The last presidential election between two honorable candidates?

[Faygo Kid]

You have choices here, but I am confining myself to the GOP-Democratic Party candidates, to keep it manageable. (Do your own poll for Nader, et al). Also, not enough poll space to go back far, so I am eliminating George W. and Nixon (both dishonorable), and including Bush I and Reagan to keep it from going back outside of most DUer memories. I anticipate what I will hear about that, so enjoy. Incumbents listed first, only for consistency. Seriously - when was the last time both parties fielded, at a minimum, decent human beings? ALSO - please comment; who were the BEST two opposing candidates ever?

[belle]

1. I voted Ford-Carter, although I actually don't think Dole's a monster...

Certainly he'd be much better than this clown. "Honorable" might be stretching it, though. Decent, probably. Ford was decent. Eisenhower was decent. Hindsight says Goldwater was decent. Dunno enough about Dewey, but my fleeting impression from reading history accounts was that he was a bit of a shallow scumbag. Don't take my word for it, though.

I wouldn't call Bush I decent, but compared to his spawn, he's a saint.

Reagan was not decent. Reagan was a hologram of a man. I'm not sure there was enough substance there for him to be decent *or* indecent. His cabinet, otoh, was vileness itself.

[bucknaked]

2. I voted Carter-Ford too, but Dole was defenitly worthy of my respect....

Of course, I love my brother, too (he's very conservative), but I'd never vote for him. ;)

[Faygo Kid]

4. Damned fine analysis. Thanks for posting.

I think you have nailed it, although Dewey was actually decent; a very successful prosecutor against corruption and a typical mainstream (aka clueless) Republican of the time - but certainly not evil, like George W. He had a thin mustache, dark receding hair, and Alice Roosevelt Longworth described him as "the little man on the wedding cake." Devastating. He was the GOP candidate in 1944 (against FDR) and of course in 1948, against Truman. Then, he disappeared completely as an influence. Think I will Google his bio now. I know he was born in Owosso, Michigan, but don't know what happened to him. Anyway, great response. Give yourself a big smack on the forehead.

[RichM]

8. In the 1976 VP debates, Dole did something disgraceful. He called

WWI and WWII "Democrat wars," implying that the US entrance into those wars was a partisan matter. Mondale responded to him (to the best of my recollection), "Well, Sen. Dole, tonight, you have richly earned your reputation as a partisan hatchet man."

[MarianJack]

13. And That Was the Moment ...

...that Mondale won the debate!

I remember a Carter commercial that talked about the VP being 1 heartbeat away from the presidency. It ended with "What do you think of Mondale? What do you think of Dole?"

Priceless!

[eleny]

3. just couldn't go ford-carter because

ford pardoned nixon.

[Faygo Kid]

5. You know, I used to agree with you. But I remember it so well.

A trial of Richard Nixon would have ripped an already ripped-apart country even further. It was a time for healing. Ford lost the election for it, and was presented just a few years ago with a "Profiles in Courage" award by Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg for doing it. I hated it at the time. In retrospect, I think Ford was right. He would have no place - none - in today's Republican Party. They would run him out of town on a rail.

[i_c_a_White_Ghost]

6. Ford-Carter for me

ok Ford was a typical republican but compared to what we have now, i wish we had him back!

[bushalert]

7. Great Poll!!!!

I voted Clinton/Dole

[BrotherBuzz]

9. Would of, could of, should of...

The '64 race between Kennedy and Goldwater was the one I wanted to see.

[patricia92243]

10. Other: Washington vs. whoever :)

[Faygo Kid]

14. Washington "ran" unopposed for both terms.

That's a good choice for the last time we had total honor in an election.

[Columbia]

11. Jefferson - Adams

[Faygo Kid]

15. Thinking the same thing. Guess Hoover was "honorable," but right wing

Look who the GOP won with in the 1920s: Harding, Coolidge, Hoover. Yeah, they have posted some pips since TR. Wendell Willkie was their best, probably, in 1940 (not as big an Ike fan as some around here; respected him, but he could and should have done more, particularly on civil rights).

[Yupster]

16. I like Hoover

I think he is a victim of history.

Very honorable man, best resume ever to be president, expanded the government further than anyone had ever done before him to combat the Depression. Spent more of his time, energy and wealth helping the poor and hungry than I ever have.

[Faygo Kid]

20. Your points are well taken. However, he was ineffective. . .

in dealing with the huge issues the Depression presented, and was an isolationist until Pearl Harbor. An honorable man? Yes, if an unimaginative one when it came to the scale of the problems he faced. Call him a humanitarian - at least until the power caused him to lose some of that humanity. Demonstrates the greatness of FDR; born to wealth and privilege, yet transcended his advantages. Hoover? Not born to wealth and privilege, achieved both, did great things as a young man, and never grew further.

[Yupster]

22. I'm not saying Hoover should rank with

FDR and George Washington.

I just don't think the characterization of him that many have is accurate either. He was far from an oaf who sat in the Oval Office and told people to eat cake.

I believe his RFC was a necessary first step to allow the New Deal to come next.

I would rank him more toward the middle of the pack of all presidents while many would rank him at or near the bottom.

[ThomWV]

12. Dole/Clinton

I never thought Dole was a bad man and I don't think so to this day. I do not think his wife is a bad person either. I also agree that Carter/Ford was another match up between two very honerable men, but it came earlier than Clinton/Dole, which was the answer to the actual question.

I will tell you today that if McCain had won the Republican nomination, which he might have done had the Bu$h machine not come after him in South Carolina, that once again we would have had a match up between two honerable men. Instead look what we got ... Its a cryin' shame.

[mobuto]

17. Dewey-Truman

Thomas E. Dewey was a profoundly decent man. It was because of his defeat in 1948 that the Republican Party decided to move far to the right and the nation followed. In the short term, Truman's victory was a good thing. But in the long run, I'm not so sure.

[yltlatl]

18. Truman

I voted for Truman because you didn't have Lincoln and Douglas up there. I don't know anything about Dewey, but you have to respect a guy who fired MacArthur despite the political cost of silencing an ideologue threatening atomic war, even if he did drop da bomb himself. Guess he wasn't willing to make the same mistake twice. He also investigated war profiteers during the early years of the war (WWII--he was a senator).

[dsc]

19. I voted Ford Carter

only because Perot was running in 96 so that that race was technically among three honorable men.

[ButterflyBlood]

21. I voted for Eisenhower-Stevenson

because I'm torn on the Ford pardoning Nixon thing, and while Goldwater may have been honorable, I can't call someone who escalated a war for political gain honorable.

[elperromagico]

23. Kick.

This is interesting. :kick: