Althouse: Bob Dole, in 2018, standing to salute in the Capitol Rotunda.

December 6, 2021

Bob Dole, in 2018, standing to salute in the Capitol Rotunda.

25 comments:

Jaq said...: Bob Dole and Norm MacDonald together on SNL.; 12/6/21, 5:10 AM
Big Mike said...: He was quite a remarkable man. There was no way he was going to beat Bill Clinton but this country is worse off that he never was President.; 12/6/21, 5:13 AM
rhhardin said...: Such trivial crap passes for significant in ceremonies. It's hard to think of a ceremony that meant anything, in fact.

Once you have a ceremony to honor some significant thing, you don't need the significant thing. This is politically useful.

Look for significance elsewhere.; 12/6/21, 6:05 AM
Wilbur said...: His ramming through the Americans with Disabilities Act was a clear example of legislation of good intent ignoring (un?)foreseen consequences.; 12/6/21, 6:32 AM
Kai Akker said...: I was glad to see an item on Sen. Dole here on the Althouse site. That video is painful to watch, however, and an awful selection from the man's life.; 12/6/21, 7:28 AM
Mike Petrik said...: Dole was a colleague of mine in law practice. He was smart, funny and courageous. I disagreed with him on some things (not most), but his views were always grounded in patriotism, not self-aggrandizement. His love for America and Americans was visceral.; 12/6/21, 7:35 AM
farmgirl said...: W/all due respect, rh-I disagree.
This clip my be rote tripe to u- and it is painful to watch, but what a phenomenal being to allow attention to be called upon his frail humanity.

A perfect visual of what was, what is and what shall be- a tincture of pride and humility…. Dignity

ps in proofreading- rh was transposed to “eh” lol. My autocorrect is in feminine trend to your disdain for “her”; 12/6/21, 7:53 AM
Wince said...: At least with that generation there was some measure of personal sacrifice to join the club.; 12/6/21, 8:05 AM
Jeff said...: Dole was a typically corrupt senator, but due to his seniority and powerful positions, his corruption was more harmful than most. Without Bob Dole's baleful influence, we probably wouldn't have ethanol mandates and subsidies. Corn and food prices would be much lower, and much less farmland would be lost to erosion. And automobile engines would last longer.; 12/6/21, 8:21 AM
Joe Smith said...: Maybe one of the last politicians whose life was about actual service, and not getting rich or saying 'Look at me!' every ten minutes.

I voted for him...too bad the rest of America was enthralled by a snake oil salesman and serial rapist.; 12/6/21, 9:00 AM
Howard said...: I'm carrying around a sharpie all day in his honor.; 12/6/21, 9:21 AM
Narr said...: The greatest generation may not have been perfect, but they were men, by god.

Anybody who lost a life, limb, mind, or just a few years of youth to defeat the Turd Reich and its pals deserves a salute.

It will be interesting to see how much air his passing gets--I expect some really moving testimonials to Dole's decency and patriotism from the same people who called him The Next Hitler in '96.

Always amusing.; 12/6/21, 11:25 AM
Mark O said...: A certified hero.; 12/6/21, 12:08 PM
rcocean said...: Bob Dole - Good man. Mediocre Senator. Bad POTUS Candidate. A jerry ford republican.
A better man then Bush I or Jerry Ford. And much smarter thatn Ford.

But that's a low bar. Dole's problem was that he was too honest. Unlike Bush, he refused to lie about not supporting large parts of the Reagan Agenda, or pretend to care about Social issues.

He stupidly ran in 1988 as the man who was going to "move on from Reagan" back to the Center. Which allowed Bush to corner most of the Reagan supporters. It didnt' help that Dole would often denigrate Reagan for the benefit of MSM reporters who "loved his wit" and often balked at supporting Reagan while POTUS, while Bush played (repeat played) the loyal VP.

Supposedly McCain decided to run of POTUS after seeing the Dole Campaign close up. "If a turkey like Dole can run for President, so can I" he told his aides.; 12/6/21, 1:33 PM
PM said...: I voted for him. Thought he was a stand-up guy with a dry sense of humor. My favorite kind of person.; 12/6/21, 1:44 PM
n.n said...: Dole, an actual hero for humanity, nation, family, and his fellow man. RIP; 12/6/21, 2:43 PM
Mark said...: It takes strength found only in humility to stand up for a dignified gesture when in your frailty you cannot stand and know you will be publicly seen being held up by another.

This is true human dignity.; 12/6/21, 3:51 PM
Gunner said...: At least Bob Dole respected the members of his party enough to endorse the guy them nominated twice. Something the haughty Bushes, McCain and Romney would not do.; 12/6/21, 4:37 PM
RMc said...: For the media, the only good Republican is a dead Republican.; 12/6/21, 5:02 PM
Kai Akker said...: Jeff's got it all figured out, nice and neat. I looked at your link about "corrupt" politicians and was intrigued to see they ended up with a unit at Sea View, on Key Largo. Who wouldn't be thrilled to have a Sea View unit! What a place. Liv Ullmann was another owner there.

Anyway, there's a good item on Dole on PowerLine blog and it has a fascinating detail about his war injuries that I had not known. I'm sure Bob Dole took care of himself but I would still trust his instincts more than the usual lefty degradation crapola. He must have been pretty good because they hated his guts.; 12/6/21, 5:07 PM
Kai Akker said...: Ah, I switched the resorts up. The link on Dole's "corruption" referenced a Florida condominium unit called Sea View. As a Jersey boy, I am familiar with Sea View on the NJ mainland outside of Atlantic City, where I have had the fun of staying and playing golf. It's nice, but eventually became a Marriott property, I believe. What I was thinking of on Key Largo is actually Ocean Reef, where I was also fortunate enough to stay, play golf, and cruise the mangrove inlets. If Bob Dole didn't get an Ocean Reef unit, then he was probably NOT corrupted. When I stayed there, I did notice that Liv Ullmann's name was on the unit two doors down. I kept my eyes peeled, but she did not show up at the pool.; 12/6/21, 5:49 PM
Rollo said...: Dole was okay. If you spend 30 or 40 years in Congress, you are a person who spent 30 or 40 years in Congress. You aren't going to be pure as the driven soul. You aren't going to be able to think outside the box. You aren't going to be able to fix everything. Given all that, Dole wasn't that bad. If you spent 50 years in DC politics, you are probably senile and crooked as hell and good for nothing.; 12/6/21, 7:09 PM
rcocean said...: Just more about Dole's honesty. McCain constantly reminded everyone, or rather had his aides and friends and family constantly remind everyone, he was a WAR HERO. And don't you forget buster.

Dole was a wounded war hero too, but except on the Campaign trail never talked about. His book about his service was honest too. Dole wasn't particularly thrilled about "serving". He certainly didn't rush out to join after Pearl Harbor.

In 1942 he wanted to stay in college and become a MD. When the draft age was lowered in Dec 42, he joined the Army medical corps. Sadly for him, the officer medical administrator slots were all filled up in August '43, so he joined the Army Student Training Program. Be in uniform but keep on working for that Science/Eng/MD degree. Or so they promised.

Again, sadly for Dole the program got terminated early in 1944, and he got dumped in the infantry with most of his classmates. Once he got through training in a Cannon Company, he decided he'd rather go overseas as an Officer than a EM. Result: he didn't get overseas till early 1945, went into combat in march 45, and was almost immediately wounded. Seriously.

I think of some of Dole's bitterness came from lots of men with similar talents getting through WW2 at some safe desk job or relatviely safe technical position while he got a machine gun bullet which maimed him for life.; 12/6/21, 7:17 PM
Fandor said...: I worked for Senator Bob Dole’s Presidential campaign in 1996 and helped put together a rally for him. It was quite exciting and so American. There are three things I’ll always remember about the contest. After the debates with President Clinton the Senator woefully said,”Why were there no questions asked about foreign policy?” At another time he asked,”Where is the outrage?” And that was before the Clinton story descended into the revealed predatory behavior of the president. Dole was asking about the disgraceful behavior associated with the Clinton’s previous unsavory actions and association’s in their climb to power. The last thing was on Senator Dole’s campaign poster. It was a handsome, smiling picture of the candidate with one word emblazoned across the lower third of the poster. TRUST. It was the appeal by an honorable man to the voters to turn back to some sense of integrity in our politics. In 1996, Americans made their choice and here we are.; 12/6/21, 9:57 PM
The Godfather said...: Dole came within an inch of dying in WWII, and lived into his '90's. Bob Michel landed in Normandy a few days after D-Day and died in his 90's. A guy in my town survived the Pearl Harbor attack and is now (as I recall) 101. Bill Clinton dodged the draft and is 75. Life is funny.; 12/6/21, 10:06 PM