I can never tell when Keillor has his tongue in his cheek and when he's speaking straight. I hope he was kidding about history eventually getting things right and that his airy dismissal of McCarthyism was a joke.

In any case, I have a lot of residual affection for the other McCarthy -- Gene -- having been old enough to be drafted but not old enough to choose my government when he ran against LBJ. Still, young as I was at the time, I can promise you that Gene McCarthy was not the only person who could count votes. On the other hand, there was never a sense that "quixotic" was a perjorative, and maybe that's the crux of the problem here.

Old radicals will tell you that the demonstrations in Chicago were nearly abandoned when it looked like Bobby Kennedy -- less pure in motive than Gene but better positioned to gather the necessary favors -- would win the Democratic nomination. But as Abbie Hoffman said, "Then Sirhan Sirhan stepped up and it was a whole new ballgame."

We needed people like Gene McCarthy, not because he had a snowball's chance in hell of becoming president, but because he served to turn a lot of apathetic people into people who cared, and he did it more effectively than bland John Anderson and without the histrionics or extremes of Ralph Nader. He was a rare man, and one to be treasured.

But of course he was quixotic. A lot of us were in those days, thank God. But Gene was one of the best. If they don't make many like him anymore, it's probably because they didn't make many like him even back then.

And Garrison as well for his touching column about the man who propelled me into activist politics at the age of 16. I will always remember -- & thank -- Eugene McCarthy for his principled stands, smart words, & intriguing poetry. Bon voyage....

Thank you Garrison for casting light on the real Gene McCarthy. My wife reminded me of sitting in front of our B/W T.V. in Iowa City when Lyndon Johnson withdrew from the race for president in the election of 1968. She remembered that I gave her hug and emitted a "yes!" because we believed that it cleared the way for Bobby Kennedy to become president. We believed that Gene McCarthy had done a noble and great service to the nation in allowing us to express our opposition to the war in a measured, political proces. I am happy that he was never elected president because it would have detracted from his true gift of revoluntionist. I think he was far too bright, kind and literate to have succeeded as president of the U.S. We were deeply saddened by the death of Bobby and Martin. We loved Hubert. But most of all we were encouraged by the shining example of Eugene McCarthy's courage to stand up for what was right without thought of personal gain.