Reply #1: McGovern didn't run on peace-at-any-cost . . .

[lfairban]

. . . he was a WWII vet. for goodness sake. He ran on an anti-Vietnam War platform, and got defeated because Nixon announced that he would end the war soon, and subverted his base issue.

Reagan added about $4 trillion dollars to the national debt, and the budget didn't get ballanced until the end of the Clinton administration, a decade later.

Dukakis once said something like, I said I would raise taxes, I told the truth, and lost. Bush said he wouldn't raise taxes, he lied, and won.

It is hard to conceed that either being fiscally irresponsible or untruthful is advisable for a political candidate.