2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: In 1980, did Ted Kennedy endorse Jimmy Carter? [View all]MADem
(135,425 posts)The answer is: NONE. LBJ dropped out. You can't compare a vacancy at the top of the ticket to challenging a POTUS who had served four years and was going for a second term--it's just not an appropriate comparison in any way, shape or form.
FWIW, and I was quite sentient and involved in that election, there were two major factions of the party in that mix; Hubert Horatio Humphrey, who was actually a sweet fellow, hamstrung by loyalty, who got off to a rough start because he couldn't really repudiate his boss on the issue of Viet Nam (and his boss took his sweet time getting out of the race), and Gene McCarthy, who was virulently anti-war and scooped up the "hippie" (I am using that term sarcastically and deliberately, jury, as a way of explaining "mood" at the time) voters, who were encouraged to "Be Clean For Gene." Muddling the waters even more were a couple of other players, to include two favorite sons from FL and OH (who won their states handily). TX went to Lyndon, though he dropped out.
Back then there were only 13 primaries--see, not everyone got to vote back then (trying to compare then-to-now is never a winning plan). So, basically, you had McCarthy, HHH and the late - arriving RFK (who looked better than Gene and more "referential" (as opposed to reverential...though that might work, too) to the halcyon days of Camelot. RFK harkened back to a time BEFORE assassinations, he spoke with confidence in a reasonable, kindly manner, he appealed to wide constituencies, he was the brother of a fallen hero and America's secular saint, and all that was a lot of his appeal. He came off as both "AG tough" AND compassionate. He looked like the kind of guy who could build bridges--as opposed to one guy who was perceived as way TOO left wing, and another guy who was perceived as way TOO right wing. He also looked like the kind of guy who could UNITE divided factions, to include racial divides--and that's why he was a hit.
Of course, that all ended at the Ambassador Hotel. I was watching that, live, on a crappy portable (weighed as much as a fifth grader) color television that cost the earth. I couldn't believe it. AGAIN?
There was no vacancy at the top of the ticket when Teddu stepped up - he basically told the leader of our party "You suck and I'm better--step aside." That was Ted Kennedy's bad blip, challenging Carter like he did. It made him look small and angry and petty. And during that period and afterwards, his life disintegrated in a rather spectacular way, first with Chappaquiddick, later with the Donald Ducking down in FL and his presence at wild gatherings, one of which resulted in a rather spectacular and salacious trial of his nephew, William Kennedy Smith, and the boozing and cocaine. He got past all that, thanks to his 2nd wife who never gave up on him but also wouldn't put up with his shit, but Carter never forgot it--and I honestly cannot blame Carter for feeling the affront.
Teddy is lucky to have survived that era--he was headed down the road to an early death, his judgment was impacted, and I think that grandiosity and impetuousness that comes along with substance abuse had a lot to do with his poor conduct during that era.
Fortunately for us and for history, he redeemed himself later.