George McGovern, RIP

“I always thought of myself as a good old South Dakota boy who grew up here on the prairie. My dad was a Methodist minister. I went off to war. I have been married to the same woman forever. I’m what a normal, healthy, ideal American should be like."

“But we probably didn’t work enough on cultivating that image,” he added, referring to his presidential campaign organization. “We were more interested in ending the war in Vietnam and getting people out of poverty and being fair to women and minorities and saving the environment."

“It was an issue-oriented campaign, and we should have paid more attention to image.” 

Tricky Dick beat him 520-17 in the Electoral College. More attention to image probably wouldn't have been enough. At the time I was 14 and helped my parents get out the vote for the local Republican Party. Back in '72 there were still liberal Republicans, and even Nixon himself turned out to be left of Clinton or Obama on policy in some respects. Of course he was also an evil bastard. McGovern may have been inept at politics and out of step with the mainstream, but an evil bastard he surely wasn't.