Word: wimp
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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During an interview on 60 Minutes last year that included talk about his presidential aspirations, CBS's Diane Sawyer reminded George Bush that Michael Kramer, one of the nation's savviest political journalists, had once suggested the Vice President was a wimp. Replied Bush, who rarely singles out reporters for attack: "You know Michael Kramer? He'll never play linebacker for the Chicago Bears. You ever seen him?" Kramer, 43, may never rush down Soldier Field, but last week he joined TIME's team as special correspondent. His first piece for the magazine, an analysis of the new Administration...
...Democrats. Feisty and united, they roared out of Atlanta with an 18-point lead. Driven to win, they dreamed of painting the East Room a dusty rose and replacing Nancy's china with simple stoneware. All that stood in their way was George Herbert Walker Bush, a wimp and a preppie, no more presidential than poor Pat Paulsen. But less than four months later, the sometimes goofy, malaprop-prone Republican devastated the Democrats. What went wrong...
Such is the sour legacy of 1988, an election year that was to substance what cold pizza is to a balanced breakfast. Think of the words and phrases that 18 months of nonstop electioneering have underlined in the political lexicon: Monkey Business, the character issue, attack videos, plagiarism, wimp, handlers, sound bites, flag factories, tank ride, negative spots, the A.C.L.U., Willie Horton and likability. Match them with all the pressing national concerns that were never seriously discussed: from the Japanese economic challenge to the plight of the underclass. As the voters trudge off to the polls with all the enthusiasm...
...beginning of the campaign, Dukakis and Bush were like line drawings as in a coloring book and they have to be colored in," Reese says. "Bush was in pastels, with a reputation for being a wimp and so forth, but in identifying Dukakis as short on patriotism, soft on crime and weak on defense, Bush very vividly colored Michael Dukakis...
...wimp once, wasn't he? Is there some explanation for his sudden transformation into a Tough...