Talk:Ross Perot
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In Mike Durant's (the downed pilot of Super Six Four in Mogadishu during the "Black Hawk Down" incident) memoir, "In the Company of Heroes", he cites Ross Perot as a real American hero regarding his support of POWs and their families both during and after their incidents. He adds that Perot does it without any consideration towards credit or media exposure. I think it must be mostly financial, although I'm not sure.
If someone could elaborate on this, I think it would add alot to the article. It certainly changed my thinking regarding a character that quickly became fodder for SNL and other cheap pop culture laughs. No mention of it, even for someone who doesn't want credit, seems to shortchange a man that is a real patriot.
I think this must be an act of vandalism, as I cannot find a reference to it: "He even installed a 24 hour make-out channel showing footage of him kissing his wife."
I removed the statement "Perot is considered to be quite eccentric, and is known for various personality quirks, both physical and emotional." Its true that he's considered by many people as eccentric (even though I doubt how widespread the belief is). But articles on George W. Bush shouldn't simply state that "Bush is considered to be a moron and a fascist", just out of fairness. If someone wants to go ahead and write an analysis about views of him as eccentric, AS RELEVANT to voter outcomes in the 1992 election, fine. A good thing to note though is that both Harry Truman and Theodore Roosevelt were called "crazy" and "eccentric" by the public.
My major objection draws from the fact that the eccentric label is only sticking to Perot because people continuously are caricaturing him that way. In the 1996 campaign, Perot's poll numbers were around 5% generally. I would say this is partially because the mainstream media didn't cover him or any of his speeches as they did the two main candidates, and so everything the public heard about Perot at that point was through characterizations of him in the media, such as skits on Saturday Night Live. When Perot was rumored to be dropping out of the race to help Dole, the media finally gave Perot media attention and carried a speech of his live. The next day, his poll numbers rose to 11%. I followed the campaign, and read articles with reactions to his speeches, and many people were quoted saying something along the lines of "he doesn't seem crazy like suggested by the image of him".
My theory is that more people know Perot as the character on Saturday Night Live, than as the actual H. Ross Perot. And when they see the real Perot speak they're surprised because he's an idiot in real life too.
My plea, is just to give Perot a break and stop tacking on him these images and labels, and let people decide on their own and let history sort it out. To make a simple statement that he's considered eccentric, without any detailing, is not good for objectivity, for reasons I've alluded to.
I was a supporter of Perot, and I understand how he's looked at by others, but I'm just trying to be fair. I don't know why on Earth someone would want to object with me on this matter, and vigorously assert it should be in the article, but if you want to, go ahead and respond.
- I generally agree that pejorative terms shouldn't be simply tossed out to describe individuals. That said, Perot was and is "unique" and "interesting." :) However, I did just add some historical text that might lead some people to think he is eccentric: Perot's claim that Republican operatives were attempting to disrupt his daughter's wedding--this was indeed a large part of his rationale for initially leaving the 1996 race. -- Stevietheman 16:32, 15 May 2004 (UTC)
"In 1986 after heavy criticism of GM he was bought out for 700 million USD." This sounds like an NPOV statement. I suspect many people would disagree with the statement as it stands. I'm not American and don't know this politician but the comment just looked really odd on the page - perhaps at the least it can be expanded upon? Zuytdorp Survivor 01:42, 21 May 2004 (UTC)
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[edit] Ross Perot
I have met Ross 3 times and have nothing but respect for him. He is a man who puts his money not mine or yours where is mouth is. His 1992 run for the presidency was a brief breath of fresh air, that focused on vitally important issues that the other Tweedle-Dee Tweedle-Dum parties who CREATED the deficit and federal debt would never mention. When Ross's infomertials made these problems well known for the first time, millions of Americans (19%) were galvinized into supporting Ross's doomed candidacy. Based on my talks with Ross, I don't believe that he ever wanted to be president, but wanted instead to shake the political system to its core. This he did as proved by the fact that 95% of his 1992 political platform was eventually enacted into various acts of legislation. He once told me as he did many others "I'm not the pearl in the oyster, I'm just the grain of sand that IRRITATES the oyster into producing the pearl." Though many regarded him as a wacko or worse, I sure wish he could give me his secret formula for that multi-BILLION DOLLAR wacko Cola he drinks. I could then bottle and sell it to hundreds of other potential billionairs.
Almost no discussion of jis major theme - we are going broke. Way back then he said that the time was fast approaching when we would no longer be able to pay the national debt off. Since then the debt has risen to over $8,000,000,000,000 - the interest on this must be more than half our taxes, no wonder the US government can't do anything - the world's only superpower ( this always makes me laugh ) is run on financial bluff alone.
Within the last few days I saw some econmic types on TV, Perot's name came up. Instead of making fun of him like they used to, they seemed quite respectful in tone - like he was right after all. Following the above statement, I believe I remember Perot saying that we had time to get our house in order but we didn't have forever - I believe he may well think that things are too far gone to avoid bankruptcy ( or whatever governments do when they owe more than they can collect in taxes).
[edit] Legacy Drive
Local folklore in Plano, Texas (where EDS is located) says that the city let Perot pick the name of the street that he built EDS on. I can't find anything to verify that, but I haven't looked for too long. Just wondering if someone could help me out. - Scm83x 08:06, 26 September 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Page Improvements
Could this page be formatted more like Ralph Nader's, at least as referring to his campaigns? This might make the page seem more cohesive. Valerie 23:16, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
I fixed a formatting problem and a grammatical error in the Early Life and Career section. Hildenja 15:46, 11 December 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Views
The page hardly describes his stances on any major issue, especially during the election. --Liface 00:08, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Questions
What are Ross Perot's thoughts on outsourcing IT jobs to India and China?
[edit] Vandalism
Check out the page - it say's he was the President and his Vice-President was James Bond. Obvious case of vandalism.
-Yes, this is a case of Vandalism, BUT, James Bond Stockdale WAS the name of his VP candidate.
[edit] Possible Bias
I'm not sure the way the media is portrayed is appropriate in the "1992 presidential candidacy" section: "These adverse developments were used by the media to tarnish Perot's image, and his support in opinion polls was no longer rising." Hopefully somebody with more knowledge of the subject matter can check up on it.68.238.110.72 20:59, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
