George McGovern's Heirs And Arnold Schwarchenegger As A Nixon Republican

As you can tell by the fact that we run a blog, website, and MySpace page devoted to old political campaigns, we find the lineage of political ideologies pretty interesting. So, clearly this article about “McGovern heirs” putting their stamp on the 2008 campaign was interesting for us.

Since we’re talking about old politicians influencing today’s political leaders I do have to mention what I think is one of the most bizarre instances of this. It happened during the 2004 Republican Convention. In Arnold Schwarchenegger’s speech he reminisced about hearing Richard Nixon in the 1968 Presidential Debates.

“Then I heard Nixon speak. He was talking about free enterprise, getting the government off your back, lowering the taxes and strengthening the military. Listening to Nixon speak sounded more like a breath of fresh air. I said to my friend, I said, "What party is he?" My friend said, "He's a Republican." I said, "Then I am a Republican." And I have been a Republican ever since!”

With these words he became one of the world’s few admitted “Nixon Republicans.” That’s not a knock on Nixon’s accomplishments in office, it’s just that after Watergate I didn’t expect to have such a high ranking Republican embracing Nixon at the National Convention.

If you want to proclaim yourself a “McGovern heir” or “Nixon Republican” feel free to head over to the shop and pick up a Nixon or McGovern shirt.