You have a weak understanding of history. From Goldwater’s 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."
They tried to do the same to Reagan. Find me a case where conservatives have been as destructive to the Party nominee.
Not at all. I have a very good understanding of history, especially of the '64 election. It was the first one I was politically active in. I know who cost us that election.
That is why I don't want to see a replay of that, no matter who assassinates who on our side. I don't want to see that happen. Once we have our nominee, I don't want the "losing" side to destroy the other, either by character assassination, or by going storming off in a huff taking their ball and going home and thereby handing the election to a socialist 'Rat. Because if we do that and thereby hand the election to Hillary, we're all done. We've got to hang together or Hillary will hang us separately.
Call it "specious wailing" if you want, but I will not stop pointing out the danger we all face here. You people need to realize that the barbarians are at the gates. If we destroy ourselves in the run-up to the election, we're just doing Hillary and the 'Rats' work for them. They're going to take this thing in a cakewalk.
But I hope that the Republican Party never again so destroys its candidate that the candidate has no chance."
That is what I want to avoid this time around. I don't want either side, moderate or conservative, destroying the other. Because all that does is make it easier for those who really oppose us.
They tried to do the same to Reagan. Find me a case where conservatives have been as destructive to the Party nominee.
Conservatives have generally been team players, which is why what seems to be happening in this election cycle breaks my heart. We don't see the same unity that brought us back from the disaster of '64, the depths of the Watergate scandal and the ruinous Carter presidency, and even the closely divided elections of 2000 and 2004, which at least gave us hope (although the results have been mixed) of repairing the utter devastation wreaked by the Clintons. No where did I say I approved of the assassination of Goldwater in '64 by the moderate wing of the party. They were wrong to do that and it cost us big time, a full term of LBJ, the 89th Congress and the disaster of "The Great Society". Once we have our primaries over, we need to be united against the real foes. It's a matter of survival.