"Perot came up with the name Electronic Data Systems while attending Sunday service at Highland Park Presbyterian Church, where he and Margot have been members since moving to Dallas in 1957. He scribbled it down on the back of a pledge envelope. Perot became a multimillionaire when he took EDS public in 1968. In a 2018 interview, Perot Jr. described the family's dinner the night before the company's IPO. 'Dad said, "Now tomorrow, we're going to take EDS public, and a lot of people are going to write about the money that we have. But remember, none of this is important. The only thing that's important is our family and how we take care and respect our family. That's the first time we ever had a money conversation in the family. Then we watched Dad become the Bill Gates of the '60s. As I tell the children, Fortune said he was "the fastest, richest Texan ever."'"
From "Ross Perot, self-made billionaire, patriot and philanthropist, dies at 89" (Dallas News).
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He would have been a better president than any Bush or Romney or any Democrat or McCain or Dole.
Ahead of his time. A successful businessman who wanted to go to Washington to get things done. Sound familiar?
Perot unfortunately gave us Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton gave us Osama bin Laden, an annoyed Russia, and an empowered China. So, there's some downside as well.
@Achilles, I beg to disagree. While he was fiercely loyal to his employees (going so far as to organize a rescue of EDS employees trapped and imprisoned in Iran during the overthrow of the Shah), his mistreatment of his employees was legendary in its day. I think it would have been best for the country if he had died precisely thirty years ago.
I really wonder; of those of us old enough to have voted for Perot, did you? Did you think about it? I recall enough of Ross Perot to say that I never liked him, never much admired him, didn't vote for him and never thought for a moment about voting for him.
In fairness, I also don't recall thinking in 1996 that it was all on Ross Perot for wrecking the Bush 41 re-election bid. It might have been true; it was certainly discussed. Some numbers seem to support it. But it didn't seem like the biggest issue at the time. Maybe it should have been.
{#1}
Perot was right about some things, and for my money wouldn't have been any worse than the Arkansas grifters.
Narr
Too bad we don't have a national Flip-Chart Explainer
Nichevo said...
Perot unfortunately gave us Bill Clinton...7/9/19, 4:08 PM
George H W Bush gave us Ross Perot by breaking his promise not to raise taxes.
Here's the deal: A chimpanzee could run this country and get one percent growth...three percent growth in our economy- I get a billion dollars. That's a bargain- you're up $119 billion.
We weren't yet disgusted enough with the political elites. He would have been a fun President.
Q for Chuck Schumer.
Wasn't it your party that re-nominated Bill Clinton after you knew about all his sexual abuse allegations? Huh Chuck Schumer?
BTW- Epstein is probably really super uber guilty and he wasn't held accountable because of his connections. Those connections include all sorts of democrats and the big fish BILL CLINTON.
Perot paved the way for Trump. Ross was ahead of this time.
In 1992, 19% of the folks voted for Perot, a majority of which were Bush voters.
Conservatives were pissed at Bush for one thing -- he broke his famous pledge, and raised taxes on the rich (highest tax bracket went from 28% to 31%). I think he may raised the capital gains tax too.
Despite the tax issue, most folks were pleased about the quick strike in Gulf War 1. Most high level Dems opted out (unlike this year), but Slick Willie opted in, and won the prize.
Clinton's biggest rivals for the nomination were.....Paul Tsongas and Governor Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown.
Hard to believe that was 27 years ago.
I think most Perot voters went for Bush 2 in 2000, but who knows.
RIP
One of my business acquaintances told me about his interview with EDS in the late 70's. He was two weeks out of the Army & he was told that in the interview that he was hired but he'd need to get a haircut before he showed up to work.
Remember -- two weeks out of the Army, but he needed a haircut for EDS.
I avoided both EDS & Perot Systems throughout my career. If I was going to put in 60 hour weeks, it was going to be for myself & not for some corporation to milk a federal contract.
Bay Area Guy said...
In 1992, 19% of the folks voted for Perot, a majority of which were Bush voters.
That's right. And wasn't that the most for a 3rd-Party candidate since the Teddy Roosevelt Bull Moose Party?
It seems like a staggering game-changer, and maybe it was. But the trick is defining what percentage of Perot voters would have voted for Bush, or Clinton. Hasn't there been some serious doubt about that?
{#2}
EDS employees were in jail (put there by the Shah) because EDS had tried to sneak them out of the country when it became apparent that their new "social security" computer system wasn't going to work right. Multiple deadlines had already passed. The failure to get the checks out was one of the proximate cause of the revolution. EDS promised big with top computer guys making pitches--top guys who knew what they were talking about and could generate working solutions in a couple of hours. And then you never saw them again once the contract started. In their place you got people from junior college programs that didn't know their way around their own equipment. I saw it myself. Promise the world/You'll be lucky if we work for you.
I loved Perot but Trump is Perot with balls.
Ross Perot thought it was immoral to stick future generations with the bill for our overspending, a belief today's Republicans and Democrats find laughably quaint.
His last words were: "Do you hear that great big sucking sound?"
I never fleshed it out, but didn't he claim some crazy paranoid shit back then?
In 1992, 19% of the folks voted for Perot, a majority of which were Bush voters.
Yep. And if someone has a link to the Democrats screaming about the Electoral College when Clinton won with 43 percent of the vote, I'd appreciate it.
This is sad, but not as sad as the news that Eric Swalwell is not going to run against Trump. He was my first choice for 2020. I had to assume that since everything he said sounded crazy to me, that he must be an unstable genius, which seems like the perfect superhero to battle Trump.
"I loved Perot but Trump is Perot with balls."
That's darn good. Maybe, a pinch of Pat Buchanan too.
Worked for EDS straight out of college - 1984 to 1990. Almost ran Perot down coming out of an elevator at corporate headquarters. I was in a hurry. (I worked at an offsite campus and was running late for a meeting.) What I remember about the encounter was how short he was - and unassuming. I apologized and he just laughed and said something like no problem.
There was a different atmosphere in the ranks when Perot owned the company. It changed when he sold to GM.
Don't miss those deadline death marches at all. Stupid salesmen basically promising the moon and setting deadlines - or idiot management promising internal customers crap and deadlines without having a clue what all was involved.
Pat Buchanan. That was my guy. I proudly cast my vote for him in the 92 primary.
Blogger bagoh20 said...
I never fleshed it out, but didn't he claim some crazy paranoid shit back then?
I think that was the guy he picked for VP. Some retired Admiral. He was batshit crazy.
I voted for Perot in ‘92. It was definitely a vote to shake up the status quo, similar to Trump ‘16.
Also I was angry at Bush 41 for the “no new taxes” broken promise. I don’t remember having any impression of Clinton other than he seemed too slick for me.
I spent very little time thinking about politics back in those days, and I believed whatever the media told me to believe. That all changed about 8 years later.
Perot sounded like a bit of a nut on Larry King back in the day. But looking back, he probably was right about most of what he said. (Know nothing about working conditions at EDS but Perot has to take credit for that, whatever it was like.)
"I think that was the guy he picked for VP. Some retired Admiral. He was batshit crazy."
The admiral was fine, just a little old. I remember Perot claiming the FBI or CIA was trying to kill him and were sneaking around his property at night all dresses in black. I think it happened before the election and even lost him a lot of votes.
He gave us Clinton(s), living in Dallas, it just seemed an ego thing. Good interview on Larry King and he's running. GHWB wasn't up to a fight. Heck that aspirin factory in the Sudan might still be operating.
"I think that was the guy he picked for VP. Some retired Admiral. He was batshit crazy."
Heh - that was Adm. Jim Stockdale. Total hero pilot. Spent 7 years as POW in Hanoi Hilton.
Pre-internet, the media made him out to look batshit crazy, but definitely a man of substance and honor.
In review, Perot seems like the prototypical American success story. The American dream on steroids, accomplished by pure determination and spunk. Yea, that's it. He had a lot of spunk.
"Who am I? Why am I here?"
Something I often wonder myself, but you need to keep those questions on the down low until it comes back to you.
My recollection is that Stockdale was unprepared and lost his hearing aid during his televised debate, so was "labelled" batshit crazy by this one poor, doddering performance.
I remember Perot claiming the FBI or CIA was trying to kill him and were sneaking around his property at night all dresses in black. I think it happened before the election and even lost him a lot of votes.
And he was probably right. The Bushes are Deep State up to their eyebrows.
Perot quit the campaign when he was the frontrunner, and re-entered when it was clear he would not regain that position. His campaign was indeed a take-down of GWH Bush, who may have deserved it, but Perot's supporters certainly didn't deserve that treatment.
Fair amount of personal virtue, apparently, but so what? Romney is personally very virtuous.
Didn't EDS make most of its income from government contracts?
Dana Carvey did a very good Perot, along with his very good Bush 41.
Comedian Dennis Miller on Admiral Stockdale (from a Miller HBO standup special) :
“Now I know [Stockdale’s name has] become a buzzword in this culture for doddering old man, but let’s look at the record, folks. The guy was the first guy in and the last guy out of Vietnam, a war that many Americans, including our present president, did not want to dirty their hands with. The reason he had to turn his hearing aid on at that debate is because those f***ing animals knocked his eardrums out when he wouldn’t spill his guts. He teaches philosophy at Stanford University, he’s a brilliant, sensitive, courageous man. And yet he committed the one unpardonable sin in our culture: he was bad on television.”
-wsw
yes, processing blue cross and blue shield claims, he later try to buy into GM and rescue Glore Forgan, a tony wall street firm with company ties,
A self-made billionaire- you gotta admire that kind of work ethic, and the company wasn't some bullshit business either- they were there on the ground floor of IT services. It wasn't all Perot- he had some outstanding people working for him in the management, in particular a man by the name of Morton Myerson.
Beware of Presbyterians predestined to be rich by the providence of God. They make being rich and being a good man simultaneously look easy. Perot was good to people and gave the next generation opportunities for promotion. Everybody respected him.
I met him at a function for one of his daughters. I was still in high school and at the time he was trying to do that Robin Hood redistribution of property tax dollars, stealing from the affluent and very effective Highland Park school system to prop up Dallas public schools that were failing for reasons OTHER than funding.
It was not a pleasant meet and greet for either of us. I think I said something snarky, which was highly inappropriate but... at 17 you think the world belongs to you. He gracefully ignored it, same way I would today if some punk kid mouthed off to me.
Actually no, I remember now that I was a real selfish jackass until a Lake Highlands girl got ahold of me and set me straight, down the path where other people, you know... matter.
Also, Ross based his businesses out of aft Worth. My son knew him through his TCU girlfriend that went to work for Perot as his assistant after graduation. Family contacts counted to Perot. The Bushes were dominant at that time running off a President, and a Governor that became a President. But Perot was the smarter man.
Didn't EDS make most of its income from government contracts?
Yes, EDS was a big thing back then, like Texas Instruments:
He left IBM in 1962 to found Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in Dallas, Texas, and courted large corporations for his data processing services. EDS received lucrative contracts from the U.S. government in the 1960s, computerizing Medicare records. EDS went public in 1968 and the stock price rose from $16 a share to $160 within days. In 1984, General Motors bought controlling interest in EDS for $2.4 billion.
Big Mike said...
@Achilles, I beg to disagree. While he was fiercely loyal to his employees (going so far as to organize a rescue of EDS employees trapped and imprisoned in Iran during the overthrow of the Shah), his mistreatment of his employees was legendary in its day. I think it would have been best for the country if he had died precisely thirty years ago.
This is bullshit.
"Legendary."
The globalists were just protecting their rice bowl.
GHW Bush was a piece of shit that betrayed all of the progress Reagan made and the voters that thought he would actually continue what Reagan started.
Perot would have been a much better president.
I considered voting for Perot in 1992, but ended up voting for Bill Clinton instead- much for the same reason I voted for Barack Obama in 2008- my vote didn't matter since I lived in Illinois in 1992 and Connecticut in 2008.
It is difficult to determine that Bush would have beaten Clinton absent Perot taking 19% of the vote. I think Perot's presence on the ballot definitely cost Bush the states of Kentucky, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Georgia. Those states in Bush's column would have gotten him to 264 electoral votes. I think it likely that Bush would have won at least one of the following- Missouri, Michigan, Connecticut, or Iowa, any one of which puts Bush over the top.
What I remember about the encounter was how short he was -
Same here. I already knew, but seeing HOW short was a bit startling. I didn't like him (unfairly, because he was attacking my school system) but I was a year behind my classmates and shorter than most. I remember thinking it must have been very difficult for a man of his stature to be taken seriously in Texas, and that to build an empire he must have some very special qualities.
Karen: Worked for EDS straight out of college
Wasn't there a big rivalry between Texas Instruments and EDS? I seem to remember an Apple-Windows dynamic.
Mockturtle... beat me to it! He was different but not crazy.
Big Mike said...
@Achilles, I beg to disagree. While he was fiercely loyal to his employees (going so far as to organize a rescue of EDS employees trapped and imprisoned in Iran during the overthrow of the Shah), his mistreatment of his employees was legendary in its day. I think it would have been best for the country if he had died precisely thirty years ago.
The first time I responded to this I didn't get to the last line.
Now I have read the last line.
Disgusting and really truly stupid.
What would have been best for this country would have been for Republican voters to have pulled their heads out of their asses and not voted for DoleBushBushMcCainRomney.
We could have had a beginning of an end to crony trade deals and stupid wars precisely 30 years ago.
Meh.
Politically he was nothing but a spoiler.
He chose Clinton because he chose his own ego.
And also, Ross, if you're listening, GO ARMY BEAT NAVY!
Rush had some interesting tidbits on his show today. I only listened for one segment while driving but he said something really funny that slid right by. re Perot:
'he was a hand grenade with a bad haircut.' Said with affection.
He also mentioned that when Bush Sr. was prez, Perot was invited to help with major funding to major projects, but Perot ended up feeling used as he was not allowed in to the inner circle to actually help with matters where he knew his expertise would make a difference. Team Bush only wanted Perot's money. Perot felt used. Perhaps that's why Perot didn't like Bush Sr. ?
(space stuff?) don't quote me.
Achilles, pardon me, but you are full of shit. Just because he was a successful businessman does not mean he would have been a good, or even competent, president.
In 96, it is definite that Perot cost Dole the states of Nevada, Arizona, and Kentucky, but there are no other states that Dole was even probable to win without Perot being on the ballot- Clinton would still have won an electoral landslide.
"Texas-born and Texas-bred and when I die, I'll be Texas-dead."~Ross Perot
RIP Ross Perot. They do not make them like you often. This time not a cliche: a life well lived.
First two votes I ever made for President
I worked at the Republican Convention in 1992. It was there that I ended my admiration of any politician. At the time; I still thought HW was a better choice than Perot and agreed with others that voting for Perot was a vote for Clinton.
Now, I agree with Achilles that we missed an opportunity to pull our heads out of our asses. In 2012, people here would get pissed at Althouse for voting for Obama over McCain. Her understanding of McCain was much better than mine. Obama sucked, but McCain was the best evidence that Republican heads were up their asses.
The deficit was the big deal then. Perot got the Tea Party types attention. 2 Years later the bomb thrower Gingrich and the repubs rode that into control of Congress.
Big Mike said...
Achilles, pardon me, but you are full of shit. Just because he was a successful businessman does not mean he would have been a good, or even competent, president.
You people said the same things about Trump in 2016. You people said the same things about Newt Gingrich in 2012.
We had ample evidence that Bush would be a bad president. He betrayed us while president. Clinton was a liar. Bush was a liar. We had all the evidence there was no significant difference between Bush and Clinton. We had 4 years of proof.
We might as well have had a democrat raise our taxes and sign NAFTA and keep our borders open and that is what Perot voters realized 30 years sooner than you did.
We had to drag you people kicking and screaming to where we are now.
Swede said...
Meh.
Politically he was nothing but a spoiler.
He chose Clinton because he chose his own ego.
And also, Ross, if you're listening, GO ARMY BEAT NAVY!
Bush was the spoiler.
Bush could have been honest and run as a democrat. He served the same people and wanted the same things as Bill Clinton. Bill liked republican voters more than Bush did. He hated republican voters.
Perot was the only candidate in that race that actually cared about the people voting for him or what they wanted.
Trump is no Perot. You people just love the sizzle that tingles your thigh like Epstein at a middle school
Too bad he didn't get elected in '92. I don't think he really wanted to be POTUS. I think that's why he dropped out and then got back in. His real purpose was to destroy Bush. Which he accomplished.
BTW, how many people remember that Clinton got elected with 43% of the vote? Even in 1996, against boring Bob Dole he only got 49%. Given the way the media talks you'd think he was a super-popular President. And he wasn't.
@Nichevo said...
Perot unfortunately gave us Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton gave us Osama bin Laden, an annoyed Russia, and an empowered China.
Absolutely absurd. All of it. James Carville got Clinton elected. CIA Director George Tenet elevated Osama bin Laden and his mujahideen from guns-for-hire to international terrorists (who didn't do 911). Our relationships with Communist countries didn't get that much better after Reagan brought down the wall.
"Bush could have been honest and run as a democrat. He served the same people and wanted the same things as Bill Clinton. Bill liked republican voters more than Bush did. He hated republican voters."
I agree Bush I was a complete Fraud. Was he really Pro-choice or Pro-Life? It depended on the audience and what was most convenient.
That he and Barbara ended up voting for Hillary doesn't surprise me.
Bush was going to lose in 1992 - he was that unpopular. Son of Reagan turned out to be Jerry Ford Part II.
You know who got Bill Clinton elected? George Bush. He wasn't a good politician. He was bored with domestic policy and believed you just told the boobs whatever they wanted on the Campaign Trail, and then you ignored that and "Governed". He cut bad deals with the Democrats, appointed Souter, passed a quota bill, doubled immigration, turned a blind eye to illegal immigration, and wanted to pass NAFTA.
Remember him looking at his watch at the debate? He later said he found debates, "Humiliating". Yeah, talking the American Public was "humiliating". He didn't seem to have any plan to get us out of the '91 Recession.
So, what good was he? That why I voted for Perot.
Clinton won with 43%.
without Perot, who knows. Probably Bush Sr. would have won.
A sitting US President who's just won a war, and gets 37% of the vote. That's George Bush in a nutshell.
Perot gave us Bill Clinton, which gave us Hillary Clinton, which gave us Donald Trump. Full circle.
If you 92 Elections and then compare it to 1996 and 1988, Bush would've lost in any case. Clinton was surprisingly popular in the South. He won Arkansas, Kentucky, LA, and Tenn both times he ran.
In 1992, even if you add: the 4 mountain states that Clinton won, plus GA, LA, Ohio, NH, and NJ you don't get anywhere near 270 for Bush. Without CA, Penn, Illinois or Michigan - Bush was dead.
That's why I'm not too optimistic about Trump in 2020. He needs to thread the needle to win again. He has five states he MUST win or done.
He cut bad deals with the Democrats,
I still think he made a deal with Rostenkowski for a tax increase in return for Democrats votes for war.
Al Gore made it clear that he was selling his vote in 1991.
In retrospect I dont think it was a good deal, could Saddam have really taken even the fields in northern hasa province, would al queda have been forced to challenge them there.
You people said the same things about Trump in 2016.
@Achilles, actually, no I didn’t. And the one area where Trump has disappointed me is the apparent difficulty he has had in recruiting good people and getting them to work in harness — which is an area where I would have expected a businessman to excel. As I recall it, when Trump won you were loudly declaring how he was going to run against both parties and you were going to help him. Well, there’s a reason for party infrastructure. He got the point; you still don’t.
In 1992, I though Perot was full of himself and way in over his head. I remember one time of him on TV with his charts not making a lick of sense.
A decade later, I worked with some people who had worked at Perot Systems. Don't know how much Perot was actually involved, but it was obviously a giant con game. One project had over 20 engineers on it and after 18 months they'd gone nowhere. I could have solved the same problem with five engineers in a year. But there intent wasn't to solve the problem; but to milk the customer for as much money as they could, get something mostly done and then milk the customer some more. They failed on step two.
Folks let's not lose sight of the fact that in 1992 Bill Clinton ran as Bubba, a bit sleazy but by no means a Lefty Democrat. Rather as a regular Southern Democrat Conservative. He even took time off the campaign trail to sign a death warrant to show his bona fides. Back then I figured a third party vote only insures one of the main parties will win so I voted for Bush. I figured he would certainly be better than a Democrat. Perhaps in retrospect knowing what I know now I might have voted for him. But his dropping out and then coming back in the race was suspect to me then and still is now. On balance Perot was right about many of the issues back then and those issues have not gone away.
"That's why I'm not too optimistic about Trump in 2020. He needs to thread the needle to win again. He has five states he MUST win or done."
Disagree, slightly.
Trump has locked up Ohio & Florida. This gives him 260.
This means he needs only 1 state, not 5 (Wisc or Mich or Penn or, maybe, Minn.)
Yes, still threading the needle, Yes, still close election, but doable, particular if economy stays where it is.
"...after Reagan brought down the wall."
Ha! Talk about absurd!
Robert Cook said...
"...after Reagan brought down the wall."
Ha! Talk about absurd!
7/9/19, 10:12 PM
Yeah, your love for Breshnev didn't work out well, did it.
Trump has disappointed me is the apparent difficulty he has had in recruiting good people and getting them to work in harness
I'm sure Antifa threatening them and being attacked in restaurants has had little to do with that, right ?
It's been mostly whackamole Reagan had it too starting with Richard Allen going through to Sam pierce, but they weaponized the institutions more thoroughly trump has lighthizer who in the model of choate and prestowitz
One of the last things Perot was write two checks for the maximum amount for the campaign next year,
rcocean,
Perot cost Bush enough states definitively to get Bush to 264 EVs. All he needed to actually win was IA, MI, MO, or CT. Without Perot, I think it likely Bush wins at least 1 of those. Clinton did make it difficult, though- I think he won TN, AR, LA regardless of Perot/no Perot. My estimate of the two way race was that Bush would have won with maybe 2-5 electoral votes to spare- he was the last Republican to run well in New England, and Perot cost him there a great deal.
tcrosse said...
Perot gave us Bill Clinton, which gave us Hillary Clinton, which gave us Donald Trump. Full circle.
This is such garbage.
If Bush didn't betray republican voters Perot gets 2% of the vote or doesn't run and Bush wins easily.
If Perot doesn't run then people are all surprised as Bush loses just like they were surprised when Mitt Romney lost in 2012.
The problem wasn't Perot or Gingrich or Trump. It was the cuck wing of the democrat party pretending to be republicans and stupid primary voters that nominated them.
Hired by EDS just before Perot left. It was a huge company, so your experience may vary, but I had a great career there. It wasn’t one of those “get the contract, then pull up a school bus at the customer’s door” jobs, but I had heard of those. I am very grateful to that company though. It was extremely interesting work that took me around the world as a bonus. I also appreciate the pension check that shows up every month.
"Trump has disappointed me is the apparent difficulty he has had in recruiting good people and getting them to work in harness
"I'm sure Antifa threatening them and being attacked in restaurants has had little to do with that, right?"
Wrong. Good people tend to not want to work for narcissistic, dishonest, controlling dumbasses.
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