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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 29, 2025

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George HW Bush had a huge shocking victory over Iraq in 1991 with approval ratings among the best ever recorded, and then he lost his re-election in 1992.

Because of Ross Perot, mostly.

No, Perot was broadly popular across the spectrum for various different reasons. Perot voters were either drawn near equally from Clinton and Bush voters or were people who were motivated by Perot who otherwise wouldn't have bothered to show up.

Not to mention, Perot ran to a significant extent because he soured on the later Reagan's (read Bush's) derpy foreign policy decisions, opposed the Iraq War, and was supported by the antiwar populists.

If anything, this is another example of how foreign interventions, even ones which turn out to be victories, do not win elections, but certainly can lose them.