Word: populist
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Throughout most of the general election campaign, Dukakis didn't even offer the voters a choice. Only when he faced incredibly long odds, did Dukakis find his voice--a liberal voice--and begin to ignite the passions of the electorate. It was his last-ditch populist crusade of "I'm on your side" which fueled hopes of a long-shot victory. It was his long-awaited defense of liberalism which began to bring the Democrats back home...
...appeal is simple, direct, visceral. Us vs. Them. The Haves vs. the Have-Nots. The cry has a long and honorable history among Democratic presidential candidates. Dukakis' populist pitch began as far back as Labor Day, when he delivered a speech shaped by Bob Shrum, the veteran Democratic wordsmith who had designed Dick Gephardt's populist incarnation. Lee Atwater, George Bush's pugnacious campaign manager, admits, "I got a little worried after the Labor Day speech that they were going to catch on to the populist approach." But only last week did the Dukakis campaign go ballistic. "George Bush wants...
...Dukakis' populist appeal is an elite-seeking missile homing in on the pocketbook. He suggested that Bush's proposed capital-gains tax break would help the privileged few "hire a second butler." He derided it by using the example of a taxpayer who reported capital gains of $515,132 between 1985 and 1987. Such a taxpayer would save $22,000 a year. His name: "George Herbert Walker Bush...
...popular resentment. For Dukakis this is a problem. As a Governor and a politician, he embodies the search for consensus, for mediation. He stands for "partnerships," an idea that is as far from traditional populism as Brookline is from Kansas. During the primaries, he scorned Dick Gephardt's populist campaign theme of "It's your fight too." Gephardt's specter of $48,000 Hyundais, Dukakis suggested, pandered to an American xenophobic streak by railing against foreign companies. Now, however, Dukakis is showing a commercial featuring a Japanese flag. His slogan "I'm on your side" is Gephardt Lite...
...week Bush was enjoying the front runner's perks, campaigning at a more leisurely pace than his rival and nibbling at Dukakis' base in New England. Dukakis was jetting across the country by day while giving a series of exhausting network interviews at night. By directing his newly sharpened populist message at mass audiences, Dukakis was making one last, game attempt to seize voters by the lapels and persuade them to think of him as a potential President...