George McGovern was the first presidential candidate I ever pulled a lever for, and I’m still proud of having done so.
A B-24 pilot who flew dozens of missions in World War II and received the Distinguished Flying Cross, he knew something about war, and strove for peace. In a 2008 op-ed in The Washington Post he called for the impeachment of the war criminals Daffy and Fudd for their prosecution of the war in Iraq, and in his final book warned that America faces a critical moment in history.
From his obit in The New York Times:
“We are the party that believes we can’t let the strong kick aside the weak,” Mr. McGovern wrote. “Our party believes that poor children should be as well educated as those from wealthy families. We believe that everyone should pay their fair share of taxes and that everyone should have access to health care.”
With the country burdened economically, he added, there has “never been a more critical time in our nation’s history” to rely on those principles.
“We are at a crossroads,” he wrote, “over how the federal government in Washington and state legislatures and city councils across the land allocate their financial resources. Which fork we take will say a lot about Americans and our values.”
May he rest, finally, in peace.
Tags: Daffy, Fudd, George McGovern
October 21, 2012 at 9:48 am |
Today he’d be tarred and feathered for trying to “incite class warfare”.
We all know that there isn’t a class war going on….it’s a class massacre.
October 21, 2012 at 9:10 pm |
At times like these I miss Hunter S. Thompson. Remember “Fear and Loathing On the Campaign Trail ’72?” Whatever would the good Doktor make of today’s wretched mess? Too bad he didn’t stick around to watch.
October 22, 2012 at 11:59 am |
I loved that book. Still pull it out once in a while.
October 21, 2012 at 2:06 pm |
Well said, Patrick, and thank you for including McGovern’s own words, too.
Yesterday, I caught Craig Unger, the author of “Boss Rove”, speaking about his book and research. Seems that the Bush-Kerry election was stolen, too, and in Ohio. His research and interviews turned up some frightening info and eyewitness accounts of what happened on Election night and afterwards. http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/BossR
Sorry, can’t make a link.
October 21, 2012 at 2:38 pm |
Stolen elections are as American as apple pie. Recall Jim Wells County, TX and Ballot Box 13?
October 21, 2012 at 3:32 pm |
I’ve always wondered how W could get into the White House not once (we know about that scam) but TWICE? Always chalked it up “what my wife says…”
We’ll see how unstupid the American voters are come November 6…McGovern was certainly warning us about the likes of Romney!
October 21, 2012 at 5:31 pm |
I just got back from a get together for Jim Hall, who is a local Republican running for re-election at the State Legislature. Jim is a good guy running a clean campaign in this race and is a good choice as far as I am concerned and I say that having worked with him for going on 9 years when he was on the County Council and I was on the county traffic commission, half that time as its chair.
The Dem in this one is running a race on lurid daily mailings that simply make shit up. That’s too bad, because neither is a lousy choice, but the campaign choices the Donk is making are driving a lot of local Donks across no-man’s land.
That said, it was an interesting day. I ended up telling one of the GOP folks at the rally off after being subjected to a pretty low joke about the Kenyan Socialist dope smoking guy.
Can’t we all just occasionally take the moral high ground? Isn’t that what McGovern tried to do–put country first? Oh, forget I asked that…recall what Larry’s wife would respond…
October 21, 2012 at 6:24 pm |
How’d they get Shrub in twice?
The first time, they stole it; also, Gore doesn’t connect that well, and the Democrats made a fatal mistake in disowning Clinton because of his pecker-dillos.
The second time, they rode the fear card, pure and simple, and got in there first with whoppers about Kerry. But the big one was the fear card.
If any of Patreick’s readers have not heard the former Irish president Michaell Higgins’ rant about how Republicans gin up fear and squelch everything great and good about the American people, it’s here:
It is transcendantly magnificent.
October 22, 2012 at 12:15 am |
Common denominator: both Gore and Kerry ran terrible campaigns.
Rove retired undefeated. And yet, he never beat anyone who put up half a fight. His reputation is based on the former, but I hope ultimately he is remembered for the latter.
October 21, 2012 at 5:27 pm |
Don’t hold your breath Larry. I’ve a very, very bad feeling about this clown making it to The Big House come November…
October 21, 2012 at 7:40 pm |
Well, the way Uncle Mitty says it, as soon as he’s at 16 Pennsylvania Avenue we’ll all soon be rich…so I can take all my wealth and move to Italy sooner, rather than later! We’ll just have to wait and see how, uh, well, uh our fellow citizens vote.
October 21, 2012 at 7:47 pm |
I hear you, Larry. As soon as Mitt wins and I’m rich, I’ll retire from this chemistry gig and leave for Italy and help you cook pasta for all those rich Americans coming over to do bike tours on their plastic fantastic bicycles.
October 21, 2012 at 9:04 pm |
Can I come too? Pretty please? My Italian cooking is only so-so at best, but I can drink Barbera and tell tall tales with the best of ’em.
October 21, 2012 at 9:42 pm |
We’re on the same wavelength today regarding the Gute Doktor, Patrick. Thought of this comment from “Fear and Loathing …” as soon as I heard that McGovern had checked out. Might be the best epitaph for his life and grim portent of things to come soon:
“This may be the year when we finally come face to face with ourselves; finally just lay back and say it — that we are really just a nation of 220 million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns, and no qualms at all about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable. The tragedy of all this is that George McGovern, for all his mistakes… understands what a fantastic monument to all the best instincts of the human race this country might have been, if we could have kept it out of the hands of greedy little hustlers like Richard Nixon. McGovern made some stupid mistakes, but in context they seem almost frivolous compared to the things Richard Nixon does every day of his life, on purpose… Jesus! Where will it end? How low do you have to stoop in this country to be President? “