How To Lose 49 States And, Eventually, 50
Just in case you're ever a Democratic presidential nominee and you want to ensure you lose in a spectacularly dramatic way, Walter Mondale offers some advice as
reported in the New York Post:
Former presidential candidate Walter Mondale is proud he favored taxes, rather than tax cuts, even though he lost in a landslide in 1984. In D.C. Wednesday at a conference with Jimmy Carter to discuss the Camp David accords, former Carter adviser Leon Charney asked Mondale, "When you were running for president, why did you mention that you would raise taxes? That was the kiss of death." Mondale responded, "I already knew that the race was lost, and I just felt an obligation to warn Americans of an impending financial crisis. When you're just a private citizen, no one listens. So I took the opportunity while I still had the podium." Mondale must have forgotten how Ronald Reagan, after beating Mondale, cut taxes and created the biggest economic boom in history.
One small correction to the Post article. Reagan's tax cuts were passed before he beat Mondale.
An interesting footnote . . . the only state Mondale won in the '84 election was his home state of Minnesota which he then went on to lose in the Senate election of 2002. A clean sweep!
Fritz, apparently no one listens when you have the podium either!
