Oh if only he had been President McGovern! George McGovern died this morning of being 90. 40 years ago he was about to be overwhelmingly rejected by the American public as a Presidential nominee by losing to a criminal mastermind named Dick. But in the end, George McGovern won because he was a fine,decent human being while his conquering "hero" was found to be a lying, cynical manipulative creep. Once again, that man's name was "Dick", not "Mitt".
1972. Wow, seems like yesterday. I was a 15 year old kid with an intense hatred of the Vietnam war, an idealistic streak that thought the world would change overnight, and a naivete' that believed George McGovern would win over the Trickster. I remember counting the votes at the Democratic convention on my little Time Magazine ballot until McGovern clinched it. I remember staying up till 2 in the morning to listen to his speech. I remember the Eagleton debacle, the Shriver nomination, and my belief a Kennedy on the ticket would put it over the hump. Wow, was I wrong.
At my Catholic high school in the fall, I was involved in the mock election. In fact I ended up running the McGovern "campaign" because the school version of the "Young Democrats" actually endorsed Dick Nixon. Hello, Max's Dad. You are going to get killed here. Down to the local Democratic office to get literature, bumper stickers, flyers, posters,and passing them out at school to the students, the Catholic students, the rather well off Catholic students, the rather well off Catholic white male students. Hello, Max's Dad, you are going to get destroyed here.
But I didn't know that. Fuck Dick Nixon. Fuck Vietnam. Fuck Kissinger and that whole criminal enterprise.
And then, election night. What a punch in the gut. 49-1. Loser. Nixon was going to let more kids die, crime pays, what's the point? My school election was a landslide also. I'll never forget the vote count. 557-223, Nixon. I took so much shit it really affected me. I hated that place from that moment on. I was a "Communist" , a "space cadet", "anti-American" and that was from the fucking teachers!
Amnesty, Abortion and Acid. That's what they said about McGovern. Turns out he was right on all three. Godspeed buddy!
George McGovern, you really were one of my heroes. A Midwesterner who overcame the genetic disease we all suffer from around here called Republicanism. When people like him die, I really do wish there was a heaven. Cuz there, he eats Nixon for breakfast.
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