Former Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, who served in the House of Representatives from 1961-1969, the US Senate from 1969-1996, and was the Vice Presidential running mate of Gerald Ford in 1976, and the Presidential nominee of his party in 1996, turned 90 years of age today.
Bob Dole also served as Republican National Chairman during the Watergate era, and was often criticized as too partisan for Richard Nixon, too loyal to the man as a freshman Senator. He also could give as good as he got in partisan wrangles throughout his service in the Senate, which included terms as Senate Majority Leader and Senate Minority Leader, and gave Bill Clinton plenty of headaches in his first Presidential term, before running against him for President in 1996.
There were times when Dole’s aggressiveness, outspokenness, and sharp tongue annoyed this author, but yet, there has always been a sense of respect and admiration for his willingness to defend his viewpoints and beliefs without any retreat!
Dole always came across as one, who despite his strong views, could work across the aisle when required, and is shocked at the growing influence of the Tea Party Movement, which has denounced him as a turncoat, a traditional conservative, who they have no problem in criticizing and condemning.
So his own party in the Senate has seen too many who show lack of respect and appreciation of the role he played in the Senate and his party for over 30 years.
Here is a man who could work on nutrition matters with fellow Democratic Senator George McGovern, the 1972 Democratic Presidential nominee, who was vastly different in views, but the two men worked together on a common cause which no Republican today would dare even consider or care about, because that would show concern for the poor among us!
Bob Dole gave up part of his body in World War II, having no use of one arm for the rest of his life, and was not only a war hero, but also has been a hero to all those who believe in decency, compassion, principle, and patriotism!
He and Gerald Ford become the second Presidential campaign team to have reached the age of 90, following George McGovern and Sargent Shriver, who did so earlier. So the losing side in 1972 and 1976 prove that longevity of life is becoming another trend that is very much to be applauded, whether among the political class or in society!
So Happy 90th Birthday, Bob Dole, and many more alongside your wife, former Senator Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina!
Hello Professor,
Being a math geek myself, I wanted to take this moment to wish you a Happy Pi Approximation Day today.
I was home this weekend but my wife had me working hard. I fly back tonight. Enjoy the day and celebrate Pi… 🙂
Dedicated to Engineer!
A little bigger
I’m bigger than you
And you are not me
The lengths that I will go to
The distance in your eyes
I’ve circumscribed too much
I messed it up
That’s me in the corner
That’s me in the spotlight
Losing my precision
Trying to keep up with you
And I don’t know if I can do it
I’ve circumscribed too much
I’m not precise enough
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you say
“I don’t think you are good enough”
Every minute
Of every waking hour I’m
Doing long division
Trying to keep an eye on you
Like an obsessive rational
I’ve circumscribed too much
I messed it up
Consider this
Three thirty nine and one-oh-eight
Consider this
Three thousand nine twenty seven
And twelve fifty
What if all these rationals
Are converging around
Now I’ve said too much
I thought that I saw you rounding
I thought that I heard you say
“I think we’ve got it good enough”
Three point one four three
Three point one four three
That’s me in the corner
That’s me in the spotlight
Losing my precision
Trying to keep up with you
And I don’t know if I can do it
I’ve circumscribed too much
I’m not precise enough
I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you say
“I don’t think you are good enough”
Three point one four two
Eight five seven one
Three point one four three
One four three
One four three
Three
I don’t personally despise Bob Dole. But, on the other hand, I’m not a fan.
This topic has me thinking about “longevity.” (Please excuse me for the digression.)
That it turns out that “losing” may not be completely … losing.
This is about the question: For how much longer did ex-presidents live after leaving the White House? Who are among the top record holders for duration? (It’s like the question, “For how much longer did one manage to live after having become retired?”)
After 39th president of the United States Jimmy Carter became unseated with the election of 1980, by Ronald Reagan, the ex-Georgia governor and 2002 Nobel Peace winner has established a post-presidential life span that has now topped all others.
@ http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/09/the-record-setting-ex-presidency-of-jimmy-carter/262143/
Gerald Ford, coming in at third, departed in January 1977. (The 38th president was unseated in 1976 by Carter.) Ford lived another 29 years. He came up shy of his 30th anniversary when he died in December 2006.
Herbert Hoover, at second, departed in March 1933. (The 31st president was unseated in 1932 by Franklin Roosevelt.) Hoover lived another 31 years and seven months. He died in October 1964.
Jimmy Carter departed the White House in January 1981. Here in July 2013, Carter has been out of office thus far for 32 years and six months. He is No. 1!
@ http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/71421
These Top 3 ex-presidents who lived the longest after leaving the presidency were unseated. (Given all this, perhaps it’s not a bad thing that George W. Bush wasn’t unseated in 2004.) So that leads me to conclude with…
How crazy does it seem that, after all three decisively lost, they really won?!
Responding with an addition comment to the following:
Ronald writes, “He and Gerald Ford become the second Presidential campaign team to have reached the age of 90, following George McGovern and Sargent Shriver, who did so earlier. So the losing side in 1972 and 1976 prove that longevity of life is becoming another trend that is very much to be applauded, whether among the political class or in society!”
Give us another five years and, hopefully, 42nd vice president of the United States and former Minnesota U.S. senator Walter Mondale can be added to the list. Mondale was born in January 1928. If we’re lucky to still have him, come January 2018, that quoted paragraph will become revised.
^
… If we also still have Jimmy Carter.
HAHA, D, I love what you wrote above, but actually I have already made this clear when Carter passed Hoover in September 2012! Also, I realized that NOT only if Mondale makes it to 90 in four and a half years and Carter makes it to 90 in one year two and a half months, they would be another team, both winning and losing, who made it to the age of 90, but sooner, in about ten and a half months, if Bush Sr makes it to 90, he will join Reagan in 1980 and 1984, both winning campaigns, as being the third team to have reached the age of 90, with Carter and Mondale in January 2018 being the fourth such case, if Carter reaches 90 and Mondale become 90 in that month. I can see you and I LOVE trivia of all kinds, much of it really useless! LOL hahaha!
Also, D, IF Jimmy Carter is still alive in March 2018, he will have surpassed Gerald Ford as the longest lived President, with Ford surpassing Ronald Reagan by six weeks in longevity. And imagine, all three were consecutively President! And of course, George H. W. Bush could surpass Ford sooner in November 2017, if he is fortunate enough to live that long! So that is FOUR Presidents in a role that could have the longevity record, with only Herbert Hoover and John Adams in the way! Amazing, isn’t it?
Thank you Maggie, that was very nice.
Opps! I cut off the citaton for my Pi Approximation Poem
http://piapproximationday.com/
Lol! Engineer we’re in our own little Pi world here. I can hear the Professor now chastising us for going off subject! Hahaha!!
Speak for yourself, Jane Alden! LOL DO NOT speak for me! 🙂
Ronald writes, “HAHA, D, I love what you wrote above, but actually I have already made this clear when Carter passed Hoover in September 2012! Also, I realized that NOT only if Mondale makes it to 90 in four and a half years and Carter makes it to 90 in one year two and a half months, they would be another team, both winning and losing, who made it to the age of 90, but sooner, in about ten and a half months, if Bush Sr makes it to 90, he will join Reagan in 1980 and 1984, both winning campaigns, as being the third team to have reached the age of 90, with Carter and Mondale in January 2018 being the fourth such case, if Carter reaches 90 and Mondale become 90 in that month. I can see you and I LOVE trivia of all kinds, much of it really useless! LOL hahaha!”
That’s good! …
… But I didn’t first post here @ TheProgressiveProfessor.com until December 2012.
Thanks for noting you addressed this last September.
By the way: Not all trivia is useless. Some of it is very informative. For example: It was very helpful my referring to the combo of trivia and stats that let me me know how full of *s* election prognosticators were, last year, when they (and so much of the news media) wrongly assumed Mitt Romney would win Florida in a Republican pickup. (Florida, as I’ve mentioned here, is like Ohio in being a long-running presidential bellwether state specifically since 1928. Great info concerning both stats and trivia. I’m sorry I wasn’t posting here @ TheProgressiveProfessor.com to timely mention this.)
D, I am so happy that you post on here, and I value what you write on here!
I am basically joking in what I said, as I value trivia, and a lot of it is, indeed, useful and fascinating at the same time! So what I said was basically just making fun of myself, and I guess, by implication, you as well! LOL hahaha
^ Ronald: I know. ^
(I need to get in the habit of emoticons. : ) )