Old party soldier takes sides: Fighting then and now: The Swamp

Posted October 7, 2007 8:04 AM

by Andrew Malcolm

Hard to believe your eyes, but there he was looking thinner, frailer and all of his 85 years old.

George McGovern, with some effort but nattily-dressed, made his way across an Iowa stage littered with hay bales, withered cornstalks and bright-orange pumpkins in a huge, sweltering barn on the Johnson County Fairgrounds. Hundreds more watched on a giant TV screen in a nearby exhibition hall.

This obviously was not the first time that the decent Democratic loser who was walloped by Richard Nixon in 1972 visited this liberal eastern pocket of the Hawkeye State. But he was there this time for a special reason.

The ostensible occasion was actually another one of those fundraiser barbecues that local Iowa Democrats are so fond of. This large a crowd this close to the Iowa caucuses, however, is sure to draw a pack of candidates and there on hand were Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich and Bill Richardson along with representatives of Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

There was the usual amount of Bush-bashing and Edwards again criticized Clinton for her recent vote on the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. But the high point of the day was McGovern's 10 minutes of remarks.

He recalled receiving a phone call in 1972 from his campaign manager, someone named Gary Hart, saying he'd come upon a bright, young man in Arkansas named Bill Clinton who had a hardworking friend named Hillary Rodham and they both were going to work Texas for McGovern.

"There's nothing in politics," said McGovern, "that requires more courage than trying to sell George McGovern in Texas." The crowd roared. McGovern praised the entire current field of Democratic candidates and said he hoped to live long enough to see an African American president. But, he added, "We have an old rule of courtesy in the United States: ladies first." Another crowd roar.

And thus the Democratic candidate from 1972 returned the favor to the wannabe Democratic candidate of 2008. He endorsed her candidacy.

Clinton's words of appreciation were interrupted by protestors chanting, "Hands off Iran." But she persevered. All in all, not a bad way to start a four-day swing through Iowa.

Andrew Malcolm writes for Top of the Ticket, the L.A. Times' political blog.

Comments

George McGovern is a class act and a great American.

Rudy Giuliani can be proud he voted for the former WW II combat bomber pilot and Democratic presidential nominee in 1972.

Posted by: Doug Zook | October 7, 2007 9:02 AM

"Ladies first," gimme break. He'd like to live long enough to see an African American as president, but ladies first. Puhleeeze!! If I were Hillary/Bill, and thank goodness I'm not, I would run from endorsements by all the Dem losers. And there is a long list of them. Strangely the only successful Dem candidate since JFK other than (Carter) is her husband Bill/Hillary. What's amazing is that all the national polls that are ramming her inevitable nomination down our throats seem not to reflect that Americans are not inclined to vote for candidates from the Northeast. How is it going to be any different this time. It will really be sickening to have a presidential race between two New York state rivals. I think we're in for a big surprise.

Posted by: GW | October 7, 2007 9:53 AM

It will really be sickening to have a presidential race between two New York state rivals.

Prepare to be sick!

Posted by: Anonymous | October 7, 2007 2:30 PM

George McGovern is a genuine American hero. He piloted a B24 on thirty five bombing missions and received the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Posted by: c. perry | October 7, 2007 4:18 PM

c perry,

Yeah, GM did the heavy lifting in WWII flying some of the most dangerous missions.

He saved his entire crew repeatedly, ditching in the Med. once I think, and landing a badly damaged aircraft a couple times. His entire crew credit their lives to him.

Time for the retroactive 'Swiftboating' to begin.

Posted by: C.Morris | October 7, 2007 4:58 PM

The University of Iowa Anti-war Committee was the group doing the "hands off iran" chants

read more coverage from the event at my Straight Out of the Cornfield blog for the Des Moines Register

Media fails to advance presidential race narrative at Johnson County BBQ
http://blogs.dmregister.com/?p=9176

Posted by: David Goodner | October 7, 2007 5:07 PM

"...Americans are not inclined to vote for candidates from the Northeast"

See Whitehouse.

Americans will vote for anything properly packaged and sold.

Posted by: Bubba | October 7, 2007 6:29 PM

GW, I belive Kennebunkport Maine is in the northeast.

Hey everyone check out this little GW DUI factoid.