The Anybody But McGovern movement came together officially sometime in the middle of the week just before the convention, when it finally became apparent that massive fraud, treachery, or violence was the only way to prevent McGovern from getting the nomination. Could they be excluded? Portioned out? Could someone other than any of those running in the primaries be elected the Democratic candidate? Hell, read the story. That is, some of those votes were built on a shaky foundation. But not enough of a majority to keep his majority if his majority is challenged. The big story is the Democratic National Convention.
Thompson covers three basic stories: the Democratic primaries, which turns out to be a two-way race between Humphrey and McGovern after Wallace gets shot the Democratic National Convention, which has got to be the best reporting on byzantine party maneuvering I’ve ever read and the presidential race, which is mostly a letdown (we all know who wins-and then resigns before his term is up). This is like being told you have a duty to buy a new car, but you have to choose immediately between a Ford and a Chevy. the other is to tap the massive, frustrated energies of a mainly young, disillusioned electorate that has long since abandoned the idea that we all have a duty to vote.
There are only two ways to make it in big-time politics today: One is to come on like a mean dinosaur, with a high-powered machine that scares the shit out of your entrenched opposition (like Daley or Nixon). Thompson gets a ride with Richard Nixon and talks football.īut this is stone bullshit. This was an incredible election, with Richard Nixon running against George McGovern in the end, but including such folks as George Wallace, Teddy Kennedy, and Hubert Humphrey hanging out in the background. It covers the 1972 primaries and showdown in excruciating detail. I’ve never been so disgusted with a human being in politics.” About Humphrey: “He should be buried with his head down in the sand.
Hovering about this book like a grim god is Richard Milhouse Nixon, Thompson’s antichrist, though Hubert Humphrey fills that role in the beginning (perhaps a Wormtongue to Nixon’s Saruman).
The description of the behind-the-scenes Democratic National Convention in Miami is probably used in political textbooks. Ralph Steadman’s illustrations fit perfectly, as usual with Thompson’s writings. A detailed look at the Democratic primaries, and the McGovern vs.
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