People who question a HRC nomination are just as committed to "winning" as HRC supporters.

[Ken Burch]

14. But you're confusing the issue by comparing it to the question of HRC now.

Muskie might have won(although it's likely the Nixon people would have found some way to destroy anybody we nominated that year)but McGovern's positions on the issues had little, if anything to do with his loss.

If the party regulars had done what party regulars are SUPPOSED to do, and backed the damn nominee, McGovern would have made a respectable showing at the polls. But their decision not to had nothing to do with McGovern being liberal(a lot of them would have preferred Humphrey, who was also liberal on some things). It had much more to do with a bunch of middle-aged hacks(and I'm now a bit older than middle-aged myself)being more concerned with sticking it to some kids who had organized and kicked the hacks' asses in the primary than it did with any stance on any issue.

The majority of the country was against staying in Vietnam in '72. The majority was pro-choice on abortion and backed the ERA. McGovern's views really weren't all THAT out there.