The Happy Warrior, reconsidered

Hubert Humphrey made a pact with the devil. Believing that it would strengthen Johnson's push for civil rights legislation he joined an administration that was also convinced it could win where Kennedy hadn't -- in Vietnam. And so, he became a forceful defender of a war that, by 1968, was indefensible. And he lost by the proverbial nose to Richard Nixon.

I have to admit, my perspective on one of the last of the New Dealers was heavily colored by Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, in which he describes Humphrey, among other things, as a ward healer and lackey for Johnson.

Rick Perlstein today calls for a reappraisal. I won't excerpt because the whole thing is worth a look.