When It Comes to JD Vance, It’s Time for Republicans to Be Cool Like Little Fonzies

GOP Presidential and Vice-Presidential Candidates 

Vice Presidential Nominee’s Initial Reputation

Election(s) End Result

Eisenhower & Nixon

Dwight Eisenhower chose a committed and young California anti-communist Senator, Richard Nixon, to balance his ticket.  The GOP establishment did not care for Nixon, and the left hated him.  Then Nixon was accused of improprieties related to a fund set up by his backers to reimburse him for political expenses.  He gave a speech about it, the Checker’s speech, which was so popular he was kept on the ticket.  But Democrats continued to dismiss and impugn him in the campaigns.

Eisenhower won two landslides.

Nixon & Agnew

Nixon chose the Governor of Maryland, Spiro Agnew, who had just been elected governor two years before and whom few had heard of when he was nominated.  Agnew quickly became controversial for saying some undiplomatic things, especially for calling a reporter a “fat Jap”, referring to “Polacks” and remarking that “if you’ve seen one city slum you’ve seen them all.”

Nixon narrowly won his first term, and then won a landslide re-election.

Ford & Rockefeller

When Gerald Ford succeeded to the Presidency, he tapped the former four term New York billionaire governor, Nelson Rockefeller, as his Vice President.  Rockefeller was a leading liberal Republican, who had refused to endorse Barry Goldwater in 1964; he was so controversial with conservatives that he didn’t run for re-election. 

Ford narrowly lost, although he came back from huge polling deficits. 

Reagan & Bush

Former Governor of California and former movie actor Ronald Reagan chose his main opponent in the Republican primaries, George Bush of Texas (but starting in Connecticut) to balance his ticket.  The left used Bush’s earlier criticism of Reagan’s supply side economics as “voodoo economics”, and also made fun of Bush for being a wealthy aristocrat and a wimp (despite being an actual WWII hero).

Reagan won two landslides.

Bush & Quayle 

George Bush, the sitting Vice President, chose a little-known Indiana Senator named Dan Quayle as his ticket mate.  Quayle was unprepared for the spotlight, and embarrassed in the Vice-Presidential debate.  The left went hog wild in demeaning him.  In one political cartoon of the time, the cartoonist spoofed the situation by showing that the Bush-Quayle sticker hid Quayle’s name, while the Dukakis-Bentsen sticker hid Michael Dukakis’s name. 

Bush won in a near landslide, but lost his re-election.

Bush & Cheney

George Bush, the Governor of Texas, chose his father’s former Secretary of Defense, Dick Cheney of Wyoming, as his running mate.  The Democrats portrayed Cheney as the evil puppet master of Bush, who was a leading and corrupt figure in the Haliburton and Big Oil conglomerates.  

Bush narrowly won two elections.

McCain & Palin

McCain chose Governor Sarah Palin, who had just been elected governor two years before and whom few had heard of when she was nominated.  Palin was quickly portrayed by the left as a blue collar, stupid, female hick with a funny accent who was not ready for prime time.  

McCain lost in a near landslide.

Romney & Ryan

Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts chose the prominent Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his ticket mate.  Ryan was known as a supply sider and deficit hawk who was a protégé of former Congressman Jack Kemp.  The left famously portrayed Ryan as an evil Republican who threw an old woman off a cliff, because he supposedly wanted to destroy Social Security and Medicare.  

Romney narrowly lost.

Trump & Pence

Billionaire and Celebrity Donald Trump chose Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his running mate, to appeal to social conservatives.  Pence was portrayed by the left as a religious zealot who supposedly wanted women quiet, barefoot and pregnant (see Handmaid’s Tale).

Trump narrowly won his first race, but then narrowly lost his re-election.