[speaker001:] well I've been sort of out of it for a little while so I don't know really what's going on
[speaker002:] well there there's been some interesting stuff going on locally but I suppose nationally the big thing is probably uh the reaction to the war in the Gulf
[speaker001:] yeah all the Democrats trying to show that yeah oh oh gosh we really did support it I mean just because we wanted to impeach him doesn't mean anything
[speaker002:] trying to cover themselves yeah
[speaker001:] yeah there's been uh same thing locally here a couple of uh we got a Senator who uh went on national TV and said that you know if Bush tried to do anything over there without Congressional approval they should impeach him and
[speaker002:] yeah that's true there there's a lot of talk over there that I don't think anyone imagined that it could possibly be as as successful and and painless as it had been
[speaker001:] then yeah yeah
[speaker002:] so they figured a little bit of opposition was safe but it didn't turn out that way
[speaker001:] sure no uh I don't know I I I usually don't talk politics with people especially strangers because it's a good way to get into an argument but
[speaker002:] well that's why that's why being strangers is safe we can
[speaker001:] it's it's probably safer at least now can't get hit this way you know
[speaker002:] that's true that's true
[speaker001:] but uh I I don't know I'm I've been Republican for as long as I can remember and the Democrats are just so disorganized and they have been
[speaker002:] that's true I I've been Democrat for since I've been voting which isn't that long but I'll agree with you there that there's not much organization going on
[speaker001:] yeah they uh yeah I I don't know it right around the turn of uh oh gosh I should say the eighties now now it's already the nineties I forgot I forget that too
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] they they just haven't seemed to been able to hit anything uh on the head every every time they go one way the wind is always blowing the other which is
[speaker002:] well that's true but I suppose it's hard to judge from the eighties because um Reagan was just so overwhelming to them I think they're seeing some of that unraveling these days but
[speaker001:] yeah yeah no I don't I don't know how they're going uh I I you know I'm looking I'm looking at the upcoming elections and I'm trying to think who are they going to put up
[speaker002:] well they've already got uh oh jeez there's there's there's already one candidate that I know of on the Democratic end and I keep thinking there's a second one uh Paul Tsongas
[speaker001:] oh Tsongas
[speaker002:] yeah uh out of Massachusetts I think
[speaker001:] yeah I wouldn't mind him too much he's a pretty good guy he's been around and he's he keeps a low profile and doesn't go after the the headlines and stuff
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] uh
[speaker002:] I've I've I've heard the name but that that's the extent of my my information about him
[speaker001:] yeah yeah I I would be interested to see if Sam Nunn decides to go this time I I
[speaker002:] um-hum try to get the conservative candidate for once
[speaker001:] yeah I mean if out out of all the Democrats that I could think to run I would he is one that I would I would definitely like to see
[speaker002:] that that would be interesting I I must admit I haven't been really enthusiastic about the Democratic entrants in the last couple of run throughs
[speaker001:] well I'll tell you if they if they do it like they did uh the last time around it's not going to be very exciting you know um I mean let's face Dukakis and Bentsen and Bentsen good grief surely they could have done better than that course they they had a they had themselves between a rock and a hard place they had on the one hand they had Jesse Jackson with all that support and on the other they knew very
[speaker002:] but completely unelectable and
[speaker001:] oh sure and and they could not give him the nomination
[speaker002:] true it's it's probably their their their troubles probably stem from the fact that they're such a diverse party
[speaker001:] uh I yeah
[speaker002:] and the nominating rules these days are so um pseudo democratic I guess
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] you can't have the people in the back rooms deciding well who could we really get elected instead there's so much
[speaker001:] yeah I mean I mean they were really stuck because here they were everybody was expecting Jesse Jesse to get at least the VP nomination
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] uh certainly not presidential but but quite possibly VP and here they are they they know very well they can't do it because if they do it's going to split the party and if they do it they're going to alienate a whole bunch of others so I mean they were stuck one way or the other yeah it was an interesting thing I was laughing through the whole thing uh
[speaker002:] true I suppose being on the other side of the aisle it probably made good comic theater
[speaker001:] yeah I it it it was it was it was comical I I sat there and watched the just watched CNN and just giggle all night you know uh oh this is great George Bush is in
[speaker002:] yeah that's true that's true
[speaker001:] and I think Bush has turned out to be a lot better President than people gave him credit for
[speaker002:] I I must admit I'm I'm still I I still find him a little uninspiring he he seems like a reasonably competent
[speaker001:] yeah he is he yeah he he is
[speaker002:] person to sort of do do some caretaking to um
[speaker001:] yeah and and I I wonder the you know if if that's I mean that that really that really should be all we need in a president someone who is capable of managing
[speaker002:] true
[speaker001:] and that's all a president is anyway just a manager
[speaker002:] sort of set the agenda and and let let people do the work it's it's unfortunate how how little domestic agenda he
[speaker001:] uh and set the agenda and yeah well you know the Republicans Republicans have always been weak on on the domestic side they're they're very big on international stuff but domestically they they just say well it'll take care of itself
[speaker002:] he he worries about true but uh so many of his compi campaign promises were on the the domestic promises
[speaker001:] but it's yeah well you know same old you know take it with a grain of salt stuff you know he he
[speaker002:] true that that's that's what just amazes me though is that that so many people do uh take the campaign promises seriously
[speaker001:] yeah yeah and they still do he
[speaker002:] well the the one thing that just amazed me in in Texas here there were a series of um ads saying don't vote for Dukakis he's going to take away your right to own a gun he's going to close down defense plants he's going to do this he's going to do that
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] half of which is coming true
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] and I just here's my chance to giggle boy it's a good thing we didn't elect that Dukakis guy because I mean
[speaker001:] yeah well you know the interesting thing about I don't know if you've been watching Massachusetts lately um
[speaker002:] I know I know that the the Massachusetts miracle has has gone bust
[speaker001:] oh it's a disaster it's a disaster and the thing was it was all quick fixes finger in the dike sort of thing to make him look good for the upcoming race
[speaker002:] um-hum oh I I guess I didn't hear that I didn't go over it really
[speaker001:] well I mean that that's what you can infer from it because it it's amazing that it started about two years before the the the run
[speaker002:] true true I suppose
[speaker001:] and then you know it took a few years to crap out but I mean it was dying last year I lived up in Boston
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and I mean it was terrible it was absolutely terrible up prices are just unbelievable up there and the services are getting terrible everything's going down the tubes said he was going to clean up Boston Harbor and it's dirtier than it ever was
[speaker002:] yeah that really is disappointing it's it's sort of
[speaker001:] never yeah and then on the other hand too while he was out busy running for the presidential thing the legislature was having their own way
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and uh you know it was just it was a pure disaster because the way it was set up he's the one that that put it together and he's the only one who knew how it worked or supposedly worked and he wasn't there to run it
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and so here's a bunch of legislatures with their own agenda uh legislators with their own agenda and of course the thing just fell apart fell to pieces and he couldn't do anything with it it was amazing they had a poll last year about I guess it was around July uh they showed the picture of Dukakis to people in Massachusetts only twenty three percent could recognize him as governor
[speaker002:] that's incredible oh oh there's there's one thing I've got to ask you about the the dump Quayle movement I find that interesting
[speaker001:] it it was  I wish they would
[speaker002:] I I find him such an embarrassment and uh I mean the the the idea of Collin Powell well he's so powerful or he's so popular now
[speaker001:] yeah I yeah
[speaker002:] I I I don't know if he's the the right one to replace him he'd probably be a perfectly competent replacement but
[speaker001:] boy I tell you he I'll tell you what you know when I was in the Air Force I met I met Collin Powell
[speaker002:] really
[speaker001:] yeah I was I had a pretty neat job I got to meet all the big wigs used to fly with the president and all that stuff um Collin Powell is one capable guy
[speaker002:] I get I I I would probably find him an order of magnitude more capable than Quayle
[speaker001:] he oh yes absolutely I I mean the
[speaker002:] it's it's interesting to hear that Bush has instead instead instead instead of just making bland uh pronouncements about having no plans to change the ticket has just really emphatically come out and said no way
[speaker001:] I know I and I I'll tell you you know it I I my my degree was in political science because I enjoyed it
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and I had a good time during that during that election but it floored me when he came up with Quayle because there are so many other capable Republicans
[speaker002:] well from from some of the things I've heard about Bush he he he didn't want a vice president that was any competition for him
[speaker001:] I mean yeah and I mean certainly he wasn't going to take Bob Dole on and not that Bob Dole would even take the position I mean he'd be giving up more than he'd gain
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] but there are several people who are who are just super capable but to get this nobody with the kind of baggage that he's carrying
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] I uh it just astounded me I mean he must have been so sure of winning that it didn't make any difference
[speaker002:] well it uh uh I'm I guess I'm the I'm cloudy on the timing but there there was quite a while when his certain victory wasn't certain at all
[speaker001:] yeah I well
[speaker002:] I'm I'm not sure how that timing related to the Quayle announcement but he was trailing at at times or or just just neck and neck I guess
[speaker001:] yeah I yeah about that time I think it was neck and neck and I the only the only reason at the time that I could think of was that he was young and and sort of charismatic in uh in uh handsome sort of way
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and hoping to bring in maybe a little bit of like Kennedy charisma or something but the guy is so uncharismatic
[speaker002:] I mean
[speaker001:] I mean Bush talks about he doesn't like broccoli well that's how how I think of Dan Quayle as broccoli you know
[speaker002:] oh that brings up another subject it's the the the uh I don't know the