Would Goldwater Leave?

The New York Sun ^ | April 7, 2006 | JOHN P. AVLON

[presidio9]

Washington - Would Barry Goldwater be a Republican today?

It's a question that might have been considered sacrilegious even a decade ago. But as the Republican Party searches for its soul, post-Tom DeLay and in advance of the 2006 and 2008 elections, it is a question worth contemplating.

[rhombus]

Who knows what Goldwater would do now. But after his colossal defeat in '64, he didn't run third party, stay at home, or turn into a bitter old anti-GOP poster on FreeRepublic.

[Huck]

The GOP isn't searching for its soul any more than a sinner is searching for new commandments. The soul of the GOP is conservatism; they just aren't doing a great job of adhering to it. No soul searching is required. Just better behavior. Ok, there's a few areas of contention, but for the most part, knowing what is right is not the issue. DOING what is right is the issue.

[jneesy]

how many times do you have to be crapped on before you realize it stinks?

[Prokopton]

"The soul of the GOP is conservatism; they just aren't doing a great job of adhering to it"

I don't think many of our Republican leaders believe this.

[Huck]

Well, since gubmint is for the most part a giant crapper, it shouldn't even take a single time. But going into the next available portajohnny won't change anything.

[righttackle44]

"But after his colossal defeat in '64, he didn't run third party, stay at home, or turn into a bitter old anti-GOP poster on FreeRepublic."

No, man. He stood and fought--and often won.
Your answer gave me a great boost for today.

[Skylab]

From his 1966 interview with Lee Edwards.

"The reason I attracted only 39% of the people who voted is because it wasn't Barry Goldwater who was running, it was a caricature of him, built by Governor Scranton and Governor Rockefeller, in the primaries, and then aided and abetted by Romney, Keating, Javits etc, in the general. I was defeated, frankly, before I was nominated. To tell you the truth, we knew this from the polls, in fact, the day of the nomination, only 20% of the people were for me and 80% were for Johnson, and the fact that I almost doubled my appeal and cut his down by the same number is the source of some meager satisfaction. But I hope that the Republican Party never again so destroys its candidate that the candidate has no chance [hello Pat Buchanan 1992!]. I don't believe I could have won the election but I think it would have been something like 55%-45% had about 6-8 million Republicans voted for me, who either didn't vote or voted for Johnson, only because of the distorted image of me painted by disgruntled, unhappy, unfaithful, so-called Republicans, like the Governors and senators etc. I've mentioned."

[Huck]

Sure they do. They just know they don't have to follow it. The adulterer knows that adultery is a sin. He just doesn't care.

[thoughtomator]

FOOD FIGHT!!!

[dfwgator]

I was told that if I voted for Goldwater, that we would have riots in the streets and get into a long, unwinnable war. I did, and they were right.

(Actually I was about 1 year-old in '64, but it's still a great line)

[al_again]

I disagree, the soul of the Republican party is now 'power', 'conservatism' is now only a means of retaining the power and is only displayed close to election time.

[freepatriot32]

no he would be a libertarian :-)

[FlipWilson]

Part of being a majority party is that there will be bitter debates within the party. In order to build a majority, you simply can't afford to write off a region of the country. Thus, we must endure the Northeast Rino's and their "moderate" views. As a Conservative, I am annoyed to all hell by Chaffe, Collins, Specter and the gang, but they are, unfortunately, necessary evils to maintaining a majority. Still, it doesn't mean we just bow down to them. Quite the contrary, we debate them and let them know when we disagree with their positions be they Republican or not.

Before anyone jumps down my throat, I understand the views of many on freerepublic that it would be better to be a conservative minority than a Rino majority. That is a legitimate view, but I disagree. When you consider what the democrats TRUE plan for this country is, I will take a fractious Republican majority. (Their plan? Tax your 401(k) and contributions, eliminate taxes on their constituency, i.e. social security, legalized voter fraud, reinstatement of the fairness doctrine to censure all opposition speech, socialized medicine, and, quite simply the illegalization of anyone who disagrees with them.)

The only thing keeping the democrats from power is that they would rather be a monolithic minority than a majority. They have kicked out or isolated anyone who is in the center or to the right of center (Lieberman). As a result, they have almost completely written off the South. In order to win elections, the democrats can't depend on putting forth any kind of tenable plan or policy (by tenable, I mean one that anyone would vote for) because nobody in their party supports a tenable plan. They are Euro-Socialists as stated above. As a result, the only way they can win elections is by hoping and praying the voters will simply vote against the Republicans as opposed to voting for the democrats.

All in all, I would rather be in the Republican's shoes. I won't accept Specter and Collins and McCain's views, but I won't sacrifice a majority on the altar of a tantrum either.

[Migraine]

Actually, Goldwater's last years are a microcosm of the Republican Party's recent years: Barry turned into a pretty poor imitation of a lefty after he married his second wife. He espoused abortion, gay rights, and became the darling of many on the left, just because he represented a "scalp", of sorts, to them. I think he did it because he enjoyed the company of people who had a humanistic rationale, without all that "God-talk".
The Republican Party these days seems similarly to crave the sheltered feeling of appearing to be more compassionate, less doctrinaire. It's a sad mistake, in both cases.

[jla]

So in other words, Goldwater was saying that the Republicans, not the Conservatives, were his bane.
Then in 1976 they, the Republicans, did the same thing to another Conservative, Ronald Reagan.

[isrul]

Barry got pretty hinky in later years. No telling what he'd do.

[RockinRight]

It's hard to say. Goldwater did get pretty loony in the last 10-15 years of his life.

[dfwgator]

You raised a good point. Rockefeller Republicans hated Reagan more than they hated the Democrats. They only tolerated Reagan because Reagan brought the GOP more success than they had seen in years once he gained the White House. Didn't take long for them to go back to their old ways once the Reagans left Washington.

[Prokopton]

I don't know. Take the President for an example. I think he really believes big government and big spending is right and is Republican. I think he really believes open borders and completely free trade is right and is Republican. I think he really thought Harriet Myers would be as good a Supreme Court justice as Sam Alito.
I'm afraid that , as many conservative Democrats like Zell Miller felt about their Party, I haven't left the Republican Party the Republican Party has left me.