RIP Pat Caddell
This is sad news:
Pollster and political analyst Pat Caddell died from a stroke on Saturday at the age of 68.
I don’t watch cable news very often, but I’ve certainly watched it enough to be familiar with Pat Cadell. He was whip-smart, iconoclastic, and an independent and bold thinker.
He was somewhat of a political changer, or at least a semi-changer (or a stay-the-samer-while-everyone-else-moves-er). But at any rate, he distrusted both parties:
As for the future, Caddell may have been estranged from the Democratic party but he had contempt for the Republican party’s leadership. He accurately predicted that the GOP would lose the House in the 2018 midterms, caustically explaining the loss to Breitbart News as follows:
“The Republican party is essentially wusses. They will not fight. They don’t believe in fighting. They just lay down and roll over, and usually for their donor class, who are basically antithetical to 90 percent of Republicans and what they want.”
Caddell correctly predicted the rise of someone like Trump who would appeal to those disaffected from government as usual, and once Trump was in the running he predicted that he had a good chance of winning. So at least he got to say “I told you so.”
RIP, Pat Caddell.
[NOTE: See also this (hat tip: commenter “Snow on Pine”) as well as this.]
Sorry to lose him at 68. We need more sane people, especially on TV,
I saw Doug Schoen on Fox Biz deliver a short encomium on Caddell. He said Caddell created modern politics, predicted Trump in the WH, that his predictions were very often correct, and that Schoen considered Caddell his mentor even though they are about the same age.
“Modern politics” meaning poll and focus group tested? Just a guess.
Rest in peace.
“Modern politics” meaning poll and focus group tested? Just a guess.
Focus groups and polls could not have predicted Trump. He seems to have an instinct. He got Carter elected, anyway,
My memories of Pat Caddell, and his long time partner Doug Schoen, go back to the Carter administration. I held him in the same regard as Daniel Moynihan, a loyal Democrat who was a straight shooter. He was always on my “must read, must watch” list.
Pat was the first really astute political observer that I heard, years ago, refer to the GOP as “the stupid party.” How right he was!
“Pat Caddell Could See Over the Horizon” by J. CHRISTIAN ADAMS
I will miss Pat Caddell’s honest observations. It was a joy to see him together with Doug Schoen on any panel. There are so very few of his caliber left among the pundits we see on TV.
Pat loved this nation and feared for its safety.
I knew Pat Caddell from Hunter S. Thompson’s book on the McGovern campaign:
Caddell is twenty-one years old. He has never had his face mashed in the dirty realities of American politics. For almost a year now, he has been George McGovern’s official numbers wizard. Caddell and his Cambridge Research Associates have been working the streets and suburban neighborhoods in New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Massachusetts for McGovern, the coming back to headquarters on election nite and calling the results almost down to the percentage point…
–Hunter S. Thompson, “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72”
In 2016 I took Caddell’s desertion from the Democrats as a good sign.
“In 2016 I took Caddell’s desertion from the Democrats as a good sign.” – huxley
A day late and a dollar short….
A day late and a dollar short….
AesopFan: How so?
The Democrats got quite a large use out of Caddel’s poll propaganda techniques. It’s sort of like fighting for evil child molestors, then recanting and saying “my bad, I helped them win, but I no longer fight for them now”. Well… that doesn’t really make the place much better.