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Pete McCloskey, GOP congressman who once challenged Nixon, dies at 96
AP ^ | May 8, 2024

Posted on 05/09/2024 8:22:06 AM PDT by Borges

Pete McCloskey — a pro-environment, anti-war California Republican who co-wrote the Endangered Species Act and co-founded Earth Day — has died. He was 96.

A fourth-generation Republican “in the mold of Teddy Roosevelt,” he often said, McCloskey represented the 12th Congressional District for 15 years, running for president against an incumbent Richard Nixon in 1972. He battled party leaders while serving seven terms in Congress and went on to publicly disavow the GOP in his later years.

He died at home Wednesday, according to Lee Houskeeper, a family friend.

Years after leaving Washington, McCloskey made one last bid for elective office in 2006 when he challenged Richard Pombo of Northern California’s 11th District in a primary race that McCloskey described as “a battle for the soul of the Republican Party.” After losing to Pombo, who had spent most of his tenure in Washington attempting to undo the Endangered Species Act, he threw his support behind Democrat Jerry McNerney, the eventual winner.

(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: california
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1 posted on 05/09/2024 8:22:06 AM PDT by Borges
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To: Borges

I wonder if he still worships “mother erffff”


2 posted on 05/09/2024 8:25:33 AM PDT by imabadboy99
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To: Borges

I would have voted for John Schmidtz.


3 posted on 05/09/2024 8:31:17 AM PDT by cowboyusa (YESHUA IS KING OFRICA, AND HE WILL HAVE NO OTHER ngressman is.GODS BEFORE HIM!)
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To: Borges

One small tidbit for rejoicing.


4 posted on 05/09/2024 8:35:22 AM PDT by HIDEK6 (God bless Donald Trump)
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To: Borges

With “Republicans” like that, who needs Democrats?


5 posted on 05/09/2024 8:36:09 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: dfwgator

We need these people to keep us straight.
Still too often these people are out for themselves. Pissing off your own people is an attention-getter.


6 posted on 05/09/2024 8:38:08 AM PDT by DIRTYSECRET
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To: imabadboy99

Living 96 years leaves a heck of a carbon footprint.


7 posted on 05/09/2024 8:38:52 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

“These people” are responsible for the GOP moving too far to the Left.


8 posted on 05/09/2024 8:39:33 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Borges
Another RINO is dead..but I bet he'll be voting Democrat forever..

Or until Vote ID laws are based in California...

9 posted on 05/09/2024 8:46:59 AM PDT by Deplorable American1776 (Guns don't kill people, LIBERALS DO!! Support the Second Amendment...)
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To: Borges

In the 1970s, I asked a staunchly conservative friend of mine who was a longtime Hill staffer who was the most honest and truthful member of Congress. Without hesitation, he said “Pete McCloskey.” My friend often disagreed with McCloskey politically but described him as a straight arrow and pleasant to deal with.


10 posted on 05/09/2024 8:56:21 AM PDT by Rockingham (`)
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To: Borges
After losing to Pombo, who had spent most of his tenure in Washington attempting to undo the Endangered Species Act

Pombo was a property rights guy. It's understandable that environmentalists would hate him and there were a lot of things wrong with him, but that's definitely false and a cheap shot.

11 posted on 05/09/2024 8:56:38 AM PDT by x
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To: Deplorable American1776

At least he left congress before becoming a democrat.
Beat Shirley Temple Black for the GOP nomination-’67.
Wouldn’t support Goldwater over the Civil Rights Act.
Endorsed Kerry in 2004.

A walking contradiction. Reminds me of Jim Webb, Va. senator.
https://www.newsmax.com/john-gizzi/pete-mccloskey-contrarian-vietnam/2024/05/09/id/1164058/

You can’t deny their patriotism as their military records proved. We need them in the purple districts where they can push our exasperation. Red district/state rinos need to keep their traps shut.


12 posted on 05/09/2024 8:58:18 AM PDT by DIRTYSECRET
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To: Borges

A RINO’s RINO.


13 posted on 05/09/2024 9:01:57 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: DIRTYSECRET

I don’t think military service is an indication of patriotism.


14 posted on 05/09/2024 9:03:30 AM PDT by nwrep
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To: Borges

A nasty fellow and a Rino’s Rino.


15 posted on 05/09/2024 9:22:20 AM PDT by Luke21
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To: Borges

I was a California semi-hippie who registered Republican in my first election in 1972 because of Pete’s McCloskey’s statements and insights regarding his personal experiences in the Viet Nam War.

He became marginalized and more liberal later. I did not.


16 posted on 05/09/2024 9:50:54 AM PDT by oldplayer
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To: Borges

No matter his registration, he was never a republican.
Anyone who joins the GOP in order to turn the party into the Democrat Party is obviously not a republican, just like today’s RINOs.
Disavow them, kick them out of the party and move on.


17 posted on 05/09/2024 10:36:45 AM PDT by Thapsus_epiphany (Socialism is a prison, Communism is a death camp )
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To: Thapsus_epiphany

When he was born California was a big Republican state. Even Jerry Brown’s father was a Republican back then. So a lot of people in California were Republicans without being conservatives.


18 posted on 05/09/2024 10:45:10 AM PDT by x
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To: x

Even Jerry Brown’s father was a Republican back then.


Didn’t know that. Thanks for the history lesson.


19 posted on 05/09/2024 10:57:09 AM PDT by pluvmantelo (Stalinists to the left of me, Satanists to the right...)
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To: x

Yes, I remember. I lived in LA back in the late ‘60s.
Nixon was from CA, Reagan too.
Of course, so was Pete Wilson and The Terminator.
Here’s a little Gee Whiz item;
The first transcontinental telegraph message sent was from California to Washington DC, in October of 1861, letting the Lincoln Administration know that California was taking the side of the Republicans (Union) in the Civil War. That telegraph was a big deal. Until that October, it took six months minimum to send a message to California and receive a reply. That telegraph united east and west, and also established California as a Republican state. That’s how far back the California republican’s history goes.
Democrats have destroyed the once great state, and California’s massive decline is a warning to the rest of the country.
One difficult but sure way to recover the state is to deport the illegals back to Mexico. Won’t happen short of Armageddon, though.


20 posted on 05/09/2024 11:18:23 AM PDT by Thapsus_epiphany (Socialism is a prison, Communism is a death camp )
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