... is that when he was nominated in 1964, he was generally considered the high water mark of electable right wing conservatism. Yet compared to today's GOP, at least when it comes to social/religious issues, he was downright sane. (Goldwater would never pass the many litmus tests the far right of the GOP now places on their candidates).
I posted about this very issue yesterday. Here is what I wrote:
Below are three quotes from the late Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-AZ). For those who might be a little too young to remember much about him, as you read these quotes, keep in mind that when Goldwater ran for president against Lyndon Johnson in 1964, he was generally considered to be about as far right as a politician could be in this country and still be electable. I mean, this was the guy who said, "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice; moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue."
Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the <Republican> party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them. (Said in November 1994, as quoted in John Dean, Conservatives Without Conscience (2006)).
A lot of so-called conservatives today don't know what the word means. They think I've turned liberal because I believe a woman has a right to an abortion. That's a decision that's up to the pregnant woman, not up to the pope or some do-gooders or the religious right. It's not a conservative issue at all." (1994 Los Angeles Times interview.)
I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in "A," "B," "C" and "D." Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me?
And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of "conservatism." (Speech in the US Senate (16 September 1981))
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