Posted on 09/23/2014 12:23:57 PM PDT by cotton1706
Samuel Johnson declared that “men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.” Perhaps Barry Goldwater had this injunction in mind in his famous nomination acceptance speech 50 years ago at the Republican National Convention in San Francisco. Like a liturgical litany, seven times in his speech Goldwater said either “I needn’t remind you” or “let me remind you,” but it was the final two reminders that sealed the speech as the most memorable convention oration since William Jennings Bryan denounced the “Cross of Gold” in 1896: “I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”
For a candidate whose chief vulnerability was his supposed extremism, embracing extremism seemed the height of, well, extremism—not to mention imprudence. It did not matter that the statement’s intellectual pedigree stretched back to Aristotle and Cicero. Theodore White recorded the shock of a fellow reporter: “My God, he’s going to run as Barry Goldwater.” There was going to be no “tacking to the center,” the candidate’s usual tactic once he had clinched the nomination. Goldwater’s defense of “extremism” opened the floodgates for his critics to engage in the reductio ad Hitlerum. Samples include:
•Martin Luther King Jr: “We see dangerous signs of Hitlerism in the Goldwater campaign.” •Civil rights activist Roy Wilkins: Goldwater’s election “would bring about a police state.” •Sen. J. William Fulbright: “Goldwater Republicanism is the closest thing in American politics to an equivalent of Russian Stalinism.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thefederalist.com ...
Daughter Joanne had an abortion in 1955, an event of which Barry Goldwater was proud. She became a director of Arizona Planned Barrenhood.
A number of family members are active homosexuals. Barry Goldwater was defiantly supportive of them. Goldwater was a Libertarian and NOT a conservative and his track record in public life illuminates that distinction.
When religious conservative Doug Wead was nominated by the GOP in 1992 against abortion-loving UCal Berserkley trained Demonrat AZ State Senator Karan English for the newly created 6th District of Arizona, Goldwater endorsed her because of his objections to Wead's campaign expressions of his religious commitment. English had established a state legislative track record of thorough liberalism on every issue and Wead was conservative across the board but English's dedication to baby-killing obtained Goldwater's endorsement for her against pro-life Doug Wead. J. D. Hayworth beat her two years later.
Except perhaps for Obamacare and ,maybe, taxpayer funding of abortion, Goldwater would have favored the rest of those horrors. Gays and trannies in the military, gay “marriage,” abortion, were all central to Goldwater’s libertarianism,
I didn’t say whether he was or wasn’t a social conservative, I said he was a different politician, and the tea party is naturally made up mostly of social conservatives, more social conservative than average republicans, and of course more conservative than libertarians.
By the way, what does having gay family members have to do with being conservative or not?
You seem to oppose conservatism judging by the tone of your post, and if what you say is accurate, no wonder he did so poorly.
I think I confused you with someone else that has black in his name, he is the one who favors the libertarian thing, sorry for the mistake.
God bless you and yours!
He once bragged that he had taken his daughter for her abortion and anyone who did not like that (presumably including thee and me and most other conservatives) could kiss his ummmm, (donkey so to speak). He had a similar public attitude in support of gay relatives. Anyone can have gay relatives. That is not up to us. How we react IS up to us. Cheerleading for soul destroying sin is not Christian love. Hate the sin. Love the sinner.
I never got the point of that "shoot the wounded" quote and I'm not sure if he uses it right, but the conclusion -- "absent Goldwater, it’s doubtful Republicans would have ventured near the battlefield at all" -- is probably accurate.
Goldwater played a pivotal role in recreating Republicans as a real alternative to 60s liberalism, something all those politicians and pundits the article cites didn't see or didn't want to see.
Still, Hayward doesn't disprove the notion that Goldwater's candidacy meant losing seats that the GOP couldn't afford to lose.
The 1964 campaign was polarized from the outset -- Goldwater vs. Rockefeller or Scranton or Henry Cabot Lodge -- and bound to end badly for Republicans.
A candidate somewhere in between Barry and Rocky might have served the party well, but thee was no such candidate in the field.
True, I point out to people that Perot was pro-abortion and anti-gun.
“Hitlerism,” the “police state,” & “Stalinism” are to be found more in the legacies of King, Wilkins, and Fulbright than anywhere in America.
Ironic. Thanks for the BEEP!
Thanks for the ping!
Thanks for the ping; post. Interesting history and interesting thread. History/education BUMP!
Thanks for the ping. That particular sentence of Goldwater’s speech has always served as an inspiration for me.
Here’s a link that includes clips of Reagan, Goldwater and others - it includes Goldwater making his fabulous statement. I was in high school when many of these speeches were made.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I always have.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDRA3XFfDr4
“A candidate somewhere in between Barry and Rocky might have served the party well, but thee was no such candidate in the field.”
That candidate was Richard Nixon, who was waiting in the wings to be asked (or if something happened to one of the other two). He did end up doing well four years later. And, though he really didn’t like the conservatives either, he did see which way the wind was blowing and got a number of them elected in ‘66 and beyond.
The Rockefeller wing of the GOP did as much as the democrats to sabotage Goldwater. And nothing much has changed. Karl Rove and Co. are Rockefeller and Scranton’s bastard sons.
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Indeed they did. What has changed is that the Rockefeller wing of the party is determined that there will never be another Ronald Reagan, even if they have to loose the White House, Senate, and/or the House.
All those thigns wer much more true of LBJ than Goldwater, and the people saying them knew that.
And if these things don't describe B. Hussein to a tee, I don't know what does.
Great line. I usually disagreed with Gene McCarthy, but he was a principled man who didn't change where he stood just to get votes, somewhat the liberal Goldwater. If we had more conservatives like Barry and more liberals like Gene McCarthy, we'd be better off.
I was 10, worked hard for Barry, was disappointed when he lost. I had been politically active from age 8.
We worked on the Buckley campaigns. My dad ran for City Council and outpolled Bill Buckley in our district. We were involved in the Conservative Party.
My mother told me a friend of theirs was an “automatic Republican.” When I asked what that was, she said, “someone who votes for Barry Goldwater one year and John Lindsay the next.”
I am still a proud Goldwater conservative.
In your heart, you know he’s right. AuH2O.
Reagan made quite an impression with his speech “A Time for Choosing”, which was an impassioned and brilliant appeal on Goldwater’s behalf, paid fro by Ronald Reagan himself. It also attracted the attention of Holmes Tuttle and Justin Dart, who went to the ranch to insist that Reagan run for governor.
The impetus was economic. I'd say the Tea Party is more conservative in every way than the GOP Establishment, but pretty much in tune with grassroots Republicans.
Goldwater went to meet with Eisenhower at Ike’s estate in Gettysburg, and Ike asked him about the “extremism” comment.
“Weren’t you the Allied commander in World War II?”, Goldwater asked. “Weren’t a lot of people killed in that war? Don’t you regard that as somewhat extreme?”
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