Posted by The peddler of old dreams on August 15, 19100 at 01:12:44:
In Reply to: Three out of the four presidential and vice presidential candidates are actually qualified to be President posted by AK on August 10, 19100 at 01:35:28:
Interesting observation: Looking back at recent presidential elections, with the Republican party the candidate has always been undoubtedly a more competent person than the VP candidate, the only exception being this year where I think everyone agrees that Cheney would make the better president (and excepting '96 where I can't even remember who partnered Dole). Basically Bush, Bush, Reagan, Reagan, Ford, Nixon, Nixon were more competent than respectively, Quayle, Quayle, Bush, Bush, Dole, Agnew, Agnew.
But if you look at the Democrats, the opposite is true. Apart from '84 where Mondale was clearly superior to Ferraro (remember her?) the Democrats have always had the more competent person on the VP ticket:
Liebemann vs Gore: No contest surely
Gore vs Clinton: At the end of the day they are pretty much alike but Gore has certain moral advantages over Clinton which must make him a safer and better President
Bentsen vs Dukakis: Again no contest surely
Mondale vs Carter: He could hardly be worse!
I don't whether it's that the Democrats are better at choosing good VP candidates or whether it's just that the candidate is so lousy that it makes the VP look good in comparison.