1992 Election
The reversal was used by the Democrats seeking their party's nomination, but it was first widely used by Pat Buchanan during his primary election battle against Bush. Buchanan stated that Bush's reversal was one of his main reasons for opposing Bush. On the day he entered the race, he said it was "because we Republicans, can no longer say it is all the liberals' fault. It was not some liberal Democrat who said 'Read my lips: no new taxes,' then broke his word to cut a seedy backroom budget deal with the big spenders on Capitol Hill." Buchanan subsequently made extensive use of the 1988 quotation in his New Hampshire campaign, repeating it constantly in both television and radio commercials. Buchanan won a surprising 40% of the vote in New Hampshire, a major rebuff to the President. Immediately following the primary, the conservative Manchester Union Leader, which had backed Buchanan, ran the front-page headline, "Read Our Lips".
The early response by Bush was that raising taxes had been essential due to the condition of the economy. Polling showed that most Americans agreed some tax increases were necessary, but that the greater obstacle was the loss of trust and respect for Bush. When the primary campaign moved to Georgia, and Buchanan remained a threat, Bush changed strategies and began apologizing for raising taxes. He stated that "I did it, and I regret it and I regret it" and told the American people that if he could go back he would not raise taxes again. His renewed promise was parodied by Dana Carvey on Saturday Night Live as "...never, ever, ever, ever, never, ever... never, ever, ever... ever, ever again!" In the October 19 debate he repeatedly stated that raising taxes was a mistake and he "should have held out for a better deal." These apologies also proved ineffective, and the broken pledge dogged Bush for the entirety of the 1992 campaign.
Bush's eventual opponent Bill Clinton used the broken pledge to great effect late in the campaign. In October 1992 a television commercial, designed by campaign strategist James Carville, had Bush repeating the phrase to illustrate Bush's perfidious nature. It was regarded as one of the most effective of all of Clinton's campaign ads. The tax reversal played a central role in reducing the public's opinion of Bush's character. Despite the variety of scandals that affected Clinton during the election, polls showed the public viewed Clinton and Bush as similar in integrity. Upon assuming office as president, Bill Clinton then proceeded to raise taxes and abandon a campaign promise to cut taxes for the middle class.
Ross Perot capitalized upon disenchantment with Bush and the status quo entering the 1992 race as an Independent candidate, leaving and subsequently re-entering. While the effects of his candidacy have been speculated, exit polls showed Perot essentially drew votes from Bush and Clinton evenly. Further analysis of Perot's possible effect has determined that Perot's presence on the ballot could possibly, but not certainly have cost Bush numerous electoral votes, but not enough to have changed the outcome in the election in Perot's absence.
Read more about this topic: Read My Lips: No New Taxes
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