I Met George McGovern Today!

Sitting in the Northwest Airlines World Club on Concourse C of the Minneapolis St Paul International Airport this afternoon, I saw an elderly man sitting near me (12 feet by later measurement) who looked really famiilar but I couldn't place him. That was until he picked up his cell phone, dialed a number, and then said "hello Roger, this is George McGovern"

I listened to him talk to a private pilot in Mitchell South Dakota about the logistics of flying him and his 90 pound Newfoundland dog to Lincoln, Nebraska in coming days. Completing his call I knew that I had to introduce myself to him.

When the 1972 election rolled around I had just weaned myself from a growing up time of having believed that if it was Repugnican it was right. That mentality came from my mother who, at one point, was the President of the 3rd Congressional District Repugnican Party in Wisconsin. She believed all of the mantra the Repugnicans spewed out. When the time came she even believed that the June 22 Nixon tapes were "a communist plot" to discredit Tricky Dick. I believed all of her stuff until May 4, 1970, at 11:27 a.m., Central Time when the Ohio National Guard committed murder at Kent State. Never ever again would I believe a Repugnican about anything.

In the fall of 1972 I was a senior at the University of Wisconsin at River Falls. George McGovern came to our campus twice that fall to talk about his platform. The gynmasium was always full and very supportive. I was safe from having to go to Vietnam because my number in the lottery/sweepstakes was 311. A good friend from high school, Lee Anderson, wasn't so lucky. His number was 2. He did his time in Nam, came home with a hole in his ankle, and two months later was killed on a motorcycle.

But in the fall of 1972 I was transfixed by politics. Richard Nixon deserved to be in jail but wasn't headed there. The quagmire in Viet Nam wasn't getting any where near conclusion and something had to be done. A Senator from South Dakota named McGovern ran that year and his platform was primarily about ending the carnage in Vietnam. Everyone I knew except the idiots in the campus Repugnican party was supporting McGovern in his bid for the White House. History of course shows the stupidity of the American public who overwhelmingly sent Nixon back for what turned out to be only 2 more excruciating years before he resigned before being tossed out.

I cast my first vote in the town hall of Rice Lake township Barron County Wisconsin. My first vote ever was for George McGovern. In fact I voted for every Democrat on the ticket. That was a trend I started in 1972 and I've never missed a vote since 1972. I've also never once voted outside of the Democrat column either.

Which brings us to Minneapolis today.

After he hung up from talking to the pilot I stood up and walked over to him. He was writing some notes in a day timer when I said "Senator McGovern". He looked up and said "yes" and I identified myself.

I then told him, "I have been a fan of yours since I cast my first vote in 1972. It was a straight Democrat ticket and I have never voted out of our column since then."

He smiled and said "we need more of you."

I then asked "Do you think we can get Al Gore to run next year? We need someone with some integrity to fix the mess that idiot now in the White House has created."

McGovern smiled and said, "First of all, I think time will show that George Bush is the worst President in our history, and the biggest disgrace this country has ever known." He then added, "As far as Gore is concerned, I think he's going to run. He has not said he's going to run, but if you listen to what he says, he never says that he isn't either."

I then added my hopeful scenario when I said "Senator, I think what's going to happen is that in October in Oslo when he accepts the Nobel Peace Prize he pulls a sheet of paper out of his pocket and adds 'and by the way, today I'm announcing my candidacy for the President of the United States'".

McGovern smiled and said, "you know I think he might do that."

I didn't want to bother him much longer so I again told him it was an honor to meet him and wished him well. Before I left I said "don't ever stop kicking the ass of any Republican you meet."

The man who should have been the President in 1972 smiled and said "I'll do that until the day I die."

I hope McGovern is right about Gore and right about kicking the ass of Repugnicans.