Another McGovern Takes On A War

[WilliamPitt]

Another McGovern takes on a war
Worcester representative mobilizes foes of Afghan surge

By Michael Kranish
Globe Staff / December 5, 2009

WASHINGTON - Representative James P. McGovern, a political activist since he was a schoolboy in Worcester, walked into his congressional office yesterday and proudly pointed to a 1972 presidential campaign poster on his wall: “We’ve been misled too often. Demand Truth. George McGovern.’’

It was a moment that brought Jim McGovern full circle. As a seventh-grader during the Vietnam War, he passed out antiwar campaign literature for the former South Dakota senator, and as a college student he interned in the senator’s Washington office.

Now the Massachusetts Democrat, a 50-year-old whose parents still own a liquor store in Worcester, is assuming his mentor’s mantle in more than name (they are not related). He has become one of the most outspoken opponents to President Obama’s Afghanistan strategy, putting forward proposals to cut off funding for the 30,000 additional troops Obama plans to send there and to demand a clear-cut exit strategy.

McGovern said he has no qualms about taking on Obama. Even those with the potential to be “great presidents’’ make mistakes, he said. “There is going to be a fight on this. The question is whether we get it sooner or later.’’

While his quest may seem as quixotic as his mentor’s presidential run and has made him a lightning rod for those who deem his antiwar stance misguided, the congressman says he is pushing forward in the belief that every antiwar campaign begins with modest steps.

“McGovern was right’’ about Vietnam, the congressman said of the former presidential candidate. And he believes that he will be proven right about Afghanistan.

More: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/12/05/another_mcgovern_takes_on_a_war/



Representative James McGovern and a poster on his mentor, Senator George McGovern. (Brendan Smialowski for The Boston Globe)

[Time for change]

1. Good for him

I'd like to see him run for president in 2012, if only to give this issue more exposure.

[Skittles]

2. I dislike the use of the word "misled"

call it what it is - they are fucking lying to us

[avaistheone1]

3. I don't like it either.

I think is the politically correct word for we have been lied to.

[Jackpine Radical]

4. It's deja vu all over again. This is where I came in.

Backing McGovern to stop the war. Hot damn, where's my bell bottoms? Where's my beaded necklace? Hey, anybody see where I put my roach clip? It was around here a minnit ago.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

5. I had hoped he would have run for Kennedy's senate seat

He's been on our side well, since he was a kid.