THE ROBERT W. WHITAKER ARCHIVE

Many if not most of the readers of Whitaker Online know a lot of history. I think about all of you recognize the truth in the saying, "He who forgets history is doomed to repeat it."

Bush is repeating some history right now.

Republicans are politically dumb. The big mistakes they make are not only not new, they are boringly repetitive. I have seen them so many times I have given them names.

The one Bush is falling for right now is the one I call The National Unity Gambit. It always works in close elections, but the most egregious example was in 1968.

In November of 1968, the three leading contenders got the following percentage of the vote.

Richard Nixon(R) 43%

Hubert Humphrey(D) 43%

George Wallace (A) 14%

Wallace's platform was "Send them a message!" and that's what he did. Governor George Corley Wallace of Alabama, still an open segregationist at that time, got by far the largest third party vote in American history up to that time.

Wallace's voters were largely white working class people who had never voted Republican. His vote and Nixon's together made up 57% of the total electorate.

Wallace's voters were social conservatives, Southern whites and Northern ethnics. They were what we called "Reagan Democrats" in 1980 and thereafter.

So in the 1968 election, Wallace's ten million voters sent Washington a message, big time.

Did the Administration elected in 1968 get that message?

We are talking about Republicans. What did Nixon and his geniuses decide the message of the 1968 election was?

The only message Nixon got was from the media. The media told him that it was a very close election between him and Humphrey. They called on Nixon to unite the divided nation by promoting a National Unity program, just like Bush today. He had to reach out to liberals, they said.

He had to be bipartisan, they said.

If Nixon ignored the Wallace vote and went to the liberals, the media broadly indicated that its whole attitude would change, and it would love Nixon forever after.

And Nixon fell for the bait.

Yes, Richard Nixon fell for it. Yes, this was the same Richard Nixon who said in 1962, when he thought his political career was over, that ""the press won't have Richard Nixon to kick around any more."

Yes, this was the same Richard Nixon who was hounded out of office by the press in 1974.

As soon as he was elected, one of Nixon's first moves was to name a PRO-BUSING Commissioner of Education (This was before the Department of Education). Roughly ninety percent of Americans and ALL Wallace voters opposed racial busing to achieve integration, but Nixon was after the handful of far leftists who liked it.

Nixon tried to get Humphrey himself to accept an appointment.

Nixon proceeded to push affirmative action harder than any previous administration. As with racial busing, the overwhelming majority of Americans and ALL Wallace voters opposed that. In every area, he pushed policies to please liberals.Nixon recognized Red China and expanded government in every area.

After his presidency, Nixon said his single biggest regret was that he didn't unite social and economic conservatives, Republicans and Reagan Democrats.

So Nixon, the political genius, made the same mistake the poor stupid little Bushes both made. Why?

It just shows how much power the media siren song has. You are sitting there in Washington, DC, with everybody courting you as the president-elect. All those big names promise to love you forever, and tell you how to be presidential.

Yes, friends, there is a reason that the elephant is named Dumbo. If an operator like Nixon falls for the National Unity gambit, retards like Gerald Ford and the Bushes stand no chance at all.

We are going to listen to another Bush whine for four years. Any time he is accused of being a partisan he will back down and whimper, just like Dear Old Dad. He will say he is a conservative and then back liberal policies. This routine National Unity Gambit after a close election is just the last straw.

It's going to be a LONG four years.