I Knew President Nixon......

I was teenager when President Nixon was President and Trump is no President Richard M Nixon.

President Richard Nixon claimed that the Watergate was made up and his enemies were just out to get him and that he was not involved and he said "I am not a crook".

Trump has claimed all along that the Russia connection is made up and his enemies are just out to get him and he is not involved.  "Comey told me 3 times I was not a target of the investigation".  That is something every person familiar with FBI procedures says would be unlikely that Comey would use those words.

I am not ready to compare Trump to President Nixon. 

President Nixon was smart

And, a dedicated public servant.  President Nixon believed that government could be used to solve our nations problems - he created the EPA and The School Lunch Program, open the diplomatic door to China and attempted to dial back the tensions of the Cold War.

Trump is vulgar, incapable of thinking of anything our anyone but himself, emotionally immature and delusional. 

And, probably stupid.

President Nixon was brought down by his self doubts, his desire to loved by the people and his need to prove that he was as good as a Kennedy.  For Nixon winning was about how he could serve and be a great President. His fear of losing one more time lead to Watergate.  Don't get me wrong President Nixon was not a good man but he was multiple heads and shoulders better than Trump.  Nixon believed in America - Trump believes in Trump

Trump has no interest in the best interest of the country.  His campaign was about his ego and nothing else.  He said what he needed to say but he does not believe in this country he has no desire to help it to a better future he just wanted to be elected President.

That's it.

Trump's ego is so fragile that is does this

President Nixon's crimes were severely damaging to this country and they came after losing Korea,  the cultural change brought about by Civil Rights movement, the murders of John, Martin and Bobby and Vietnam. The American people were already doubting it's institutions and his abuse of the government powers convinced people that our government was not there for us and the results of President Nixon's actions were deeply damaging to the national unity and we have never recovered.

Trump on the other hand does not care about national unity, the meaning of our institutions.  He is not a democrat (note the small d), he admires dictators and as he is sitting alone in his bedroom (since the First Lady refuses to live with him) channel changing between Fox, CNN & MSNBC to see what they are saying about him he thinks about how great it would be if he did not have to deal with Congress and defer to the authority of the Judiciary.  He clearly has a man crush on Putin, is effusive in support of the soon to be dictator of Turkey and invited the murderous President of the Philippines to the White House. 

There is growing evidence that he, his children and in in-laws are using his position to line their pockets.  Maybe by the time he is no longer living at taxpayer expense he actually will be a millionaire. 

President Nixon was despicable Trump is a grifter.  President Nixon served this country Trump serves himself and his extended family. 

Clearly President Nixon had his demons but Congress and the courts stepped up to defend the nation from them.  Trump's demons seem to be much darker, the courts have stepped up to defend the nation, the GOP controlled Congress thus far does not seem ready to defend the nation from this man.  I hope they do but I have my doubts that men like Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan have what it takes to do so.

I miss Everett Dirkson and Barry Goldwater

Anne & Howie

I was going to blog about Trump - but that can wait.

Two people I was honored to call my friends died this week. 

Anne Andes and Howie Gelbert.

When ever I saw Anne or Howie I always smiled.  Anne because she was just so nice and Howie because he was just so goddamn funny.

They were both kind, smart, generous, supportive, compassionate and really just amazing people. 

They loved and were loved by their families and friends - I can't imagine anyone who could find anything bad to say about them.

I learned from them and admired them for their capacity to care and to give back. 

They were both the very best of people.

I really can't find the right words to describe my sadness and I really can't find the words to describe how wonderful each was.

I am honored they considered me a friend and I will miss them both terribly. 

Thinking About Trump

Some thoughts about Donald J. Trump

1. His campaign is a disorganized mess - being run by a guy who worked on campaigns of some of the worst despots around the world and his children (who know nothing about political campaigns)
2. Clearly the truth does not matter to Donald J. Trump because he says shit and then when caught in a lie his reaction is deny deny deny and expect the story to go away - The lies are getting harder to deny and their story arcs are lasting longer
3. That was probably the worst party convention of all time and his speech was so dark and negative - something most voters are not used to
4. Donald J Trump is so thinned skinned he is almost transparent - he views any criticisms as a "vicious" attack.  You see in Trump's world he is never questioned, never challenged and never doubted.  If Donald J. Trump says it - it is the truth and you do it
5. He says he is raising a lot money - We will see at the end of the next reporting period
6. Why won't he release his tax returns - He is not nearly as wealthy as he says he is - he does not want voters to know how little he has paid in taxes
7. My guess is both
8. His campaign is tanking - I wonder when the party leaders are going to pull the plug, ignore him and just focus on the Senate and House.  They will be subtle but by October they will no longer be commenting on him or his campaign - They will be in PA to campaign for Toomey and Trump will not be mentioned.  It will be like he does not even exist.
9. He did not know that Russia invaded the Ukraine
10. He asked for Putin to interfere in the election
11. He denied knowing Putin after telling everyone who would listen that he and Putin were buds
12. His admiration of dictators leads me to believe the he would try to become one himself

More later

Dear Sec.Clinton & Sen. Sanders

Good Afternoon;

One of you was a First Lady, US. Senator & Secretary of State, the other was a distinguished & innovative Mayor and a widely respected member of the House and now the Senate.

You are both smart, forward thinking and compassionate.  You both care about lifting all portions of the economy, you both support our troops, you are both pro-choice, pro health care and pro including the LGBT community in the full communion of the American dream.

One of you is going to face either Donald Trump or Raphael Cruz in the fall. It is going to take both of you to bring your supporters along in that battle.

So, do me a favor.

Knock it the fuck off.  Stop the bullshit.  Stop the name calling. Stop the "outrage".  Stop asking for "apologies" from each other.  Stop sending your surrogates onto TV to trash talk the other side and then sending someone else out to walk it back with back handed compliments.

Just stop it now!

Go back to battling about ideas and visions and issues.

You are both more qualified the any of the GOP contenders.  You both have better ideas.

Just stop, at long last I am begging you just stop.

You are pissing me off and you DO NOT WANT TO PISS OF Donald C. Flad Jr. It is not pretty and no one ever recovers from it.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Your once and future supporter.

dcf

Remembering Joan of Arts

Joan Adams Mondale the wife of former Vice President Walter Mondale has died.  She was often referred to as Joan of Arts because of her commitment to the creative arts.



She and Mr. Mondale were the first residents of the official Vice Presidents residence and she immediately transformed the home into a gallery and showcase for American artists.  During her husband's tenure as Jimmy Carter's Vice President she served as the President's unofficial adviser for the arts and humanities.

Please read the link to the Times obit about this remarkable woman.  She was not the best known political spouse but she was one of the most interesting.

POTUS Remembers Mandela

The President of the United States remarks at the memorial service of Nelson Mandela.

The World Reacts - Nelson Mandela Dies

The world reacts to the death of Nelson Mandela

From the President of The United States

From Bill Keller for The New York Times

From the BBC

From USA Today

From the New York Times Editorial Board

From Muhammed Ali

From The Washington Post

From The Times of London

From Al Jazeera

From The New Zealand Herald

The cover of the New Yorker
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There are thousands more.

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David Frost

People either loved or hated David Frost, I loved him and I am sad to report that he has died  of a heart attack.


In 1977 his Nixon interview was must see television. It was all many of talked about for months.  (I know I know but you know I am that guy and I certainly was that kid)

He was not a great journalist, he was not a great thinker and apparently off camera he was not that interesting but on camera interviewing people he made himself the most interesting man in the world.
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Charitable Gay Porn, Oprah's Oscar, Maureen Dowd & More

Remember a few months ago when Little Ricky Santorum announced he was going to head a movie studio?  This week I read a story that a new gay porn studio will use some of it's profits to support LGBT charities.  I got all excited I thought maybe Ricky has moved on from his hot Man on Dog fetish to a more main stream boring old hot guy on guy action.  But, alas my hopes were dashed.
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Maryland Delegate Don Dwyer must really hate  marriage equality because he is busted again for a DUI - You may remember the first time he was busted he blamed The Gays getting married.  He is a drunk he needs help and hopefully he has hit bottom.  If not, put the drunk bigot away for awhile.
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A case is made for Oprah Winfrey winning an Oscar .  Just imagine how superior and sanctimonious her acceptance speech will be!  It's not that I disagree with Oprah's point of view it is the fact that she has made millions and billions of dollars exploiting peoples weaknesses that I find objectionable.
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Maureen Dowd sits down for a conversation with the NYC Mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio & his more interesting wife but spends much of the column discuss the other leading candidate Christine Quinn.  It's an interesting column (of course).

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I'll be escorting my friend and Mayor (& Candidate for County Executive)  John Callahan  around a huge Clambake sponsored by Nazareth-Bath Chamber of Commerce  Slate Belt Chamber of Commerce  and Lehigh Valley Elite Networking Group.  I've been attending this event for a few years and this year a record breaking 235 people will be attending.  I wonder if it's because Mayor Callahan said he was attending.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   Google Glass  launch date has been pushed back to 2014
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Jazz legend & NPR host  Marian McPartland has died
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Is it me or is this kinda weird and almost creepy?  The Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs hold a contest and the winner gets their funeral paid for.  I guess you have to try everything you can to get bodies in the seats but a Win A Funeral Contest just seems a tad odd to me.  I could be wrong.

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Apparently Gore Vidal Had Sex

I adored Gore Vidal!..........

I know I know it may be an over the top kind of statement but I did.

I think I read every novel (I could be wrong) his essays about the world in which he lived were at times out there but I rarely disagreed with his premise and his television appearances were legendary.

I grew up on Gore Vidal.

I read "The City and the Pillar" during my coming out process and even though it was written in 1947 it was startling in is frankness and oddly I found it comforting.  I knew it was not going to be easy but I had to be me.

Do yourself a favor and watch "The Best Man" he wrote the screen play based on his play.

I could write for days about the impact Gore Vidal had on our culture, our art, our movies, our theater and my life, and I may at another time.

In November "In Bed With Gore Vidal - Hustlers, Hollywood and the Private Life of an American Master" will be published. Apparently the book details Mr. Vidal's sex life; something he refused to discuss.

Do we really need to know?

Will I buy the book?

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/07/31/how-gay-was-gore-vidal.html

I may.

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Mourning Gov. Bill Scranton

His family arrived here via the Mayflower and an important city in Pennsylvania bears his family's name.

Former Pennsylvania Governor William W. Scranton has died.

He left Yale Law to fight in WW II, after serving briefly in the Eisenhower administration he returned home to Scranton to run for Congress. In an overwhelmingly Democratic district he won. Two years later at the urging of Ike he ran for Governor against the powerful Mayor of Philadelphia and he won.

In 1964 he ran a last minute campaign to save the Republican party from nominating Barry Goldwater for President.  He was man who believed in public service but became so disgusted by politics that after his single term as Governor he said he would never run for public office again, and he never did.

He did however, serve as a special adviser, special envoy, task force chair, study commission chair for 4 Presidents and for President Ford he served as UN Ambassador. He was a man of great wealth and privilege and he spent his entire life in the service of people and country.  He was a fiscal conservative but he supported many progressive government programs and the civil rights movement.

He is someone I always admired and always wished I could have voted for.

The nation and Pennsylvania are certainly better places because of  Bill Scranton and it with sadness I mourn his passing but with gratitude I celebrate his life.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/30/us/politics/william-scranton-former-pennsylvania-governor-dies-at-96.html?hp

http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/20130729_ap_fc03ac587e4d4519bc340b3ec29d5ea1.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/29/william-scranton-dead-dies_n_3670987.html

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Remembering Lindy Boggs

Lindy Boggs was a descendant of the Louisiana's first governor, she was born and raised on a plantation, she was a child of privilege who spent her life fighting for human rights, social justice and against government and public corruption.  She went to Washington in 1940 as the wife of a congressman but she was nor ordinary congressional spouse she worked behind the scenes for the civil rights act. women's equality and economic justice.

When her powerful husband Hale Boggs died in a plane crash in 1973 she was elected to complete his term and held the seat until she retired in 1991. Throughout her congressional career she worked for the same issues she had before holding office.  She was a leading light in congress and a role model for future Congresswomen.  Upon her retirement they named a room in the capital building after her.

In 1997 she was appointed Ambassador to the Vatican she held that post until 2001.

I posted some links so we can learn a little something about this remarkable women.

Oh....she is also Cokie Roberts mom.

We need a couple of dozen people like Lindy Boggs in Congress these days.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_Boggs

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/28/us/politics/lindy-boggs-longtime-representative-from-louisiana-dies-at-97.html?_r=0

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/lindy-boggs-congresswoman-and-democratic-leader-dies-at-97/2013/07/27/02f452ae-f6c8-11e2-aa2e-4088616498b4_story.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/27/lindy-boggs-dead-dies_n_3663330.html

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Rev. William H. Gray

Former Philadelphia Congressman and Pennsylvania political heavy weight Bill Gray died yesterday in London, he was attending Wimbledon with one of his sons.

He succeeded his father as pastor of a church and remained in the pulpit of Bright Hope Baptist Church  while he served as a Congressman, President of The United Negro College Fund, special adviser to President Clinton & the Secretary of State for Haitian affairs and founding an international consulting company on weekends he would come home to preach.

While in Congress he was the first black member to serve as Chairman of the powerful Budget committee and also the first to serve as Majority Whip, he was on track to eventually becoming Majority Leader or Speaker. He authored the legislation that began the process of sanctions against apartheid South Africa. Then in 1991he answered another calling, he resigned from Congress and all that power to become the leader of The United Negro College Fund

Nothing got done in Philadelphia unless Rev. Gray was briefed on it first.  His position in the pulpit, in Congress, as head of UNCF and the fact that he could pick up the phone and call Presidents and Kings made him almost an indispensable leader for not only his city but his state and nation as well.

I had been in Mr. Gray's company a few times during his time in Congress and he owned the room each and every time.  Things would almost come to a complete stop when he entered a room because everyone needed to know what he was doing, whom he was speaking to and what he was saying.  And, let me tell you the man could preach.  I attended a service in which he was the guest preacher and it was a tour de force performance.  I have heard many a good preacher in my day and a few that were great but hearing Rev. Gray preach was an experience like no other.

Bill Gray's life made a difference and today I mourn his passing and honor the legacy he has left us with.


http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20130702_William_H__Gray_III__pillar_in_Congress_and_city__dead_at_71.html

Free Nelson Mandela

We know it is just a matter of time and apparently not very much time. We have all known it has been coming for quite awhile but are any of us prepared emotionally or intellectually for the death of Nelson Mandela.

He is a larger than life hero who was humble, he easily could have allowed his long years of imprisonment, torture and degradation impact the way he led the new South Africa but he did not. He transformed his country from a brutal police state to a democracy with little or no bloodshed and strife.

He is one of the most historically significant people of the 20th  Century and his influence has lasted in to the beginning of this century.

I am not going to insult you by telling you Mr. Mandela's story.  You sure as hell better know it.

After getting out of jail he divorced his wife Winnie who carried his torch during his imprisonment (His reasons are his but at least in public seem well founded) he married the eminent Graca Machel and along with Jimmy Carter and others founded The Elders, an organization of retired world leaders working to fix the messes they either made while in office or were made by their successors. (see link below)

Is the South Africa that Nelson Mandela is leaving behind perfect? No.  It has many problems, it is violent, it a one party state, it's economy is under extreme pressure and the divide between it's have and have nots is astronomical but it's people are hopeful, believe in equality and are trying as hard as they can to ensure to honor Mr. Mandela's dream of a color blind South Africa.

When you think of all the post colonial national leaders of African Countries no one suffered more than Nelson Mandela and no one led his "new" nation in a more enlightened way.

I know that Mr. Mandela will be leaving us shortly and I am not prepared for it.  It is difficult for me to imagine this world without him.

Today's NYT article
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/24/world/africa/mandelas-condition-now-said-to-be-critical.html?smid=pl-share

Wiki about Nelson Mandela
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela

Remember this---Free Nelson Mandela
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DybAXDmwKsc&feature=player_embedded

Amy Winehouse closing a Mandela tribute concert - This painful and amazing at the same time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2MlFoGRvQw&feature=player_embedded
 - She is so vulnerable and awkward and yet she tries so hard.  You see all the amazing talent around her (Annie Lennox) and have to wonder what could have been

Little Steven's Ain't Gonna Play Sun City
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY3w9gLjEV4&feature=player_embedded

The Elders
http://www.theelders.org/

Remembering George McGovern - In Two Parts

Some of what you need to know about George McGovern;

He was the son of a miner turned Wesleyan Methodist Minister who himself was briefly a minister until he heard another calling; public servant.

Former Pastor, College professor, Congressman, Special Assistant to the President, US Senator from South Dakota, Democratic Presidential nominee, Author, Ambassador, Father and Husband to the sublime Eleanor died this morning at age 90.  His was a life well lived and we as a nation are better for it because he answered the calling of politics and public service.

While in college he registered to fight in WWII, a few days after the Pearl Harbor attack he was compelled to serve his nation.  He interrupted his college education and served in the Air Corp; he was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant.  He flew hundreds of missions and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his bravery and leadership.  After the war ended he flew food relief mission across Europe and just prior to his separation from service he was awarded the Air Medal and three Oak Leaf Clusters for his valor and service.  During the 1972 campaign he was vilified and had his patriotism questioned by conservatives and Republicans for his opposition to US involvement in Vietnam.  

He returned home to South Dakota and his beloved Eleanor to complete his college education, thanks to the socialist GI Bill.  He would eventually earn a PhD from Northwestern.  He was raised to be a Republican but he was inspired by FDR’s leadership during the war so he became a Democrat after a few years as a college professor he went on to work for the Democratic Party in a state that had only 2 Democratic members of the 110 seat State Legislature.   In 1956 he became the first South Dakota Democrat to be elected to Congress in 22 years.  In 1960 he launched a campaign to oust the loathsome Karl Mundt from the Senate he lost.  As a result of losing that race President John Kennedy appointed him to the new position of Special Assistant to the President (Czar) as the first Director of the Food for Peace program.

The Food for Peace program fed tens of millions of people worldwide in dozens of countries and expanded the nascent school lunch program in this country.  Pope John XXIII personally praised Mr. McGovern during an audience at the Vatican.  In 1962 President Kennedy allowed George McGovern out of his commitment to pursue another race for the US Senate.  Again, he took on an incumbent Republican but this time the result was different, he became the first Democratic Senator from the state in 26 years and only the third since 1889.   He became ill during the last weeks of the campaign and Eleanor is widely credited with saving his campaign by her tireless efforts on his behalf. 

While in the Senate he fought for farmers, Native Americans as well as issues dealing with hunger and poverty.  He often push for the government to reset it’s priorities from military spending to domestic spending in areas that could improve people’s lives.

In his first year as a Senator, George McGovern became the first member of that body to speak out against the increasing US involvement in Vietnam; note the year was 1963.  Oddly he voted to support the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.  He later said he regretted making a political decision on that vote rather than a moral decision.

In 1968 he stayed neutral in the post Johnson Democratic primary race campaigning with RFK, Vice President Humphrey and Sen. Gene McCarthy.  He was encouraged to enter the race but he did not believe he could garner enough support to actually win the nomination and he did not want to jeopardize his re-election race.  A little more than a month after RFK was assassinated he did enter the Presidential race in order to give the bereft and leaderless Kennedy delegates a candidate to support.  In the final balloting he came in third place behind McCarthy and the eventual nominee Vice President Humphrey.  In the end he endorsed Humphrey and campaigned for him as well as running his own re-election.

After the 1968 election Sen. McGovern led a commission to open up the Democratic presidential nomination process, as a result primary caucus voters elected the delegates to the convention rather than the party establishment choosing the delegates.  This rule change allowed non-establishment candidates to win the nomination and in fact allowed McGovern himself to win the nomination in 1972. In fact Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama also benefited from the rule changes set forth by the McGovern committee.  The rules have been tweaked over the years allowing for more party leaders (super delegates) to be appointed but ultimately it is the primary/caucus process that picks the Democratic Party nominee.

It was his opposition to the war and distaste for Richard Nixon that led to his full on run for the Presidency.  Because he did not have any establishment support he entered the race in January of 1971, unusually early for that time, unlike now when candidates begin running the day after the incumbent is inaugurated.  Because of his grassroots campaigning he was able to outlast the better financed and more establishment approved opponents.

The new rules allowed for a more disorganized and free flowing convention, this new generation of delegates, elected by the people demanded that their voices be heard on every possible issue.  As a result George McGovern was forced to give his brilliant “Come Home America” acceptance speech around three o’clock in the morning east coast time.  It has been said that the television audience was 15 million people as opposed to a viewership of 70 million that he could have expected at and earlier hour.

Because the nomination was not decided until a very late hour the campaign had to rush a decision on the Vice Presidential nominee after many of the party leading lights rejected the offer the campaign settled the more moderate and southern acceptable Senator Thomas Eagleton of Missouri.  A good man, a decent man, someone without controversy would appeal to Middle America, unfortunately he neglected to tell the campaign he had under gone electroshock therapy to battle depression but I have to wonder if it would have matter since Eleanor McGovern battled depression her entire life and he was hospitalized during his military service more than once for battle fatigue but that’s just speculation on my part.

After word of Sen. Eagleton’s treatment became public McGovern said he supported his running mate “1,000 percent” but within a few days Eagleton was forced from the ticket.  McGovern was vilified for his disloyalty, ineffective leadership and sloppy management style, he never recovered.  Again, McGovern reached out to the leading Democrats of that time to run with him but they all ran away from him.  In the end he chose Kennedy in-law, founding Director of the Peace Corps and Lyndon Johnson’s Ambassador to France Sargent Shriver (read back and see my remembrance of this great American).  If the McGovern campaign hoped Shriver would add a little Camelot excitement to the campaign I’m sure they were deeply disappointed.  The campaign was a noble and brave effort but in the end it was rejected by the voters in 49 states; the Democrats only won Massachusetts and the District of Columbia, the people of his home state even decided they didn’t want to promote their own Senator to the Presidency.

Senator McGovern and Eleanor were so despondent after this loss the contemplated leaving the country and on inauguration day 1973 McGovern gave a speech in London harshly critical of Richard Nixon and his stewardship of the nation.  Upon his return home McGovern was roundly criticized and was rejected by most of the political establishment in and out of the Democratic Party.  McGovern went home to South Dakota to mend fences and was re-elected to the Senate in 1974.  He certainly benefited from Nixon’s downfall as a result of his unprosecuted crimes against this great republic.  Sen. McGovern was unable to fight the tide of the Reagan revolution and was defeated in 1980.  He handled this defeat better than he did the 1972 loss and he bounced back quickly.  He returned to academia and for a brief time replaced Stephen Ambrose as a Professor at the University of New Orleans.  After that he joined a think tank and became a much sought after speaker.

 

In 1984 he decided to run for the Presidency again; this time he understood he had no chance of winning but he made the race in attempt to return the party to its more liberal roots.  During the campaign he became the moral voice of the party and as a result he restored his reputation and settled comfortably into the role of elder statesman and leading voice for the more liberal wing of the Democratic Party.  He campaigned tirelessly for Walter Mondale and commiserated with a Mondale defeat that was equally as devastating as his was 12 years earlier.  It has be reported that after the election Walter Mondale asked him how long it would take for him to get over the hurt of such a overwhelming defeat his response was that he would let Mondale know when it happened.

In later years he would use his money to open and operate a hotel in Connecticut and wrote frequently in the Wall Street Journal about his experience as a first time, late in life small business owner.  In 1994 his daughter Terry died as result her years of substance abuse, he published a book about the experience of losing a daughter after years of her battling mental illness, drugs and alcohol.  He used the proceeds from that book to open a treatment center in her memory.

In 1998 President Clinton appointed Sen. McGovern the US Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture, after his election President Bush asked him to stay in the position and when he finally resigned the position in 2001 he was appointed a UN Global Ambassador for Hunger Relief; A UN Goodwill Ambassador.   In 2000 President Clinton awarded Ambassador McGovern the Medal of Freedom pointing out McGovern’s decade’s long fight to end hunger worldwide.

In 2007 Eleanor died and McGovern soon moved home to South Dakota to be closer to his family.  Eleanor would have been a role model First Lady.  Unlike most political spouses of her generation she often campaigned for her husband on her own.  During the 1972 convention she would invite wavering delegates and party leaders to their private hotel suite for personal one on one conversation, encouraging people to remain loyal and chastising those who strayed.  It was a very effective tool in dealing with an unruly and fiercely independent convention.  She was a tireless campaigner for women’s issues including the biggest issue of the day the ERA.

Earlier this year recorded George McGovern recorded the narration of Aaron Copeland’s “Lincoln Portrait” for the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra and just a few weeks ago he introduced the production at its premier.

George McGovern died quietly overnight his body finally telling him he had lived a great life, fought the good fight and it was time to rest.

The personal; 

The 1972 McGovern presidential campaign was my first campaign; I was 13 years old.  I would volunteer a few hours after school and on weekends. I would run errands, sharpen pencils, lick envelopes and on occasion tag along with the older kids when they went door to door.  It was during this campaign I met and became lifelong friends with State Rep. Bob Freeman and met iconic State Senator Jeanette F. Reibman; a woman I would campaign tirelessly for in the future.  I was probably led to the McGovern campaign because of my parent’s fervent and faith based opposition to the Vietnam War. 

George McGovern convinced me to be a Democrat and a Liberal and an American who is proud of his country even when its elected officials do not always make us proud.  George McGovern taught me that this great republic, this beacon of democracy could be better and as he never stopped fighting for this nation’s freedom as he fought for its moral center I too will never give up hoping for this nation’s future. 

A few weeks ago someone asked me what I would do if President Obama lost the election; I responded by saying when you begin your active political life at age 13 with George McGovern you learn how to take a knock down punch but you get back up and continue to fight for the heart and soul of this country and you never give up hope.

I actually got to meet Sen. McGovern twice. Once, during his 1984 campaign, the Northampton County Young Democrats (yes I still qualified back then) invited him to be our guest of honor at our annual fundraiser. He had no handlers, no staff to keep him at a distance from us it was just this American Icon and the future leaders of the Democratic Party.  I don’t remember much about his formal remarks but his overall theme was about fighting to ensure the Democratic Party did not move too far to the right in reaction to the success of Reagan.  But, I do remember how relaxed and confident was.  I remember he took the time to speak to everyone in the room he asked about our jobs, our college studies our families; he asked why we were Democrats and was not too proud to ask those of us who were supporting Walter Mondale or his 1972 campaign manager Gary Hart to at least keep him in our back pockets in case of the two front runners faltered.  I know that I moved him up on my list 1 behind Mondale and ahead of Hart and John Glenn.

I met Mr. McGovern again briefly in 1992.  We were in DC for the Aids Quilt display and were returning to our hotel no doubt and little tipsy, I’m sure I had on enough gay rights pins to open a pin store and I noticed him walking down the street, I called out “Hello Senator” he stopped looked at me to see if he knew me I just said “I just wanted to thank you for all you have done for this country, thank you Senator” he looked and smiled and I just walked on.  I turned around with a tear in my eye and saw him shake his head and chuckle.

My early interest in politics became a passion for good government and progressive/liberal causes because of that 1972 campaign and they became a permanent and essential part of who I am as a man because of George McGovern. 

I believe that history will be very kind to George McGovern of Avon, South Dakota.  We are a better nation because of him and I am a better man because George McGovern ran for President in 1972.

Thank you Senator McGovern.

Thanks to various news sources for clarifying my memory of some of the facts of George McGovern’s life 

A Moment of Silence For George McGovern

A former Senator, Presidential candidate, a war hero and most importantly a hero for peace. His beloved Eleanor has called George McGovern home to be with her.  George McGovern was 90 years old.

I have much to say but for now I will just say Thank You George McGovern, Thank You.