Can’t believe no one brought this up yet, unless I missed it?
I actually threw a vote his way in '92. The GOP had completely lost me by that point, and Bill rubbed me the wrong way (pun somewhat intended), though I did vote for Clinton the next time. I did however, enjoy watching Dana Carvey do double-time on SNL with his Perot and Poppy Bush impressions.
Probably for the best Ross never made it, as Trump has proven unequivocally that people with no government experience have no business sitting in the Oval Office. The exit’s thataway, Mr. Freedom Dividend and Moonbat Marianne.
If I recall correctly, Perot Systems (EDS) was the start of giant and inefficient IT consulting businesses that overcharged a ton of businesses. To be fair, they were not the only ones in that game. Dell later gobbled up his company when it went for sale.
The true overcharging in IT isnt the gear, it’s the blanket money sink called services.
No love lost here, I’ve had to clean messes from EDS long ago in my career.
I think of Perot as the beginning of the mainstreaming of the fringe that continues today with the alt-right and Trump himself. No one could really explain what the Reform Party was supposed to believe, but quite a few people who thought of themselves as off the traditional scale chose to believe for a few years that it was whatever vague idea they’d always had in the back of their heads. Kind of stole away all the Libertarians, LaRouchies, etc. while Perot continued spending money, but after he quit the '96 race saying strange things about threats to disrupt his daughter’s wedding it kind of all fell apart.
That '92 Vice Presidential debate with Admiral Stockdale was fucking amazing, though — the most insane circus ever even imagined at a US national debate until Trump and Cruz argued about the size of Trump’s dick. “I’m sorry, I turned my hearing aid off.”
I didn’t vote for Perot, and he was a bit of a wacko, but he was George Washington compared to the monkey we have shitting on the drapes in the White House now.
Ross Perot’s political career was based on the premise that poor white Americans thought they had more in common with a billionaire than with the Mexican laborers he was lambasting for political points.
His presidential run also marked the turning point for Dennis Miller’s career, the point when he went from intellectual political humorist to unfunny rambling nut job.
Yes, I think that’s a smart take. Perot pioneered the idea that white working class folks needed an outsider billionaire in office to protect them from the other.
