#1980 Election

[deadpresidents]

"It hurt to lose to Ronald Reagan. But after the election, I tried to make the transition as smooth as possible. Later, from my experience in trying to brief him on matters of supreme importance, I was very disturbed at his lack of interest. The issues were the 15 or 20 most important subjects that I as President could possibly pass on to him. His only reaction of substance was to express admiration for the political circumstances in South Korea that let President Park close all the colleges and draft all the demonstrators. That was the only issue on which he came alive."

-- Former President Jimmy Carter, on losing the 1980 election and the transition leading to the inauguration of Ronald Reagan, interview with TIME Magazine, October 11, 1982.

[countesspetofi]

We just assumed that it happened, But Ben Barnes was in the room where it happened

Reagan was truly a sack of shit

[o-the-mts]

It’s also a reminder that contrary to the fairytale the public is being fed by many of these same sources, US politics and the GOP were far from bastions of decency and righteousness until the dastardly Donald Trump came along and messed everything up. It was Reagan, the Republican president most often cast these days as Trump’s polar opposite, who carried out something close to treason to win an election, before carrying out a host of other crimes and outrages as president. Everything in our scandal-filled times is, sadly, part and parcel of decades of US political tradition.

Once Dismissed as Absurd, Ronald Reagan’s “October Surprise” Is Now Confirmed as True

[gameraboy2]

Go vote!

[irenespring]

One month until the election...holy shit.

Okay, I'm just going to point out that Project 2025 proposes a sweeping ban of "pornography." So if you write or read smutty fanfiction, or want to protect access to sites like AO3 in general, vote for Harris.

[mapsontheweb]

1980 US Presidential Election

[muppet-facts]

Muppet Fact #864

In the 1980 presidential election, people cast write-in votes for both Miss Piggy and Kermit.

Source:

"Cizanckas Fund ... The Write-in Votes." Matthew L. Wald. Connecticut Journal. December 7, 1980. Section C, page 3.

[controversial-opinions]

Interesting person (if you can even call him that) you guys are voting for. How are you going to explain this?

[darkwood-sleddog]

Every year new pack designs for dogs come out (thanks @zaryathelaika for notifying me on this one) and I….

Fucking. Why.

Company claims the weight is distributed over the shoulder. Not only is this not the case here (weight is on the dog’s back and perhaps shoulder blades), but the short pannier design ensures that when the dog’s head carriage changes so does the distribution of weight. Notice that on the photos where the head is not affecting the weight and pack that the pack has to be further back to accommodate this, making the weight on the dog’s back).

Below is a properly distributed weight location:

My other issues with the DogPak pack are the location of the girth strap closest to the dog’s armpits. It’s far too close allowing for rub and discomfort. They also show many videos of the dogs running at high speeds with packs which is a big no no (trot I’m fine with, but dogs should not run with weight on them as this puts additional strain on their bodies. Pack will also bounce against the body and can cause bruising depending on what you pack). This goes for both dogs carrying light weight and dog’s carrying heavier weights like mine.

I think at this point in my dog packing career? (Sounds like the wrong word but okay) im sick of seeing companies think they need to reinvent the wheel for these dog packs. Because they almost never do and the packs inevitably end up with major design issues that can be prevented by talking to a single person that packs dogs for real purpose or title. But at the end of the day if these sort of people (like myself) were talked to perhaps it would become clear that there’s not really a gap or NEED in the market for this. That it’s not revolutionary.

[jhsharman]

evoking Truman

The classic Harry Truman line, "I don't give them Hell. I just tell the truth about them, and they think it's Hell."

In his book, Twelve Cent Archie, Bart Beaty lists off the class elections pitting Archie and Reggie -- and the elections that don't -- through the period a 32 page Archie comic book cost twelve cents. I assume one and half pagers were there, but he just skipped them over.

The pronouncement on the 1963 story of "one of the most moralizing conclusions ever to appear in an Archie story" is overheated -- firstly because it is easy to find plenty of morality tales and preachies, and secondly because this same premise for this same story gets played out repeatedly. But maybe on that last score Bart Beaty drops out with the price increase to fifteen cents.

[vertigoartgore]

1980's Captain America Vol.1 #250 cover by John Byrne, Joe Rubinstein & Irv Watanabe.

[deadpresidents]

Is there any truth to the 1980 October surprise theory?

The New York Times published a story earlier this year where Ben Barnes -- a Republican supporter of Reagan's in 1980 who had once served as Lieutenant Governor of Texas, Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, and protege of former Texas Governor John Connally -- confirmed that the Reagan campaign absolutely encouraged Iran not to release the American embassy hostages before the election because Reagan would give the Iranians a better deal if he was elected President. Barnes admitted that he was present as Connally passed that message around while on a trip to the Middle East in order to get word to the Iranians. It's not exactly a smoking gun because virtually everyone seemingly involved in implementing the October Surprise is dead other than Barnes, but it's a weird thing for Barnes to lie about 45 years later, especially considering how close his relationship was with Governor Connally. Plus, we know that there were shady contacts between people in the Reagan Administration and Iran because of the Iran-Contra scandal.

I think there is definitely some truth to the theory, but I also believe that the Iranians were more than happy to spite President Carter by not releasing the hostages until literally the moment Reagan took the oath of office. The Iranians were still furious with the Carter Administration for letting the Shah come to the United States for medical treatment after he was forced to leave Iran as the Iranian Revolution exploded and Ayatollah Khomeini returned to become Supreme Leader. Carter had also helped broker the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, which also infuriated Iran and much of the Islamic world. Plus, Carter had ordered Operation Eagle Claw -- the failed attempt to rescue the hostages by force -- and that was seen as an act of war. So, the Ayatollah and leaders of Revolutionary Iran had no love lost for President Carter and weren't interested in doing him any favors before he left office.

The October Surprise that many people overlook is the one which took place in 1968 shortly before the Nixon vs. Humphrey election. When it looked like there might be some progress made in peace talks to bring the Vietnam War to a close, Nixon and his advisers got word to the South Vietnamese to hold off on working toward peace until Nixon was elected and could give them better terms. It was such an egregious act that LBJ actually told people around him that he felt Nixon had committed treason and that he had the blood of American soldiers on his hands for sabotaging peace talks. We even have the tapes of LBJ's phone calls after finding out about Nixon's actions where President Johnson straight-up says, "This is Treason!"

[retropopcult]

Campaign Trail board game, 1983

[cleoselene]

this makes me ill on so many levels

Jimmy Carter is the most decent man to ever hold the office and Ronald Reagan is the malignant tumor that started movement conservatism

fucking ghouls to use American hostages as political pawns

The Republican Party is a domestic terror organization.