Word: mcgoverns
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Political Analyst Richard Reeves contributed a series of sophisticated, vignette-laden articles to New York magazine. His account of McGovern's hapless efforts to lure back the urban Jewish vote included an illustrative bit of hyperbole: "When the candidate decided to make his Israel speech in a New York synagogue on a Friday night in June, it took New Yorkers three days to explain to McGovern and his staff why they couldn't do it on the Sabbath...
...presidential campaigners did not cover themselves with glory, neither did the nation's press. With Nixon cloistered in the White House and McGovern on the defensive and increasingly shrill, there was little cogent dialogue to report or analyze. Instead of seeking out substantive issues, the press too often devoted itself to a running story on polls and predictions. Since these differed merely on the magnitude of Nixon's forthcoming victory, the campaign coverage never worked up even a small measure of suspense. There was plenty of rancorous rhetoric. The New York Times's Tom Wicker lashed out bitterly at Nixon...
...Author Gary Wills (Nixon Agonistes) wrote brilliantly on the metaphysics of American politics. A man of both erudition and back-room savvy, Wills favored McGovern, but in New York magazine he skewered the Democratic candidate's "motiveless benignity": "He does what he does because it is right, and it is right because he does it." Writing in the New York Times Magazine on the Sunday before Election Day, Wills scoffed at liberal fears that Nixon's re-election would herald the end of freedom: "Learning to live with Nixon is just the prosaic, unappealing task of getting along with ourselves...
...Nixon Watch," a regular feature in the liberal New Republic by John Osborne, continued its tradition of cool, objective observation of White House activity. No fan of Nixon's, Osborne nonetheless admired the effectiveness of the Republican campaign strategy: "It is McGovern, not Nixon, who has been driven to the harsh and shrill extremes that have been Nixon trademarks." Watching Nixon deflect questions on Watergate, Osborne grudgingly commended "a display of mixed gall and skill that I've never seen equaled." He also noted and deplored the effect on reporters of the "mesmerizing power of the presidency...
...William F. Buckley's conservative National Review early published a thorough analysis of McGovern's controversial economic theories, claiming through charts and figures that McGovern's proposed retooling of the federal budget would create an additional deficit of $100 billion a year. For one thing, increased taxation of estates would not yield as much as McGovern estimated, wrote Associate Editor Alan Reynolds! "Surely it is obvious that more donations would be made by people while alive, that there would be more profligate consumption, that people would work less and retire sooner...