‘Ready For Change’ (McGovern)

[cal04]

George McGovern shares his views on the anti-war movement, the Lieberman defeat and why Hillary Clinton needs to be gutsier.
(snip)
NEWSWEEK: How do you feel about your name being mentioned after Ned Lamont defeated (pro-war) Senator Joe Lieberman in this week’s Democratic primary in Connecticut?
McGovern: I feel great about it. I do a lot of speaking and I’ve known for a long time that the anti-war feeling has been building dramatically across the country. I run into it every place I’ve gone. That’s the number one issue. Everything else is secondary. People feel they’ve been misled, that the administration has not been honest and there’s a huge credibility problem as well as a foolish war. It’s very similar to the situation in Vietnam that opened the way for me to win in a field of 17 candidates so many years ago.

The Republicans are saying Lamont’s win means the Democrats are anti-war and weak on national security.
They’ve done that for 50 years—saying Democrats are soft on communism. Now they’re saying Democrats aren’t tough enough on terrorism. That argument is beginning to wear thin. In the time we’ve been in Iraq, the insurgents have gotten stronger and we’ve weakened our standing in the world. I used to say we were never more isolated than in the deepest jungles of Vietnam; now I add the Arabian Desert to that. People think we’ve lost our judgment. The American people feel that way. If Democrats stand up on the war and on other things, they’ll find the country is ready for change. The tax issue, it’s so unfair, and the whole matter of leadership. People want somebody who is direct and honest.... Nixon used to say people don’t vote on faith; they vote on fear. For 50 years, (Republicans) used the fear of communism to beat Democrats and liberals and to discourage any kind of dissent. I hope we don’t have 50 years of terrorism for (the GOP) to do the same thing.

(snip)
How do you think Hillary Clinton is handling her position on the war?
I don’t like it. I can’t ever forget how she and Bill came to Texas in 1972 to work on my campaign. I have lasting personal affection for her. I’d like to see her a little more gutsy. What she’s doing has strengthened her position in upstate New York. But I’d like to see Hillary proud of being a Democrat and not running away from liberalism. You have to pay a price for being courageous in this climate. What worries me about American politics is not that people want to be in the middle of the road, but that the right wing has pulled the whole process to the right so that it gets pretty lonely in the middle.

What about the GOP’s charge that the left has hijacked the Democratic Party?
I won’t think that will happen. I’ve always been proud to be a liberal. I’ve never thought of myself as a big left-winger. How the heck do people think I got elected in South Dakota? I never felt like some wild-eyed left-winger. I had a few of those people supporting me—I needed votes wherever I could get them. The Republican Party was a great party. That’s the party that’s been hijacked.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14307574/

[Tom Joad]

1. Hilary is gutsy! She holds on to views opposed by a majority of

Americans. She needs to be less of a fool.

[jaxx]

2. I still have my McGovern bumper sticker.

[Mira]

3. I got naturalized as a citizen in order to vote for McGovern n/t

[jaxx]

4. Good for you!!