has skirted the boundaries of truth in the campaign remains troubling. Last week, while coasting on a comfortable lead, the Vice President felt compelled to charge that Dukakis' economic nostrums are "far outside the mainstream," and snidely hinted that they come closer to European-style socialism than American free enterprise. It is a scant defense to suggest that these hyperbolic words were scripted by Bush's handlers; a President too, if he does not exercise restraint, can be at the mercy of his speechwriters. Balanced against this...
That question will not be on any ballot, but it is perhaps the most unambiguous decision facing voters. Dukakis is the apostle of the do-something ethic, while Bush represents mainstream Republican skepticism of new Government programs. That choice undergirds the election, but never have the terms of philosophic battle been defined for the voters. This vagueness provides protective camouflage for Bush, who has artfully used evocative phrases like "a kinder, gentler nation" to mask the passivity of his domestic agenda. He has, to be sure, advanced his own proposals on education and day care, but they do not seem...