1988 Bush VS. Dukakis

"Family/Children"

Transcript

Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate
"Family/Children," Bush, 1988

BARBARA BUSH: I wish people could see him as I see him. Thousands of people see him, and you know, I always loved the time someone said to George, "How can you run for president- -you don't have any constituency!" and George said, "Well, you know, I've got a great big family, and thousands of friends," and- -that's what he has!

MALE ANNOUNCER: For more than forty years, George Bush has met every challenge his country and the world have offered up to him. The truth is, the more you learn about George Bush, the more you realize that perhaps no one in this century is better prepared to be President of the United States.

[TEXT: George Bush: Experienced Leadership for America's Future]

Credits

"Family/Children," Bush-Quayle '88, 1988

Video courtesy of the George Bush Presidential Library.

From Museum of the Moving Image, The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials 1952-2012.
www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1988/familychildren (accessed July 19, 2025).

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1988 Bush Dukakis Results

Ronald Reagan—the first president since Eisenhower to serve two full terms—had presided over a renewed national optimism, but there were dark clouds on the horizon as his presidency drew to a close. The federal deficit was soaring out of control. The revelation that profits from American sales of weapons to Iran were illegally routed to the Nicaraguan contras spawned a major scandal. Wall Street was in turmoil following several insider-trading scandals and the October 1987 stock market collapse. The stage was set for one of the most bitter presidential campaigns in recent history: Vice President George Bush, who portrayed himself as the rightful heir to the Reagan revolution, versus Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, who offered a traditionally Democratic vision of increased government spending on health care, child care, education, and housing. The Bush campaign used brutal television advertising to portray Dukakis as an ineffective liberal who would gut the country’s defense system and let convicted murderers out of prison. Hoping voters would dismiss the attacks as unfair, Dukakis refused to counterattack until late in the campaign. By then it was too late.