Posted on 12/10/2005 1:10:34 PM PST by GeneD
Link here. He was 89.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Not like democrats today. He was at least honest and anyone who caused LBJ sleepless nights was a bit okay in my book. He took the arrows for that opportunist RFK who swept in to take the glory.
Finally! The end of McCarthyism, Hollyweird can breath a collective sigh of relief tonight.
Prayers to all the departed
Finally! The end of McCarthyism, Hollyweird can breath a collective sigh of relief tonight.
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It is too bad, really. That a commitment to getting rid of communists in this country is in the trash can --- just look at our Congress -- it is full of them. (ala Progressive Caucus)...which should really be called the Communist Caucus.
Boy, he really was off the radar for many years, wasn't he? I probably am not the only one who didn't realize he was still alive. RIP.
I think you are mistaking ol' Gene McCarthy for the late Joe McCarthy. ol' Gene was one of the best friends Ho Chi Min ever had.
Wrong McCarthy. That was Joseph McCarthy
I was only 6 when he ran in '68, but I remember reading later that hippies supporting him went "Clean For Gene"
(from wikipedia):
"In 1968, McCarthy ran against incumbent President Lyndon Johnson in the New Hampshire Democratic primary, with the intention of influencing the federal government—then controlled by Democrats—to curtail its involvement in the Vietnam War. A number of antiwar college students and other activists from around the county traveled to New Hampshire to support McCarthy's campaign. Some antiwar students who had the long-haired appearance of hippies chose to cut their long hair and shave off their beards, in order to campaign for McCarthy door-to-door, a phenomenon that led to the informal slogan "Get clean for Gene."
"When McCarthy scored 42% to Johnson's 49% on March 12, 1968, it was clear that deep division existed among Democrats on the war issue. By this time, Johnson had become inextricably defined by Vietnam, and this demonstration of divided support within his party meant his reelection (only four years after winning the highest percentage of the popular vote in modern history) was unlikely. On March 31, 1968, Johnson announced he would not again seek the presidency."
No, Johnson was the best friend Ho ever had, by lying about the non-existent Gulf of Tonkin attack and by fighting a war so that it could Never be won. (If a high school football team battled the Colts, but the Colts were never allowed to pass the 50 yard line, the high school team would eventually win.) Without invading North Vietnam in response, the war could never be "won."
McCarthy was bright and honest. He was right that wars like Vietnam and Iraq I and II should have been voted on by Congress, as per the Constitution. Add in Clinton's illegal campaign in Bosnia. McCarthy was also the wittiest interviewee I ever saw. He was also a loyal U.S. citizen.
Yes, he was decent and honest, but sadly mistaken. He was as much responsible as anyone for our abandoning Vietnam and leaving everyone there to be murdered in the millions by the Communists.
Not that I don't think getting rid of LBJ was a Very Good Thing.
He lived in an "ambulatory care home" in Georgetown.
I was sorry to see that none of his relatives had room for him.
Kind of like King Lear.
Noted that Richard Pryor is running better than three to one for regrets against McCarthy & McCarthy has two threads running.
I think you've got the wrong McCarthy. This is the "Clean for Gene" Democratic presidential candidate.
Summer 1968. An historic time.
I was 20, and saw McCarthy speak at the pier in Huntington Beach.
In the following months, Robert Kennedy would be murdered by a muslim, the Democrats would hold their convention in the midst of riots in Chicago, Humphrey would run against Nixon.
Nixon would win, and claim to have a secret plan to end the war. Dec. 1968 Johnson sent me an induction notice, and Jan. 28 1969 was inducted under Nixon.
What can happen in a few months.
The mindset of the rioters at the Chicago dem convention of 1968 is now the dominant force of the party.
Looking back, McCarthy and later McGovern were principled class acts, compared to the shallow, idiotic potty mouth pukes of this day.
I was not a (Eugene)McCarthyite. Rather, I was sucked in by Nixon's campaign promise that he had a "secret plan to end the war". I cheered wildly for him at Mt.Prospect HS in the fall of 1968.
The result of the Vietnam War would have been the same (with far fewer casualties) had McCarthy been President. We would have abandoned an ally, while leaving numerous NVA units in the south - which was what resulted from Nixon's "Peace With Honor" in 1973.
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