Thread by @YossiGestetner

As GOP Senate leader since ‘85, Bob Dole helped convince Reagan that for good of country/party, the GOP should accept an amnesty bill in 1986 giving legal status for 2.7 million people. GOP won California in 1988 for the sixth time in a row but lost it in every POTUS vote since.

The GOP lost 8 Senate Seats in 1986 midterms and with it control of the Senate with Dole as leader. Pushing amnesty votes in House/Senate in Sep-Oct for good of country angered GOP voters who figured there is no need to have the GOP in the majority if they behave like Dems.

With Democrats in control of the Senate 55-45, they decided to Bork Robert. He needed 60 votes but 58 voted against him in October 1987 including 6 @SenateGOP while only 2 @SenateDems backed him. As always, GOP has more breakaways than Dems because idiots are Republicans.

Despite the unprecedented move of blowing up a SCOTUS nomination, Dems picked up another Senate seat in the 1988 elections. Voters didn’t “punish” Dems. On Bork’s place, Reagan nominated Anthony Kennedy; the infamous “swing vote” at SCOTUS who gave Dems many wins.

With @SenateGOP in the minority thanks to Bob Dole behaving like a Republican, POTUS Bush Srz nominated Lefty David Souter to SCOTUS. He was of the 4 Justices who voted to let the 2000 vote count go on for more than 37 days which based on 2020 rhetoric is an attack on Democracy.

Another political beauty by Bob Dole was helping push through the “Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990” in a 54-45 Senate vote. 34 Dems and 20 GOPs voted for it. This bill had the Bush tax hikes which were frankly only small rollbacks of the Reagan-Bush tax cuts. But being

the brawlers that they always are, Dems - the party more behind this bill than the GOP - mocked Bush for hiking tax despite his promise of “Read My Lips: No New Taxes.”

This bill “established” “pay-as-you-go” supposedly cutting the budget deficit and national debt. But at that

time the US national debt was $3.6 trillion; it’s now closer to THIRTY TRILLION.

Of course, all these we-need-to-raise-the-debt-ceiling and tax to pay down the debt talk are bipartisan lies sold to a gullible public as the US sinks deeper into red ink and into worse inflation.

Following the Souter nomination and rollback of some of the Reagan tax cuts, principled cons were angry with Bush ahead of the 1992 election. Ross Perot ran for president mostly to the right of Bush, so Bush basically had two candidates against him; Clinton being the other.

In Nov 1992, Clinton won 43% of the popular vote; Bush 37% and Perot a rarely-successful almost 18% for a third party candidate. Joke has it that Clinton won because of the James Carville line “It’s the Economy, Stupid.” But this legend holds no water because in 1988 Michael

Dukakis, the Dem won 45% of the vote while in 1992 charismatic Clinton won only 43% of the vote. If voters cared for his messaging, he should have done better than Clown Dukakis at the expense of Bush and Perot. But alas. The lie about the slogan swaying the election lives on.

With Clinton in office as a result of Dole pushing Reagan/Bush to the left and angering GOP voters, two Libs were nominated to SCOTUS in 1993-1994: RBG in 1993 and Stephen Breyer in 1994 and he is still on the bench; thank the 1986 amnesty; Souter nomination and 1990 tax hikes.

Only 3 @SenateGOP’s voted against Lib RBG and only 9 voted against Lib Breyer. A few years earlier, Clearance Thomas was approved by only 52-48 with 46 Democrats voting against him. Senate Dems didn’t feel they “must” give a POTUS his votes. As we know, brawlers are Dems.

“He is a good man whose service on behalf of the nation in the Army and the Senate will be well remembered. Indeed, many voters R dismayed that Mr. Dole has strayed from his moderate record and look to Mr. Clinton as a protection from Republican excess.” - NYT Editorial 10/27/96

Many Republicans, more so the righteous conservative non-Trumpers, just love how Dems and their Super PACs (“Media”) shower with praise war heros who are Republicans but only after they die. Dems were not kind to Bush ‘92, Dole ‘96 and McCain ‘08.