Larry McDonald - The Enigma?
Time Magazine, 10th July, 1984
"Don't Tread On Me" reads the large flag pinned up on the wall of what was until last year an abandoned medium sized shop in north-west Atlanta. The Gadsden flag is however a much more recent addition to the premises. The phrase - along with other noteworthy Revolutionary War era quotes, such as "We The People" - have become the unofficial slogans of the Larry McDonald Presidential Campaign.
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My campaign is the only one running that seeks to protect and respect the Constitution and the values of the Founding Fathers," beams the candidate himself, the five term Democratic Congressman who has represented Georgia's 7th District since 1975. "
I'm fairly confident that the rest of the Democratic Party will embrace our strong originalist position by the time we get to San Francisco."
McDonald at first glance looks more like a movie star than a politician - and his attitude and effect on people is certain akin to those of a Hollywood celebrity. Supporters come from the furthest reaches of the nation just to meet the candidate or even to get a word or two to him. "
He's an honest down-to-earth, God-fearing American," says 28-year-old Minnesota McDonald delegate, Michelle Bachmann; who stated she had supported Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Ronald Reagan in 1980 - but has become disenchanted with the President in recent years. "
Unlike Reagan," Bachmann states, "
I think Larry McDonald will take the fight to the pro-abortion liberals and give the death blow to the abortionist and their lobby."
Mrs. Bachmann is one of the nearly 443 delegates that are pledged to Congressman McDonald's name. She is however just one of the many kinds of voters who have given their backing to the Congressman - from Wisconsin union members; to blue collar workers in downtown Boston; to farmers in the 'fly-over states'; and of course white southerners, the McDonald message has reverberated across the nation.
In many ways 'Dr Larry' as he's known locally, is the very definition of a political enigma. He has ran on a platform that many have compared to Alabama Governor George Wallace, who has endorsed McDonald for President, he's also not ashamed to call himself a conservative, or populist - whichever one is more beneficial to him at a given time and place, is the one he will opt to use. Yet despite his pseudo-libertarian populist Presidential Campaign he has exceeded all expectations by not only winning delegates under the proportional system in some states, but also winning several states as a whole (such as South Carolina, Kentucky, Alabama and his native Georgia.)
Rather than faltering and withdrawing as fellow southerners Reubin Askew and Fritz Hollings have done, McDonald has kept in the race and has amassed the third largest amount of delegates behind Colorado Senator Gary Hart (who has around 1,250 after his victories in June in Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota and North Dakota), former Vice President Walter Mondale (who has around 1,235 after his surprise victory in California, New Jersey and West Virginia in June); and just barely ahead of black civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson, who has over 435 delegates to his name.
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He has achieved probably the best result he could have hoped for," notes University of Georgia Political Science professor Elliot Fleming, discussing how McDonald has effectively hit his ceiling of support in the Democratic Party and has achieved virtually the best result he could have aimed for. "
He has successfully tapped into the anger and sense of betrayal that many Democratic voters feel. These voters who could be described as culturally conservative 'Wallace Democrats' are generally blue collar voters who have traditionally supported the Democratic Party, but have in recent years since the emergence of the 'New Left' in the Democratic Party in 1972, increasingly abandoned the party of Jackson, Wilson, Roosevelt and Kennedy and instead thrown their lots in with the Republican Party. McDonald and his campaign have seemingly tapped into this group and has successfully courted their votes with a message that mixes the right blend of economic nationalism slash fiscal conservatism - and has blended it with deeply conservative views on cultural and social issues. The result is still a minority of voters - but a vocal, well organised and tightly knitted minority."
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Larry McDonald is in it to win, not to simply release all his delegates to someone else," exclaims McDonald campaign manager Lee Atwater, who sits with his feet up at his desk eating a bowl of ice cream with hot sauce smeared all over it. "
The issue here is not whether he is a viable candidate - we all know the answer to that - and it's an empathic 'Yes.' No, the question we have here is a question of the issues in this campaign and which candidate is the best to take on President Reagan in the fall - and I think it's safe to say that Larry McDonald is the man to do that." When asked if McDonald is instead angling himself to get on a ticket headed by either Hart on Mondale, Atwater laughed and said "
we don't talk about how we make sausage!"
Atwater, a former Republican Party operative and White House employee - who left from that post last year to head up McDonald's campaign - seemingly has a niche when it comes to political campaigning and has helped see the McDonald campaign rise from single figures in the polls to the third most viable campaign in the nation, and the candidate who has the largest amount of support among southerners and blue collar voters within the party (narrowly beating out Jesse Jackson in both those regards.) Atwater however has however never shied away from controversial means to ensure his candidate wins. Back in his native South Carolina he made an issue of the fact that his opponents were either Jewish or had received electro-static treatment for their mental problems (or "
hooked up to jumper cables as it was put.") Both these allegations are strongly denied by Atwater who when asked about them was quick to stress that "
this is a campaign of issues, not personality..."
The secret to a successful campaign however is not only good campaigning and good policies but also money. Indeed, for a candidate who is rather vocal on his 'family values' and 'Christian values' planks, McDonald has not shied away from the fact that one of his biggest campaign donors is the millionaire owner of the pornographic magazine 'Hustler', the similarly named Larry Flynt.
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I don't agree with Larry [McDonald]
on everything," Flynt said seated at his desk, "
but I believe he's the best candidate for the job - someone who is both fiscally responsible and also a down-to-earth honest Christian." Flynt, who was seriously injured when he was shot in 1978 and a result is partially paralysed and supposedly experiences constant, excruciating pain and has been consigned to a wheelchair. Even on this front the born again Christian pornographic businessman does not hold off; his wheelchair is gold-plated and was said to cost, according to Flynt himself, "
a lot."
Flynt and McDonald met at a fundraiser for the families of those who died in on the Korean Airlines flight which was shot down by the Soviet Union last year; McDonald who was on the plane until he opted to join North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms on a later flight has taken an increasing interest in the downing of the flight which nearly killed him. Flynt, who penned a pamphlet on the issue, has made an issue of the fact that he believes that the plane safely landed and the survivors are now imprisoned somewhere in the Soviet Union; a view shared by Congressman McDonald.
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I fail to see how Mr Flynt's business interests at all clash with my family values orientated campaign," McDonald says sporting his narrow necktie and a cream suit that evokes images of the former Louisiana Governor Huey Long; "
what he does with his business interests and money is none of my business; he's free to do it as an American under a free-market system we have which encourages freedom and liberty."
Not all are in full support of the Congressman's campaign, least of all are liberal party members and feminists who have decried his policies as being "
a bunch of right wing baloney." One feminist and Jesse Jackson delegate for the convention on McDonald stated, "
Larry McDonald's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens for whom the judiciary is—and is often the only—protector of the individual rights that are the heart of our democracy."
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Clearly they're a cracker," jokes Atwater after reading what the Jackson delegate had said. "
Congressman McDonald has shown his commitment to protecting women's rights and constant fights for their right to pursue their God-given natural roles. Unlike Jesse Jackson, Larry McDonald shows everyone where he stands on the issues and is not afraid to say he is not a supporter of affirmative action. No, he supports ensuring blacks, whites, Hispanics and others can all get ahead at their own pace without the interference of the big bloated federal government telling businesses and schools what to do, or who to admit."
The Congressman, however, appears to leave all the dirty work for his operatives and instead seeks to promote his 'Roosevelt Democrat' philosophy. The Congressman has stated, for example on William F. Buckley's 'Firing Line' show that "
FDR was conservative at heart and by nature during his Presidency - I think we should base his credentials based on his ideology and not some bloated 'liberal' achievements."
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This is one of the many faults of McDonald," says Professor Fleming, "
he strives to try and please a crowd by stating what they want to hear. If they want someone who will balance the budget - then he's committed to balancing the budget and fiscal conservatism. If they want someone who will stop Japan and other Asian nations undercutting American workers and business - then he's an arch protectionist who will fight to make sure 'American starts winning again.' If they want someone who will burn abortion clinics down to the ground - he's your man."
McDonald however disagrees with this assessment. "
My views have been very consistent in my near decade in Congress. I have never been shy to say that I am a populist Democrat who understands that focusing on just one ideology is to the detriment of the nation. I have taken the best bits of conservatism and liberalism - just like FDR to create a platform that works for America. To suggest otherwise just shows that you're someone who is probably in the pay of the big anti-American corporations - like the Rockefellers."
The 'Minuteman Democrat' or 'McDonald Democrat' is a brand or rather movement which has grown like 'weeds' across the nation over the past year. Several candidates for the House have professed to being 'McDonald Democrats' - one of these is James 'Jim' Traficant, Jr. - who is running as a Democrat for Ohio's 17th District, against incumbent moderate Republican Congressman Lyle Williams.
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McDonald tells it like it is - and the people love it," says Traficant as he tries to form his unkempt pompadour which he joking claims to cut with a weed whacker. "
McDonald will be President - that I am sure; and in me he will have a great ally in the House of Representatives to help spread the conservative message." Current polling suggests that Traficant is on course to win the seat over the incumbent Republican - his message as a 'McDonald Democrat' seems to be resonating with voters in a district that last sent a Democrat to the House during the final two years of Eisenhower's final term and which has sent arch-conservative John M. Ashbrook to the House for twenty one years until his death in 1982.
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I'm reasonably confident that I have a good shot at the nomination," McDonald says with a greater sense of reality compared to his campaign manager. "
I will however not be abandoning the people of the 7th District of Georgia who have sent me back to Congress five times." McDonald's current and second wife Kathryn McDonald is running for the seat to replace him - she is the odds on favourite to win the seat being challenged only by former Democratic Governor Lester Maddox in the Democratic Primary.
In the meantime, Larry McDonald and his ragtag 'Minutemen' delegates march on towards San Francisco for the first Democratic Convention in many years for which the nominee is not known beforehand. There have been suggestions that he could throw his lot in with Walter Mondale - in return for a Cabinet post? It seems rather unlikely, but then again so did the thought that a conservative southern Democrat coming in a strong third in the primaries just last year.