George McGovern: A Campaign Fiasco That Wasn't (Why should I be ashamed about 1972?)

The Washington Post ^ | Wednesday, February 4, 2004 | George S. McGovern

[presidio9]

had not expected to be involved in this year's presidential campaign. But almost daily my name is mentioned by some commentator, usually as a warning of what candidates should avoid. One gets the impression that the campaign of 1972 is the only one whose shortcomings are worth noting.

Is the central lesson of '72 that George McGovern lost everywhere except Massachusetts and the District of Columbia? If so, what is the lesson of 1984, when my friend Walter Mondale lost everywhere except Minnesota and the District? Is the lesson of these campaigns that Midwestern liberals can never reach the White House?

I don't think so. Mondale and his Minnesota mentor, Hubert Humphrey, who, like me, was defeated by Richard Nixon, were U.S. patriots of unquestioned integrity and ability. (They might say the same about me.) I wonder whether even a Jefferson or Washington could have defeated Ronald Reagan in 1984 or Nixon in '72. Any Democrat running against these heavily financed incumbent presidents would probably have lost (though some still think that the Democratic contenders Mondale and I defeated in winning the nomination would have been stronger than we were in the general election).

[ambrose]

Nixon... good on foreign policy, terrible on domestic policy.

Sound familiar?

[Williams]

Hmm I know Nixon was in the navy and at sea during WWII. I have never heard anyone suggest that Nixon was far fom combat. The seas were not safe during WWII. But in any event this all underscores the reality that what you would do as president is WAY more important than what you did in the service. Imagine letting a McGovern gut our defenses just because he served heroically in WWII? Someone should think up the best way of confronting these guys on why they learned nothing about national security based on their war experiences.

[Moby Grape]

I think he should be PROUD to have been rejected by margins almost never seen in the history of this nation.

[Zack Nguyen]

Alas, he drank the Kool-Aid of Kollectivism long ago.

LOL.

[Williams]

Uh, the "Checkers" speech was a political masterstroke that kept Nixon on the Eisenhower ticket.

[Williams]

I once saw something from the Senate gallery that may be discerning about McGovern. I happened to visit when his fellow dems were defeating a farm bill he authored by sending it back to committee. Seems they used the fact that he placed a comma in the wrong place. Robert Byrd totally dissed him. McGovern was pissed and confronted them on whether they would support the bill with the comma in the right place. they wouldn't answer, he lost and I got the impression they did not fear or respect him. This was post '72. The most impressive figure in the chamber was an old and frail Barry Goldwater, entering feebly with a cane.

[KC_Conspirator]

"This even though I was a decorated combat bomber pilot in World War II, while Nixon was stationed far from battle."

The man was and still is an a$$hole.

You got that right. Ideas matter and McGovern had awful ideas and despite his great service to his country, his appeasement and courting of the hate-America crowd mattered and was rejected.

[Grut]

McGovern may have protested the Viet Nam War, but Richard Nixon ended it.

The North Vietnamese ended the war by winning it. We can debate endlessly about who in America ended it by losing.

[presidio9]

The North Vietnamese ended the war by winning it. We can debate endlessly about who in America ended it by losing.

Semantics. Nixon got us out of the War. As for the NVA, they launched Tet one full year before Nixon took office. Pin our loss on Johnson, where it deserves to be.

[miloklancy]

Actually McGovern does have a point in saying that he wasn't solely to blame for the Dems defeat in 1972. That year the Dems were still reeling from the chaos of 1968 and simply couldn't get it together. The Dems convention that year was the place, where they finally and narrowly got behind McGovern. Granted McGovern with his far left antics was unelectable and the fiasco with his first VP pick spending time in a mental institution clearly weakened his campaign, which ultimately forced McGovern to kick him off the ticket. But what one has to ask in all this, is why did Nixon have his cronies break into the Watergate Hotel, when it was so clear that the Dems were in absolute chaos that year?

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

Very nice tribute to RMN, who I met twice, including once about five years before he died. He struck me as sweet, sad, surprisingly small of stature in person. All face, it seemed. And there's one thing that Kissinger should have mentioned: you'll find few politicians as loyal to his friends as RMN.

But while his foreign-policy accomplishments are undeniable, and notwithstanding his many statements about a "New Federalism", I stand by my sentiment that he was the most statist, government-expanding President we've had. Many conservatives claim him as one of their own, but I just don't see it.

[presidio9]

I stand by my sentiment that he was the most statist, government-expanding President we've had

By "we" do you mean Conservatives or Americans in general? Do the initials FDR ring a bell?

[N. Theknow]

Any Democrat running against these heavily financed incumbent presidents would probably have lost

the old "We just didn't get our message out there and the EVIL Republicans had more money" excuse.

And we all know that excuses are like a$$holes - everybody's got one and they all stink.

What poetic justice it was when McGovern had a small business go belly up. He then stated he had no idea how many burdens the government placed on businesses and had he known he would have voted differently.

What a pathetic example of a Senator. And South Dakota hasn't done any better since.

[Finalapproach29er]

Sad to see a hero grasp to build himself up. Pity.

[Deliberator]

none of these special interest spokemen could keep himself/herself down to two minutes, so McGovern made his acceptance speech ("Come Home America") past midnight to a half empty convention hall and a lot of cold TV sets. The most crucial speech of his campaign was a total FUBAR.

LOL! His pandering created its own punishment.

[Clintonfatigued]

Geoerge McGovern is one of the more sad figures of American politics. Here is this nice, decent, and well-meaning man whose ideas would have ruined the country if he had been elected to the White House. As a decorated WW2 pilot, his patriotism is beyond reproach. And there's also no question about his good intentions. But good intentions do not always produce good ideas. Does anyone remember, after his departure from politics, McGovern ran an inn or hotel, or something like it. It eventually went out of business, and McGovern admitted that he had no idea what it was to meet a payroll before then. Once again, he was a victim of his own naiveity. He lost the 1972 election because he IS a far-left extremeist, albiet an honest one with a good heart.

[metesky]

As for the NVA, they launched Tet one full year before Nixon took office. Pin our loss on Johnson, where it deserves to be.

A minor point: Although portrayed by the media as a disaster for the U.S. miltary, in reality Tet was a major victory for our armed forces. It was the death knell of the VC as effective combatants.

[Democratshavenobrains]

Ok its official. All living Democratic Presidential candidates are crybabies.

[WOSG]

(Of course, McG was running against a "Republican" who ended up imposing Federal wage-and-price controls, establishing the EPA, used the IRS against his political enemies, and tossing the last vestiges of the gold standard, so in all fairness it's hard to say which party ran the more statist candidate in that benighted election.)

Yeah, it's kind of funny, but given that Nixon was hounded from office anyway, given that he won in a landslide but did nothing to bring in conservatives to government or Congress, and given that the KEY ISSUE that made McGovern unfit - his willingness to cut n run on the Vietnam - HAPPENED ANYWAY IN 1975 ... I have to think that if we were to have ONE RABIDLY LIBERAL PRESIDENT, McGovern would have been it ... no dsiraced Nixon... it would have been a GOP landslide in 1974 instead of a Democrat one ...

The real silver lining? I suspect we would have had Reagan win 4 years earlier and hastened the end of liberalism and the cold war that much sooner!!!

[dwd1]

I should have known it was you! :-)