McGovern: "it's going to be harder to elect a woman than to elect a black man"

[doyourealize1]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080325/ap_on_el_pr/mcgovern_clinton

I think he is spot on.

McGovern: Hard to elect female president

By MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 6 minutes ago

Former Sen. George McGovern, the 1972 Democratic presidential nominee, said Tuesday it would be easier for a black man to be elected to the White House than a woman.

The former South Dakota senator has endorsed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom he has known for decades since she helped campaign for him. She is in a close race with Sen. Barack Obama for the party nod.

"I have a feeling that in this country where we're at today in our thinking, it's going to be harder to elect a woman than to elect a black man," he told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "I wish that weren't true ... I'd love to see Hillary as president."

McGovern says he occasionally chats with men who don't think a woman is ready for the responsibility.

"Some guy will say, 'Well, I think that's too big a job for a woman, I don't think she can handle those terrorists,'" he said, adding that he seldom hears the same thing said about a black man.

"I think we've never had a woman so well-qualified that's on the national scene," he said of Clinton.

McGovern, who centered his 1972 campaign on his opposition to the Vietnam War, has been critical of the Iraq war, calling for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney earlier this year. He said Clinton and Obama have reasonable plans for ending the conflict.

He says he likes Obama but didn't know much about him when he endorsed Clinton last year.

"I think very highly of him now," McGovern said.

The former senator, who maintains a home in South Dakota, was in Washington pushing lawmakers to add more money for international food aid to a multibillion dollar farm bill. McGovern has long been an advocate for the hungry and helped start a program that donates U.S.-grown crops for school lunches in impoverished countries.

[billybob537]

1. sounds like

a warning of a coming realignment!

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. I remember him when he was on the Colbert Report this month

Saying the same thing. Didn't he say he wasn't a super delegate?

[BumRushDaShow]

3. Why is it that everyone the Clinton campaign trots out introduces race or sex in their commentary?

:eyes:

The politics of division. Like a broken record. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

[doyourealize1]

6. This doesn't sound like a campaign interview

Did you read it?

He casts doubt on Hillary...you, as an Obama supporter, should be rejoicing.

[Ysabel]

14. obama supporters know very well how to read...

especially between the lines and what to appreciate thanks very much (oh you psychological trickster wanna be you such a "cutie" you are)...

- he isn't casting doubt about hillary instead he's tossing around divisive notions...

p.s. it's pure campaign bunk and it's a shame i don't fall for it for one second it's a fact there are lots of women who would make a good president just not hillary sorry...

[doyourealize1]

17. don't condescend to me

that's offensive.

I don't think it's campaign fodder. We disagree. So what? Don't talk down to me as if I"m a child.

[Ysabel]

19. this / your thread is condescending and offensive (n/t)...

[tokenlib]

4. I hope a bunch of rude people don't go attacking him as sexist now....

Dang it, I've heard a lot of senior citizens saying such things.. It is simply a reflection of the worlds in which they lived. And McGovern is a good and decent man....

Last interesting point--a lot of people endorsed Clinton as a "reflex" action--before they got to know Obama--when she was "inevitable."

[FrenchieCat]

5. I just think that it is too hard to elect

THIS WOMAN.....

[ShortnFiery]

7. I love George McGovern, a war hero, but he's of an opinion of a PAST generation.

No, I'm still 100% for Obama and don't like the characteristics that HRC has demonstrated (self-righteousness, dishonesty) but AMERICA is ready to elect a Woman President. But "The Woman" is NOT, one each, Hillary Clinton. She doesn't have "the right stuff" to be a great leader who can bring this Nation together. HRC represents "business/politics as usual."

HRC's the past, Obama's the future.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. It's even harder if you've run a really shitty campaign...

and blown a forty, fifty point lead.

[NJSecularist]

9. If George McGovern had ran a decent campaign in 1972, we may have been spared another term of Nixon

Thanks a ton, George. What he was given in 1972 - a chance to win the election - and what he then squandered in a defeat to a piece of shit like Nixon ranks him as one of worst candidates our party has ever produced.

McGovern has no idea what "electability" is.

[Zodiak]

10. These remarks are unfortunate

Everyone out here in my little world is discussing issues, not sex or race. They are scared of this economy, more war, etc.

I really do think most people are seeing past the race or gender of the candidates, and that McGovern is selling them a bit short with these statements.

[doyourealize1]

11. I disagree

Sex and race are always there. People can try to ignore it consciously, but subconsciously it plays a factor. Prejudice exists by virtue of all of us acting and looking different from each other.

[Zodiak]

18. They are there, of course

but they are not being acted upon. If they are, then they are hidden underneath the veneer of the issues and I am unqualified to know the difference.

[LSparkle]

12. She may have been able to win pre-9/11 but not now

I'm sorry but when it comes to electoral politics, the world DID change on 9/11.
As long as we're in this "war" stance -- staring down the "terraists" -- I don't
think this country will be willing to have a woman as commander-in-chief. (Nice
try, Geena Davis, but real life isn't a TV series.)

I'm a woman and wish it were different, but as long as we're in this "war on terra"
period -- as long as commander-in-chief is the primary role of the president (which,
again, I disagree with, but that's how the majority of the public now perceives our
leader) -- that job is going to keep going to the guys.

[DesertFlower]

13. i don't think it's a woman thing.

it's the particular woman who's running. :hide:

[Sparkly]

15. I have always believed that.

And it's always, "Just not that woman." Always.

[VolcanoJen]

16. Obama is so lucky to be a black man.

Everything is so very easy for him.