"You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore"

Neither were an issue. At all.

There were contemporary political cartoons that put George Romney in a sombrero. It was a thing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it was some major, major thing with scandal and news coverage or whatever, but it was something that was talked about back then.
 
iTTL Romney still talks about being brainwashed. sSo it is Rockefeller vs Reagan. Maybe the both get in earlier and make a real battle of it.
 
iTTL Romney still talks about being brainwashed. sSo it is Rockefeller vs Reagan. Maybe the both get in earlier and make a real battle of it.

You're tearing apart the soul of the party. This is the kind of thing that would make Nixon run to be the moderate between the two to save the party from destroying itself.
 
You're tearing apart the soul of the party. This is the kind of thing that would make Nixon run to be the moderate between the two to save the party from destroying itself.

Expanding on this comment, what would be the repercussions of this? Romney in my mind would be the compromise savior in this situation, since neither Rockefeller or Reagan (the figureheads of their two factions) can be nominated without it causing hell for the party and possible massive, massive fallout which could rip it in half. If not Romney, than another middle man. The only other option I could see is an unholy alliance of Rockefeller/Reagan '68.
 
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Expanding on this comment, what would be the repercussions of this? Romney in my mind would be the savior in this situation, since neither Rockefeller or Reagan (the figureheads of their two factions) can be nominated without it causing hell for the party and possible massive, massive fallout. If not Romney, than another middle man. The only other option I could see is an unholy alliance of Rockefeller/Reagan '68.

But... That's what I said -- and then you changed my mind, and... oh now I don't know what to think :(
 

bguy

Donor
Expanding on this comment, what would be the repercussions of this? Romney in my mind would be the compromise savior in this situation, since neither Rockefeller or Reagan (the figureheads of their two factions) can be nominated without it causing hell for the party and possible massive, massive fallout which could rip it in half. If not Romney, than another middle man. The only other option I could see is an unholy alliance of Rockefeller/Reagan '68.

Jim Rhodes or William Scranton as a compromise candidate maybe?
 
Since I kicked loose the pebbles that started this, I'll weigh in here.

My own thought was that Rockefeller, the less-than-perfect relations with the right notwithstanding, could pull off the nomination by exercising old-school ticket balancing (similar to what Reagan proposed in '76 IOTL: recall Richard Schweiker as Reagan's would-be running mate then?). My own thought was that Rocky would choose a more conservative Michigan congressman with considerable party leadership experience in the House as his running mate: yes, Gerald Ford.

A Rockefeller/Ford ticket in '68 could, I think, trump pretty much anything the Democrats could put up. Further, I believe that if elected, Rockefeller would bring in Henry Kissinger as first national security adviser, then special envoy to peace talks, sooner than did Nixon IOTL. In fact, I see the Rockefeller administration having a formidable Machiavellian duo formulating foreign policy: Kissinger as national security adviser and Nixon as SecState. Nothing, but nothing even the most devious foreign power might try to pull would get past those guys.
 
There were contemporary political cartoons that put George Romney in a sombrero. It was a thing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it was some major, major thing with scandal and news coverage or whatever, but it was something that was talked about back then.

Just like Goldwater was "challenged" for being born in Arizona Territory, a very minor "challenge" may come to Romney's candidacy. But it'll be ignored by the parties/Cronkite/the American people and won't be a legitimate criticism of Romney.

At worse, it'd be 1960s Birtherism, with a little bit more legitimacy but probably never legally challenged and very likely rarely responded to by Romney.
 
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