Be Careful What You Wish For
About 44 years ago I voted for George McGovern in the Florida Democratic Presidential Primary.
Senator McGovern finished 6th in field of 11 candidates, mustering a whopping 6% of the democratic votes cast. He was whipped soundly by George Wallace, Hubert Humphrey, Scoop Jackson, Edmund Muskie, and John Lindsey.
Somehow or other he got the Democratic Nomination for President. Right off the bat he had a huge problem finding a vice presidential running mate. Lots of potential running mates turned him down. I remember as the primary process went forward the Democrats had an ABM program(anybody but McGovern).
Some folks might think that John McCain's first mistake was choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate. I would like to testify that McGovern's choice of Tom Eagleton of Missouri for vice president makes McCain's choice look not so bad. Eventually Sargent Shriver of the Kennedy Clan agreed to be McGovern's running mate after Senator Eagleton resigned from the position after if was disclosed he had undergone electroshock therapy.
McGovern got clocked by Nixon. It wasn't just the Nixon Southern Strategy, it was an almost unanimous rejection of a ticket that was thought to favor acid,amnesty, and abortion. This was an exaggeration, maybe smoking dope should send you to jail, maybe it was finally time to end the Viet Nam War, and quite possibly women should have the right to make choices about their bodies.
In what is one of the greatest political ironies of all time, acid amnesty, and abortion was coined by Tom Eagleton. So says Robert Novak, The Prince of Darkness in Washington reporting.
Progress happens but it happens very slowly. Marijuana isn't as illegal as it used to be at least in Colorado and Washington, we trade openly with Viet Nam and China, but are still stumbling around with Cuba, and while Roe vs. Wade made abortion more safe and legal, that issue is still being litigated.
Senator McGovern finished 6th in field of 11 candidates, mustering a whopping 6% of the democratic votes cast. He was whipped soundly by George Wallace, Hubert Humphrey, Scoop Jackson, Edmund Muskie, and John Lindsey.
Somehow or other he got the Democratic Nomination for President. Right off the bat he had a huge problem finding a vice presidential running mate. Lots of potential running mates turned him down. I remember as the primary process went forward the Democrats had an ABM program(anybody but McGovern).
Some folks might think that John McCain's first mistake was choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate. I would like to testify that McGovern's choice of Tom Eagleton of Missouri for vice president makes McCain's choice look not so bad. Eventually Sargent Shriver of the Kennedy Clan agreed to be McGovern's running mate after Senator Eagleton resigned from the position after if was disclosed he had undergone electroshock therapy.
McGovern got clocked by Nixon. It wasn't just the Nixon Southern Strategy, it was an almost unanimous rejection of a ticket that was thought to favor acid,amnesty, and abortion. This was an exaggeration, maybe smoking dope should send you to jail, maybe it was finally time to end the Viet Nam War, and quite possibly women should have the right to make choices about their bodies.
In what is one of the greatest political ironies of all time, acid amnesty, and abortion was coined by Tom Eagleton. So says Robert Novak, The Prince of Darkness in Washington reporting.
Progress happens but it happens very slowly. Marijuana isn't as illegal as it used to be at least in Colorado and Washington, we trade openly with Viet Nam and China, but are still stumbling around with Cuba, and while Roe vs. Wade made abortion more safe and legal, that issue is still being litigated.
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