Fear, Loathing and Gumbo on the Campaign Trail '72

[PaganMonarchist]

Interesting alt-alt history, Drew.

Having become a huge disco fan lately, now all I can think of is the effects of no disco prominence in your alt-70s. Would disco have gone mainstream in the mid-70s if McKeithen had taken a different flight?

Also, random fact about Donna Summer in Fear, Loathing, and Gumbo. She was IOTL resident in Germany from '67 to '75, when her big disco career began. In Fear, I expect she'll have had a disco career in Europe, where disco did go mainstream, and she likely spends the rest of her life in Germany. Also, if disco is even more mainstream in Europe, will there be a European version of Disco Demolition Night, and a big backlash?

Also, that would be a reversal of OTL, since the US won't have a big backlash against disco around 1980, as it was never big enough to bother.

Just some interesting things I've thought.

 

[Andrew T]

Having become a huge disco fan lately, now all I can think of is the effects of no disco prominence in your alt-70s. Would disco have gone mainstream in the mid-70s if McKeithen had taken a different flight?

It's hard to overstate the impact disco had on rock and roll; for example, who would have thought that in a world without disco, you'd lose hard rock band KISS's biggest single?

 

[Plumber]

After rereading the actual Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 since I was Hunter for Halloween and rereading this TL during election day, I've mulled over a few aspects of the TL. Reading about Petraeus' resignation reminded me of Gavin. OTL hasn't gone as far as him leading a war in Syria, which is sadly similar enough.

I recently read an article about Pete McCloskey condemning the Republicans in wake of Trent Lott's "Strom Thurmond should have won in 1948" comments, where he ponders joining the Democratic Party like his colleagues Norm Mineta and Leon Panetta did. The recent Puerto Rican referendum and Fortuno's pyrrhic victory in the referendum may provide an example: McCloskey could resign the Governorship of (South) California to run in North California (I hope it isn't called Jefferson, since it's all of Norcal and not just the forgotten lands above San Francisco and under Oregon). He could narrowly lose election ironically, like Fortuno. I don't see him ending up a Democrat since third parties are on an upward swing, but I don't see him going back to the Republicans ever.

What of Hunter S. Thompson ITTL? He babbled about running for Colorado Senate in '74, but he would prefer to run as a third party candidate. I'm surprised he hasn't tried to build the Freak Power ticket into an earlier We The People movement, or been mentioned during the We The People movement. I see him as more likely to run in '76 than, say, George Carlin, who he would probably support. I could see Hunter being attracted to McCloskey, too. And the actual inspiration for the title is obviously significantly altered, especially because he wrote that writing about an election wouldn't be fun if he wasn't invested in the candidates. I'd imagine the book focuses significantly on the McGovern campaign. He'd probably be grateful that the followup in 1976 was cancelled, if it is, though I would very much love to see how he describes both Wallace and Reagan.

 

[GeorgeUK]

I'm looking forward to it.

Hopefully Argentina, Castle and Maguire end up with egg all over their collective faces regarding the Falklands fiasco.

 

[Archibald]

I'm carefully reading this TL again. Page 2 so far (the deadlock). Agnew + Wallace + Rumsfeld, and the world goes to hell, slowly but surely...

EDIT

I've spent some hours copying the whole thing into an Open Office Writter file. Ended with 1995 pages (!), and an equally sized Pdf. This TL is amazing.

 

[Thande]

What of Hunter S. Thompson ITTL? He babbled about running for Colorado Senate in '74, but he would prefer to run as a third party candidate. I'm surprised he hasn't tried to build the Freak Power ticket into an earlier We The People movement, or been mentioned during the We The People movement. I see him as more likely to run in '76 than, say, George Carlin, who he would probably support. I could see Hunter being attracted to McCloskey, too. And the actual inspiration for the title is obviously significantly altered, especially because he wrote that writing about an election wouldn't be fun if he wasn't invested in the candidates. I'd imagine the book focuses significantly on the McGovern campaign. He'd probably be grateful that the followup in 1976 was cancelled, if it is, though I would very much love to see how he describes both Wallace and Reagan.

It is a rather curious point that given how this timeline is named, I don't think Thompson has actually been mentioned in it at all. Irony.

BTW, thanks to those nice OCD people on US Election Atlas, I have come across a lot of 1970s US electoral maps, and at some point I may have a crack at mapping some of the non-presidential elections in TTL, given that Drew provides so much detail.

 

[vultan]

Weird, random thought I had. In the late 1970's, Marvel Comics was at the brink of financial ruin, which would be exacerbated in this scenario. What saved them was outstanding sales of their Star Wars comics.

So, in this universe, what's the fate of Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men and the rest?

 

[Ace Venom]

So, in this universe, what's the fate of Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men and the rest?

It might be amusing if they're bought out by DC.

 

[John Farson]

But hey, look at the bright side. No Star Wars Holiday Special!

http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/15087-swchr

 

[Archibald]

Having the whole thing as a Pdf allows thematic searches. Yesterday I browsed "Thatcher" and enjoyed the way you got ride of her.
Another search brought Khomeiny and reading this I laughed loud

Working with the right wing Italians, Clarridge spied on the Ayatollah and obtained copies of his
tapes, and theorized about the possibility of altering the tapes to subtly change Khomeini’s message.
Of course, that would only work for a short time, until Khomeini heard about it and let it be known
that the relevant tapes were forgeries. Clarridge also fell back on old anti-Castro plans, everything
from using depilatory powder to make Khomeini’s beard fall out (Khomeini had declared shaving
as un-Islamic) to putting LSD in the old man’s food so that he would produce sermons that were
truly beyond the pale even for his followers. The Italians were largely skeptical of this sort of thing,
and over time Clarridge came to agree with them.

I'll read Rumsfeldia with interest.

 

[MrHuman]

Could you share the PDF with us, Archibald?

 

[Archibald]

Could you share the PDF with us, Archibald?

I should ask Drew first.

 

[MrHuman]

I should ask Drew first.

Alright, that makes sense.

 

[Drew]

Having the whole thing as a Pdf allows thematic searches. Yesterday I browsed "Thatcher" and enjoyed the way you got ride of her.
Another search brought Khomeiny and reading this I laughed loud



I'll read Rumsfeldia with interest.

Thanks for doing that work. One of the things remaining that I have to do with this TL is put it into a completed TL format without comments. Please post the link to your PDF if you wish and thanks for the contribution.

 

[Drew]

This time line now continues as [thread=261579]Rumsfeldia: Fear and Loathing in the Decade of Tears[/thread].

 

[Archibald]

Ok, anybody wanting the Pdf, drop me a mail at my box on the forum.

 

[Archibald]

I saw yesterday that part of the year 1976 was missing - a good chunk of this (which, thanks to the Murphy law, contain the climax of the "democrat killer" story arc, notably the revelation of his identity.)

My advice: use Google to browse the phrase

"WALLACE: but I’m not going to go about it like a fool
chasing three greased pigs around the barn"

The missing part starts there, until the end of Drew (looong) post that day.
Some posts were so huge they simply overwhelmed the cut-and-paste function. Can you believe that ?

 

[Plumber]

Wikipedia Infoboxes

Fear, Loathing and Gumbo on the Campaign Trail, '72

Fear, Loathing and Alka Seltzer on the Campaign Trail '76



The New Democracy: The Candidate With Fewer Votes Wins

 

[Captain Matt]

It's amazing (and hilarious) how well those 1980 pictures fit the results of the election - Rumsfeld is smug, Carey is resigned, and Dellums is dismayed at Rumsfeld's inauguration speech.

 

[Thande]

Excellent work on the infoboxes, Plumber.

I'm wondering if Galtieri would be included in '80 because of the volume of his popular vote even though he didn't win any electoral votes (like how John Anderson and Ross Perot are included in OTL infoboxes). On the other hand, in TTL it may become more commonplace later for third parties to win electoral votes, seeing the way this is going, so perhaps they wouldn't do that. (And of course I know the real reason is that there isn't a photo of Ronald Galtieri because it's just a name Drew got off an old Libertarian website ).