Debunking Some Political Myths
By Bill Schneider/CNN
WASHINGTON (June 11) -- Some political stories are just so good, everybody's heard them.
Like George Washington chopped down the cherry tree, and Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin. But are they true?
Let's see how much you really know about politics. Can you separate political myth from reality?
True or false? "Bill Clinton won the New Hampshire primary in 1992."
We asked some people in Washington, D.C.
"New Hampshire, I think he did," said one man.
Next contestant!
"True," said another man.
So who came in second?
"I was watching the other convention," said a third.
Say what?
Next!
Who did win?
"Paul Tsongas," one man said. "Well, Paul Tsongas was the closest thing they had to a native son. He's a former governor of Massachusetts, which is a neighboring state, so it was a native son factor."
Right you are!
At least his answer was good enough for government work. Actually, Tsongas was senator, not governor of Massachusetts.
But he did win the 1992 New Hampshire primary, with 33 percent of the vote. Bill Clinton came in second with 25 percent.
But that didn't stop Clinton from claiming a moral victory for surviving the Gennifer Flowers episode, the allegation of a long-term extra-marital affair.
"New Hampshire tonight has made Bill Clinton the 'Comeback Kid,'" he said then.
Here's the next question. True or false?
"In his 1979 'malaise' speech, Jimmy Carter never actually used the word 'malaise.'"
"He was in his cardigan sweater, sitting somewhere in the White House, so he wasn't behind the desk, and he said, 'We have the general feeling of malaise in our country,'" said one woman we asked.
Next contestant, please.
"I just read something recently where he never actually used the word," one man said.
Correctamundo!
What President Carter actually said in July 1979 was this:
"It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will."
So where did the word "malaise" come from? From the press, where else?
Time for our third question. True or false? "The press caught Gary Hart with Donna Rice after he told them to 'Go ahead, follow me around.'"
"I think I would say true," one man said.
"True," another man agreed. "He challenged them to 'Follow me, there's nothing there.' And they did, and he was caught on a ship called the Monkey Business with Donna Rice on his lap."
Nice try, but wrong.
What did Hart himself say? "He said it was my fault because I challenged the press, which I didn't do by the way. That never happened. I didn't challenge, I wasn't stupid enough to issue a blanket challenge to the entire media."
No, he invited one New York Times reporter to follow him around.
But Hart's quote was not published until the day after the scandal broke.
The press used the quote to justify the story after it came out.
On to our fourth question. True or false? "During the 1968 presidential election, Republican candidate Richard Nixon said he had a 'secret plan' to end the Vietnam War."
Did he say that?
"That's three years before I was born," one of the people we asked protested.
So? It's called "history." Next!
"True," said a woman. "The only recollection I have -- I don't remember so much the election ... I remember the campaign, and I remember watching the Vietnam War on television."
Apparently, you didn't watch enough.
"I think it's false," another woman said. "But I think he did allude to a plan that he didn't disclose until after the election."
Right! What Nixon said was that he would not say anything that might disrupt the progress of the peace talks. It was hostile columnists who said, sneeringly, Nixon must have some kind of "secret plan" to end the war. That was good enough for the voters, who elected him.
On to our fifth question. True or false? "Vice-President George Bush never authorized advertisements about an escaped convict named Willie Horton in 1988."
Tsongas ought to have known, but he said, "When George Bush used the Willie Horton ad, he knew what he was doing."
A very smart man, but in this case, wrong.
"It was done by an independent group outside of the Bush campaign," one man we asked said. "It was very, very effective. It was great. It showed people going in jail and coming out of jail, kind of like a revolving door. It was a great ad. It wasn't done by the Bush campaign. They should have done it."
Well, that's your opinion, but you got the facts right.
The Willie Horton ad was made by an independent expenditure group, not by the Bush campaign.
"Do I get to know if I win, if I'm right or wrong?" one man asked us.
Yes, but only if you've been watching closely.
And if you didn't do so well, don't worry. You can always go back to the electoral college. They give out degrees every four or so years, or so I hear.
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