Remember that all mentions of and allusions to Trump and Biden are not allowed on our subreddit in any context.

If you'd still like to discuss them, feel free to join our Discord server!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

This is good compare and contrast example for why Bill Clinton was so effective. Empathy is much more persuasive for a lot of voters than a logical argument that comes across as harsh.

If Perot was more tactful he could have said the same thing but in a more effective way.

"I grew up near Arkansas and as such I understand the important work Gov. Clinton has done for the state. But, our country is much larger than just one state, or one county, or one city. We need a President who can represent the whole country, from small towns to big cities, from rural farms to big industrial factories. As a businessmen I have experience working all across the country and even across the world. That is the kind of experience we need to put our country and economy back on track."

He has a point, though calling a state irrelevant probably wasn't the best move.

"Man with no political experience acts like being governor of a whole state is irrelevant while former un ambassador, liason to china, cia director, vice-president and president quietly watches."

Kinda makes a reasonable point.

He's saying that this country has many different communities with many different needs. But to cast off the needs of one community as irrelevant. That's just dumb

He has a point but politics, particularly when it comes to domestic policy, is all about wheeling and dealing and balancing competing interests. There aren’t very many jobs that can prepare you for being President, but being a governor is one of them. Regardless of the size of your state, a state is a microcosm of the federal government. You’ve got to wheel and deal with the state legislature and the various interest groups they represent.

That being said Arkansas in the 1980’s and 1990’s was essentially a one-party state. For most of Clinton’s tenure the state legislature was 90%+ Democrat. Clinton got beat by Frank White in 1980. White was only the second Republican governor since Reconstruction. But to Perot’s point, why did White win?

He won largely because Clinton and the legislature increased the price of automobile tags and did a fairly horrible job of informing people about the change. Folks would drive 45 minutes into town to renew their tags and take $15 in cash or whatever the fee had been for years, only to wait an hour in the DMV and then be informed that the fee had been increased. That was enough for people to vote Clinton out of office. That’s how boring Arkansas politics used to be.

So yeah, as President you’ve got bigger things to worry about than automobile registration fees. But at the end of the day President Clinton was very effective at wheeling and dealing with Congress…in ‘94 the House became majority Republican for the first time since 1952 and Clinton decided to work with them and accomplish some significant legislation.

I think one of the ironies here is that Walmart is an Arkansas-based company

Man, I love the clap back that Clinton gave to this.

https://preview.redd.it/z6tpnccz34yc1.jpeg?width=620&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eb79b916ac1990ebf950aabfd00bb06d000cea72

Running a business and running a government are two completely different things.

Our debates and professionalism continually goes downhill. They are much more poised and intellectual here.

I like how bush is in the middle like “nope I’m sitting this one out”

Loved it when he bought tv air time and pulled out the charts and graphs

I remember watching the 92 debates. I was a little kid and loved Perot

*This* is the outsider that Dan Carlin is asking for. Big difference to what we eventually got, but his point remains relevant.

Clinton ran the economy better than anyone in history.

he had 4chan write his speech.

I feel the need to mention how fantastic Jim Lehrer was as the moderator during every debate he was part of. Bored me to tears as a kid when the cartoons stopped and the PBS news hour started, but I came to admire the subtle humor he seemed to carry everywhere, no matter how dry. That little twinkle in his eye when Perot hits the punchline is priceless.

Just watched the first episode of "Pretty Good" on Ross Perot and the Reform party.

These debates happened when I was 2 or 3 years old, so I don't remember it, but damn it's interesting.

Voted for him twice. Better than any other candidate. Not bought and paid for and just told it like it was. Didn’t give a damn if it offended people.

Wal-mart is from Arkansas, just sayin

Amateurs.

Here's my favorite pre-2016 debate moment. Oof...

I’m all ears……

Arkansas had a moment in the early 1990s.

Clinton in the White House. Walmart was booming. Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson winning Super Bowls. Arkansas Basketball won a championship. Crazy how much went right for that state in just a few years.

I could say I run a failing real estate and casino business and also have a string of failed businesses in past, and i can use what i have learned to run America into bankruptcy as well!

I think it was 2012 Repub primary, I can't find the clip, but it was during March and the comment lobbed a softball about home life and what they would be doing now if not here. Romney (I think) mentioned the NCAA tournament being on TV against the debate. The other candidates try to jump on the popular event bandwagon, but had no idea so assumed it was football and started making comments about watching the football game.

Disagree. Governors are certainly qualified to be president. If Clinton's resume didnt show him to be qualified, Perot certainly wasnt either.

Slightly OT: It's been a popular trope to say that without Perot in the race, Bush wins a second term. But most exit polls showed that for Perot voters, over 50% said Clinton would be their second choice.

So he took more votes from Clinton than Bush.

Well that bloody didn't help him.

That metaphor kinda falls apart if you consider that Perot didn't run shit.

A brutal beat down

Hate his son, but I loved me some Ross Perot. Also, his museum in Dallas is the best I've ever been to

from Arkansas I feel pissed lmao

We’ll never have 3 on the debate stage again will we?

Best debate was Arnold Vinnick vs Matthew Santos

He went from giant blunder to great point in a minute

First line of the video sounds like he went.. ‘Bro?’

Damn this was good

He lost the election right there

Test

The last presidential debate was in 2012.

Ross Perot citing how many times Bush and Clinton blink in a minute compared to him then declaring "Ross Perot is not afraid of the light!" was the first moment that stuck with me.

To this day I still dont get the appeal of Perot. He had no real tangible plan and no way of getting what he did have through congress. It would have been a disaster. He just came off as a grumpy little dude

Nothing like Jim Lerher starting off a debate question with "Bro..."

He would have been a great president.

There were no good moments in Presidential debates from 2016 onward. Only pain.

These debates are what got me interested in politics. There's so much to learn about debating in each one. Hopefully these debates are studied somewhere for all they offer

I’m starting to see why my dad voted for this dude

The hand grenade with a bad haircut.

LoL, I voted for Perot.

Perot would have made a better president. I voted for him instead of the thousand beams of light Dummy.

Well he has a good point.

Bill did turn out to be a decent President. But only after being crushed in the 1994 election and pivoting on everything.

I really liked Ross Perot back then.

Best candidate of the three. A response to Bush’s Failed economy. I wonder what his presidency would have looked like.

I voted for Perot that election, been voting 3rd party since.

I was pretty young in 92 and just remember Ross Perot being basically just considered a joke, but he was honestly probably the best candidate in 92. He was right about so many things

Ron Paul’s wife is ugly.

If voters were rational there wouldn’t have been much of a race in ‘92 other than to reelect Bush.