George McGovern dead at 90

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I saw something on the news the other morning saying he was not doing well.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-former-us-sen-george-mcgovern-dead-at-90-20121021,0,151594.story

Quote:

George McGovern once joked that he had wanted to run for president in the worst way — and that he had done so.

It was a campaign in 1972 dishonored by Watergate, a scandal that fully unfurled too late to knock Republican President Richard M. Nixon from his place as a commanding favorite for re-election. The South Dakota senator tried to make an issue out of the bungled attempt to wiretap the offices of the Democratic National Committee, calling Nixon the most corrupt president in history.

A proud liberal who had argued fervently against Vietnam War as a Democratic senator from South Dakota and three-time candidate for president, McGovern died at 5:15 a.m. local time Sunday at a Sioux Falls hospice, surrounded by family and lifelong friends, family spokesman Steve Hildebrand told The Associated Press. McGovern was 90.

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@jcboy,

I liked him.
Rest in peace, George.

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McGovern was a good man, a war hero and on the correct side of politics. I regret that I was frightened away from voting for him when he was a presidential candidate. We have few persons in politics these days that are his equal.

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@edgarblythe,

That was the first campaign with which I was ever involved. I went door-to-door for his election. I have a knack for picking campaigns. I thought then, as I do now, he was one of the better pols in the last 40 yrs.

RIP, George. You will be missed.

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@jcboy,

I will always wonder how much the Eagleton situation lowered McGovern's vote pulling. After the information on Thomas Eagleton's mental health was leaked and he was replaced with Shriver, it likely lowered confidence in McGovern. That's unfortunate since (in my view at least), McGovern was what the country needed and he would have put us on a better track than the Nixon admin. sent us down.

Of course it's seen by most that McGovern would have lost anyway; however, perhaps the defeat would not have been as harsh.

Rest peacefully George McGovern.

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@Sturgis,

McGovern became the lightning rod for the emerging "Silent majority" that became the Conservative movement.

He will be missed.

AS a bomber pilot in WWII he became the outspoken critic of "bad and unjust warring". Ive often used his quotes when we invaded Iraq

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@farmerman,

Quote:

AS a bomber pilot in WWII he became the outspoken critic of "bad and unjust warring".

He certainly wouldn't lack for material in this regard, would he, Farmer?

Quote:

Ive often used his quotes when we invaded Iraq

"often", really?

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McGovern was an anomaly in American politics -- the (apparently) honest and dedicated public servant who doesn't seem to have a sinner's chance in hell but still manages to get his party's nomination. (The Democrats didn't have anyone else at the time who was even a semi-viable candidate.) That he got even as far as he did is amazing; I wouldn't have given him odds for the nomination. He had no chance of election whatever. And that might be a good thing. I liked him. He was a good and likable person. But, as a president, I think he would have been too much like Jimmy Carter, another honest and dedicated individual who absolutely sucked at the job in the Oval Office.

RIP, George.

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@Lustig Andrei,

Quote:

McGovern was an anomaly in American politics -- the (apparently) honest and dedicated public servant ...

There's never been one of those fielded by the Repubs. And I see that you're not at all sure even of George, Merry.

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I had the privilege of meeting McGovern. One of the truly honorable politicians. Someone I admired and respected.

Sorry to hear of his death.

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@Lustig Andrei,

Lustig Andrei wrote:

But, as a president, I think he would have been too much like Jimmy Carter, another honest and dedicated individual who absolutely sucked at the job in the Oval Office.

I disagree. The conventional wisdom that Carter sucked is mostly a myth, peddled by Republicans and Reagan Democrats. In particular, the correct answer to Reagan's famous question, "are you doing better today than you did four years ago?" , was "yes" (if measured in GDP per person) or "no difference" (if measured in unemployment), but not "no". Liberals should stop eating the bullshit that movement conservatism keeps feeding them as history. There is no shame in being a president "much like Carter". I, for one, prefer Carter's and McGovern's kind over presidents much like Nixon anytime. Way to go George McGovern!

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@jcboy,

Just now reading the tributes on Twitter.:

https://twitter.com/search/realtime?q=thxGeorge&src=typd

Rest in peace, George McGovern.
You were an inspiration.

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@msolga,

"I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in."
- George McGovern

Poor George. Fed up to the ears with that, when? in 1972 or so? Forty years later, nothing has changed.

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@Thomas,

Quote:

There is no shame in being a president "much like Carter".

I guess it's simply just the office. Jimmy was a war criminal just like every other post WWII president, though he was the "kindest" of the lot. Since his presidency, he has done much to make up for his crimes. And he is willing to address at least some awful truths about the USA.

I wonder how G McGovern would have fared had he made it to the presidency. Could he have helped to break the two centuries of murder and mayhem wreaked upon the innocents of the world?

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@JTT,

Shhhh, JTT.
Let's keep the focus on tributes to George McGovern on this thread, please?

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@jcboy,

A good and honorable man who got my vote for President--I wish it had been enough to help him win.

Sorry to learn of his passing. He will be missed.

1 Reply

@msolga,

msolga wrote:

Shhhh, JTT.
Let's keep the focus on tributes to George McGovern on this thread, please?

My bad, msO. I shouldn't have brought Jimmy Carter into the conversation.

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My father always talked politics with me when I was a kid. I remember him saying he saw McGovern in person more then once. I also remember him saying George McGovern was an honorable patriot, genuine war hero and dedicated public servant.

And if my father were around today he would say “Baruch dayan ha'emet” .

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@msolga,

Exposing those who commit these heinous crimes against humanity. Those most surely are tributes to George McGovern's life, MsO.

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@Lustig Andrei,

My apologies ... I see that JTT was not alone in that particular discussion.
I'll leave it at that.

Please continue now.

1 Reply

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