Wednesday, February 13, 2008

The Thursday Quiz XXIV


[Happy Valentine's Day! I hope that you -- yes you, dear L&TM5K reader -- will be my Valentine! Void where prohibited by law. This V-Day, Give Her What She Really Wants is by occasional L&TM5K lurker Gigi. Used by permission.]



Why not challenge your sweetheart, or a potential sweetheart, or anybody, really, to:

The Thursday Quiz!

The Thursday Quiz is an "Is It or Isn't It" game. From the list of twelve items, your job is to determine whether each IS or ISN'T a true example of the week's category.

Remember always the Cornerstone of Democracy:
No research, Googling, Wikiing, or use of reference books. The Thursday
Quiz is a POP quiz. Violators will bow out after a lackluster showing in New Hampshire.
This Week's Category will be doomed to eventual anonymity!

Also-Rans and Seconds in Command in the U.S. Executive Branch, 1960-2000.

What we have here is a list of two kinds of political figures: American Vice-Presidents, and losers of American Presidential elections. As you would expect, some items on this list are accurate, and some are not. Which is which?


1. Spiro Agnew. Loses to Jimmy Carter in '76.
2. George H.W. Bush. Loses to Bill Clinton in '92.
3. Jimmy Carter. Vice President to Gerald Ford.
4. Michael Dukakis. Loses to Ronald Reagan in '84.
5. Hubert Humphrey. Vice President to Lyndon B. Johnson.
6. John Kerry. Vice President to Bill Clinton.
7. Thurgood Marshall. Loses to Richard Nixon in '68.
8. George McGovern. Loses to Richard Nixon in '72.
9. Richard Nixon. Loses to John F. Kennedy in '60.
10. Richard Nixon. Vice President to Dwight D. Eisenhower.
11. Thomas "Tip" O'Neill. Vice President to Jimmy Carter.
12. J. Danforth Quayle. Vice President to George H. W. Bush.

Submit your answers to your state's delegation to the electoral college, by putting them in the comments.

25 comments:

fingerstothebone said...

1. no
2. yes
3. no
4. no
5. yes?
6. no
7. no
8. yes?
9. yes
10. no
11. no
12. yes

Happy Valentines to the 5000 household — Mr. & Mrs. 5000, Yoyo 5000, and oh-oh, who's the other one?

McGuff said...

Saw title before timeframe and thought "oh crap - another 19th century memory drain". Past half century would be, uh, a LOT easier.

Yes: 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12
Nope: 1, 3, 6, 7, 11

Only trouble is Dukakis - 84 or 88?

Warmest romantic wishes to you all from Ms. Finn and Phineas

d said...

1. i know he was a vice pres, but i don't think he ever ran for pres, so, no.
2. yes
3. no
4. no - he lost to bush didn't he?
5. yes ?
6. ha ha ha. no.
7. no
8. yes
9. no
10. no
11. no ?
12. yes. god, yes.

Cartophiliac said...

1. Spiro Agnew. Loses to Jimmy Carter in '76.

Didn't run. Resigned as Nixon's VP because of the Nattering Nabobs of Negativity.

2. George H.W. Bush. Loses to Bill Clinton in '92.

Did.

3. Jimmy Carter. Vice President to Gerald Ford.

Didn't. Jimmy was the Democrat-who-lusted-in-his-heart and unseated our only unelected President.

4. Michael Dukakis. Loses to Ronald Reagan in '84.

Didn't. He lost to GHW Bush in `88.

5. Hubert Humphrey. Vice President to Lyndon B. Johnson.

Did. Elected in 1964. Lost to Tricky Dick in 1968.

6. John Kerry. Vice President to Bill Clinton.

Didn't. Ran a lackluster campaign in 2004 and stuck us with another four years of Chimpy McStagger.

7. Thurgood Marshall. Loses to Richard Nixon in '68.

Didn't. He was appointed to the Supreme Court by Lyndon Johnson.

8. George McGovern. Loses to Richard Nixon in '72.

Did. Embarassingly.

9. Richard Nixon. Loses to John F. Kennedy in '60.

Did. Although there is strong reason to believe some of his Illinois votes ended up at the bottom of Lake Michigan.

10. Richard Nixon. Vice President to Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Did. Ike couldn't stand the little weasel.

11. Thomas "Tip" O'Neill. Vice President to Jimmy Carter.

Didn't. Tip was Speaker of the House.

12. J. Danforth Quayle. Vice President to George H. W. Bush.

Did. Ha Ha Ha Ha! Ho Ho Ho Ho! LOL!

You picked a category I could win in my sleep!

Rebel said...

Ok... I think I might actually know some of these... unless you were tricksy with the years - you're always tricksy.

1 is
2 is
3 isn't
4 is (editged because clearly I have a problem with implanted memories) Onward!
5 isn't
6isn't
7 ??? no idea... is?
8 is
9 isn't
10 is
11 isn't
12 is - back when we thought you had to be intelligent to be president.... ah the good old days.

Dan Nolan said...

2,8,9,12 are accurate. Not sure about 5, but I'll say no for my final answer.

North Cambridge's own Tip O'Neill - used to give shiny quarters to all the kids in his neighborhood - saavy or creepy?

Anonymous said...

1 no
2 yes
3 no
4 no
5 yes
6 no
7 no
8 yes
9 yes
10 yes
11 no
12 yes

Dug said...

1. no
he was smart enough to not even try?
2. yes
raised a bunch of bratty kids
3. no
I was never old enough to try his brother's beer
4. no
"I don't think he's doing a very good job in Michigan or whatever state he's from" - actual quote from a voter in 1988
5. yes
great song about him by SPOT-1067 or whatever that number was
6. no
just a truly pathetic campaign
7. no
wasn't he in that awesome band Thurgood and the Delaware Destroyers? Wrote that cool "Kids from Philly" song. I lived it!
8. yes
with a name like McGovern you expect him to lead the people.
9. yes
you win some you lose some
10. yes
but his dog Checkers did all the Viceing
11. no
they named a tunnel after him in Boston but then governor Romney tried to rename it 'cause that was easier than trying to govern.
12. yes
Who are you? Who?Who?Who?Who?

Anonymous said...

This post has not been removed by the author.

1/ not
2/ accurate
3/ not
4/ accurate
5/ accurate
6/ not
7/ not
8/ accurate
9/ accurate
10/ accurate
11/ not
12/ accurate

Elizabeth said...

1. No
2. Yes
3. No
4. Yes
5. Yes
6. No
7. No
8. Yes
9. No
10. Yes
11. No
12. Yes

DrSchnell said...

1. No
2. Yes
3. No
4. No
5. Tricksy. Statement is true. But he was both VP to Johnson AND loser to Nixon in '68
6. No
7. No
8. Yes
9. yes
10. yes
11. no
12. yes

DrSchnell said...

And, another that would be in the tricksy dept. if it were a little older, GHW Bush also was a veep to Ronbo.

Anonymous said...

As to whether the statements are accurate:

1. not
2. is
3. not
4. not--dukakis lost ot Bush I in '88
5. is
6. not--that was Mr. Gore
7. not--he was only a justice.
8. is
9. is
10. is
11. not. that was Mondale
12. is

G said...

1. Yes?
2. Yes.
3. No.
4. No (loses to GHW Bush in '88).
5. Uh... no?
6. No. Duh.
7. No.
8. Yes (though I'm not sure of the year).
9. Yes?
10. No.
11. Uh. Yes? This is pre-G.
12. Yes.

G said...

Edit: I am clearly an idiot who knows nothing about the history of her country's highest office.

...Nor does she care, truth be told.

Anonymous said...

Happy Valentines Day to M5K household and beyond!

1. isn't
2. is
3. isn't
4. isn't
5. is
6. isn't
7. isn't
8. is
9. is
10. is
11. isn't
12. is

Only had to guess on a couple. I had a mad crush on Carter in grade school.

Nichim said...

Mrs. & Mr. Nichim give their first Thursday quiz a go. This is not a good topic for us, but, um, it's like a date?

1. Spiro Agnew. Loses to Jimmy Carter in '76. = No way.
2. George H.W. Bush. Loses to Bill Clinton in '92. = Yeah, I remember that.
3. Jimmy Carter. Vice President to Gerald Ford. = I don't think so.
4. Michael Dukakis. Loses to Ronald Reagan in '84. = Nope, that was Mondale. I was in a class where we followed the election and ordered different newspapers from different cities on election day. Mine was the Chicago Sun Times. This was before the internet. Dukakis was '88. That was before the internet too. Whatever happened to Geraldine Ferraro?
5. Hubert Humphrey. Vice President to Lyndon B. Johnson. = Seems reasonable.
6. John Kerry. Vice President to Bill Clinton. = No no no.
7. Thurgood Marshall. Loses to Richard Nixon in '68. = No, no.
8. George McGovern. Loses to Richard Nixon in '72. = Yes.
9. Richard Nixon. Loses to John F. Kennedy in '60. = Yes.
10. Richard Nixon. Vice President to Dwight D. Eisenhower. = Yeah, I think so.
11. Thomas "Tip" O'Neill. Vice President to Jimmy Carter. = I don't think so, though I'm not sure I know who that guy is, I always get him confused with Tipper Gore.
12. J. Danforth Quayle. Vice President to George H. W. Bush. = Yeah, I remember that guy.

Hey, that was fun!

Michael5000 said...

Well, it was a horserace today, with no fewer than seven participants getting all twelve answers correct. The most common problem was agreeing that Dukakis lost to Reagan in '84; don't fell bad, I actually marked it as true when I made my answer sheet this morning. Dukakis lost to Bush in '88; it was the charismatic Walter Mondale who lost to Dutch in '84.

2, 5, 8, 9, 10, and 12 were true.
1, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 11 were not.

Michael5000 said...

First across the line for TQXXIV was Cartophiliac, claiming his first Gold Star! It is his second Star overall.

He was followed by my lead valentine, Mrs.5000, who moves into a tie for second in the race for most Stars overall, with nine. It is her first Silver Star.

Notorious quiz-hater Dug takes the Blue Star home to Taxachusetts. It is his first Star in competition.

Three Green Stars this week, to drschnell, k-boogie (who is not mysterious), and defending champion Boo.

Kudos to Mrs. and Mr. Nichim, who played the quiz together as a date. I can't imagine a more romantic date, personally. However, since competing as a team is contrary to the rules of competitive Thursday Quiz play, I am highly aware that the more competitive readers would carve me a new one if I gave them a star for their joint achievement. So kudos it is!

Well done, y'all.

Cartophiliac said...

Anyone who knows I am a libarian might suspect me of cheating (referring to reference books) but I did not. I am enough of a history/politics wonk that I could probably name every single president, VP and candidates for every election from at least 1960 plus... I lived through all of them (though the first one I remember is 1968... age 8)

Cartophiliac said...

Librarians spend their day looking up factoids for people... we are killer at Trivial Pursuit...

Anonymous said...

M5 -- If you were a character on The Honeymooners, you'd be Trixie.

Rebel said...

Yeah it was Mondale! In 1984 we held a classroom election and I was probably the only one who voted for Mondale... there may have been one or two other votes. Reagan won a landslide in my little class room akin to the one he would win in the actual election. I'm pretty sure I cried.

Nichim said...

Wait'll I tell my dad, he'll be so proud! (He's a high school US History teacher)

zane said...

1. false
2. true
3. false
4. false
5. true
6. false
7. false
8. true
9. true
10. true
11. false
12. true

There, now let's see you name all the first ladies. I need the given name, the maiden name, the works! No search engine! First one Martha Dandridge, later Custis,Later Washington.