POLITICS: Shades of McCarthy

In 1968, Eugene McCarthy, Democrat Senator from Minnesota, ran for president. He ran so strongly in the primaries that he was credited for convincing Lyndon Johnson not to run again for another term.

Nonetheless, he ultimately lost the primary campaign and I recall his somewhat bitter speech the night he conceded defeat and withdrew from the race.

What I recalled was his analogy of pigs to politicians. He said that a pig considered their body to be warm if their nose was warm. Thus, they would stand in a circle during a blizzard with their noses stuck up between the hind legs of the pig in front of them. With their noses warm, they would freeze to death.

Politicians, he said, form circles of like thought and ignore the deadly storm raging around them.

His trip into animal husbandry was probably flawed, but it did occur to me that the Senator was on to something. Over the years I was able to replace the word “politicians” with many other groups like physicians, theologians, educators and myself if I wasn’t careful. All too frequently the analogy held.

Sadly, politicians are currently demonstrating anew Senator McCarthy’s wisdom.

DICK SHELDON

Coeur d’Alene