“Gloomy folks today who mistrust the Republican Party should look back fifty years to March 1964, when RINOs ruled the Republican Party with an iron hand, and appreciate the miraculous campaign of grassroots conservatives who succeeded in nominating Barry Goldwater.”
AuH20 lost to Johnson 38%-61% carrying only six states.
And Goldwater lost because purist “moderates” like Romney actively opposed and voted against him.
My understanding is that the democrat candidate, no matter who he was, was going to beat the republican candidate, no matter who he was, in 1964. The nation still being in a “state” from the Kennedy assassination. So I don’t get why the republicans fought so hard over who was going to the nominee for a certain losing campaign.