Category Archives: Politics

Senator George McGovern redux

Politics

Re my post on McGovern, Mike Moore points out that McGovern …didn’t actually fade away; he kept working and working; against world hunger, for the Dems, etc…we saw him speak at the Ludlow Memorial in June of 2008, same day we got Aggie, and, down among the rednecks and the cowboys and the miners of Las Animas County, he was brilliant on behalf of Obama.  I’ll never forget it. Mike goes to say We wish for more like him…

I do too, and reading this reminded me of the time I saw Thomas Eagleton speak at a backyard gathering in Piedmont, California in – about – 1974. That was almost forty years ago and, like Mike, I still remember it clearly.  He was actually standing on a tree stump – a real stump, which, because it was cut at a slight angle, was not that easy to stand on – and gave, probably, the best political speech I have ever heard. Eagleton had been McGovern’s running mate for 18 days until it was revealed that he had had shock treatment for depression and was forced to  withdraw from the campaign.

What struck me at the time with Eagleton was his ability – willingness – to get back up after a huge, public, humiliation and keep fighting the good fight. And, as Mike points out, it was even more so for George McGovern. He took the biggest electoral dubbing in our history and got back up, dusted himself off, and reentered the fray.

Starting in 1998, McGovern served a three-year stint as United States Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture. Later, he worked with Bob Dole to  expand school lunch, food stamps, and nutritional help for pregnant women and poor children and continued to work in this area both nationally and internationally. He may not have ever been on the center stage again, but he continued to fight for what he believed. As Mike says…We wish for more like him.

 

 

 

 

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Senator George McGovern R.I.P.

Politics

Senator George McGovern died yesterday. He was a mensch and I would like to say that the world will miss him, but, in reality, he has been gone a long time and the world has pretty much gotten over missing him. I would also like to say that McGovern was the first politician, that I can remember, who was Swiftboated, but he really Swiftboated himself.

In World War II,  he was a B-24 pilot which is probably the shittiest job that an Air Force pilot could have during the war. The planes were very hard to fly because of their thin wing – designed to give them good gas milage –  which enabled very long flights. Those long flights – with no fighter cover – were dangerous and B-24s suffered very heavy losses. Typically, 10 to 20% of the planes didn’t come back. And the crews had to do 35 missions before they were relieved.  McGovern refused to run on this record and was disparaged as a Peacenik over Vietnam.

Nixon won and the rest was history pretty much with McGovern. Too bad.

George McGovern was that rare politician, a principled man. Our country need more people like him and, even if he isn’t, he should be missed.

The debate

Americana, Politics

Michele and I watched the debate with two guys that love politics and we fell into rooting like we were at a football game. So my perception may be flawed, but it seemed to me that Obama was having a better time than Romney. A more fun time (we thought he crossed over into arrogant once when he kept talking way past the shut-off point and we all started yelling Shut-up, you’re winning). He seems to have found a more presidential zone and his lecture to Romney on Benghazi seemed especially powerful to me.

And, then of course, Romney said Women in Binders. Eerily enough I totally understand what Romney means just like I did when he said The trees are the right height. It is not where I don’t like Romney, but this time I recognized Women in Binders was going to be a big deal. What I didn’t expect was a Tumblr on it (mostly because I don’t really understand Tumblr).

A thought on the debate

Obama, Politics

Watching the debate with an even more fervent Obama supporter than me, what I saw was pretty much the above. That is clearly not what most people saw, what most people saw was this:

A Presidential debate is not like a baseball game or a car race with their clear, arbitrary, rules for defining a winner: in a debate, the winner is who the most people think is the winner.  That was Romney and, as a card carrying member of the Obama Team, it has brought up all sorts of swirling emotions in me. From denial through anger, from bargaining to acceptance.

With acceptance – although it may be bargaining – I am trying to see how Romney’s debate victory will play out and I have come to the conclusion that it did not mean much in that it will probably not change the election.  Although Intrade differs, saying that Obama’s odds fell from 71% to 67% because of his weak show. (The odds do seem to be going back up as a result of today’s jobs report.)

In a way, the odd thing about the debates – the odd thing about news in general – is how ephemeral it is. The debates end and are a big deal: the next day they are gone.

But what I am still left with is how easily Romney seems to be able shapeshift. Or, if you prefer, lie. It is not that he has changed what he believes, it is that he has always believed the new pitch. I remember firing – a job I don’t like as much as Romney – a guy who just flat out lied about something he had done. I don’t remember the details but I do remember him looking me right in the eye and saying something like It couldn’t have been me, I was in Queensland at the time. It was stunning and I was completely flustered.

I think that Obama was flat, he looked tired, he was down; but – I suspect – he found it hard to cope with a guy who can say My health plan includes the elimination of pre-conditions. (It doesn’t for those who haven’t been keeping score.) Obama could say No it doesn’t – and he did – but Romney comes back and says Yes, it does. and there is no place to go except get in a He said, he said, argument or move on. It will be interesting to watch how this plays out next Thursday. .