George McGovern quotes - page 3

I seek the presidency because I believe deeply in the American promise and can no longer accept the diminishing of that promise. (George McGovern)
I am 1,000 percent for Tom Eagleton and I have no intention of dropping him from the ticket. View quote
George McGovern
I don't think the American people had a clear picture of either Nixon or me. I think they thought that Nixon was a strong, decisive, tough-minded guy and that I was an idealist and antiwar guy who might not attach enough significance to the security of the country. The truth is, I was the guy with the war record, and my opposition to Vietnam was because I was interested in the nation's well-being. View quote
George McGovern
Democrats believe that the federal government is not our enemy, it's our partner. View quote
George McGovern
The truth is that I oppose the Iraq war, just as I opposed the Vietnam War, because these two conflicts have weakened the U.S. and diminished our standing in the world and our national security. View quote
George McGovern
I would not plan to base my campaign primarily on opposition to the war in the Persian Gulf. View quote
George McGovern
There is a strong tendency in the United States to rally round the flag and their troops, no matter how mistaken the war. View quote
George McGovern
Every once in a while, I run into somebody who tells me that she met her husband in my campaign or a husband who says, I met my wife. I have to tell you, I caused a few divorces too. View quote
George McGovern
My heart does sometimes bleed for those who are hurting in my own country and abroad. View quote
George McGovern
The whole campaign was a tragic case of mistaken identity. View quote
George McGovern
When you start one of these programs, school lunch programs, in a country that heretofore had nothing of that kind, immediately school enrollment jumps dramatically. Girls and boys get to the classroom with the promise of a good meal once a day. (George McGovern)
Under the guise of protecting us from ourselves, the right and the left are becoming ever more aggressive in regulating behavior. View quote
George McGovern
People didn't have the political guts to stand up against an American war. View quote
George McGovern
My father was a clergyman and always said: 'Hate the sin but love the sinner.' View quote
George McGovern
No man should advocate a course in private that he's ashamed to admit in public. View quote
George McGovern
I was tired. I hadn't slept eight hours in two, three years. I lived on four, five hours of sleep. You can do it during a campaign because thousands are screaming for you. You're getting adrenaline shots each day. Then the campaign ends, and there are no more shots. View quote
George McGovern
From the entrenchment of special privileges in tax favoritism; from the waste of idle lands to the joy of useful labor; from the prejudice based on race and sex; from the loneliness of the aging poor and the despair of the neglected sick: come home, America. View quote
George McGovern
But my business associates and I also lived with federal, state and local rules that were all passed with the objective of helping employees, protecting the environment, raising tax dollars for schools, protecting our customers from fire hazards, etc. While I never doubted the worthiness of any of these goals, the concept that most often eludes legislators is: `Can we make consumers pay the higher prices for the increased operating costs that accompany public regulation and government reporting requirements with reams of red tape.' It is a simple concern that is nonetheless often ignored by legislators. View quote
George McGovern
The problem we face as legislators is: Where do we set the bar so that it is not too high to clear? I don't have the answer. I do know that we need to start raising these questions more often. View quote
George McGovern
Bill Clinton, who started his political career with McGovern, expressed interest in cutting defense to invest in transportation infrastructure, including "a high-speed rail network.” Yet again, however, liberals and conservatives proved no different in government, voting to keep the military-industrial complex going, even though the United States had become the world's first truly uncontested superpower. View quote
George McGovern
To the liberal Democratic faithful, Mr. McGovern remained a standard-bearer well into his old age, writing and lecturing... insisting on a strong, "progressive” federal government to protect the vulnerable and expand economic opportunity, while asserting that history would prove him correct in his opposing not only what he called "the tragically mistaken American war in Vietnam” but also the American invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. (George McGovern)
The wisdom and hope that was inherent in McGovern's call that year was not sufficient to defeat Richard Nixon. In a matter of months, however, polls would reveal that Americans regretted their decision, as they came to recognize the extent of Nixon's corruption. Forty years on, McGovern's vision that America might come home to the ideals that had nourished it from the beginning is less a matter of hope than necessity. View quote
George McGovern