Vote 88: Election Night [partial]ABC
November 8, 1988
News
VHS
C+
Watching this now, I'm struck by four things:
- George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis may well be the dullest pair of presidential candidates in living memory, and coverage that doesn't mention such things as Willie Horton, specific Dan Quayle blunders, or Dukakis's missteps, including the tank photo, is of its nature not going to be terribly interesting;
- The obligatory shouts of "Ninety-two" from determined Dukakis voters seem especially bizarre when '92 had such a different feel to it, presidentially and otherwise, so that '88 was much closer in spirit to '84 than to '92;
- You can't watch this without thinking about the candidates' families, from poor Kitty "recently hospitalized" to grinning George, Jr.;
- I was heartbroken at the time, doomed to another four years of Republicans, and now I can't get worked up beyond snarkily remarking, after the president-elect calls Reagan the most decent man he ever met, "You need to get out more, George."
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