Buttons - Presidential Campaign - 2012

Obama 2012

barackobama.com

On the curl: OFA9997

My old friend Rex and I worked together as McGovern volunteers in 1972. Forty years later he came to a family election watch and handed out a bunch of Obama buttons.

Update, 11-8-12: I think "Up There" George McGovern was just issued his angel wings. America is coming home.

George McGovern, 1922-2012

 

Come Home America

In many elections I hear voters say they have to choose between the lesser of evils. But in 1972 it was clearly a choice between Good and Evil. And America re-elected Evil in a landslide. Two years later it was hard to find anyone who admitted to voting for Nixon.

There was a bit of graffiti someone wrote on the restroom wall of McGovern HQ in Oly. I'll share it here, and as off-color as it was, it does sum up how us young volunteers felt about Dick Nixon: "Don't change Dicks in the middle of a screw, vote for Nixon in '72!"

When I balance the choices I made in my life, I count the experience of being a volunteer for McGovern in '72 as something I will never regret. I also supported him in my caucus when he ran in 1984 against Ron the Con. And I don't regret that either. Several issues considered radical in the 1970s-1980s are now embraced by many Republicans. So our side eventually won. George was a pioneer and a winner on the right side of history.  But being a pioneer has a big price.

To quote McGovern, "You know, sometimes, when they say you're ahead of your time, it's just a polite way of saying you have a real bad sense of timing." 

He also said something to the effect: "I wanted to run for President in worst way-- and I did!" 

My fave was when his wife, Eleanor, came to Seattle and proclaimed the Nixon administration the "most corrupt in recent history." There was a big uproar. A few days later George arrived and apologized. He said Eleanor should have left out the word "recent."

McGovern was on the winning wide of history, at least on social issues and foreign policy. In this area obstructionist conservatives will always lose and progressives will always win. Economics has more of a universal pendulum.

Goodbye Sen. McGovern. And thank you for being a voice of reason on a national stage filled with haters shouting out messages of greed and fear. You were an inept politician, but you were a decent man. It was a miracle you were ever nominated. But working for you was the cleanest political experience I have ever had in my life, and I frequently revisit the idealism of that year if I need to recharge to keep up the Good Fight. Of course we all evolve, but at my core I still think of myself as a McGovernite. And a whole generation of us were inspired by your campaign. You were a WWII vet who worked hard to end war. I salute you for your service and your vision.

Come Home America

Morty Comix # 2445

Morty Comix # 2445 was dropped into the mail slot of a long vacant storefront on Oly's Westside where a pizza place used to be.

Actually two different pizza places were there from the 1970s-2000s. Lots of good memories in both.

I think it was in this place I heard a good McGovern/Nixon story. Since George is in his last days I think it is appropriate to relay this tale.

Around 1976 a bunch of us guys taking a Constitutional law class at The Evergreen State College went here to share a pizza and beer. One among us was Vietnam War vet who was badly wounded on a gunboat, patched up, and then sent back to the U.S. for noncombat duty. He said he was then assigned to the White House.

According to this fellow, he stood at attention in a room where President Nixon came most evenings and studied papers. The President always wore glasses and had a beer with him as he did so. After a month of basically being ignored by Nixon, the Commander in Chief suddenly looked up at the soldier and asked, "Who did you vote for in the last election, son?"

"McGovern, SIR!" was the reply.

And the next day he was given a new assignment.

Goodbye George, and thank you.

Buttons - Presidential Campaign - 1972

come home america

McGovern Shriver 1972

On the curl: 8-72, Westcoast, Vote Distrs., 26 Brooks, Venice, Calif. 90291 

Oddly, the discoloration on the left of the button is not visible to the naked eye.

One of  my favorite political buttons, and an early presentation of a theme that has been used by both parties in nearly every subsequent presidential campaign.

Buttons - Presidential Campaign - 1972

 Remember Oct. 9

For more buttons, Ms. Anderson, Clergy & Laity Concerned, (402) 426-4006, $25.00/M

This was a button distributed by the McGovern campaign. The reference was to a statement supposedly made by Richard Nixon, Oct. 9, 1968, when he was campaigning for President. Now this is only from my memory, but the quote was something like: "Those who have had a chance for four years and could not produce peace should not be given another chance." At the time Nixon uttered this he was aiming at LBJ's Vice-President and 1968 Dem. nominee, Hubert Humphrey. In 1972 this button attempted to remind voters of how Nixon had not only failed to end the Vietnam War, but actually escalated it.

Buttons - Presidential Campaign - 1972

McGovern

Buttons - Presidential Campaign - 1972

McGovern

Reverse side has label: Insta-Button from the Richmark Co., 1110 E. Pine St., Seattle, Wash., 98122

Buttons - Presidential Campaign - 1972

McGovern

Reverse side has label: Insta-Button from the Richmark Co., 1110 E. Pine St., Seattle, Wash., 98122

Buttons - Presidential Campaign - 1972

McGovern

Buttons - Presidential Campaign - 1972

McGovern ' 72

Reverse side has label: Insta-Button from the Richmark Co., 1110 E. Pine St., Seattle, Wash., 98122

Buttons - Presidential Campaign - 1972

McGovern Shriver

Reverse side has label: Insta-Button from the Richmark Co., 1110 E. Pine St., Seattle, Wash., 98122

Buttons - Presidential Campaign - 1972

McGovern Eagleton

The shortest-lived button in the history of Presidential campaigns. 18 days to be exact.

In 1972 I was a volunteer in the McGovern campaign in Olympia, Washington, so you'll be seeing quite a few buttons endorsing the Senator from South Dakota.

George McGovern was an authentic WWII hero and a good and decent man. And he was right on many issues. But he was a horrible politician. In spite of that, I still admire McGovern to this day and am so happy I worked on his campaign. When he came to Seattle I went to see him speak, and realized he was far from charismatic, but the guy had a geeky sincerity I admired. We didn't win, in fact we were slaughtered, but in the history of Presidential elections there was never a clearer choice between Good and Evil. 

And 1972 America voted in fear and overwhelmingly chose Evil.

I also voted for George in the Whitman County, Washington caucus when he ran in 1984. He didn't get it, but the eventual nominee, Walter Mondale (another good and decent man), lost by even greater margin to old Ron the Con who brought us a huge economic deficit, Iran-Contra, and a long parade of convicted public officials who betrayed the public trust that outnumbered the Watergate number of convicted crooks. 

This in spite of the fact that during the 1984 debates Ron the Con was clearly suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. Sometimes, you have to wonder about the wisdom of the electorate.

If you look back in the history of Presidential elections, George McGovern is now the senior living major party candidate, having outlived his opponents and all running mates. When George crosses to the Other Side, which will be soon, those of us left behind will carry the flame in our own fashion.

God bless you, George McGovern. Thank you.

Favorite Movie Quotes: The Candidate

"Marvin, what do we do now?"

Mentioned in Evergroove Trivia pt. 17 on OlyBlog

Favorite Movie Quotes: Nixon

Nixon talks to a portrait of JFK: "When they look at you, they see what they want to be. When they look at me, they see what they are."

[Reviewed in Cheaper by the Dozen 41]

And yes, I actually do have an autographed copy of Six Crises signed by Tricky Dick when he was running for Governor of California in 1962. He was apparently up here for the Seattle World's Fair (Century 21 Exposition) around that time so maybe that's how a copy came to be found in a local used book store in the 1970s.

Much to my horror as an old 1972 McGovern volunteer, I discovered some years ago Nixon and I are probably distant cousins connected through the Trimmer family of New Jersey and then Ohio.

Bezango: Ted Bundy-- Elected Official?

Olympia Power & Light # 39 (July 27-August 9, 2011).

Ted Bundy was not only politically active in Olympia, he was a rising star in the Washington State Republican Party. It is chilling to consider the potential of how far he could've gone in government policymaking if his campaign shenanigans had not been uncovered.