McGovern takes Cheney to the woodshed

George S. McGovern, a former U.S. senator and Democratic Party nominee for president in 1972, let V.P. Dick Cheney have it in today’s L.A. Times.

McGovern is from neighboring South Dakota. Cheney was born in Nebraska but his family moved him to Wyoming as a baby. He and his wife Lynne both graduated from Natrona County H.S. in Casper, and Cheney was a state legislator and then a U.S. House rep before serving a succession of Republican presidents, most recently Dubya.

Cheney recently blasted the Dems’ attempts to include deadlines in the government’s Iraq War funding bill. Cheney tossed the usual verbal grenades, calling Democrats defeatists and contended that today’s party has "reverted" to George McGovern’s 1972 anti-war views.

While Cheney may view this as a slam, McGovern does not. Nor do I. My first vote for president was cast for McGovern who, as a young pilot, won the Distinguished Flying Cross in 35 missions over Europe in World War II. Those missions included the notorious raid over Romania’s Ploesti oil fields.

Cheney knows something about oil fields. As Halliburton exec, he made a ton of money having his crews suck oil from the ground. He still makes dough from his Halliburton years, and still sees that his colleagues get plenty of no-bid contracts for the Iraq War.

This is as close as Cheney will ever get to war. As Sen. McGovern says: "In the war of his youth, the Vietnam War, Cheney got five deferments and has never seen a day of combat – a record matched by President Bush."

McGovern adds: "Cheney charged that today's Democrats don't appreciate the terrorist danger when they move to end U.S. involvement in the Iraq war. The fact is that Bush and Cheney misled the public when they implied that Iraq was involved in the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Iraq had nothing to do with the attacks. That was the work of Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda team. Cheney and Bush blew the effort to trap Bin Laden in Afghanistan by their sluggish and inept response after the 9/11 attacks."

He lands some great jabs on the V.P.’s glass jaw. It’s clear that the bomber pilot and dedicated public servant from S.D. wins this round.