hcallega
Jr. Member
Posts: 1,523
Political Matrix
E: -1.10, S: -3.90
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« on: June 01, 2010, 04:10:19 PM » |
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Gene McCarthy would have gotten his ass kicked by Nixon.
By in large you can't be an anti-military candidate and win elections. You have to moderate your views to win. McCarthy had a lot of radical views outside of his support for a unilateral withdrawal from Vietnam. He believed in moving African-Americans into the suburbs, a position that Robert Kennedy essentially called ridiculous in the debates.
Libertas, imagine 1968 as it was, but take away pretty much every white-working class vote in the midwest and northeast and give it to Nixon or Wallace. Also, take away every southerner or rural voter. You could add some young anti-war folks, but it would have been a pretty bad loss. Not 1972 bad, but then again there are few candidates as bad as McGovern.
Also, Rocham, there was a big difference between RFK and McCarthy on the war. RFK was much more Kissinger-esque in the sense that he believed in real politic. He would have exhausted all options before withdrawing, though I do believe we would have been out of Nam by the time the 1970 midterms rolled around. He was not perceived as radical, and if anything was more "mainstream" or at least perceived so then Humphrey.
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