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Democrats
(Continued from Page 1)
she was all of a sudden "homesick."
The next evening's session
lasted until six the next morning,
the longest single session
in the history of political conventions
in America. It was
platform night and showed the
tediousness of Democracy and
the power of the McGovern
v* o t e manipulation machine.
Many minority planks, both liberal
and conservative, Were presented
and most had enough
delegate support to necessitate
a roll call vote. But McGovern
pressured his delegates to vote
against the strong abortioii
plank and against the $6500
guaranteed income proposal and
against the endorsement of the
rights of homosexuals. The only
planks accepted during the
night were one dealing with Indian
rights and another advocating
a stronger stand on Israel.
It was 5:15 a.m. when the
Indian plank was adopted, the
first constructive vote of the
night. It warranted a full minute
of applause by the delegates,
quite a feat at that time
of the morning.
Some might say that it was a
waste of time, but it was Democracy,
sort of. McGovern had
to be careful. He was hurt in
the Nebraska primary by his
stand on abortion and a tooliberal
plank would make that
issue an easy target for the
Republican opposition, not
known for their gentility in
combat.
Our man Briscoe voted
against the platform and said
that he hoped to draw up a
platform at the state convention
on September 19 (here in Houston)
that would be "compatable
with the will of the Texas people."
He did not look happy.
Visit with Wallace
The next morning, the Texas
delegation was invited to have
a private visit with Governor
Wallace. He was gracious, but
tired from his speech to the
convention the night before,
and still a very sick man after
his gunshot wounds. He
would not withdraw and hoped
that many would vote for him,
but he had no illusions that he
could win the nomination although
he contended that he
represented more Americans
than did McGovern. When told
that there were some McGovern
supporters in the room, he mentioned
that he respected Mc-
Govern personally,. but that it
would be difficult for him to
win in November. He reiterated
that he would not run as a
third party candidate.
It was a very sobering ocasion
for me.
Doral invasion
• **
On Tuesday, McGovern issued
a statement in response to the
support of the POW-MIA wives
which said, "I intend to use
every resource available to the
President, including direct personal
diplomacy in Hanoi, to
insist upon the release of all
prisoners and a complete, im-
• • •
partial accounting for all missing
in action. While I am fully
confident that there would be
no such need, I would also retain
the military capability in
the region—in Thailand and on
the seas—to signal and fulfill
our firm determination on this
issue."
The SDS and other demonstrators
invaded the Doral and
occupied its lobby on Wednesday
afternoon in protest to this
apparent shift in McGovern's
position of withdrawing all
troops from Southeast Asia.
The hotel management overreacted
and called the cops who
rammed through the crowd and
formed a triple line in the lobby.
When the news reached the
McGovern staff, the police
were ordered out. "We don't
care what they do, as long as
they don't storm the 17th floor
(where McGovern stayed),"
said Pierre Salinger. Later Mc-
Govern came down and talked
to the squatters and made a
very impressive showing out of
a possibly explosive situation,
It was about the only thing
that happened during "prime
time" the whole week.
But by this time, the convention
was called to order and the
youth caucus tried to meet
again. With several hundred in
attendence, the meeting was
even more chaotic than before.
Some were interested in insuring
the youth representation on
committees, but most were interested
in nominating McGovern
and to hell with the rest.
After 45 minutes of parliamentary
quibbling and a little real
debate, a motion to table the
whole matter was passed and
the caucus adjourned. The delegates
filed back into the .hall
with nothing accomplished.
lAt about that time, Dolph
Briscoe announced that he was
going to vote for Wallace in
the evening's roll call. This unnecessary
move infuriated the
blacks and McGovern supporters.
He could have safely voted
for Jackson," but instead he
voted for Wallace and then to
confuse everybody, he and 14
others changed their votes to
McGovern (wfho already had
gone over the top) "in the interest
of party unity." Well,
the Wallace vote angered the
McGovern followers and the
McGovern vote hacked off the
Wallace people. It semed the
only one who was not furious
with Dolph w,as Janey. It was
not a good night for Unity in
the Texas delegation.
That session ended just after
midnight, the earliest one all
week, and there was a victory
party at the Doral with a band
and a thousand or so very tired
youngsters. The music stopped
after only a hour.
With the rush of caucuses
and the late sessions, that night
was my first opportunity to see
the Miami Beach. It was very
dissappointing. At low tide, it
is about as wide as the Fondren
Library cloister and supposedly
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even that is being washed away.
Poor Miami Beach.
Thursday was the confusing
day of the Vice-Presidential
nomination* Under the rules,
the Presidential nominee has
until 4 pm to submit his choice.
Eagleton's name was thrown
in just at the deadline. It seemed
that McGovex*n wasted a
lot of time really believing that
Ted Kennedy would accept.
Sheer folly.
Thursday was the one day
that the staff and network people
had hoped that the proceedings
could be carried on
prime time, from about 8-11
p.m. Eastern. Senator Ted Kennedy
was flying in to give a
Unity Speech and McGovern's
acceptance spech would be soon
after that. Who would want
that good stuff to be heard by
almost no one early in the
morning ?
Well, the delegates could not
be reasoned with and eight
names were placed in nomination.
Many were pro-McGovern,
but were hoping for an open
selection of the vice-presidential
candidate. The nominating
and seconding speeches dragged
on, and the roll call ended after
2 a.m., at which time Dolph and
Janey stridecl out of the hall. I
asked them why they were leaving
and Dolph replied, "I'm going
to get a breath of fresh
air. It's hot in there." Too hot
for Dolph at least. He never
came back.
So, very early Friday morning
Kennedy gave his " . . .
and so will George McGovem"
speech and McGovern his
"Come home, America" acceptance
address in "prime time in
Guam."
It is becoming increasingly
important in the eyes of some
that it is not important what
you do, but how large an audence
sees you do it. That is
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the rice thresher, September 14, 1972—page 9